Approving Timesheets and Leave Requests

How do I approve my employees’ timesheets and leave requests?

Experience portal 

Employee Dashboard

All employees under South Dakota Board of Regents submit timesheets and leave requests through the Experience portal. After an employee’s timesheet is approved by a supervisor, monthly payroll is processed electronically from the information on the employee’s timesheet. Employee leave balances are also automatically updated based on the monthly submission.

Pay periods run from the 22nd of the month through the 21st of the following month. For example:

• The January pay period runs from Dec. 22 – Jan. 21
• The February pay period runs from Jan. 22 – Feb. 21

Approving Leave Requests

Leave is requested through the online leave request system in Experience portal  (with the exception of Holidays and Administrative Leave which are entered directly onto the timesheet). All leave requests for the current pay period must be entered and approved before the employee submits the timesheet for approval. 

Once approved by the supervisor, leave requested in the online system is automatically populated onto the employee’s timesheet. Leave requests that are changed or approved after the timesheet has been submitted will not populate onto the timesheet.

1. Log in to the Experience Portal.
2. Click on the Employee Dashboard link within the Employee Dashboard card.
3. Under My Activities, select Approve Leave Request. 
4. The supervisor approval screen defaults to a monthly view of the current month and year.
   1. Please note that it does not show dates by pay period, but rather by calendar month.
5. Ensure that you are on the "Approvals" tab.
   1. The Timesheet and Leave Request tabs will take you to your own personal timesheet or leave requests.
6. Ensure that Leave Request is selected on the drop down menu next to the month and year drop down menus.
7. Click on a day with a leave request, this will take you to the detailed view of leave requests.
   1. This screen shows a breakdown of the statuses of your leave requests.
   2. The top section shows a weekly calendar view.
   3. The bottom section shows employees and their leave requests.
8. Click on an employee's name to review the leave request.
9. At the bottom of the page, you will have the following options:
   1. Return to Previous Screen-To return to the previous screen.
   2. Details-To see details for each week and to edit the employee's leave request.
   3. Delete-Click this if you would like to delete the leave request.
   4. Return for Correction-To send back to the employee to make edits.
      1. If you click this option, please add a comment.
      2. The employee will recieve an e-mail informing them that it is now back in their queue.
   5. Approve.
10. Click Details to see details for each week and to edit an employee's leave request.

Approving Timesheets

The timesheet approval deadline is typically 5:00 p.m. on the 22nd of each month. If the 22nd is a weekend or a holiday, advanced announcements are sent via email to employees informing them of the deadline date for that pay period. Timesheet deadlines are also posted under the announcements channel on the Experience portal employee tab. The system cut-off for approvals is 5:00 p.m. on the deadline date. If a timesheet remains pending approval after this time, contact USD Human Resources.

1. Login to the Experience Portal. 
2. Click on the Employee Dashboard card.
3. Click Approve Time under My Activities.
4. The approval screen will default to the latest pay period that has an opened timesheet by your employees.
5. Click the date range box to select the current pay period.
6. The top section of this page displays the Distribution Status Report, which outlines the number of timesheets you have at each status:
   • 
7. You may also search by employee name or ID.
8. The bottom sections of the approval screen will break down each status, except for Not Started, and list the employees under each status.
   • To view employees that have not yet started their timesheets, you will need to change the selection at the top of the screen from All except not started to NOT STARTED.
9. Click an employee name.
10. On the Timesheet Detail Summary you will see Time Entry Detail by day and Summary by earn code.
11. To see details for each week and/or edit an employee’s timesheet, click Details.
12. To return a timesheet back to the employee to correct, click on Return for Correction.
13. To go back to the employee list, click Previous screen/Return.
14. To approve the timesheet, click on Approve, This will change the status from pending to approved.
15. Follow these steps for each employee timesheet you need to approve.

Note: If there are any errors on the timesheet, please refer to Correcting Submitted Timesheets article.

Please contact USD Human Resources if you need further assistance