In this article, we will review how to edit and bulk edit timesheet approval requests in the Approval Center.
How to bulk edit approval requests
The Bulk Edit functionality in the PPM Express Approval Center allows you to move reported time from one project to another without asking users to update their timesheets manually.
You can update approval requests for a single user or multiple users at once, including requests that are already approved or are still pending approval, provided all selected approval requests belong to the same project.
This functionality is particularly useful when time has been reported against the wrong project or task and needs to be reassigned.
The ability to bulk edit approval requests depends on the user's role, the request status, and the Time Tracking Settings.
- Administrators can bulk edit approval requests in both Approved and Pending Approval statuses.
- Project Managers and Direct Managers can bulk edit Pending Approval requests within their access permissions. To bulk edit Approved requests, the Allow Project Managers and Direct Managers to recall approved requests setting must be enabled under Time Tracking Settings.
To bulk edit approval requests:
1. Open PPM Express and navigate to the Approval Center.
2. Select the approval requests you want to update. You can use the available filters to find requests for a particular project, reporting period, or user.
3. Select the required requests using the checkboxes next to them. You can select requests for multiple users and different reporting periods, as long as they belong to the same project and the periods are open and in the same calendar year.
4. Once the requests are selected, click Bulk Edit on the toolbar. The Bulk Edit panel opens.
5. In the Source Project field, review the project from which the reported time will be moved. This field is read-only and displays the project associated with the selected requests.
6. In the Target Project field, select the project to which you want to move the reported time.
The Target Project list includes only projects you can add to a timesheet and report time against, and where time tracking is enabled.
7. In the Task Mapping section, specify where the reported time should be moved within the target project.
The left column displays the original tasks or time entries from the source project. The right column allows you to select the corresponding tasks in the target project.
You can map several source tasks or time entries to the same destination task. In this case, the reported hours from the selected source entries are combined in the corresponding target entry.
The Target column can contain the following types of entries:
Project task: Select an existing task from the target project's task list.
The reported time will be moved to that task, provided that the relevant users have permission to report time against it.
If a user is not assigned to the target task, the behavior depends on the Time Tracking Settings -> Report time on Unassigned Tasks setting:
- Disabled: The corresponding warning appears, and the operation is blocked until the user is assigned to the task or another task is selected.
- Enabled: The time can be moved to the timesheet, but it will not be synchronized with the target project.
Custom time entry: Select Custom time entry from the target dropdown to create a custom entry. A text field appears where you can enter the name of the custom time entry.
If the source entry is already a custom time entry, the Custom time entry option is selected automatically, and the original entry name is populated. You can keep or modify this name.
Project Work: Lets you move reported time to the project-level work entry associated with Resource Plan. If the original source entry is Project Work, this option is selected automatically.
For the time to be recorded correctly as Project Work, the corresponding user must be added to the target project's Resource Plan as a committed resource. If the user is not a committed resource, a warning appears, and the operation cannot be applied until the requirement is met.
Review any warnings displayed for the selected task mappings and resolve blocking issues if necessary.
Click Apply to complete the operation.
The system recalls and removes the original approval requests and creates new approval requests for the target project with Pending Approval status.
The system sends email notifications about the new approval requests to the responsible managers. No email notifications are sent to timesheet owners as a result of the bulk edit.
The system preserves the original reporting dates and number of hours.
Bulk Edit moves all reported hours associated with the selected source entries. It does not provide a field for changing the number of hours. If you need to split hours between projects or change the reported amount, use the editing functionality for each project separately.
PPM Express removes the source project from the affected timesheets.
How to edit individual approval requests
This functionality is useful when you need to move reported hours to another project or task, or adjust the number of hours recorded against a particular project.
The ability to edit individual time entries depends on the user's role and the approval request status.
- Administrators can edit Pending Approval and Approved time entries.
- Project Managers and Direct Managers can edit Pending Approval entries.
Individual editing also supports Administrative Time entries.
To edit reported time to another project or task, perform the following:
1. Open the Approval Center.
2. Click on the ellipsis button next to the selected approval request and choose Edit.
3. In the editing panel, review the Source Project, which displays the project where the time was originally reported.
4. Select the Target Project to which you want to move the reported time.
5. Choose the destination time entry:
- Existing task: Select a task from the target project.
- Custom time entry: Create a custom entry with the required name.
-
Project Work: Move the time to the project-level work entry associated with the Resource Plan.
When moving time to Project Work, the corresponding resource must be added to the target project's Resource Plan as a committed resource. Otherwise, the operation cannot be completed.
If the user is not assigned to the selected target task, a warning may appear. Depending on the time tracking settings, the time may be moved to the timesheet without being synchronized with the target project.
6. Specify the number of hours in the Target fields.
You can also adjust the hours in the Source field to decide whether to retain or remove the original reported time.
7. Review any warnings and apply the changes.
When editing an individual time entry, you can modify the reported hours in the source and target entries.
For example, if 3 hours were reported against Project A, you can:
- Move all 3 hours to Project B: Set the source entry to 0 and enter 3 hours in the target entry.
- Keep the original hours and add time to another project: Leave 3 hours in the source entry and enter the required number of hours in the target entry.
- Split the reported time between projects: Adjust the source and target values to distribute the hours as needed.
The changes are applied to the corresponding timesheets and reflected in the Approval Center.