SAP Knowledge Base Article - Public

2738965 - Time Sheet Automatic Submission and Workflow Processing Behavior

Symptom

This KBA explains the automatic submission logic in Time Sheet. 

For example, 

  • When is a time sheet submitted automatically by Submit Time Sheet background job?
  • What are the conditions considered by the Submit Time Sheet job for triggering workflow or not for the current time sheet week?
  • Is there any possibility to set up customer logic in time sheet auto submission ?
  • Is it possible to decide a customer auto submission date for time sheets ?
  • Is it possible to set up an auto submission date different from time sheet approval period ? For example, is it possible to set up auto submission based on payroll period rather than time sheet period ?
  • How far into the past can the time sheet submission job pick up the pending time sheets ?

Environment

  • SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central - Time Sheet
  • SAP SuccessFactors Time Tracking

Resolution

1.) Default Auto Submission Logic

When the current time sheet week is finished, the system automatically runs the 'Submit Time Sheet' job to select time sheets in 'To Be Submitted' status, and submits them for payroll processing based on a default logic hardcoded (below chart shows the details on the logic). 
The job runs daily and submits only those timesheets with an end date of today or earlier. 

  • Note: All time sheet background jobs run automatically based on the configuration for TLMTriggerTasks job in Provisioning. The Time Sheet Submit job is part of the TLMTriggerTasks job.
    When TLMTriggerTasks is started, the following jobs are triggered automatically one after another: Trigger Recalculation job → Import External Times job → Generate Working Times job → Submit Time Sheets job
    By default, TLMTriggerTasks job is scheduled in provisioning and runs every day (usually, in the early morning hours). If the job is not scheduled, it needs to be done like follows: go to company provisioning → Manage Scheduled Jobs → Create New Job → create a job of type TLMTriggerTasks and schedule it.
    The 'TLMTriggerTask' Job can be referred to for more details.
    See Also KBA 2705723 - Can Multiple Trigger Tasks Jobs Be Created or Scheduled at Custom Times? 

  • For testing purposes, it is also possible to create a job of type Submit Time Sheets in provisioning and schedule it, or to start it each time manually. This, however, is not the recommended way to use time sheet jobs.

  • Optional: It is possible to specify how far back the automatic submission of timesheets should go by adjusting the 'Weeks relevant for timesheet submit job' field in the Time Management Configuration object. This field is not visible by default and is initially set to 13 weeks, counting backwards from the job run date. The valid range for this field is 1 to 60 weeks. If a value outside this range is entered, the system will revert to the default of 13 weeks. 

  • The table below displays the hardcoded default auto submission logic performed by the system based on specific conditions and existing time sheet entries:
Time Recording MethodExisting Entries / ConditionsAction Taken
Positive Time RecordingExternal Time Data (Imported Entries) OnlySubmit with Workflow
Absences Only + Full Work Schedule CoveredSubmit with Workflow
Absences Only + Full Work Schedule Not CoveredNo Action
Manual Entries OnlyNo Action
Manual Entries + Generated EntriesNo Action
Absences + Manual EntriesNo Action
Absences + External Time Data (Imported Entries)Submit with Workflow
Manual + External Time Data (Imported Entries)Submit with Workflow
Absences + External Time Data (Imported Entries)+ Manual EntriesSubmit with Workflow
No EntriesNo Action
Single record approval missingNo Action
Negative Time RecordingSystem Generated Entries OnlyAuto approve
Absences OnlyAuto approve
Manual Entries OnlySubmit with Workflow
Absences + Manual EntriesSubmit with Workflow
Absences + System Generated EntriesAuto approve
Manual Entries + System Generated EntriesSubmit with workflow
Absences + System Generated Entries + Manual EntriesSubmit with Workflow
No EntriesAuto approve
Single record approval missingNo Action
Overtime Recording
No Action regardless of Existing Entries / Conditions
    • **Action "Submit with Workflow": If no workflow is configured for the timesheet, as is the case with Consolidated Time Recording (CTR), the timesheet will be submitted and automatically approved upon submission, as there is no workflow to trigger.
      Note: In CTR, no workflow should be enabled on SF time sheet side, because all attendance recording related workflow approvals are expected to be done on S/4 My Timesheet side. More details can be found in KBA 3598713 - Design and Restrictions of Consolidated Time Recording.

    • On-call times are handled as attendance (manual or imported entry). 
    • Allowances are handled as manual entry.

    2.) Enhanced Configurability options on Auto Submission and Auto Approval with Time Tracking:

    With Time Tracking Functions, we also provided Time Sheet Submission Rule, Auto Submission Deviation and Time Recording Calendar capabilities for customers to customize time sheet auto submission logic and auto approval.

