What's New: Entering and Approving Time Sheets (2024 release wave 1)
Time sheet entry and approval changes in Business Central 2024 release wave 1: self-service tiles, context-aware submit and reopen, dynamic columns, conditional formatting, F8 copy, extended copy, details factbox, time submission policy, and manager approval changes for projects.
- Introduction and overview
- Quick access and error prevention for time sheet entry
- Dynamic columns and conditional formatting
- Copying time sheets and details factbox
- Demo: Employee time sheet entry workflow
- Time submission policy for empty lines
- Manager time sheet approval enhancements
- Demo: Manager time sheet approval workflow
- Related sessions and conclusion
Overview
The video covers what changed in time sheets in 2024 release wave 1, for both employees entering time and managers approving it. On the entry side it shows a new self-service tile that opens the current time sheet by work date, context-aware submit and reopen actions, a status column that turns red and italic when data is missing, and columns that show or hide based on company setup.
It also covers copying values with keyboard shortcuts and copying lines from open or submitted time sheets, plus a details factbox on time sheet lines. A time submission policy controls how empty lines are handled on submission. For managers, the manager time sheet by projects page shows more detail, and approval now applies only to selected time sheets by default. Both workflows are demonstrated.
Key points
- A new self-service tile opens the current time sheet based on the work date, and a separate tile covers new time sheets with no lines started.
- Submit and reopen actions are context-aware: they are disabled when there are no lines, and submit is enabled only once the required details are entered, which avoids unnecessary errors.
- The status column on time sheet lines shows red and italic when required data is missing.
- Project, project task, cause of absence and chargeable columns show or hide depending on the company’s setup.
- F8 copies values from the previous line, and lines can be copied from open or submitted time sheets, with specific lines selectable.
- A time sheet line details factbox, shown wherever time sheet lines appear, lets users see comments and details about the resource, project or task.
- The time submission policy sets whether empty lines are skipped on submission or kept with warnings, and the existing behavior stays available.
Features
| Feature | Status | At |
|---|---|---|
| New time sheet tile in self-service | status not stated, demoed | 0:56 |
| Context-aware submit and reopen actions | status not stated, demoed | 1:36 |
| Conditional formatting for status column | status not stated, demoed | 1:36 |
| Dynamic column visibility based on setup | status not stated, demoed | 1:57 |
| Keyboard shortcuts for copying time sheet values | status not stated, demoed | 2:37 |
| Enhanced time sheet copy functionality | status not stated, demoed | 2:56 |
| Time sheet line details factbox | status not stated, demoed | 3:16 |
| Time submission policy | status not stated | 7:17 |
| Enhanced manager time sheet details for projects | status not stated, demoed | 7:57 |
| Selective time sheet approval by default | status not stated, demoed | 9:14 |
AL objects mentioned
As heard in the captions. A name that matches one object page by exact type and name links to it; the others stay as named.
Not found in BC28-30: page “manager time sheets by projects”, page “time sheet line details”.
Quotes
- 1:36 “we’ve actually made uh submit and reopen uh actions context aware so that you don’t get in in the situations where the errors are”
- 2:17 “these columns are now basically dependent on your company’s setup so in case you haven’t set up causes of absence or you’re not working”
- 3:16 “we have added a time sheet line details fact box which actually allows you to go and peek into the data and the comments”
- 7:17 “we’ve noticed while looking at our Telemetry is there’s a lot of a lot of Errors where uh that get produced by the empty”
- 7:57 “project managers now have way way more detail in their uh manager time sheet by jobs or by projects available while approving uh time”
- 9:14 “the default uh the default setting of approval is only for the selected time sheets that sort of avoids we got feedback that that”
Presenters (as heard): Ian ktic.