Why approval matters (it's not bureaucracy)
If timesheets feed billing, payroll, or capitalization, unreviewed hours are a liability: a mistyped 8 becomes 80, time lands on the wrong client's account, and nobody notices until the invoice bounces back. An approval step catches errors while they're cheap — and produces the record (who approved what, when) that auditors and finance actually ask for.
What a complete workflow needs
Four properties separate a real approval workflow from a rubber stamp:
- A submission unit — people submit a week, not individual worklogs. Approvers review a coherent picture.
- Routing to the right reviewer — the person who owns the client budget approves that client's hours. One week of work across three accounts should reach three approvers, each seeing only their part.
- An enforceable decision — rejection needs a reason, approval needs to lock the hours against after-the-fact edits.
- A trail — every decision recorded: who, when, what comment.
Most timesheet tools do #1. The differences show up in #2–#4.
Setting it up in Aevon Timesheets
Step 1 — Define accounts. Accounts represent the things you bill or budget against (clients, projects, cost centers). The Account field is a real Jira custom field — searchable in JQL like any other.
Step 2 — Assign approvers per account. Each account gets a default approver. Worklogs on issues without an account fall back to the last approver used for that project, then to the project lead — so nothing routes nowhere.
Step 3 — Set worklog rules. Require descriptions, set min/max entry duration, a daily cap, and how far in the past or future entries may land. Validation at entry time beats correction at approval time.
Step 4 — Employees log and submit. The week is a Mon–Sun calendar: click to log, drag between days, resize to adjust. On submit, Aevon automatically splits the week into approval groups by account and shows the employee exactly who will review each group — with a Change button to override before sending.
Step 5 — Approvers review one inbox. Pending submissions arrive grouped by submitter. Batch-approve routine weeks; rejecting any group requires a comment and returns the week to draft. The week is fully approved only when every group is approved.
Step 6 — Finance closes the loop. The Review view pivots every account's hours by state — Ready to Bill, Pending, Rejected, Not Submitted — with a verdict per account (“Ready to bill”, “Partial · chase”). Approved worklogs are locked; export to CSV for invoicing.
Made a mistake after submitting? The Recall button pulls a submitted week back to draft — as long as no approver has decided yet.
The multi-approver case (where most tools give up)
A consultant logs 20 hours for Client A, 10 for Client B, and 8 on internal work in one week. In most tools this routes to a single approver who can't vouch for two-thirds of it. In Aevon it becomes three approval groups automatically: Client A's lead sees 20 hours, Client B's lead sees 10, the internal manager sees 8 — each approves only what they own. That's the per-account routing that makes the approval meaningful instead of ceremonial.
Comparing apps on price too? Here's the Tempo vs Aevon pricing math — Aevon includes this whole loop at roughly 1/10 the cost.
FAQ
Does Jira have built-in timesheet approval?
No. Native Jira worklogs have no submission, review, or approval mechanism — you need a Marketplace app such as Aevon Timesheets.
Can one timesheet be approved by multiple people in Jira?
With Aevon, yes — a submitted week is split by account into approval groups, each routed to its own approver. The week is approved when all groups are approved.
Can employees edit hours after approval?
No — approved worklogs are locked. That lock is what makes exported hours safe to invoice and audit. Why Forge-native matters for data you invoice against.
What happens when a timesheet is rejected?
The approver must leave a comment, and the week returns to draft so the employee can correct and resubmit.
Is there an audit trail?
Yes — every approval request stores who decided, when, and any comment, and the Review view shows every account's hours by approval state for any period.