Managing Pay Periods, Timesheet Approvals, and Payroll Exports Print

Employee Time Logger Pro organizes time into non-overlapping pay periods and supports employee certification, manager approvals, overtime categorization, exception review, payroll exports, and final locking.

Required access: Payroll-management permission for periods and exports; approval permission for timesheets. Enable the Payroll & Approvals master feature and the needed sub-features.

Configure payroll rules

1. Go to Time Logger > Settings > Payroll Rules.
2. Review weekly overtime and its threshold.
3. Review daily overtime and daily double-time only when applicable.
4. Set the long-shift threshold used to flag a possible forgotten clock-out.
5. Review project requirements.
6. Configure timesheet reminder behavior and timing.
7. Review employee email after an Administrator correction.
8. Configure automatic pay-period generation if desired.
9. Save the settings.

Test overtime with known examples before production. These calculations are administrative aids and do not decide which legal rule applies.

Create pay periods automatically

1. Enable automatic generation.
2. Choose Weekly, Every Two Weeks, Twice per Month, or Monthly.
3. Use the first day of a known real period as the Anchor Start Date.
4. Choose how many future periods to keep ready.
5. Save and review the generated dates under Payroll > Pay Periods.

Create a pay period manually

1. Go to Time Logger > Payroll > Pay Periods.
2. Enter a Label, such as “September 1–14, 2026.”
3. Enter Start Date and End Date.
4. Select Create period.
5. Confirm the new period is Open and does not overlap another period.

Understand period states

Employee certification

1. The employee opens the normal clock page.
2. The employee reviews every entry in the period.
3. The employee resolves missing time through the approved correction process.
4. The employee submits the timesheet certification, including a note when required.

A zero-hour employee may still need to submit. This proves the employee reviewed a period with no recorded work rather than simply forgetting it.

Manager approval

1. Go to Time Logger > Payroll > Approvals.
2. Review Employee, Period, Hours, Exceptions, and Submission Status.
3. Open related time entries when an exception requires investigation.
4. Enter an optional review note.
5. Select Approve or Reject.
6. Confirm the decision is recorded.

Supervisors see only their assigned scope. Every required employee timesheet, including zero-hour submissions, must be resolved before final approval.

Review period details

1. On Pay Periods, select Details.
2. Review Regular, Overtime, Double Time, and Exceptions.
3. Review every employee total, including zero-hour employees.
4. Resolve active, duplicate, overlapping, future-dated, or long entries.
5. Verify approved paid leave rows.
6. Compare totals with certified and approved timesheets.

Configure payroll export profile

1. On Pay Periods, find Payroll Export Profile.
2. Choose Generic Detailed CSV, QuickBooks-ready CSV, Gusto-ready CSV, ADP-ready CSV, or Paychex-ready CSV.
3. Enter each employee's Payroll Employee / Associate ID exactly as the provider expects.
4. Select Save export profile.
5. Generate a sample and validate it before the first live payroll.

Export and finalize

1. Confirm all required certifications and approvals.
2. Resolve every exception or document why it is acceptable.
3. Generate the selected payroll export.
4. Open the file and compare employee IDs, dates, regular hours, overtime, double time, leave, and project fields with period details.
5. Import into the payroll provider's test or preview workflow when available.
6. Record any provider rejection and correct the Employee Time Logger data or export profile.
7. Move the period to Approved, then Locked, according to internal procedure.
8. Confirm the export appears in Payroll Export History.

Correct a finalized period

1. Record why the correction is required and who authorized it.
2. Reopen the period.
3. Edit or restore the affected entry, or approve the correction request.
4. Recalculate and review totals and exceptions.
5. Repeat required certification or approval steps.
6. Generate and validate a replacement export.
7. Approve and lock the period again.

Troubleshooting