Time & Attendance is where ERP discipline either begins or breaks.
Time & Attendance Tracking and Approval looks operational from far away. In a real finance team, it is a chain of assertions: the right actor started the work, the required records existed, the control policy was applied, the state change was preserved, and the outcome can be explained later without rebuilding the transaction from emails and spreadsheets.
The expected business outcome is specific: Accurate hours on every paycheck; overtime liability identified before pay run; manager approval SLA met; zero wage theft or time fraud incidents attributable to system gaps.
The control flow a finance team actually needs.
Step 1
Overtime Be Calculated Per FLSA And...
Step 2
Geofencing Restrict Mobile Clock-In To...
Step 3
Manager Approval Dashboard Show All...
Step 4
Approved Time Data Integrate Into...
Step 5
Retain Raw Punch Data For 3 Years
The ERP surface involved.
Module
Time & Attendance
Actors
Employee, Manager, Payroll Administrator, Time Clock System
Tier
Tier 1
Finance area
Human Resources, Payroll & Workforce Management
Region lens
US and UK finance teams
Publication date
May 30, 2026
Overtime must be calculated per FLSA and applicable state rules with configurable daily/weekly/7th-day thresholds; geofencing must restrict mobile clock-in to within 100m of designated work locations; manager approval dashboard must show all pending exceptions with one-click approve/reject; approved time data must integrate into payroll within 5 minutes of cutoff; system must retain raw punch data for 3 years; timesheet amendments post-payroll must trigger a retroactive pay adjustment calculation.
US and UK teams have different compliance hooks, but the same control problem.
US teams usually care about clean evidence for audit support, vendor records, payment controls, tax reporting, and management review. UK teams usually care about VAT-ready records, approval evidence, digital-record discipline, and traceable postings. The country-specific details differ, but the operating pattern is the same: the ERP needs controlled records, explicit ownership, defensible state changes, and evidence that survives beyond the person who completed the task.
The control matrix.
| Control area | Requirement | Acceptance proof |
|---|---|---|
| Control 1 | Overtime must be calculated per FLSA and applicable state rules with configurable daily/weekly/7th-day thresholds | Given employees with configured shift differentials and FLSA/CA overtime thresholds |
| Control 2 | geofencing must restrict mobile clock-in to within 100m of designated work locations | when employees submit timesheets and manager approves before payroll cutoff |
| Control 3 | manager approval dashboard must show all pending exceptions with one-click approve/reject | then approved time feeds into pay run within 5 minutes of cutoff, overtime calculated per FLSA weekly and CA daily rules, and exceptions flagged for manager action |
| Control 4 | approved time data must integrate into payroll within 5 minutes of cutoff | negative) when a timesheet is unapproved at payroll cutoff then 422 with error code TIMESHEET_NOT_APPROVED blocking payroll for that employee. |
| Control 5 | system must retain raw punch data for 3 years | Accurate hours on every paycheck; overtime liability identified before pay run; manager approval SLA met; zero wage theft or time fraud incidents attributable to system gaps. |
| Control 6 | timesheet amendments post-payroll must trigger a retroactive pay adjustment calculation. | Accurate hours on every paycheck; overtime liability identified before pay run; manager approval SLA met; zero wage theft or time fraud incidents attributable to system gaps. |
Audit evidence is a chain, not a folder.
| Evidence layer | What should be preserved |
|---|---|
| Business event | Employees clock in/out via web portal, mobile app, or physical time clock; the system applies shift differentials, overtime rules (FLSA daily/weekly, CA 7th-day), and break deduction policies to compute worked hours; exceptions (missed punches, overtime threshold breaches, unscheduled absences) are flagged and routed to the employee's manager for correction or approval; approved timesheets lock at the payroll cutoff date and feed automatically into the pay run; unapproved timesheets block payroll processing for the affected employees. |
| Control rules | Overtime must be calculated per FLSA and applicable state rules with configurable daily/weekly/7th-day thresholds; geofencing must restrict mobile clock-in to within 100m of designated work locations; manager approval dashboard must show all pending exceptions with one-click approve/reject; approved time data must integrate into payroll within 5 minutes of cutoff; system must retain raw punch data for 3 years; timesheet amendments post-payroll must trigger a retroactive pay adjustment calculation. |
| Acceptance proof | Given employees with configured shift differentials and FLSA/CA overtime thresholds; when employees submit timesheets and manager approves before payroll cutoff; then approved time feeds into pay run within 5 minutes of cutoff, overtime calculated per FLSA weekly and CA daily rules, and exceptions flagged for manager action; (negative) when a timesheet is unapproved at payroll cutoff then 422 with error code TIMESHEET_NOT_APPROVED blocking payroll for that employee. |
| Data record | |
| System event | |
| Lifecycle state | |
The useful version of this workflow is not only fast. It is inspectable. A controller, auditor, or operator should be able to move from source event to system record to state transition to final business outcome without guessing.
Implementation contracts.
Reference data model
`timesheet` { id: string, employee_id: string, external_id: string, period_start: date, period_end: date, status: enum(DRAFT,SUBMITTED,APPROVED,LOCKED), total_regular_hours: decimal, total_overtime_hours: decimal, total_doubletime_hours: decimal }; `time_punch` { id: string, timesheet_id: string, clock_in: timestamp, clock_out: timestamp, location_lat: decimal, location_lng: decimal }; (reference, product may differ).API and events
`POST /v1/timesheets` { employee_id, period_start, period_end, external_id } -> 201 { id, status: "DRAFT" }; `POST /v1/timesheets/{id}/submit` -> 200 { status: "SUBMITTED" }; `POST /v1/timesheets/{id}/approve` -> 200 { status: "APPROVED" }; `GET /v1/timesheets/{id}/exceptions` -> 200 { exceptions[] }; emits `time.timesheet_approved`, `time.overtime_threshold_breached`; idempotent via `external_id`.State transitions
`DRAFT -> SUBMITTED -> APPROVED -> LOCKED`; guard: LOCKED at payroll cutoff; amendments post-LOCKED create retroactive adjustment; APPROVED required before LOCKED for payroll inclusion.Common implementation traps.
Treating the workflow as data entry
If the ERP only stores the final record, the team loses the decision trail that explains how the record became valid.
Hiding exception logic
Exceptions need owners, reason codes, and time stamps. A vague pending state is not a control.
Posting without recovery design
Retries, duplicate submissions, and partial failures must be explicit so the system does not create inconsistent records.
Skipping evidence design
A workflow that cannot produce evidence on demand will eventually push finance teams back into manual screenshots and spreadsheets.
Where Rivane fits.
Rivane is built for finance workflows where automation must stay tied to source documents, approvals, state transitions, ledger impact, reporting, and audit evidence. Use this guide as a checklist for evaluating whether an ERP workflow is merely digitized or actually controlled.
References and source basis.
These sources provide the standards, regulatory, or government context around the flow. They are included so the guide is useful to finance operators, auditors, and implementation teams, not only buyers reading software copy.