Clarity

In our Organization we are implementing time sheets and as part of that we are using User value lookup1 and user value lookup2 values for custom values. Can some one help me with the below questions?

1) I created a dynamic lookup for user lookup 1. I also want to create a dynamic query for lookup2 also. Is it possible?

2) How to make user lookup1 and lookup2 values as a required fields when user is submitting time sheets?

3) Also we are using both PM and RM approvals for time sheets. PM should be able to see only their line item after receiving action item  and approving that. This is all done. But problem is how can PM delegate the same to the another PM. My process is sending an action item to delegated PM, but delegated PM is not able to see anything on timecard. What should be done to enable a delegated person to see the original PM only line item?

Please help me

Thanks

Naresh

2) How to make user lookup1 and lookup2 values as a required fields when user is submitting time sheets?

Can't you check this within the process that you have created using the gel script ?

3) Also we are using both PM and RM approvals for time sheets. PM should be able to see only their line item after receiving action item  and approving that. This is all done. But problem is how can PM delegate the same to the another PM. My process is sending an action item to delegated PM, but delegated PM is not able to see anything on timecard. What should be done to enable a delegated person to see the original PM only line item?

Does the delegated PM have the timesheet approve right over the resources ? If not, please provide the delegated PM with the required right and then check

NJ

Thanks for the reply joshi.

Can't you check this within the process that you have created using the gel script ?

I didn't understand which Gel process you are referring to. My requirement is when user is submitting the time sheet and if he forgot to enter either uservalue1 or value2 then system should throw an error in real time. Is this achievable?

Does the delegated PM have the time sheet approve right over the resources ? If not, please provide the delegated PM with the required right and then check?

Actually when we grant a time sheet approve rights to delegated PM then that will give access to see the entire time sheet. Requirement is PM should be able to see only their line item. I don't see any instance right like project time approve or something so that PM who is going on vacation can delegate this right to another PM.  Also in our company PM can do delegations on their projects only. They will not able to delegate resources to other mangers. Can you please suggest me any workaround?

If possible can you give me any suggestion on Question 1?

Thanks again

Naresh

For real tile validation, you can check the CA Timesheet Validator Add-In available from CA Global Delivery.  It provides set up of real-time validation rules for the timesheet when submitted. You can check with you CA account manager for this

NJ

Thanks a lot Joshi.

Can you please help me with my other questions?

Can some one please help me with this Post?

1. Lookup 1 and 2 are static lookups. You can certainly populate the values in them with the gel script. Also it is possible to directly populate them on the timesheet based on certain business rules provided the lookup is already populated. The only caution I throw over here is.. the user lookup fields are quite useful for financial implementation and Rates calculation. If you are using these fields for something "nice to have", you may want to think over it as you may get stuck with those values in case in-future you want to utilize them for something financial related.

2. You cannot make the lookup values required OOTB. But there is a workaround. You can validate these values in the timesheet approval process. If they are blank, then reject the timesheet and send an email back to the resource.

3. I would not recommend giving time approval rights to the PM's. The workaround with this would be create a simple time portlet for the PMs who can see the time booked against their projects by their team members. If they disagree with the time, then they can reject the action item for them.

A couple other things which you may find useful -

1. This is common issue with timesheet which frustrates a lot of PMs. If a resource does populate, the timesheet will populate all the tasks they have been assigned to (based on the populate logic). If the resource does not remove the zero hour project tasks, it will send the PM an action item for approval which could be annoying and a lot of wasted time. There are ways to remove these time entries.

2. If the PM and RM are the same person, the timesheet approval could send them two action items. The process could be modified to avoid duplication.

Hopefully this helps!

Atul,

Thanks a lot for the information.

In your first step you said We can populate lookups values with Gel script and also populate those values on time sheet.  Can you please explain me or provide me little bit more information about this?

Also I have one more Question.

How can we do auto approval of action items created by Time Approval Process for Certain Projects(PM's)? Ex: When User submits a Time sheet with 4 Entries in it. Process will send 4 action items to 4 PM's. Is there any way process will auto approve 1 action item of 4 after they are created? Time Booked on Certain projects should be auto approved. Can you please let me know a way to achieve this?

Thanks again

Naresh

GEL Script can written to populate lookup values in Lookup and Timesheets. Also in your time approval process, you can write custom script to approve action items. It does get a bit complicated but possible. We do that for approving OTHER Work actions items.

Thanks for the reply atul.

If possible can you please share some sample code of the 3 items you described above.

Thanks

Naresh

Atul, Can you please share the sample codes?

Thanks

Naresh

I don't have a technical solution, but thought I'd chime in:

We had the same system at our company for 4 years, with double-step PM and RM approvals. PMs only had visibility into time submitted against their projects. After years of that style we got lots of complaints from PMs and RMs that they needed visibility into an entire resource's timesheet, in order to provide context and help understand what submitted time "means." They were having trouble approving small bits of time in a vacuum without understanding the rest of it.

For example: consider someone assigned 100% to a project submitting 10 hrs to that project, and 30 hrs to a vacation task or other overhead project / NPIO. If a PM can only see their own items, they may wonder why someone they have 100% of is submitting so few hours. If they can see the whole timesheet it becomes obvious that the resource was away from the office.

In 2011 we changed to PMs getting notifications only when time hit their projects, with RMs being solely responsible for approvals. We've gotten nothing but good feedback from both PMs and RMs since then. As long as you can get around the potential privacy issues, it's a great solution - easier for everyone!

Hi Kishmo,

Thanks for sharing the info.

Thanks

Naresh