Approve timesheets and export payroll

Overview#

Every week, each person's timesheet moves through four statuses: Open (time is still being recorded), Submitted (the person, or the office for them, sent it in), Approved (locked, labor cost written to jobs) and Exported (marked as sent to payroll, still locked). The Timesheets page shows the whole pay period, the exceptions to look at, and the payroll export. Each person's page shows their week in detail, where you fix entries, approve or reopen.

Direct posting to payroll providers is not built yet. You download a file and import it into your provider.

Before you start#

• Approve, edit, reopen and export: Owner, Admin and Accounting.

• Read only: Dispatcher and Viewer see the same pages without any edit controls.

• Labor cost on jobs and pay rates: Owners and Admins only.

• Set up Settings › People › Payroll first: workweek start, pay period, overtime rules, earning codes and payroll ids. The export refuses to run while codes it needs are missing. Only Owners and Admins can open Payroll settings (the Payroll settings button on Timesheets shows only for them); Accounting should ask an owner to fix missing codes.

Steps#

Review the pay period#

1. Open Schedule › Timesheets. The header shows the pay period and your overtime rule. Use the arrows or Current period to move between periods.

2. The People table has one row per person with a status badge and hours per week, then Regular, OT, Double, Holiday, Tips and Exceptions. "note" means the person left a note when submitting (hover to read it).

3. The Exceptions card lists problems: missing clock-outs, overlapping entries, unusually long drives, gaps with no activity, and very long days. Click Review to open that person's week.

4. If GPS is connected, a GPS check card lists people whose job arrival or departure times disagree with truck or phone GPS. Click Review.

Fix a week#

1. Open a person (click their name or a week badge). Their page shows Week of with the status, each day as a timeline, and totals.

2. In Entries, each row shows the Activity, Start, End, Length, Job, Source and badges (GPS, Edited). Rows linked to an exception are highlighted. A running entry shows Running.

3. To change an entry, click Edit, change the activity, start, end or note, type a Reason for the change, and click Save change.

4. To remove an entry, click Edit, type a Reason to remove, and click Remove.

5. To add missing time, use the form under the table: Activity, Start, End, Reason (for example "Forgot to clock in"), then Add entry.

6. In the GPS check card, each flag (Arrival time, Departure time or Never at the site) has Map to see the evidence, Use GPS time to apply the GPS time, or Keep to keep the status time.

7. Every change is listed in History with who made it and the reason.

Submit for someone#

1. If a person forgot to submit, open their Open week and click Submit on their behalf. Nothing may still be running.

Approve#

1. One week: on the person's page, click Approve week.

2. Many at once: on Timesheets, tick the submitted weeks in the People table and click Approve selected. Weeks that aren't submitted are skipped and the banner says how many.

3. Approval locks the week, re-runs the GPS drive check, and writes labor cost (drive and on-job time times the burdened rate) to each job worked. Owners and Admins see it in Labor cost on jobs.

Reopen#

1. On the person's page, type a reason in Reason to reopen (or "Why reopen an exported week?") and click Reopen.

2. The week goes back to Open, labor cost is withdrawn, and it needs approval again. If it was exported, fix the same change in your payroll system too.

Export to payroll#

1. On Timesheets, scroll to Payroll export. Only approved weeks are included.

2. Pick a format: Generic (one row per earning), Gusto hours upload, ADP paydata (Co Code / Batch ID / File #) or QuickBooks Online time activities. Read the note under the buttons for that format.

3. If a red box says Fix these before exporting:, fix each item (often a missing earning code or payroll id) in Settings › People › Payroll.

4. Check the preview, then click Download CSV or Download XLSX.

5. Import the file into your payroll provider.

6. Click Mark period as sent to payroll. Approved weeks become Exported and the period appears under Sent to payroll.

Settings that change this#

• Settings › People › Payroll: Workweek starts, Pay period (Weekly or Every two weeks), Overtime rules (Federal, California, daily 8, Colorado or Custom), Round clock times to, Flag drives longer than (minutes), Paid holidays, Earning codes, Time codes, and Pay rates and payroll ids (Owners and Admins).

• Settings › Integrations › GPS: what the GPS check compares against.

Tips#

• Clear exceptions and GPS flags before approving. Approved weeks are locked.

• Approve in bulk from the overview once a period is clean, then export once.

• Set a burdened rate for everyone who works jobs, or labor cost on jobs shows "—".

• Overtime is never counted twice: hours that are daily overtime don't count again toward weekly overtime.

Troubleshooting#

• No checkbox next to a week. Only Submitted weeks can be ticked. Submit on their behalf first, or wait for the person.

• "An entry is still running. End it first." Edit the running entry and set an End, with a reason, then submit.

• "This week is approved and locked. Reopen it first." Reopen the week to change it.

• "Nothing approved in this pay period yet." Approve weeks before marking the period as sent.

• "Fix these first: …" The export has gaps, such as an empty earning code. Fix them in Payroll settings.

• "The end has to be after the start" or "One entry can't be longer than 24 hours." Correct the entry's times.

• Payroll connections show Not connected. That is expected. Direct posting is coming; use the export file for now.

FAQ#

Can technicians approve their own time? No. They submit. Owner, Admin or Accounting approves.

What happens to an entry from a job status if I edit it? It keeps your edit. Later job status changes won't overwrite an edited entry or a locked week.

Does TradesWork calculate pay amounts? It calculates hours by earning type (regular, overtime, double time, holiday) and tips. Your payroll provider applies pay rates and taxes.

Can I send hours straight to Gusto, ADP or QuickBooks? Not yet. Download the file in that provider's format and import it.

Coming from ServiceTitan#

• Same: weekly timesheets per technician, codes for non-job time, approval before payroll, and job labor cost from approved time.

• Different: exceptions and GPS disagreements are flagged for you before approval, every office edit needs a reason, and exports are built in for Gusto, ADP and QuickBooks Online. There is no direct payroll integration yet.

• Where it lived: ServiceTitan Payroll › Timesheets, Payroll › Payroll Adjustments, and the Technician Timesheet export report.