Set Up Time Entry Approvals

Sparkrock 365 provides the capability to have time entry requests go through an approval workflow. Before a time entry approval workflow can be processed, some setup is required.

Enable the Time Entry Approval Workflow

To process a time entry approval, the Time Entry Approval Workflow must be enabled. For more information, see Set Up HR Management Approval Workflows.

Set up approval group codes

To set up time entry approvals, you must set up an approval group code on each time entry unit. All time lines for the unit follow the same approval route. If an approval group code is not defined for the time entry unit, all submitted time sheets are auto-approved. For more information about how to set up an approval group code, see Set Up an Approval Group.

To set up an approval group code on a time entry unit

  1. Choose Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature., enter time entry units, and then choose the related link.

    The Time Entry Units page opens.

  2. Select the time entry unit for which you want to set up an approval group code, and then on the action bar, choose Manage > Edit.

    The Time Entry Unit Card page opens.

  3. On the General FastTab, in Approval Group Code, specify a value.

Alternate approvers

When an alternate is approving timesheets, to see the units in mySparkrock, the alternate must be set up in the same approval group as the original approver.

Send Approval Requests job queue entry

The Send Approval Requests job queue entry provides the capability for you to perform time entry approval request background processing. This functionality allows you to process time entry approvals when system resources are optimal. You can manually run the background processing or schedule the background processing to run via the job queue. For information about manually running background processing, see Time Entry Approval Request Background Processing.

On the HR Approval Setup page, there is an Approval Background Processing field. The Approval Background Processing field specifies whether approval background processing is to be performed. When the Approval Background Processing checkbox is selected for the Document Type of Time Entry, a Send Approval Requests job queue entry is created.

When the Send Approval Requests job queue entry runs, Sparkrock 365 performs the following tasks:

  • Processes all time sheet entry lines that have a Status of Submitted For Approval.

  • Creates time entry approval entries.

  • Creates approval requests.

  • Updates the Status of Time Sheet Entry page lines to Pending Approval.

Approval group validation

When the Send Approval Requests job queue entry runs, all approval groups are validated.

The following approval group scenarios cause the Status of the Send Approval Requests job queue entry to change to Error:

  • If an approval group does not have active mySparkrock users set up as approvers to which the approval request can be sent.

  • If an approval group is set up based on position or position class, and there is not at least one mySparkrock user who has an active assignment in that position or position class.

  • If an approval group is set up based on mySparkrock users, and those users are not active mySparkrock users.

Note

Note:
If there is a single approval group that fails validation, the Status of the Send Approval Requests job queue entry changes to Error, regardless to which approval group Sparkrock 365 is sending the request.

Alternatively, if there is at least one eligible approver found for the sequence, there is no error. For example, consider a scenario where there are multiple lines in an approval group with the same sequence with a different Type, such as mySparkrock User, mySparkrock Group, Position, or Position Class. Additionally in this scenario, there could be 3 lines for sequence 1 and each line has a mySparkrock user. If the mySparkrock users on the first 2 lines are inactive, and the mySparkrock user on the 3rd line is active, there is no error.

To set up the Send Approval Requests job queue entry

  1. Choose Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature., enter job queue entries, and then choose the related link.

    The Job Queue Entries page opens.

  2. On the action bar, choose New.

    The Job Queue Entry Card page opens.

  3. In Object Type to Run field, specify Report.

  4. In Object ID to Run, specify 23032408.

  5. On the Recurrence FastTab, specify when you want the job to run.

    Typically, this job is set to run every day.

  6. To activate the job queue entry, on the action bar, choose Set Status to Ready.

To determine if there are active approvers for an approval group line

  1. Choose Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature., enter approval groups, and then choose the related link.

    The Approval Groups page opens.

  2. Select the approval group for which you want to determine if there are active approvers, and then on the action bar, choose Manage > View.

    The Approval Group page opens.

  3. On the Approval Group Lines FastTab, select the record for which you want to determine if there are active approvers, and then on the action bar, choose Manage > Preview Approvers.

    The Preview Approvers page opens. If the Preview Approvers page is empty, there are no active approvers.

See also

Set Up HR Management Approvals

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