Timesheet Approval Workflow

In short: in Sandtime.io each person submits their own week from the timesheet, every organization Administrator receives an email with a summary of that week and Approve, View, and Reject buttons, and an approved week locks. Corrections after approval go through a timed unlock request, and every request records who asked, who decided, and when. Only Administrators decide, and approvals are free for unlimited users.

How a week gets approved, step by step

1. Submit. The member opens Timesheets, picks the week, and chooses Submit for approval in the Approvals section. The confirmation says the timesheet will be locked when approved, so last fixes happen first. The button appears only on your own week, while it is not locked and not already waiting for a decision.
2. Notify. Every active Administrator gets an email with the week's summary report as an image and Approve, View, and Reject buttons. It is a transactional email, so it arrives whatever the Administrators' notification settings say.
3. Decide. An Administrator approves or rejects from the email, from the Inbox, or in the Approvals section at the bottom of the member's timesheet. View opens the full week when it deserves a closer look.
4. Tell the member. The member gets an email saying the week was approved or rejected, with a View timesheet button.
5. Lock. An approved week locks with no time limit, whether or not auto-locking is on. A rejected week is not locked by the decision, so the member fixes it and submits again.

Each request keeps its trail in the Approvals section of that week: when it was submitted, who resolved it, and when. Administrators see every request; a member sees the ones they sent.

A worked example: Friday at an eight-person consultancy

The consultancy has two Administrators, so approvals do not wait for one person's calendar, and auto-locking is on.

• Friday, September 25, 2026. All eight consultants submit week 39. Both Administrators receive eight emails. By Monday morning seven weeks are approved and locked.
• One week shows 52 hours, 11 of them on a Wednesday. The operations lead opens it with View, sees the same client workshop entered twice, and rejects it. A rejection carries no note, so he tells the consultant why in their team chat.
• On Saturday she deletes the duplicate 8-hour entry, the week drops to 44 hours, and she submits again. It is approved on Monday, September 28, and locks.
• Mid-October. The client queries Tuesday of week 39. The Approvals section shows when the week was submitted, who approved it, and when, and the locked week still holds exactly the approved hours.
• A late correction. A consultant finds a mistyped project in an approved week. She sends an unlock request, an Administrator approves it, and the week opens for the organization's Unlock duration, 30 minutes by default, then locks again.

What it deliberately does not do

• Only Administrators decide. Project Administrators and Users cannot approve, so there are no per-team approvers or multi-step approval chains. Several Administrators share the load instead.
• No rejection note. A rejection records who rejected and when, not why.
• Whole weeks only. A request covers one person's week, not single days or projects.
• No payroll or invoicing hand-off. Approved hours leave through Excel export or a report.

How it connects to the rest of Sandtime.io

Approvals sit between the weekly timesheet and locking, and the Friday reminder email nudges people to finish the week before it locks. Roles and permissions explains why only Administrators decide. The approvals help article shows each screen, the free timesheet approval and correction policy template puts the rules in writing, and the blog compares timesheet approval software across vendors and plans.