Online Timesheets - common questions

Is the set up different if the employer wants to enter timesheets, instead of individual employees?

You can disable email notifications so employees don't receive the welcome email to register for the service.

Can I use online timesheets if i have a monthly pay frequency?

Online Timesheets is designed to work with a Weekly pay frequency, however it can be used if you process on a monthly basis.  It would require the employees to enter their timesheets on a weekly basis then when you come to do the payroll, you import the hours based on a date range of the full month. Read more >

If an employee enters overtime is there an option to approve this before it's imported?

Yes, all timesheets must be approved before they can be imported into Sage 50 Payroll. Timesheets can also be rejected by the employer with a reason. If the rejection email notification is enabled, the employee receives an email to advise them if you reject their timesheets and advises them to review and re-submit their timesheet.

Do payroll bureaus have to register all employees or just the managers entering timesheets on employees behalf?

No. You can disable email notifications so employees don't receive the welcome email to register for the service. You would simply set up the managers as users in the employers Online Service.

Can I enter start and finish times, rather than total hours worked?

You can only enter total hours work at the moment, but this is on our backlog for future improvements.

Can I give someone access to approve timesheets, if they don't have access to Sage 50 Payroll?

Yes, simply set them up as a user in the employer's Online Service. They don't need access to Sage 50 Payroll but they need to set up a Sage ID login and link it to the relevant Sage account.

When I import timesheets, can I see a total value of payments, rather than total hours?

Not at the moment, but we've added this to our feedback log to review.

Are timesheet hours still shown in Enter Payments?

Yes.

What are the costs?

The monthly charge is £2.50 and is for five employees. Any additional employees is £0.50 per employee, per month.

Will there be future updates to allow cash value imports too through the timesheet process rather than a csv upload?

This is on our backlog for future improvements.

If a month end falls on a Wednesday, how would you import that last week?

When you import timesheets, you specifiy a date range which imports all hours from the timesheets entered within that date range, regardless of the tax month, tax week or timesheet period.

Can notifications be set up for those who have not sent their timesheet through?

This is on our backlog for future improvements.

A construction company uses Sage 200 with Construct. We jobcost the hours and post over to payroll which populates the hours into Enter Payments. Does this system work with Construct?

At present the Online Services only work with Sage 50 Payroll.

How many pay types can be set up?

You can set up the same number of pay types as pay elements in Sage 50 Payroll - 999.

If an employee submits a timesheet for x number of overtime hours and it goes to the manager to approve, what is their level of access?

There are two levels of access - Manager and Approver. Both can approve and reject timesheets.

What if an employee works 3 hours 5 minutes?

Currently you're limited to 15 minute increments. We'll monitor feedback on this.

What if it's workshop environment where not everyone has a computer. Would you suggest getting a tablet or a computer for everyone to log into?

The service is accessible through anydevice with an internetconnection. This means that employees and managers can use the service on their mobile phones or any personal devices they may use.

Are there any plans to be able to enter timesheets monthly?

We've not had many requests for this, but we'll monitor feedback.

Can a budget be set so that hours over the budget can't be entered?

No. There is a limit of 24 hours a day. However, the employer can reject timesheets if they know they're over budget.

Employees may work on several different projects during a week, can this be incorporated for accounts purposes?

No. You could set up different pay types for different projects e.g. Basic - project 1 so you can identify what hours are against which project.

Can time-in-lieu, holidays or sickness be added?

No. Online Timesheets is for payment of hours worked. We may in future develop Online Services to include a holiday and absence service.

Do I have to check each individual employee?

No. You could check each employee on the period view by hovering over the information icon to see the total hours entered against each pay type for that week. You can then select all timesheets and approve them all together.

Can I record deductions?

No. Monetary deductions would still be handled in payroll as usual. You can't currently enter negative hours but we'll monitor feedback on this.

Can you upload pay elements already set up in Sage 50 Payroll into the Online Timesheets service?

No.

Is there a history report of timesheets?

Timesheets are available historically on the portal. You can also run the existing payment history reports to see what hours were paid against each pay element in a given period.

We have lots of departmental managers. Can you filter the list for them online?

No. This is on our backlog for future improvements.

I do a monthly payroll, but on a weekly basis, can I import all four or five weeks hours all together?

Yes, when you import timesheets, you specify a date range which imports all timesheet hours entered within that date range.

Once the employee has been marked as a leaver are we no longer charged the 50p for them?

You can remove employees from the service at any time within Manage Employees. Once removed from the service they are no longer chargeable in subsequent months.

If an engineer hasn’t entered his hours for one week and then wants to add it to next month's pay, how do you pick up the missed week?

Simply enter the timesheet against the day it was for. When you import the timesheets into Sage 50 Payroll specify the date range you want to pay them for which will include the missing week.

Do you need to reset payments if new timesheets replace the old details?

No, you don't need to do this.

Can you still manually enter pay elements if you upload timesheets?

Yes, you would simply overwrite the information. If you have any non-timesheet payments or deductions you may still need to go into Enter Payments to manage them.

Does the system know how much to pay time and a half based on their salary?

This is managed by Sage 50 Payroll as usual.