Timesheet audit trail

and absence reporting

for DCAA This document describes the timesheet audit trail and

absence reporting features in Microsoft Dynamics AX

2012 R3 that help organization meet requirements of

the Defense Contract Audit Agency.

Syed Ali

May 2014

White paper www.microsoft.com/dynamics/ax

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Timesheet audit trail and absence reporting for DCAA

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Contents

Timesheet audit trail and absence reporting for DCAA 3

About absence projects 3

About audit trails 3

Configuring parameters 3

Validation on time entry 4

Absence reporting 4

Audit trail 5

Configuring absence categories 5

Create a shared category 6

Create a project category for absence 6

If required: Configure project/category validation 7

User scenarios 8

Scenario 1: Workers enter project time in timesheets 8

Scenario 2: Timesheet audit trail 10

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Timesheet audit trail and absence reporting for DCAA Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 includes support for absence reporting and audit trails for timesheets. These features

help organizations meet certain requirements of the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA).

About absence projects

An absence project is used exclusively for workers to report the hours that they are absent from work. Instead of

including timesheet categories for absences in all other projects, all absences are reported in the absence project.

The new features for absence project support in AX 2012 R3 include the following:

• Timesheet administrators can prevent workers from entering time for future days in timesheets for any project.

• Timesheet administrators can create an absence project and make it the only project for which time for future dates

can be entered.

• Project workers can enter hours for all absences, including future absences, in an absence project.

About audit trails

An audit trail for timesheets provides a history of any changes that are made to a timesheet. These changes can include

both updates to a timesheet and deletion of a timesheet. With an audit trail, the timesheet administrator or auditor can

trace the history of all updates made to a timesheet.

The new features for timesheet audit trail support in AX 2012 R3 include the following:

• Timesheet administrators can enable tools for workers to record reasons for updating and deleting timesheets.

• Timesheet administrators can make timesheet change comments optional or mandatory.

• Project workers can enter comments to explain why they are updating or deleting a timesheet.

• Timesheet auditors can view worker comments explaining timesheet changes.

• Timesheet auditors can compare versions of timesheets to see the changes that were made.

This rest of this white paper provides a detailed overview of features that were introduced as a part of the audit trail

and absence reporting set. We will take a look at the configuration and function of each feature.

Configuring parameters Most of the configuration for the audit trail and absence reporting features is done in the Project management and

accounting parameters form.

Note: Before you can specify which project you will use for future absence reporting in the Project management and

accounting parameters form, you must create that project. For information about creating projects in Microsoft

Dynamics AX, see Create and manage projects.

To access the fields in Microsoft Dynamics AX that are used to configure audit trails and absence reporting, follow these

steps.

1. Project management and accounting > Setup > Project management and accounting parameters.

2. In the Project management and accounting parameters form, in the left pane, click Timesheet.

3. Locate the Validation group in the lower-right corner of the form.

Note: The configuration options you choose apply only to the legal entity that you are working in when you set them.

The following illustration shows the Timesheet area of the Project management and parameters form, with the

Validation group highlighhted in the lower-right corner.

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In the following sections, we will cover the following three features that can be enabled by using the fields in the

Validation group:

• Validation on time entry

• Absence reporting

• Audit trail

Validation on time entry

Field Description

Block future timesheet

entries

When this check box is selected, project workers can enter time only for past dates and

the current day in all projects, with the exception of an absence project, if one is

selected in the Absence project list lower in the form. Time entry for future dates will be

disabled in all other projects.

Note: This parameter is completely independent of other parameters in the Validation

group but is mutually exclusive with the Require start/stop time parameter in the

Timesheet management page group. If you select one of these check boxes, the other

check box becomes unavailable.

Absence reporting

The absence reporting feature lets administrators configure an absence project and categories. This project bypasses

the rules regarding future time logging that apply to all other projects, and in the absence project, users are able to

record absence for any future date.

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Field Description

Validate absence Selecting this check box accomplishes two things:

• It lets the administrator choose a project (usually a Time project) to use as an

absence project.

• It ensures that the only categories that show up in the Category list in timesheets

are absence categories that have been created for use only in absence projects.

The Validate absence check box must be selected before the Absence project list is

available.

Absence project Select the project that timesheet users will report absence against.

To complete the absence project setup, you must also create and select absence categories, because those are the only

categories that will be available for selection in the Category list when a worker is entering time in the absence project.

For information about creating absence categories, see Configuring absence categories later in this document.

Audit trail

The audit trail system enables tracking of timesheets from the time they are created until they have been submitted or

deleted. If a timesheet is recalled and modified, those changes are also tracked.

Field Description

Require timesheet audit

trail

Selecting this check box enables the audit trail, so that all the timesheets that are

created and modified are tracked.

The Require timesheet audit trail check box must be selected before the Allow

timesheet change reason check box is available.

Allow timesheet change

reason

Selecting this check box lets workers enter a reason for the changes that they make to

their timesheets.

The reasons that the workers enter are added to the audit trail, so that the auditor can

review the explanations for the timesheet changes.

Workers are also prompted to enter a change reason when they delete timesheets, but

entering reasons for deleted timesheets is not required.

