System Overview

Tempus is a Web-based timesheet management system for staffing firms and their clients.

Using Tempus, consultants working at client sites enter their weekly timesheets and submit them for approval to their client supervisors. When the timesheet is submitted by the consultant, Tempus automatically sends an email notification to the supervisor.

The supervisor clicks a link in the email message to approve the timesheet. Other options, such as disapproval, are also available.

As soon as a timesheet is created, all authorized users can see it.

The resulting data can be sliced in many ways to provide information for payroll, billing, and sales analysis.

One-Click Timesheets

An email version of the timesheet is sent to you immediately when the consultant submits his time. This method is fast and hassle-free because it allows you to approve the timesheet directly without logging in or displaying a start-up page.

The timesheet message contains two buttons, one for approval and one for disapproval. Just click the appropriate button and you're done. After you click,Tempus pops up a feedback panel to verify your action. If you don’t receive the email, the consultant can easily re-submit it.

Changing the supervisor or submit-to party

If you’re going to be out of the office on timesheet day, you can ask your consultant to submit to someone else. If that person has not received timesheets in the past, the vendor administrator will have to enter the person’s name and email address into Tempus.

When the consultant fills out the timesheet, the new submit-to party will appear in the Supervisor drop-down list so the consultant can route the timesheet sheet to the proper party. If you want to change the supervisor permanently, ask the vendor administrator to change default supervisor.

Timesheet Submission Rules

Consultants can create a timesheet at any time during the work week. Time can be entered daily or all at once at the end of the week. Timesheets carry a status of Incomplete until they are submitted to the supervisor for approval.

Consultants can record a maximum of 24 hours each day and 168 hours for a week.

If the consultant does not work during a week, the timesheet can be Skipped. That means that no timesheet will be submitted to you for the period, although a timesheet with zero hours and Skipped status is created and can be viewed by the Administrator.

When the consultant finishes the timesheet for the week, he submits the timesheet to you for approval. You do not have access to the timesheet until it is submitted, although it can be viewed by the Administrator.

A timesheet with Submitted status is ready to be approved or disapproved.

What Happens after Approval and Disapproval?

When you approve or disapprove, your consultant receives an email message to that effect. If you disapprove a timesheet, the Administrator can see the Disapproved status online. The timesheet can be edited by the consultant and resubmitted as many times as necessary.

Unsubmitted and Unapproved Timesheets

The administrator has the abilty to unsubmit or unapprove a timesheet that was submitted in error. This capability is similar to your Disapproval option in that it returns the timesheet to the consultant for edit and re-submission. The primary difference is that it is initiated by the administrator.

When the administrator Unsubmits or Unapproves a timesheet, you will always be notified. You will receive an email from Tempus informing you of the change and providing the reason for the change, keeping you in the loop.

The only complicating factor is your submission email.

As you know, when the timesheet is originally submitted, you get an email notification. The email contains a button for timesheet approval; you click the button to approve the timesheet.

If you click the button in the original submission message while the timesheet is in Unsubmitted status, Tempus will try to approve it. The approval attempt will fail and the verification panel will show that the attempt failed because the timesheet is not ready for approval, i.e. its not in Submitted status

When the consultant re-submits the timesheet, the normal process is followed. You will receive another submission email with an approval button and the timesheet status will be changed to Submitted.

At this point, you will have two submission email messages for the same timesheet. Both of them will work because the timesheet status is now Submitted - correct for approval.