Timesheet Cutoff Date – Read-Only Access to Past Timesheets

Hello ​@millertj2,

At NASCO, for those users wanting to look back we have trained them to take one of the following approaches:

1. Use the ‘My Assignments’ widget to access Staffing and showed them how to turn on actual effort via the screen settings.
2. Build a resource portfolio with just their resource profile and then utilize reports on the ribbon. 

Hope these work around can help you out. 

Best regards,

Pam

Thank you, Pam. This is very helpful. If this capability were enhanced, would it provide a time savings for your team?

​@millertj2 - potentially it could help with time savings, however having those visible could lead a user to assume that their manager could just disapprove to allow edits which should not be the case. If there was a visual identifier of those prior to cutoff and thus cannot make any changes, even a disapproval, then there may be benefits but I do feel that the other work arounds allows them that clear differentiator of looking at actuals easier than clicking through each timesheet.

Another option would be to allow Timesheet Review to display data prior to timesheet cutoff. This would give the ability to review timesheet info without going into the timesheet and thus the confusion of what can be disapproved to allow updates and what cannot. 

​@millertj2 this is the intended functionality of the cut off date.

An alternative way of viewing timesheet data is to use the MY26 or RES26 FastTrack Analytics.

https://success.planview.com/?cid=res26

Thank you Tara for bringing up this topic, as it is a common request we get from our Portfolio Timesheet users!

I also often recommend directing users to the Staffing view rather than the My Assignments tile, since it avoids the extra step of having them customize their banner to add the tile, while ultimately providing the same information in a very similar format.

That said, both options require users to adjust their preferences to display the prior date range they need and to include effort from progressed timesheet periods. In addition, both approaches have a gap when the time period immediately prior to the cutoff date has not yet been progressed. In those situations, if a user simply wants to reference what they entered the previous week, and that week falls just before the current cutoff date, their only remaining option is typically to run a report.  

Both the My Assignments/Staffing view and reporting workarounds involve significantly more steps and training than many users expect for what is essentially a quick historical lookup. In our experience, many of these users primarily access Portfolios just to complete and submit their timesheets, so the current alternatives feel cumbersome for retrieving what should be simple, straightforward information. From a user-experience standpoint, there is an expectation that this type of brief “look back” should be available in just a few clicks.