Choose standard or advanced approvals to control how submitted timesheets and expense reports are reviewed.
When the approvals module is enabled on your account there are two types of approval configurations that you may choose from: standard approvals (the default) and advanced approvals. The reason for two different types of approvals is to enable/disable functionality that may or may not be necessary for your configuration. For example, in standard approvals only an employee's manager is involved in the approval process when the employee submits a timesheet or expense report. Advanced approvals, however, allows you to configure an approval workflow that might involve project managers, the employee's manager, as well as other specific approvers. With the two options you decide how complex your approval process needs to be.
Switching from standard approvals to advanced approvals (or vice versa) is a simple process. Browse to the General Settings screen, select the Switch to advanced approvals or Switch to standard approvals link under the Approval Options section, and follow the on-screen instructions for completing the transition.
Note: It is recommended that you select either standard approvals or advanced approvals and not repeatedly switch between the two. Depending on where items (timesheets or expense reports) are in the approval process, switching from one approval type to another may leave items pending approval without an approver. These issues are easily fixed, however, by running a report to show the pending approval items and either approving or rejecting them via the Administer Timesheet Approvals or Administer Expense Approvals screens.
Standard Approvals #
With standard approvals enabled all items (both timesheets and expense reports) submitted by employees will go to their designated manager for approval. If an employee does not have a manager defined in their employee profile their submitted timesheets and/or expense reports will be automatically approved by the system. You may review or make changes to an employee's specified manager by modifying the Manager selection in their employee profile. For more information, see Employees.
Tip: The Administrator Reports / Employees / Administrative / Employee List report provides a great way to identify which employees do not have a manager defined and, consequently, who's items would automatically be approved). When running the Employee List report be sure to change the Group By option to 'Manager'.
Advanced Approvals #
With advanced approvals enabled items (both timesheets and expense reports) submitted by employees may be reviewed and approved by multiple approvers. Through the use of approval paths you may define any number of approval workflows for timesheets and expense reports submitted for approval. The workflows may include a combination of project managers, the employee's manager, as well as specific approvers.
For more information regarding the configuration of approval workflows (approval paths), please see Approval paths.