It’s important to get the dates correct on the first timesheet under a new contract. This document shows why this is important and provides a detailed look at how Tempus creates timesheet periods. It supplements the discussion in the Info for Administrators document.

Tempus allows the user to create a new timesheet every week. Tempus automatically sets the dates on each timesheet when the user clicks the New button. The first timesheet sets up the date sequence for all subsequent timesheets for the contract. If the dates on the first timesheet are correct, all others will also be correct.

Setting Up the Contract

Parameters needed to set the timesheet period dates are controlled by the administrator through the contract.

Two items on the contract are used to set the date sequence, the Start Day and Effective Date. Start Day is the first day of the week on a timesheet – usually Sunday or Monday – but possibly any day. Effective Date is the first date that a consultant may enter time for the contract.

Here’s how Tempus uses these two data items to set the timesheet periods.

Tempus first looks at the Effective Date of the contract and calculates the day of the week on which this date falls. Then, it looks at the Start Day and finds the date of the last occurrence of that day prior to the Effective Date. That occurrence marks the first day of the first timesheet.

Tempus then creates the first timesheet starting on the first day and continuing for seven consecutive days. The first week will always contain the Effective Date. Daily time input boxes on that timesheet prior to the Effective Date will be disabled so time cannot be entered on those days.

Forever after, Tempus will create new timesheet periods starting seven days after the last one. So, timesheets are always created for the next seven day period and all periods are created in chronological order.

Coping with the Bumps

The ideal startup situation occurs when the consultant starts his project on the Effective Date as planned. This actually happens sometimes, but lots of other scenarios are possible too.

Here are some things that will help you handle the situations that you will run across.

1. Start Day and Effective Date can be edited until the first timesheet is created. If you are notified in advance of a start date change you can edit the contract and make it right.
2. The consultant can elect to Skip a timesheet. If the consultant starts late and sees that he didn’t work during the week of his first (or any other) timesheet, he can Skip the timesheet. This action places zeros in all time entries and saves the timesheet without submitting it to the Supervisor.
3. A Submitted or Approved timesheet can be Unsubmitted or Unapproved by the administrator. If the consultant submits an incorrect timesheet to his Supervisor, you can Unsubmit or Unapprove the timesheet so it is returned to the consultant for editing and re-submission.

If you need help or advice you can always contact Tempus Support.

The best defense here is a good offense. Ask your new consultant to be mindful of the dates on the first timesheet. Tell him about the Skip option and tell him that he can Skip all the timesheets for periods prior to the time he started work (this is mentioned in the Info For Consultants article). Also, ask your sales reps and recruiters to keep you in the loop when dates change.