Why would I want to bulk upload timesheets?
Occasionally you might have days where a large number of your team are not working their regular scheduled hours but instead, they all need to be paid the same kind of shift such as:
- public holidays where full-time team members don't work but are still paid
- company training days for large groups of staff
Rather than create individual timesheets for each team member in this group, you can save time by bulk uploading their timesheets to Deputy.
How to bulk upload timesheets
This can be achieved in a three-step process using Deputy's web application and a spreadsheet editor:
1. Download a list of team member's names
1. On the Reports page, scroll down to the Team Member details section and click on View full report.
2. Select the Location for the team member you wish to download or All Locations
3. Select the Contact details report and click DOWNLOAD CSV. (We specifically need the team members' email addresses as we will use this data as their unique identifier to upload their timesheets)
3. A CSV file will download to your computer.
Please open the spreadsheet and remove the extra columns to only contain the columns:
- First name
- Last name
for the team members you wish to bulk upload a timesheet for.
Note: we only really need the email address to be able to upload the spreadsheet but we are keeping the first and last name so you can be sure of which team member you are creating a time sheet for.
Don't forget to save this spreadsheet as you will need it for the next step.
2. Complete shift details in bulk in a spreadsheet
1. Download and open a Timesheet template spreadsheet that will look like this with some sample data already entered.
2. Open the spreadsheet you created in the first step and copy the three columns of information into the corresponding columns in the sample timesheet template:
- First name
- Last name
3. Add in the remaining details for the shift you are bulk uploading timesheets for using copy and paste to fill in common details quickly.
For more detailed information on the format required and whether each field is mandatory to complete please see this table.
Save the completed spreadsheet as a CSV file to your computer.
Tips for entering timesheet data into the spreadsheet
- Check your date format very carefully to ensure it matches the sample provided. If you use the wrong date format, Deputy may upload the timesheets for a different date. This may lead you to conclude the timesheet was not uploaded for the date you intended but in actuality, Deputy has uploaded it for a different date due to the date format difference.
- Deputy can not create timesheets with end shift times in the future.
3. Bulk import the timesheets spreadsheet into Deputy
1. On the Timesheets tab, select Approve Timesheets. Click on the arrow next to Add timesheet and select Add timesheets from file.
2. Click on Continue to upload.
3. Click on Select file and select your saved CSV file from Step 2 to upload the timesheets.
4. For the uploaded file, confirm Deputy has identified the row containing your column headers correctly by clicking Continue.
5. You will be asked to change or confirm column names.
Here you will see the names of columns in your CSV and template file. Most of the columns will be automatically matched. Please ensure columns are correctly matched for a successful import.
To help you correctly match columns, you will see a few data points for columns. To view column data, simply hover over column names.
Once you are happy that the columns match correctly, click Continue.
6. On the Review and finalize screen, you will see a count of how many of your records are valid and ready to import and how many have errors. If you wish, you can start to import the valid records by clicking on Import X records on the bottom right. Or you may choose to correct the records with errors first.
7. Click on the Error tab to display all records with errors. You will see the fields coloured red if they have an error.
At this point, you can choose:
- to correct all errors by manually updating all fields to ensure there are no errors
- correct the errors in the original CSV file and start the import process again
- import only valid records (the system will only count valid records and only allow valid records to be imported)
8. Once you have resolved or discarded all errors in your data, all valid data will be imported.
On successful import, you will a success screen. Clicking on Continue finishes the import workflow and will return you to the Timesheet page. You can view your newly added timesheets by selecting the appropriate location and date period in the Approve Timesheets tab.
During the import process, if there is an issue found with a timesheet then this timesheet will be rejected. You can click Review rejected records to correct these issues or click Submit to only import the non-rejected timesheets.
Uploaded Timesheets
All bulk uploaded spreadsheets can now be viewed and approved as usual on the Approve Timesheets page.
You can see an icon displayed on the team member's imported timesheet to show it was a non-scheduled shift.
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