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How to setup microsoft project online update#
Remember that Step 3: Update progress, even if both are tracked on a team member's timesheet. Who's responsible for approving task progress? How do I set someone's timesheet approver in Project Web App? You can set a person's Timesheet Manager in the Add a resource to Project Web App. Under Time and Task Management, choose Timesheet Managers.Ĭhoose the person you want to add as an approver, and then choose OK. Only those people listed on the Timesheet Managers page can approve timesheets. When Frank approves Bob's timesheet, the hours Bob entered are applied to the corresponding project plan. Jill approves Bob's timesheet, and it is automatically submitted to Frank for approval.įrank Frank is in payroll, and is his own timesheet manager.
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Jill Jill is a team lead, and Frank is her timesheet manager. Bob fills out his timesheet and submits it to Jill. If this is the case in your organization, you can set up a chain of approvers, similar to this:īob Bob is a team member, and Jill is his timesheet manager.
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An example of this might be approvals from a resource manager as well as someone from payroll. Sometimes, more than one person needs to approve a timesheet. To be able to set up Project Web App in a way that maps to how your organization actually works, you need to figure out the right people to approve time for work that happens in your organization. When a team member does work in your organization, who should be on point to approve the hours spent on that work? Is it the project manager? Is it someone from payroll? Maybe it's both. It doesn't get much easier than that! Who's responsible for approving time? In fact, that's how Project Web App automatically sets things up when you add someone new, so you really don't have to do anything. Simply make the team member his or her own approver. You aren't required to set up an approver for everyone! If you don't need someone to approve the hours a person worked before those hours are applied to the project plan, you don't have to. But if you're managing projects entirely separate from your financial systems, you may not really need to maintain a step between your team members getting work done, and that work being applied to the project plan. What are you really trying to accomplish by requiring approvals? If your organization's pay structure is tied to the hours entered on timesheets, then the answer is probably yes. While it may seem natural to set things up so that a manager approves the work that a team member does, it's a good idea to spend some time chatting about whether you really need to have that formal approval process in place. Do you actually need an approval process in place? Here are some questions you should try to answer before locking in on a formal approval process. How do I set up approvals in my organization?īefore you jump in and get approvals set up in Project Web App, it's a good idea to step back and think through how things currently work in your organization, and how you want them to work going forward. When you decide that you want to use timesheets in your organization, you should also take a few minutes to do some thinking about how you want timesheet approval to work.
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