Time Approval is the approver's queue for one project. It lists every time entry that a team member has submitted and is waiting for sign-off. Approving locks the entry and moves billable time toward invoicing. Rejecting sends it back to the member to fix.
Use it daily or weekly, before your billing cut-off, so approved billable hours reach Customer Approval or Billing on time.
Who uses it: project managers, Projects Administrators, the organization owner, and finance staff who have the timesheets approve permission.
Where to find it
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Sidebar | Project group → pick the project → Time Approval |
| Command palette | Ctrl+K / Cmd+K → Time Approval · {project} |
| URL | /projects/{project}/time/approval |
| Plan | Professional plan or higher (time approval). The tab sits with Time, which needs Standard or higher. |
| Who can load it | See Permissions. Everyone else sees the tab in the sidebar but gets "We couldn't load the approval queue." when opening it. |
Screen tour
Time approval card (top)
Title Time approval — "Review and approve project time pending sign-off."
| Tile | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Pending entries | Number of submitted entries waiting for you (your own entries are excluded unless you may self-approve). |
| Pending time | Their total duration, e.g. 14h 30m. |
Filters (apply immediately):
| Filter | Options |
|---|---|
| From / To | Entry date range. |
| Task | All tasks or one task. |
| Member | All members or one project member. |
Pending approval list
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Date | Entry date (YYYY-MM-DD). |
| Member | Who logged the time. |
| Task | Linked task, or a dash. |
| Description | The member's notes. |
| Duration | e.g. 2h 30m. |
| Type | Billable (blue) or Non-billable (grey). |
| Actions | Approve and Reject. Shown only when time writes are on. |
Entries are sorted newest date first, 20 per page. When more than 20 match, Previous, Page N of M · T entries and Next appear below the list. Changing a filter returns you to page 1, and if you approve or reject the last rows of the last page you are stepped back to the previous page. Pending entries always shows the full count.
Rates and amounts are not shown here. To see money, use Billing.
Empty state: Nothing pending — "All project time has been reviewed."
Approve an entry
- Open the project and click Time Approval.
- Optionally filter by date, task or member.
- Check the date, duration, task and description.
- Click Approve on the row.
Result: "Time approved." The row leaves the list and the entry becomes Approved and locked. Its billing status changes as follows:
| Entry | Project requires customer approval? | Billing status after approval |
|---|---|---|
| Non-billable | — | Non billable |
| Billable, no rate | No | Unbilled (never reaches Billing until fixed) |
| Billable, with rate | No | Ready to bill — appears on Billing |
| Billable | Yes | Pending customer approval — appears on Customer Approval with a secure customer link |
There is no bulk approve; approve each row.
Reject an entry
- Click Reject on the row.
- The Reject time entry dialog shows member · duration · date.
- Type the reason in Reason, which is marked required (placeholder "Why is this being rejected?").
- Click Reject (or Cancel).
Result: "Time rejected." The entry returns to the member as Rejected; they can edit it and Submit again.
| Field | Required | Rules | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reason | Yes | Up to 2,000 characters. | If you leave it blank the dialog stays open and shows "Enter a reason for rejecting this time entry." under the field. (Until 5 October 2026 the field was labelled optional and an empty reason produced a generic error.) |
The reason is saved with the entry and is shown to the member under the Rejected badge on the project's Time tab and on My Time, so they know what to fix. You can still add a comment on the task if the point needs discussion.
Rules the server enforces
| Rule | What you see |
|---|---|
| Only Submitted entries can be approved or rejected. | "Could not approve. Please try again." (someone already acted). Refresh. |
| You cannot approve or reject your own time. Your own entries are hidden from your queue. Exception: the organization owner and the person who created the project. | Entry not listed. |
| You must have approval rights on this project. | "You do not have access to this action. Contact your workspace administrator." |
| Connection lost while saving. | Status not confirmed — "We could not confirm whether the change completed. Check the current status before submitting again." Click Check current status. |
Statuses and lifecycle
| Approval status | On this screen | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | Not listed. | Member submits. |
| Submitted | Listed. | Approve or Reject. |
| Approved | Removed. | Customer approval (if required) → Billing. |
| Rejected | Removed. | Member edits and resubmits; it returns here. |
If a member edits a submitted entry before you act, it goes back to Draft and leaves your queue until resubmitted. A customer-rejected entry also comes back here after the member resubmits it.
Permissions
| Role | Open the queue | Approve / reject |
|---|---|---|
| Organization owner | Yes | Yes, including own time |
| Projects Administrator | Yes | Yes (not own time, unless they created the project) |
| Projects Manager who is the project's Manager | Yes | Yes (not own time, unless they created the project) |
| Any member with the finance timesheets approve permission | Yes | Yes (not own time) |
| Projects Member / project Member without that permission | No | No |
| Viewer (guest) | No | No |
The plan must include time approval (Professional or higher). See Team access.
Worked examples
Example 1 — quick approval
Sara Khan manages Al Noor Trading LLC — Website Redesign (ALN-WEB, AED, no customer approval). On Monday morning Pending entries shows 3, Pending time 9h 15m.
- She approves Omar Haddad's "Checkout page 2h 30m" (billable, rate AED 350). It becomes Ready to bill, worth AED 875.00 on Billing.
- She approves Omar's "Internal training 1h" (non-billable). It stays Non billable.
- Her own 5h 45m entry is not in her queue; the owner approves it.
Tiles now show Pending entries 0 and Nothing pending.
Example 2 — month-end review with a rejection
Project Dubai Main Showroom Fit-out (DXB-FIT), customer approval required. On 30 September 26 entries are waiting.
- Sara sets From 1 Sep, To 30 Sep, Member Lina Saeed: 6 entries,
31h. - She sees "Site survey 10h" on one day and clicks Reject with reason "Max 8h/day — split across 14 and 15 Sep". "Time rejected."
- She approves the other five. Being billable on a customer-approval project, they become Pending customer approval and appear on Customer Approval.
- She clears Member, approves the first page of 20 entries, then clicks Next (Page 2 of 2) for the remaining ones.
- Lina edits and resubmits the survey as two 5h entries; they reappear in Sara's queue the next day.
How it connects
- Time: members submit from the project's Time tab; rejected entries go back there.
- Customer Approval: approved billable time on customer-approval projects waits for the customer.
- Billing: approved billable time with a rate becomes Ready to bill.
- Overview → Finance and SolaCount: approved time updates Ready to bill counts, labor cost and project profitability.
Tips and common problems
| Problem | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| "We couldn't load the approval queue." | You don't have approval rights, or the plan lacks time approval. | Ask for project Manager role or the timesheets approve permission. |
| My own entries are missing | Self-approval is blocked. | Another approver must review them. |
| Entry vanished before I acted | Member edited it (back to Draft) or another approver acted. | Refresh. |
| Reject says "Enter a reason for rejecting this time entry." | The reason is required. | Type a short reason. |
| Approved entry doesn't show on Billing | Non-billable, no rate, or waiting for the customer. | Check its Billing column on the Time tab. |
| Only 20 entries visible | The list shows 20 per page. | Use Next under the list, or filter. |