Time Card Management

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated August 1, 2024
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Time Card Management

    Time Card Management in ServiceNow enables task assignees to accurately report and track their working time on assigned tasks such as projects, incidents, problems, and change requests. It integrates with the Task table to capture time worked efficiently and supports submission and approval workflows for both time cards and time sheets. This feature requires the Time Card Management plugin and optionally integrates with Project Management for automatic activation of time cards.

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    Key Features

    • Time Recording: Users can log hours spent on tasks via time cards and aggregate weekly entries into time sheets for submission.
    • Approval Workflow: Time cards and sheets are routed for approval based on user time sheet policies, with roles such as time card approvers and user managers able to approve, reject, or recall submissions for corrections.
    • Delegation: Approvers can delegate approval responsibilities to others, though delegation cannot be limited to individual resources and cannot be further delegated by the delegate.
    • Administrative Controls: Time card admins can manage policies, approve or reject exceptions, and edit time cards in Pending or Rejected states.
    • Time Sheet Policies: Define rules that time sheets and time cards must comply with to maintain consistency.
    • Project Time Categories: Allows creation of subcategories to specify activities within projects for more detailed time reporting.
    • Rate Types: Supports creation of rate types for time tracking and cost management.
    • Time Sheet Portal: Provides users with a consolidated weekly view of assigned tasks to easily enter and submit time.
    • Cost Management Integration: When enabled, time cards help manage labor costs within the Cost Management application.
    • Analytics and Reporting: Preconfigured dashboards provide project managers and user managers with actionable insights on time card exceptions and category-wise time reporting.
    • Domain Separation Compliance: Ensures data isolation for domain-specific users at the data level, supporting secure multi-domain environments.
    • Mobile Access: The ServiceNow Mobile Timesheets app allows users and managers to manage time sheets on iOS and Android devices via the Now Mobile app.

    Activation and Setup

    Administrators can activate the Time Card Management plugin, which also enables related Performance Analytics dashboards. A Performance Analytics license is required to utilize these dashboards. To tailor time tracking, create time sheet policies, project time categories, and rate types. Use the Time Sheet Portal for efficient user time entry and submission.

    Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Streamlines time tracking and approval processes across multiple task types.
    • Provides visibility and control over time reporting with role-based approvals and delegation.
    • Enhances cost management by linking time tracking with labor costs.
    • Supports compliance and data security with domain separation.
    • Improves operational oversight with built-in analytics and mobile accessibility.

    The Time Card Management feature enables time card users such as task assignees to report and track their time for the assigned tasks.

    Watch this three-minute video to learn about setup of the time tracking feature, entering time and approvals.

    Time Card Management works with the Task table to record time worked on various task types, such as projects, incidents, problems, and change requests.

    With the Time Card Management feature:

    • The time card users can record the time worked on a task using time cards and time sheets. They can submit their time cards and time sheets for approval.
    • Time cards and time sheets are routed for approval based on the Non-project time approver and Project time approver fields in the user time sheet policy. User managers with time card approver role can also log time and submit the time sheet of their resources
    • The time card approvers can perform the following tasks:
      • Review and approve or reject the time cards in a submitted time sheet.
      • Recall the approved time sheets or time cards to return them to the users for corrections.
      • Use dashboards to view reports of time card and time sheet exceptions, and categorize time reported by the users.
      • Delegate another time card approver to process time sheets from your resources when you might not have time or will be unavailable. Note the following points for delegation:
        • You cannot delegate approval only for an individual resource.
        • The delegated time card approver cannot further delegate your time sheet approvals.

      The project_manager and the resource_manager roles contain the timecard_approver role in the base system. However, the timecard_approver role can also be used independently without these roles.

    • The time card admin can create and manage time sheet policies, and can also approve or reject by exception and process the time sheets. Time card admin can also create or edit time cards of any users if the time cards are in Pending or Rejected state.
    Note:
    The Time Card Management plugin is required to use time cards. Some of the procedures require the project management feature, which activates time cards automatically. For more information, see Project Management (com.snc.financial_planning_pmo).

    Domain separation in Time Card Management

    Domain separation provides complete data isolation for domain-specific users. Time card Management is domain separation compliant at the Data only level.