How does Timesheet Memory work?

Question

How does Timesheet Memory work?

Answer

 

Background

When individual timesheet users who work on the same projects or tasks from week to week, it is cumbersome for them to have to setup their new timesheets from scratch. Timesheet Memory is a system feature that allows users to "clone" or "copy forward" the properties of rows or rows and hours values from timesheet to timesheet automatically. When the user logs into a new timesheet, with these settings, they will see that the new timesheet has the same row properties, or row properties and hours values as their previous timesheet.

 

There are three settings for Timesheet Memory: None, Rows and Rows and Hours.

     

None

The behavior of Timesheet Memory when it is set to "None" is:

• When a new timesheet is created at midnight at the end of the time period (whether the time period is weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly or custom), the system creates a so-called "blank" timesheet. 
• A blank timesheet has the normal timesheet structure dictated by the timesheet template assigned to the user, however, there are no rows added to the timesheet and the user will see a "prompt" to "add a row to the timesheet" to get started.

Rows

The behavior of Timesheet Memory when it is set to "Rows" is:

• When Timesheet Memory is set to "Rows," when a new timesheet is created at midnight at the end of the time period, the system uses the row structure of previous timesheet to create the next timesheet.
• If the timesheet has a "Week View" enabled (e.g., non-start and finish time timesheets), the user will see all rows for every day of the timesheet populated with the object values of the previous timesheet.  
• Timesheet Memory is a best practice for project- or task-oriented users who work on the same projects and tasks from week to week. In other words, this ease-of-use feature will eliminate time spent on recreating the rows, projects and tasks of the previous timesheet on the new timesheet. This is especially helpful if the user breaks down their work with smaller blocks of time and their timesheets have a large numbers of rows.

Rows and Hours

The behavior of Timesheet Memory when it is set to "Rows and Hours" is:

• When a new timesheet is created at midnight at the end of the time period, the system will generate an exact clone of the previous timesheet, excluding submission, approval and export flags.
• Rows and Hours is a best practice for project- oriented users who have nearly identical allocations of their hours from timesheet to timesheet. In this way, they are happy to start with an exact copy of the previous because they intend to make minor modifications to hours or work item values.

Setup

Timesheet Memory is setup by setting an employee profile's Timesheet Memory value to None, Rows or Rows and Hours. This can be done manually, or by including the Timesheet Memory field in an employee data manual or auto-import file, or in a REST API call to Add or Update an employee profile.