The Allows timesheet change reason check box must be selected before the Require

timesheet change reason check box is available.

Require timesheet

change reason

Selecting this check box makes it mandatory that workers enter a reason every time

they make a change to their timesheet.

When this check box is selected, workers are also required to enter a reason for the

change when they delete a timesheet. The only exception to this is for the first entry a

worker makes in a timesheet line on the current day—that is, the first entry made in a

timesheet against a work project or absence project.

Configuring absence categories In addition to configuring absence reporting by using the Validate absence and Absence project fields in the Project

management and accounting parameters form, you must complete two or three of the following tasks to configure an

absence category so that it can be used together with the absence project:

• Create a shared category

• Create a project category for absence

• If required: Configure project/category validation

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Create a shared category

1. Click Project management and accounting > Setup > Categories > Shared categories.

2. Click New to create a new shared category.

3. Enter a category ID and category name.

4. Select the Can be used in Project check box.

The following illustration shows the Shared categories form.

Create a project category for absence

1. Click Project management and accounting > Setup > Categories > Project categories.

2. Click New to create a new project category.

3. In the Category ID field, select the category ID that you just created. The category name will be automatically

populated.

4. In the Category group field, select a category group that has a transaction type of Hour.

5. In the Set up category group, select the Absence and Active in journals check boxes.

The absence category configuration is now completed. All categories that are set up by using the preceding procedures

will be used only for the absence project that has been configured by an administrator.

The following illustration highlights the Absence and Active in journals check boxes in the Project categories form.

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If required: Configure project/category validation

Validation for projects in Microsoft Dynamics AX helps ensure that only workers who have been assigned to a particular

project can enter work hours for it, and that only categories that have been designated for a certain project can be

entered.

Note: Validation is set up in the General area of the Project management and accounting parameters form.

If validation has been set as Mandatory for Project/category, Worker/project, or Category/worker, some additional

steps are required to complete the setup of the absence reporting feature. Specifically, the absence project and the

absence categories need to be added to a project/category validation. This task can be completed only after you have

created an absence project.

To add the absence project and absence categories to project/category validation, follow these steps.

1. Click Project management and accounting > Setup > Validation > Project/category validation groups.

2. Click New.

3. In the Project/category field, enter an ID for the validation group.

4. In the Name field, enter a name to identify the project/category validation group for the absence project.

5. In the Remaining projects area, select the absence project that you want to add to project/category validation.

6. Click the left arrow (<) button.

The following illustration shows the Project/category validation groups form.

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Note: If Project/worker or Worker/category is also set to Mandatory in the Project management and accounting

parameters form, make sure that the appropriate combinations are available to appropriate users. You will also need to

enable validation for individual workers in the Project setup form.

For information about setting up validation for individual workers, see Project setup (form).

User scenarios After the timesheet audit trail and absence reporting features have been configured, they are used in two major

scenarios:

• Scenario 1: Workers enter project time in timesheets

• Scenario 2: Timesheet auditors review the timesheet audit trail

Scenario 1: Workers enter project time in timesheets

If the Allow timesheet change reason check box was selected in the Project management and accounting parameters

form to enable change reasons for timesheets, a Change reason FastTab is added to the New timesheet form and the

Edit timesheet form.

The following illustration highlights the Change reason FastTab in the Edit timesheet form.

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If the Require timesheet change reason check box was also selected in the Project management and accounting

parameters form, workers cannot save or submit their timesheet entries without providing a reason for a change. If

workers do not enter a change reason, an Infolog message will prompt them to enter a change reason before they can

save their changes.

The following illustration shows the Infolog message that reminds users to enter a reason for making a change to their

timesheets.

Similarly, if change reasons are configured as mandatory, workers cannot delete timesheets without providing a reason

for the deletion.

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The following illustration shows the dialog box that prompts workers to enter a reason why they are deleting a

timesheet.

Note: If the Block future timesheet entries check box was selected in the Project management and accounting

parameters form, workers cannot submit timesheet entries for future periods for any project except an absence project.

Timesheets can be created for future periods in other projects, but when the worker clicks the Submit button, the

timesheet status will remain Draft. It is possible to submit future timesheets only against an absence project.

Scenario 2: Timesheet audit trail

If the Require timesheet audit trail check box was selected in the Project management and accounting parameters

form, a Timesheet versions button is added to the Action Pane on the All timesheets list page (Project management

and accounting > Common > Projects > All projects).

The following illustration highlights the new Timesheet versions button on the All timesheets list page.

To begin reviewing a timesheet trail in the Timesheet versions form, select a timesheet on the All timesheets list page,

and then click the Timesheet versions button. The Timesheet versions form shows the timesheet auditor a list of all the

changes that have been made to the timesheet each time a timesheet line was saved.

The following illustration shows the Timesheet versions form.

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To examine timesheet changes in more detail, select a change line in the Timesheet versions form, and then click the

Compare button to open the Compare timesheet versions form. In the Compare timesheet versions form, you can

compare any earlier version of a timesheet with the latest version that has been created.

The following illustration shows the details of a timesheet line update in the Compare timesheet versions form.

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