    • Time Sheet Submission Rule supports positive and overtime time recorders. 
      It is possible to overwrite above hardcoded default auto submission logic so that you can decide whether the time sheets should be auto submitted. For example, the time sheet should be auto submitted as long as there is any absence in the time sheet period. 
      But it does NOT change the auto submission date. That is, the time sheet will still be auto submitted by the 'Submit Time Sheet' job on the end date of the time sheet period, as long as the customer logic in the time sheet submission rule is met. 
      If your requirement is not to auto submit any time sheet always, please refer to KBA 3497038 - Stop Auto Submission for positive or overtime timesheet recorders (Time Tracking)

    • Auto Submission Deviation supports negative, positive and overtime time recorders.
      It is possible to auto submit time sheets some days before or after the time sheet end date by giving a positive or negative value to Deviate Automatic Submission By (+/- Days) field in Time Sheet Submission Configuration object.
      A positive number submits the time sheet the number of days after the end date of the time sheet.
      A negative number submits the time sheet the number of days before the end date of the time sheet. To avoid an excessive number of amendments, you can't enter a value below -2.
      But this deviation configuration alone does NOT overwrite auto submission logic, either default logic without time sheet submission rule, or customer logic configured through time sheet submission rule.
      It only impacts the date when the time sheet should be considered by the 'Submit Time Sheet' job for auto submission.

    • Time Recording Calendar supports negative, positive and overtime time recorders.
      It provides calendar based auto submission and auto approval capability so that the time sheets from a certain period can be auto submitted and auto approved on particular dates as configured in the Time Recording Calendar object.
      Time Recording Calendar does NOT disable default logic without time sheet submission rule, NOR disable the customer logic configured in time sheet submission rule that happens with the time sheet period. 
      It only works as an additional date beyond the time sheet period to auto submit the pending submission time sheets and pending approval time sheets. 
      It is submitted by 'TLM Trigger Tasks job' rather than 'Submit Time Sheet' job, so when the time sheet is auto submitted by Time Recording Calendar by  'TLM Trigger Tasks job', it does not check the hardcoded default auto submission logic nor the time sheet submission rule if configured. As long as there is no non-approved Single Record Approval, the time sheet will be auto submitted. 
      If you want the Time Recording Calendar to be the only configuration to auto submit time sheet,
      • for positive and overtime recorders, please refer to KBA 3497038 - Stop Auto Submission for positive or overtime timesheet recorders (Time Tracking) to stop auto submission with the time sheet period
      • for negative recorders, please set Deviate Automatic Submission By (+/- Days) in Time Sheet Submission Configuration object to 420 and Weeks relevant for time sheet submit job in Time Management Configuration object to 60. 
        Attention! Please ensure there will not be any non-approved Single Record Approval or Error that would block the auto submission of such negative time sheets! Remember, there will NOT be the Submit button for manual submission of the negative time sheets!

     

    Attention! Any non-approved single record approval will prevent the time sheet from being submitted regardless of which logic is submitting the time sheet!

    You can find more details in blog post: Automatic Time Sheet Submission and Approval Capabilities in SAP SuccessFactors Time Tracking

     

    3.) Appendix: List of Time Tracking Enhancements on Auto Submission Configurability

    2305 Time Tracking Enhancement: 

    2311 Time Tracking Enhancement: 

    • With 2311 release, it possible to change below auto submission system logic for positive recorders with Time Sheet Submission Rule, now custom criteria can be defined for time sheets automatic submission. For example, Manual Entries only timesheet can also be auto-submitted.
      If no Time Sheet Submission Rule is used, then default auto submission logic as shown in below chart will be followed.
    • With 2311 release, it's possible to define a time sheet submission with a deviation, which means that time sheets are automatically submitted some days before or after the end date of the time sheet. For example, time sheets can be defined to auto-submitted one day later.
    • With 2311 release, to pay employee on time, now it's possible to auto-submit and auto-approve timesheet before based on calendar date with Calendar-Based Automatic Time Sheet Submission. Please note, with 2311 release, the calendar based auto-approval of time sheet has no workflow process involved.

    2405 Time Tracking Enhancement: 

    • With 2405 release, it is possible to auto-approve pending time sheet workflow requests via Calendar-Based Automatic Approval of Pending Time Sheet Workflow Requests. The Processing User field is automatically available in the time recording calendar for SAP SuccessFactors Time Tracking customers. And it is needed to make sure the user assigned to the Processing Users field has been given the permissions required to approve time sheet workflows. A summary of auto submission and workflow triggering depending on Time Sheet Submission Rule and Workflow Configuration is like below.
    • If there is a workflow approval process configured in the system for time sheet and there is also Time Sheet Submission Rule assigned, then relevant conditions defined in the Time Sheet Submission Rule assigned to the employees and existing entries are considered to determine whether the time sheet should be submitted with workflow.
      Workflow will always be triggered with the auto submission as long as the workflow approval process is defined.
    • If there is a workflow approval process configured in the system for time sheet and no Time Sheet Submission Rule configured, then relevant conditions depending on the time recording method assigned to the employees and existing entries are considered by the system to determine if a workflow should be triggered upon submission of the time sheet.

    See Also

    Implementation of Time Sheet

    Implementation of SAP SuccessFactors Time Tracking

    Creating a Calendar for Automatic Time Sheet Submission and Approval

    SAP Community Automatic Time Sheet Submission and Approval Capabilities in SAP SuccessFactors Time Tracking

    KBA 2778044 - Time Sheets Are Auto Submitted And Workflow Triggered

    KBA 2705723 - Can Multiple Trigger Tasks Jobs Be Created or Scheduled at Custom Times? 

    Keywords

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    Product

    SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central all versions ; SAP SuccessFactors HCM Core all versions ; SAP SuccessFactors Time Tracking all versions