Configure general information and the time sheet policy tab

To complete the general information section of the time sheet policy:

1. Make sure that the required period types and time periods are configured, as described in Period types and time periods.

2. At the top of the Time Sheet Policy window, in the Name field, enter the name of the new time sheet policy. (The examples in this section use the time sheet policy name Contractors.)

3. In the Period Type field, select the period type to use for this policy.

To complete the Time Sheet Policy tab:

1. In the Enter Time by field, specify how resources will enter time in their time sheets. The options are as follows:

   • Day in Hours. Resources will report time for each work item in units of hours, with one column for each day of the time period. The number of columns depends on the period type (7 for weekly, 14 for biweekly, and so on).

   • Period in Hours. Resources will report time for each work item as the total number of hours over the entire time period. There is only one column for the entire time period.

   • Period in Percent. Resources will report time for each work item as a percentage of the entire time period. There is only one column for the entire time period. If you select this option, the Hours in a time period options appear below it, as described in step 2.

     Note: Unless you specify a maximum of 100 percent and a minimum of 100 percent per time sheet on the Min/Max Enforcement tab, resources who enter time by Period in Percent can submit a time sheet with lines that total more than or less than 100 percent. See Configure the Min/Max Enforcement tab.

   • Day in Days. Resources will report time for each work item in units of days, with one column for each day of the time period. The number of columns depends on the period type (7 for weekly, 14 for biweekly, and so on). If you select this option, the Hours in a day option appears below it, and you must specify the number of hours in a full workday for resources who have this policy.

   • Period in Days. Resources will report time for each work item as the total number of days over the entire time period. There is only one column for the entire time period. If you select this option, the Hours in a day option appears below it, and you must specify the number of hours in a full workday for resources who have this policy.

   Note: When users enter data for an entire period (Period in Hours, Period in Percent, or Period in Days) rather than for a day at a time (Day in Hours or Day in Days), they experience faster response times as they use their time sheets.

2. If you choose to have resources enter time by Period in Percent in step 1, the Hours in a time period options appear and you must perform this step; if you choose a different option in step 1, proceed to step 3.

   If you choose Period in Percent, select one of the following options and specify a number of hours so that Time Management can convert the percentages that resources enter into actual hours for each work item for the time period:

   • (Number of workdays in the time period) X Hours in a day ___, where X denotes multiplication and you enter the number of work hours in a day in the numeric text box. With this selection, the number of hours in a time period—the product of the multiplication—varies among time periods according to the number of workdays each time period has.

     Note: When you specify that resources are to enter time by Period in Percent with this variable number of hours in a time period, there are subtleties to consider. The basis (denominator) of the percentage a resource specifies is intended to be the total time in the time period. Assuming five workdays every week, time periods for a Monthly period type vary in length from 20 to 23 workdays, and time periods for a Semi-Monthly period type vary from 9 to 12 workdays.

     Additionally, for the numerator of the percentage, if a work item of fixed duration is performed repeatedly, for example if a two-hour meeting is held every Tuesday, there are four occurrences (four Tuesdays) in some months and five in others, or two occurrences in some semimonthly time periods and three in others.

     If time sheets must be precise, resources who work on more than one work item might need to recalculate for each time sheet the percentages of the time they report for each work item. We recommend using this option only if it is acceptable for resources to report approximate percentages.

   • Fixed number of hours ___ for a time period. With this selection, every time period has the same number of hours. Even the effect of specifying any normal working days as non-working days in calendars is overridden.

   For example, assume the following:

   • The Period Type is Monthly.

   • Time is entered by Period in Percent.

   • The (Number of workdays in the time period) X Hours in a day ___ option is chosen, with Hours in a day specified as 8.

   • The user creates a time sheet for a month that has 22 working days.

   If the user enters 10 percent for a particular work item, Time Management displays and reports that time as 10% of 22 * 8 hours, or 17.60 hours.

3. If you want resources who are assigned this policy to view the Expected Hours or Expected Days column on their time sheets, select the Show Expected Time on Time Sheet check box. If not, clear the check box.

4. If you want to allow resources who are assigned this policy to create multiple time sheets for any given time period, select the check box with text that begins with Resources are allowed to create multiple Time Sheets for the same time period. Selecting this option disables the Min/Max Enforcement tab. Since time is approved at the time sheet line level, you might not need to allow multiple time sheets in a period.

   Note: For projects that use integration of Time Management and Project Management, a user's My Tasks portlet shows the total time the user reported for a project or task in all the user's time sheets from all time periods, whether or not multiple time sheets for any one time period are allowed. The My Tasks portlet provides the user with links to each of the user's time sheets. For details about integration, see the Time Management User Guide.

5. If you want all of the following results to occur, select the check box with text that begins with Resources are expected to fill out a Time Sheet for each time period:

   • Resources who are assigned this policy (or their managers or delegates) are required to complete a time sheet for each time period, even if they are on vacation or performed no work that is tracked.

   • Overdue time sheets for those resources appear in the Delinquent Time Sheets report.

   • Email notifications can be sent to resources to remind them to submit their time sheets. These notifications can be sent before unsubmitted time sheets are due, on their due date, or when they become delinquent. For information about configuring these notifications, see Configure the Notifications tab.

6. If you want time to be approved automatically when submitted by resources who are assigned this policy, select the check box with text that begins with Auto-Approve time. This option is useful when detailed approvals are not important to the organization.

   Changes to automatic approval take effect when currently unsubmitted or new time sheets are submitted.

   Note: If a project is integrated with Time Management and explicitly requires time approval by a project representative (as specified in the Cost and Effort policy of the Project Settings page), the time logged against tasks in that project is not automatically approved, regardless of the setting of this option.

   For more information about configuring time approval in the Cost and Effort policy of the Project Settings page, go to the Time Management User Guide for integrating Time Management and Project Management.

7. In the Specify the level of enforcement for empty lines (lines on which no time is entered) in the Time Sheet section, specify the desired option to do one of the following:

   • Allow resources to submit time sheets that include empty lines (lines in which all values are 0), with no warning message.

   • Allow resources to submit time sheets that include empty lines, but only after displaying a warning that lists the empty lines and gives the user the option to update the time sheets before submitting them. Options are available to the user to delete all the empty lines at once or move all the empty lines to the user's My Items list.

   • Prevent resources from submitting time sheets that include empty lines and display a message that lists the empty lines the resources must either delete or update before submitting the time sheets. Options are available to the user to delete all the empty lines at once or move all the empty lines to the user's My Items list.

   Note: The default value of this option for a new time sheet policy corresponds to the setting of the ENABLE_TM_ALLOW_EMPTY_ITEM parameter in the server.conf configuration file, but the option you choose in this step controls the operation when resources submit time sheets with empty lines.

   To improve PPM performance and to make it easier for approvers to review submitted time sheets, We strongly recommend that you prevent resources from submitting time sheets that have empty lines.

   If empty lines are allowed or have been allowed in the past, we recommend that you run the Purge Empty Time Sheet Lines to keep data growth under control. For more information, see the Purge Empty Time Sheet Lines Report.

8. At the bottom of the Time Sheet Policy window, click OK.

   The time sheet policy is created.

9. Double-click the new time sheet policy in the list to reopen it.

As described in the following sections, complete the other tabs of the time sheet policy as needed.