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A timesheet moves through a fixed set of states. Nothing skips a step, and every move has one owner. This page is the reference.

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Two status layers

Timesheets carry two layers of status. They answer different questions, so they have different values. A period’s overall reading follows its least advanced entry. Nine approved entries and one draft entry make a draft week.

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Entry statuses

These are the states a single time entry lives in.
Rejected is not stored as its own status. A rejected entry goes back to draft and keeps the reason attached. TimeTracker shows it as Rejected everywhere until you redo it, so the same entry never reads “Draft” on one screen and “Rejected” on another.

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The state machine

Each row is a state. Each move is a legal transition. Anything not listed is refused. Three rules follow from that table, and they are worth reading twice.
A status is never its own successor. Approving an already-approved period is refused, not silently ignored. This is what stops a double click from writing twice.
  • Only two moves go backwards. submitted → draft returns work to its author. approved → draft reverses a decision.
  • Reopening is blocked once anything is locked or invoiced. At that point the correction route is an adjustment, not a reopen.
  • invoiced → locked only happens by voiding the invoice. Nothing else releases invoiced time.

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Submission statuses

These are the states of the whole period.

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When the period is editable again

A period is editable when it has no submission at all, or its status is Changes requested or Withdrawn. Submitted and Approved are frozen.

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Reopening lands on Changes requested

Reopening an approved period does not return it to “Not submitted”. It sets the period to Changes requested and records a Reopened event in the activity log, with the reason. The entries go back to draft.

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Activity events

The review screen shows an append-only log of everything that happened to the period. Each event records the date, the time, who did it, and any comment.

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Example

Sarah Lin’s week at Northwind Studio.
1

Monday to Friday

Sarah tracks 32 hours. Every entry is Draft. The period badge reads Not submitted.
2

Friday afternoon

She submits. All entries become Submitted, the period becomes Submitted, and her week freezes.
3

Friday evening

Priya Raman asks for changes: “3h on homepage wireframes should be billable.” Every entry returns to Draft and shows as Rejected. The period reads Changes requested.
4

Monday

Sarah fixes the 3 hours and resubmits. Entries are Submitted again. The log shows Submitted, Requested changes, Resubmitted.
5

Monday afternoon

Priya approves. Entries become Approved and the period reads Approved.
6

Month end

Tom Whitfield closes the period through the last day of the month. Sarah’s entries become Locked – no further edits.
7

Invoicing

Daniel Okafor bills Bluebird Coffee. The billable entries become Invoiced.

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Permissions

Holding the capability is only half of it. Supervision scope decides whose period you can act on. See /concepts/supervision-scope.

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Plan gating

Moving a period out of Submitted – approving or requesting changes – is a Pro feature. Reversing a decision is not gated. Reopening an approval and withdrawing an approval work on every plan, so a workspace that lapses is never stuck holding a decision it can neither finish nor undo.

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Common questions

A state is never its own successor. Once the period is approved, the only moves out are locking it or reopening it.
A week takes the status of its least advanced entry. One draft entry makes the whole week read as draft.
Approved means a reviewer accepted it, and it can still be reopened. Locked means a period close froze it, and only an adjustment can correct it.
Not a stored one. A rejected entry is a draft carrying a reason. It reads as Rejected so you know it needs redoing.
Not directly. Voiding the invoice returns its entries to Locked, where an adjustment can correct them.

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Troubleshooting

  • “This has already been submitted.” Refresh to see the period’s current state.
  • “Someone else changed this while you had it open.” Two people acted at once. Refresh, then act again.
  • “That period is closed.” The entries are locked or invoiced. Reopening is refused – use an adjustment.
  • “There’s nothing submitted for that period yet, so there’s nothing to act on.” No submission exists for that person and period.

How timesheets work

The full loop, in plain language.

Reopen an approval

Reverse a decision and what it does to the time.

Close a period

Lock approved time through a date.

Adjustments

Correct time that can no longer be edited.

All statuses

Every status set in the product, in one place.

Roles and capabilities

Who holds which capability by default.