> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.fieldtime.gaitools.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Final Payroll Approval and Timesheet Lock in FieldTime
> Payroll staff give final approval to supervisor-approved timesheets, locking them for payroll processing and export to Vantagepoint.
Payroll final approval is the third and last tier of the FieldTime approval workflow. After an employee's timesheet has been approved by both the Project Manager (for each individual entry) and the Supervisor (for the full week), it lands in the Payroll queue for your review. When you give final approval, FieldTime locks the timesheet, records a permanent audit timestamp, and marks the data as ready to export to Deltek Vantagepoint for payroll processing.
Once you give final approval, the timesheet is locked. Employees and managers can no longer edit it. Only an Admin can reopen a locked timesheet — doing so resets the payroll approval and requires the timesheet to travel through the full three-tier workflow again before it can be re-locked.
## Who Can Give Final Approval
Users with the **Payroll** role and users with the **Admin** role can access the Payroll approval queue and give final approval. The Supervisor and Project Manager roles cannot finalize timesheets from their own queues.
## What You See in the Payroll Queue
The Payroll queue shows every timesheet that has passed both PM and Supervisor approval, along with a readiness indicator for each one. Timesheets are grouped by pay period so you can process a full payroll cycle at once.
| Column | What it shows |
| --------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Employee** | The employee whose timesheet is ready for final approval |
| **Week** | The Monday–Sunday pay period |
| **Regular / OT / DT Hours** | Approved hour totals by type |
| **Supervisor Approved By** | The supervisor who signed off and when |
| **Readiness Status** | Whether the timesheet is clear to finalize or has a blocking issue |
### Readiness Indicators
All PM-level entries are approved, the supervisor has approved the full week, and no blocking issues exist. You can give final approval immediately.
One or more time entries on the timesheet have a **Missing Approver** status, meaning FieldTime could not resolve a Project Manager from the Vantagepoint project hierarchy. These entries were never PM-approved and **cannot be finalized until an Admin resolves the PM assignment gap**. Contact your Admin, who will correct the Vantagepoint PM assignment and re-sync the project data. Once the entry is assigned and approved by the correct PM, the timesheet clears to **Ready**.
The supervisor has not yet approved the timesheet. This timesheet should not appear in the Payroll queue in normal circumstances — if you see it, contact your Admin to investigate the workflow state.
## Giving Final Approval
Navigate to **Approvals → Payroll Final Approval** in the left sidebar. Filter by pay period if you are processing a specific payroll cycle.
Check the readiness status for each timesheet. For any timesheet flagged as **Blocked — Missing Approver**, do not proceed — escalate to your Admin before the payroll deadline.
For **Ready** timesheets, click into any timesheet to review the full week detail, PM line decisions, supervisor notes, and hour totals before approving.
Use the checkboxes to select one or more **Ready** timesheets. You can select all timesheets in a pay period at once using the **Select All** checkbox at the top of the list.
Click the **Final Approve** button. FieldTime simultaneously locks each selected timesheet, records your name and the approval timestamp in the permanent audit log, and makes the timesheets available for Vantagepoint export.
## What "Locked" Means
A locked timesheet is read-only across the entire system:
* **Employees** cannot edit, add, or delete time entries.
* **Project Managers** cannot change PM approval decisions.
* **Supervisors** cannot modify their approval or notes.
* **Payroll staff** cannot alter hour totals or approval records.
The lock exists to protect the integrity of your payroll run and your California wage-and-hour audit trail. Every locked timesheet carries a final audit timestamp that records who approved it and when.
## Exporting to Vantagepoint
Once a timesheet is final-approved and locked, it is marked ready for export. To send time data to Deltek Vantagepoint:
Navigate to **Payroll → Vantagepoint Export** in the left sidebar.
Choose the pay period you want to export. Only final-approved, locked timesheets are included in the export.
Click **Export to Vantagepoint**. FieldTime generates the export file and transmits the approved time data to Vantagepoint for payroll processing. A confirmation and export timestamp are recorded in the audit log.
## Reopening a Locked Timesheet
If a correction is genuinely required after a timesheet has been locked — for example, a discovered data-entry error that affects pay calculations — an Admin can reopen it.
In **All Timesheets**, locate the locked timesheet. Locked timesheets display a padlock icon.
Click **Reopen Timesheet** and enter a reason for reopening. FieldTime clears the lock, resets the payroll approval status, and writes an audit record documenting the actor, timestamp, and reason.
The timesheet returns to the employee for correction. After resubmission, it travels through the complete three-tier workflow — PM approval, Supervisor approval, and Payroll final approval — before it can be locked again.
Reopening a timesheet that has already been exported to Vantagepoint may require a manual correction in Vantagepoint as well. Coordinate with your Vantagepoint administrator before reopening any timesheet that has been included in a completed payroll run.