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Setting up timesheets and budgets add-on

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Available as an add-on for Starter, Advanced, Enterprise, and Enterprise+ tiers.

Asana’s Timesheets and Budgets add-on allows you to track actual time spent on work, forecast and monitor costs and billable revenue, and ensure timely and accurate billing and invoicing.

By using the add-on, your teams will be empowered to drive alignment, increase visibility, and maximize impact.

Note iconNote

Customers can try the add-on with a 14-day self-serve trial. 

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Included in the add-on

Feature

Description

Timesheets

Timesheets help you track progress and drive efficiency with accurate time data. With timesheets you can account for where your time is spent over a particular time period across multiple workstreams.


Time submitters can complete & submit timesheets for time reviewers to review/approve.

Budgets

Plan and monitor project budgets to stay on top of project health.

User rates

Set user rates for each project to factor automatically into project budgets.

Time & cost reporting

Report on the underlying time entries by time or cost, including comparing estimates to actuals.

Enhancements to resource management views

See costs on the resource management views that the user has access to as part of their Collaborative Work Management license, such as Capacity Plan, Placeholders and Universal Workload (Enterprise and Enterprise+) and Project and Portfolio Workload (Advanced, Enterprise, and Enterprise+). View time based on the single selected project in workload.

Enhancements to time tracking (web and mobile)

Access additional fields in time tracking to support accurate time entry, monitoring, and billing, such as billable/non-billable, a single project for time attribution, and description.

Admin settings

Admins can customize the Timesheets & Budgets functionality for your organization in the Admin Console

Who is eligible to purchase this add-on? 

A Timesheets and Budgets add-on license can be added to any Starter, Advanced, Enterprise, and Enterprise+ user license. To access the add-on after purchasing, an Admin must assign the user a license in the admin console. To purchase the add-on, you must contact your Asana sales representative, or reach out to Sales directly.

Add-on trial

The Timesheets and Budgets add-on (TBAO) lets existing paying customers try the add-on with a 14-day self-serve trial. Admins or billing owners can start the trial from the admin console. While the trial is active, everyone in your domain gets access automatically, so admins do not need to assign licenses one by one.

Managing licenses and assigning license roles

Domain admins, super admins and division admins are able to assign licenses and designate user roles for the add-on.

Timesheets have two primary roles to ensure an accurate workflow: the time submitter and the time reviewer.

  • A time submitter is an individual team member who tracks their work hours against specific tasks and projects within Asana. All users with a Timesheets and Budgets add-on license are automatically time submitters.
  • A time reviewer is a special designation that can be added to a person’s license.  These users are typically a manager or supervisor responsible for examining the timesheets submitted by their team members. They verify the logged hours for accuracy and may then approve or reject the submission.

Manually manage licenses and assign license roles manually

To manually assign licenses:

  1. Navigate to the admin console
  2. Click the Members tab
  3. Select Timesheets and Budgets in the add on column drop-down next to a user’s name

To manually designate time reviewer roles:

  1. Click the three dot icon next to the user’s name
  2. Click Profile
  3. Scroll down to Timesheet management
  4. Click on the Reviewer icon
  5. Select a user you want to assign as time reviewer
    1. Note: if the user you select as reviewer does not yet have an add-on license, they will be assigned one once selected as a reviewer.
Note iconNote

Only admins and super admins can assign time reviewers in the admin console.

Bulk manage licenses and assign license roles

To license and assign time reviewers in bulk, upload a completed CSV template from the admin console. In the CSV file, first add Timesheets and Budgets to each submitter and reviewer in the add on column. This step assigns the license. Then, enter the email address of a single designated reviewer in the Reviewer column for each user. 

