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Every timesheet in FieldTime passes through a configurable multi-step approval workflow before it is locked and exported to Deltek Vantagepoint. The workflow is designed to satisfy SOX 404 segregation-of-duties requirements and DCAA timekeeping standards: no employee can approve their own timesheet, every approval action is permanently recorded in the audit trail, and the record is locked against further edits once final approval is granted. The standard workflow has three approval roles — Project Manager, Supervisor, and Payroll/Admin — each acting at a distinct step. Your firm may use a different workflow configuration (for example, a Prevailing Wage workflow with an additional certified payroll review step), but the roles and principles described here apply across all configurations.

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Approval roles

RoleScopeStep
Project ManagerApproves individual time entry lines for the projects they manageStep 1
SupervisorApproves the full timesheet for employees they superviseStep 2
Payroll / AdminGives final approval and locks the record for Vantagepoint exportStep 3

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Project Manager

Project Managers (PMs) review and approve time entries at the line level — one entry per project, phase, task, and classification. FieldTime automatically routes each entry to the PM listed for that project in Vantagepoint. If an employee has worked on three different projects in a week, up to three different PMs may need to approve separate lines before the timesheet can advance to the Supervisor step. When an employee edits a line after the first submission (for example, changing a project code or adjusting clock times), the PM sees a before/after diff of the changed fields alongside the reason the employee provided. The PM must re-approve the edited line.
PM self-approval prevention: If you are listed as the Vantagepoint Project Manager for your own time entry, FieldTime automatically routes that line to your supervisor instead. This prevents any employee from approving their own time (SOX segregation of duties).

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Supervisor

Supervisors review and approve the complete timesheet — all entry lines together — after all required PM line approvals are complete. The supervisor assigned to each employee is synced from Vantagepoint. Supervisors cannot approve their own timesheets. Supervisor approval advances the timesheet to In Review status and makes it available for Payroll final sign-off.

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Payroll / Admin

Payroll staff or Admins perform the final approval. This step is only available after both PM line approvals and Supervisor approval are complete. Final approval locks the record permanently — the timesheet status moves to Approved / Locked and no further edits are possible without an Admin explicitly reopening the timesheet. An immutable lock entry is written to the audit trail at this point.

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How to approve a timesheet

1

Navigate to Approvals

Click Approvals in the left sidebar. The Approvals dashboard shows all timesheets currently waiting for your action, filtered to your role and the workflow steps you can act on.
  • Project Managers see a list of time entry lines grouped by project and week.
  • Supervisors see full timesheets for employees they supervise.
  • Payroll / Admin see all timesheets ready for final sign-off.
2

Review the timesheet or entry lines

Click on an employee’s timesheet or entry group to open the detail view. Review:
  • Daily and weekly hour totals
  • Project, phase, task, and classification assignments
  • Clock-in/clock-out times (or manual hours for exempt employees)
  • Meal break records (non-exempt employees)
  • Compliance findings and their resolution status
  • Any tracked changes flagged since the last submission, shown as before/after diffs with the employee’s stated reason
Use the View History button to see the full audit trail of every action taken on this timesheet.
3

Approve or reject

After reviewing, take one of the following actions:To approve:
  • Click Approve (for PM line approval) or Approve Timesheet (for Supervisor or Payroll).
  • Optionally add comments. Comments are stored in the audit trail.
  • Confirm the action.
To reject or request revisions:
  • Click Reject or Request Revision.
  • Enter a comment explaining what needs to change. Comments are required for rejections and revision requests — this is an audit trail requirement.
  • Confirm the action. The timesheet status changes to Rejected or Revision Requested and the employee is notified.
Batch approval is available for Supervisors and Payroll: select multiple timesheets using the checkboxes and click Approve Selected to approve them all in one action.

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Approval delegation

If you will be out of the office and cannot approve timesheets, you can delegate your approval authority to a colleague.
  1. Go to your Profile settings and open the Approval Delegation section.
  2. Click Add Delegation.
  3. Select the colleague to whom you want to delegate. Delegation is only allowed to active Supervisors, Project Managers, or Admins.
  4. Optionally set a start date and end date for the delegation period.
  5. Click Save.
While a delegation is active, your delegate can approve timesheets on your behalf. Their actions are recorded in the audit trail with a note that the approval was taken under delegated authority. You can revoke a delegation at any time by clicking Revoke in the Approval Delegation list.
You cannot delegate to yourself, and you cannot delegate to an inactive employee. Delegation does not transfer the SOX segregation-of-duties restriction — a delegate can never approve a timesheet where the submitter is themselves.

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What happens when a timesheet is rejected

When an approver rejects a timesheet or requests a revision:
  1. The timesheet status changes to Rejected or Revision Requested.
  2. The approval workflow resets — all prior approvals (PM lines, Supervisor) are cleared.
  3. You receive a notification with the approver’s comments explaining what needs to change.
  4. The timesheet becomes editable again so you can make the requested corrections.
  5. You must run the compliance audit again and resubmit. The revision count on the timesheet increments with each resubmission.
  6. All edits you make during the revision are tracked with a required reason and shown to the PM as diffs on re-approval.
See Revisions for step-by-step guidance on the revision process.