How can we allow for multiple approvers of time in something integrated with JIRA?

[Chris Steiner]

Hello all!  I have a question that is very similar to one that has been asked (and in some cases answered) on this forum, but hopefully my question is different enough to get a different answer. 

We are considering trying to move all of our company’s timekeeping into JIRA to simplify our current process in which employees are required to enter their time into two different systems separately, which is very prone to errors and therefore discrepancies between the systems. 

One of the major obstacles we are encountering is our time approval process.  Our current process requires a matrix of approvals for any given time sheet:

• Any work done on a billable project has to be approved by that project’s manager, and any given developer could be working on several different billable projects in a single week.
• Any work done by a contractor has to be approved. Billable work is approved as mentioned in the bullet above.  Non-billable work is approved by the supervisor or the owner of the non-billable project, depending on how the project is set up.

In our current timekeeping system we also have the ability to assign individuals to projects to control who can post time to a given project, though this is less important to our process than the ability to have multiple approvers for a single time period.

Along with researching this on this forum and elsewhere online, we have also reached out to three vendors of timesheet add-ons (WorklogPro, AIO Reporting & Timesheets, & Tempo Timesheets) to determine if their product has this ability.  Unfortunately none of these supports this, and we have been unable so far to find any kind of a workaround for this.

So, my question to the group is this:  Do you know of any add-on, group of add-ons, or other workaround for having multiple approvers for a single timesheet (based on the scenarios above) in JIRA?  Have you, your company, or someone you know solved this or found a workaround?

We’re also open to solutions that integrate with JIRA that are not add-ons, if anyone has any suggestions for that.

[Scott Torbert]

We are using Tempo Timesheet which is an add-on to Jira.

[Chris Steiner]

Do you have multiple approvers for a single timesheet?

My understanding, which was confirmed by a sales support person (Mike) at Tempo, is that they do not have this capability currently.

Mike is trying to get me in touch with someone who may have a workaround, but for now I don't believe that this is an option that will solve this problem.

[Kashif Pervaiz]

Hi Chris,

Were you able to get a work around for this from Tempo?  Let me know.

Thanks,

[Chris Steiner]

No, we have not gotten an work around from anyone yet. 

[Andrew Wong]

@Chris Steiner did they get back to you after one year or have you found a work around?

[Chris Steiner]

@Andrew Wong - we have not found a work around that meets the need, so our company has decided to table this for the time being.  I'm still keeping an eye out for possible options, but I've stopped actively searching for a solution. 

The vendor for the product we currently use has been threatening a JIRA connector for some time now, but there aren't many details around what it would allow us to do yet.  I'm still hopeful, but certainly not holding my breath for a solution any time soon.

[Marcella Chandra]

hey @Chris Steiner have you managed to find any workaround?

[Deniz Oğuz]

Hi Chris, 

We will be adding something similar to WorklogPRO soon. There won't be a billable or non billable project difference but if a user logs work to more than one project an approval will be required from each corresponding projects for timesheet to be fully approved. Please continue to watch it. 

[Chris Steiner]

Thank you @Deniz Oğuz , I will continue to watch.

[Deniz Oğuz]

hi @Chris Steiner ,

3.5.0 version of WorklogPRO allows worklogs belonging to different projects to be approved by different approvers. 

[Chris Steiner]

Thank you for the update, Deniz.  I'll have a look at it.