  1. Click your profile icon and select Admin console.
  2. Navigate to the Members tab
  3. Click the Import/Export CSV drop-down
  4. Select Export CSV
  5. Add the term Timesheets and Budgets in the Add-ons column next to anyone you wish to grant access to. See image below.
  6. Import the CSV via the CSV import button in the top-right of the Members tab.
  7. You will receive a notification when the import is completed

Admin console settings

To access the settings for timesheets and resourcing in the admin console:

  1. Click on your profile picture
  2. Select Admin console
  3. Click Settings from the sidebar
  4. Scroll down to Timesheets and Resourcing

You’ll see the following settings:

  • Enable time tracking: Controls whether the Estimated time and Actual time fields are visible on tasks and projects.
  • Enable billable time: Turns on the Billable status for time entries, allowing users to mark their logged hours as either billable or non-billable.
  • Billable default: Sets the default billable status (either billable or non-billable) for all new time entries created in your domain.
  • Project budget currency: Selects the default currency that will be used for all project budgets.
  • Timesheets approval process : Configures the timesheet workflow. Choose a simple (Draft/Submit) or a full (Draft/Submit/Approve/Reject) approval process.
  • Time categories: Apply a consistent label to each time entry. Admins can create the category options and teammates select a category when they log time. 
  • Lock past time entries : Automatically locks time entries after a set number of weeks, preventing them from being edited by non-admins.
  • Resourcing views (capacity plan and workload) : Controls access to resource management features. You can enable all features (capacity plans and workload) or provide more limited access to workload views within projects and portfolios.
  • General work on project: Controls whether users can log time directly to a project without selecting a specific task.
  • Future time logging: Controls how far into the future users are permitted to log time.
  • Submission reminders: Controls when users receive weekly reminders to submit their timesheets.

Both super admins and admins can view these settings, but only super admins can edit them. For more details on these permissions, see Admin and super admin roles in Asana.

Timesheet permissions and access control

To ensure data accuracy and integrity Timesheets and Budgets add-on enforces specific edit permissions based on the lifecycle of a timesheet. As a timesheet moves from Draft to Submitted and finally Approved, the ability to edit time entries becomes more restricted.

Editing restrictions by status

  • Draft: Both the Submitter and their assigned Reviewer can create, edit, or delete time entries.
  • Submitted: Once a timesheet is submitted, the Submitter is locked to View only to prevent changes during the review process. The Reviewer retains the ability to edit or delete entries to make necessary corrections before approval.
  • Approved: Once approved, the timesheet is locked for both the Submitter and the Reviewer. Neither can modify the historical record unless the approval is recalled.

Admin override: Domain admins and super admins have unrestricted permissions to view, edit, or delete time entries regardless of their status. This ensures that historical records can be corrected even after approval.

Recalling and modifying status

If a timesheet is locked due to its status, Submitters and Reviewers can use Recall actions to revert the status and regain edit access.

  • Recall submission: If a Submitter realizes they made a mistake, they can select Recall on a submitted timesheet. This reverts the timesheet to Draft status, allowing them to edit entries before re-submitting. Note: A submission cannot be recalled by the submitter once it has been Approved.
  • Recall approval: Reviewers can select Recall on an approved timesheet to undo the approval. This allows for post-approval corrections if an error is discovered later.
  • Resubmit rejected timesheets: Reviewers have the ability to Resubmit a timesheet that was previously rejected, streamlining the workflow if the necessary corrections have been made.

Timesheet status activity To ensure transparency and accountability, all status changes—including submissions, approvals, rejections, and recalls—are recorded in the Timesheet Status Activity log.

Admin visibility requirements

While Domain admins and super admins possess override capabilities for editing, they do not automatically have visibility into every user's personal timesheet view.

Note iconNote

Admins and super admins can only see a user's timesheets if they have an assigned Timesheets and budgets license and are designated as that user's Time Reviewer.

Frequently asked questions

Which Asana plans support the Timesheets and Budgets add-on?

The Timesheets and Budgets add-on is available for Starter, Advanced, Enterprise, and Enterprise+ plan tiers.

What is the difference between a time submitter and a time reviewer?

A time submitter tracks their work hours against tasks and projects (all users with the add-on license are automatically time submitters), while a time reviewer is typically a manager or supervisor who examines, verifies, and approves or rejects submitted timesheets.

Can admins view all timesheets in their organization?

Admins and super admins can only see a user's timesheets if they have an assigned Timesheets and Budgets license and are designated as that user's time reviewer.

Can time submitters edit their timesheets after submission?

Once a timesheet is submitted, the submitter is locked to view-only access, but they can recall the submission to revert it to draft status for editing before resubmitting (note: a submission cannot be recalled once it has been approved).

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Asana timesheets & budgets: how to use | Help Center