---
title: "Timesheets"
description: "See each technician's week across every client, with ticket and task time filled in for them, then submit it and have a manager approve it."
url: "https://support.outpostplatform.com/msp/timesheets/"
product: "depot"
type: "concept"
status: "draft"
ai_summary: "MSP plan. A timesheet is one technician's week, Monday to Sunday, across every client. Ticket and task time appears on it automatically; other time such as PTO is logged against time categories. Weeks are Draft, Submitted, Approved, or Returned. Approving locks that technician's time in the week on every client until an approver reopens it."
availability:
  plans: ["msp"]
  permission: "ticket:write"
  preview: false
source: "https://gitlab.com/outpostplatform/docs/-/edit/main/src/content/docs/msp/timesheets.md"
license: "CC BY 4.0"
---

# Timesheets

A timesheet is one technician's week of work, Monday to Sunday, across every
client your practice serves. The time a technician logs on tickets and project
tasks appears on it without being entered twice, and the rest of the week,
such as PTO, admin, meetings, and training, is logged on the timesheet itself.
The technician submits the week, and a manager approves it or returns it with
a note. This page explains how a timesheet is put together, what approving a
week does, and who can do what.

## What a timesheet is

Select **Timesheets** in the navigation, below **Projects**. It has up to three
pages:

| Page | What it is for | Who sees it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **My timesheet** | Your own week: the day strip, the grid of time, and **Submit week**. An approver can open anybody's week here. | Everyone with `ticket:write` |
| **Approvals** | The weeks waiting for an approver, and the technicians who have not submitted last week. | `timesheet:approve` |
| **Settings** | The time categories other time is logged against, and each technician's daily target. | `psa:admin` |

A week is made of three kinds of time:

| Kind | Where it comes from | Where it is changed |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Ticket time | Every entry you log on a ticket's **Time** tab, in any client, and every timer stopped on a ticket | The ticket, or the timesheet cell |
| Task time | Every entry you log on a project task, and every timer stopped on a task | The task, or the timesheet cell |
| Other time | Entries logged against a time category, such as **PTO**, **Admin**, or **Training** | The timesheet |

Ticket and task time stays where it was logged, in that client's records. The
timesheet reads it from every client each time the week is opened, so an entry
changed on the ticket is changed on the timesheet too, and an entry changed in
a timesheet cell is changed on the ticket. Nothing is copied, so the timesheet
and the client's invoice never disagree about an entry.

The timesheet shows time. It does not decide what a client pays: the client's
agreement still classifies each ticket and task entry, as described in
[How logged time reaches an invoice](/msp/time-and-dispatch/#how-logged-time-reaches-an-invoice).
Other time belongs to your practice and never reaches a client invoice.

## Days, weeks, and the time zone

Weeks start on Monday. Days follow the time zone of your practice's default
business schedule, or UTC when there is none. See
[Create a business schedule](/service-desk/sla/#create-a-business-schedule).

A ticket or task entry belongs to the day it started. An entry that runs past
midnight is not split, so a two-hour entry started at 11:00 PM counts on the
day it started.

## Targets, billable time, and leave

Every technician has a daily target, 8:00 unless an administrator changes it
in **Settings**. It applies Monday to Friday. Saturday and Sunday have no
target.

A time category is either work or leave. The two count differently:

| | Counts toward the day's target | Counts as billable | Counts in the **Billable** percentage |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Ticket and task time marked billable | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Ticket and task time not marked billable | Yes | No | Yes, as non-billable work |
| Other time, work category | Yes | No | Yes, as non-billable work |
| Other time, leave category | Yes | No | No |

The **Billable** percentage is billable time divided by every hour except
leave, so a week with a day of PTO is not marked down for it.

Time off booked on the dispatch calendar shows on the day strip, as
**Vacation scheduled**, **Sick leave scheduled**, **Holiday**, or **Time off
scheduled**. It is a reminder only and adds no time. To count a day off
toward the target, log it as leave. See
[Book technicians on the dispatch calendar](/msp/time-and-dispatch/#book-technicians-on-the-dispatch-calendar).

## The life of a week

A week is in one of four states, shown as a chip next to the week:

| State | Meaning | Time in the week |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Draft** | Not submitted. Every week starts here. | Editable |
| **Submitted** | Sent for approval. | Editable |
| **Approved** | An approver signed it off. | Locked on every client |
| **Returned** | An approver sent it back with a note, or reopened it with a reason. | Editable |

1. The technician fills in the week and selects **Submit week**. A week that
   has not started cannot be submitted. The week in progress can be.
2. Until it is decided, the technician can select **Recall** to take it back
   to **Draft**.
3. An approver approves it or returns it with a note saying what to fix.
4. A returned week is fixed and submitted again.
5. An approved week can be reopened by an approver, with a reason. It goes
   back to **Returned**, with the reason as its note.

See [Fill in and submit your timesheet](/msp/timesheet-week/) and
[Approve timesheets](/msp/timesheet-approvals/).

## What approving a week locks

While a technician's week is **Approved**, none of that technician's time in
the week can be added, changed, or deleted, on any client. The lock covers:

- ticket time, on the ticket's **Time** tab and in the timesheet;
- project task time;
- other time on the timesheet;
- stopping a timer that started in that week.

Anything that tries is refused with **This week's timesheet is approved. Ask a
manager to reopen it.** This applies to everybody, including the owner and
the approver, and to connected AI apps. A submitted week is not locked. The
lock is what makes an approved week safe to pay payroll from: the hours that
were signed off are the hours that stay.

The lock is for the technician who did the work. It does not stop other
technicians logging their own time on the same ticket.

:::note
An invoiced entry cannot be changed whatever its week's state, because it is
on a finalized invoice. See [Invoice clients](/msp/client-invoicing/).
:::

## When a client cannot be reached

The timesheet reads ticket and task time from every client. If a client's
data cannot be reached, the week shows a warning such as **1 of 12 clients did
not answer**, and the time logged for that client is missing from the totals until it answers.
An approver cannot approve a week while any client is missing from it, so a
short total is never locked in.

## Who can do what

| To | You need |
| --- | --- |
| Have a timesheet: see **Timesheets**, log time, submit, and recall your own week | `ticket:write` |
| Open anybody's week, add other time to it, edit or delete their entries, approve, return, and reopen | `timesheet:approve` |
| Manage time categories and daily targets | `psa:admin` |

See [Timesheet reference](/msp/timesheet-reference/) for the built-in roles
that hold each one.

## Related

- [Fill in and submit your timesheet](/msp/timesheet-week/)
- [Time your work with the timer](/msp/timesheet-timer/)
- [Approve timesheets](/msp/timesheet-approvals/)
- [Set up time categories and daily targets](/msp/timesheet-settings/)
- [Timesheet reference](/msp/timesheet-reference/)
- [Time tracking and dispatch](/msp/time-and-dispatch/)