What Is Timesheet Entry and How Do You Record Employee Time Correctly?

Timesheet entry is the act of recording how much time an employee spent on specific projects or tasks. It is the input step that feeds payroll, client billing, and project reporting. If your team still tracks hours on paper or in a spreadsheet, timesheet entry software is the usual replacement — for example, CyberMatrix Timesheets is described on its product page as "a time sheet entry software application for employees to quickly enter their time spent on various projects or tasks," positioned as "a perfect replacement for paper-based or spread-sheet time sheet entry." Use software when you need consistent, reviewable records across multiple people; a simple spreadsheet can still work for a single person with one or two tasks.

Timesheet entry vs. time tracking vs. time billing

These three terms overlap but answer different questions:

CyberMatrix separates these in its own product line: Project Clock is described as "project time recording and time billing software" for tracking time billed to different projects, while Timesheets is the entry-focused tool. In practice, a small firm may only need entry plus a billing report; a consultancy billing by the hour usually needs all three connected so that entered hours flow into invoices without retyping.

Why paper and spreadsheets break down

Manual timesheet entry fails in predictable ways:

• Rounding drift. People round to the nearest half hour in their own favor, and errors compound across a pay period.
• No approval trail. A spreadsheet cell can be edited after submission with no record of who changed it.
• Duplicate project names. "Website redesign" and "Web redesign" become two projects in reports.
• Late entry. Hours filled in on Friday afternoon are reconstructed from memory, not records.
• Version conflicts. Shared spreadsheets get overwritten or saved as copies.

Software addresses these by fixing the project list, timestamping submissions, and routing entries to an approver.

What to look for in timesheet entry software

Check these capabilities against your actual workflow before choosing:

• Project and task hierarchy. Can one project contain multiple tasks, so a week's entries roll up correctly?
• Entry speed. Can an employee fill a full week in one screen, or does each day require a separate form?
• Approval workflow. Who reviews and locks a submitted period, and can rejected entries be returned with a comment?
• Export and integration. What formats leave the system — CSV, PDF, or a direct feed to payroll or billing?
• Correction handling. Can a locked period be reopened, and is the change logged?
• Access model. Desktop, browser, or remote — relevant if staff work from home. CyberMatrix explicitly points remote workers to its remote software solutions.

How to record employee time correctly

1. Set up projects and tasks first. Create the list before anyone enters hours, so entries attach to the right cost center.
2. Enter time daily, not weekly. Same-day entry is the single biggest accuracy improvement; reconstructing a week from memory is where most errors start.
3. Record actual time, not rounded time. If your policy rounds, let the software apply the rule uniformly rather than each employee deciding.
4. Add a note for anything unusual. A short description on non-standard entries saves questions during approval.
5. Submit by the deadline. Late submissions delay payroll and billing downstream.
6. Verify before submitting. Check the period total against your own calendar or meeting record.
7. Respond to rejections promptly. A rejected entry usually blocks the whole period.

Verifying an entry

After submission, confirm three things: the total hours for the period match your expectation, each entry sits under the correct project, and the status shows as submitted or approved rather than draft. If a number looks wrong, fix it before the approver sees it — corrections after locking are slower and may require an administrator.

Common problems and fixes

• "My hours disappeared." Usually a draft that was never submitted, or a filter hiding the current period. Check the period selector and status column.
• "I can't edit a past week." The period is likely locked after approval. Ask the approver or admin to reopen it.
• "The project isn't in the list." Projects are typically created by an administrator; you cannot add one from the entry screen.
• "My total doesn't match payroll." Compare the approved period, not your draft — edits made during approval change the final number.
• "Two people entered the same task." This is a task-assignment problem, not an entry problem; clarify ownership before the next period.

Deciding whether you need dedicated software

Stay on a spreadsheet if you have one or two people, a single billing rate, and no client-facing time reports. Move to timesheet entry software when any of these apply: you bill clients by the hour, you need an approval record, you have more than a handful of employees, or you are reconciling hours against project budgets. CyberMatrix offers free downloads to try its products before committing, which is the practical way to test whether the entry screen fits how your team actually works.