Trusted Time Data - Crawl

Enable Frictionless Logging

(Timesheets)

When logging connects to the calendars, IDEs, and Jira your team already uses, entry drops from typing to one-click confirmation and the data shows up complete.

1. Set up Timesheets with the first steps (Jira admin)

Go to Jira Settings → Apps → Time Tracking, then select Tempo Timesheets. Grant Tempo Timesheets Access permission if access is limited to a group, plus Jira space permissions as needed. Full guide: First steps for setting up Tempo Timesheets. Video: First steps walkthrough, Granting project permissions. Before onboarding, confirm your admin has re-enabled the Tempo Panel per project and updated Tempo Core: Expected changes in Timesheets on Forge.

2. Configure Timesheets (Tempo admin)

Set up Workload Schemes (required hours per team; video), Holiday Schemes (company holidays; video), Tempo Teams (mirror reporting lines; drives approval routing; video), Team Permissions (Team Lead, Approval Manager, Viewer; video), and Internal work items for non-project time like meetings, admin, and PTO (video).

3. Connect your calendar (Tempo admin)

Go to Apps → Integrations → Google Calendar or Microsoft 365 Calendar. Choose Enhanced Calendar with Tempo Automation for ML-detected Jira key suggestions. Configure at the organization level, not per user (the most common failure point). Connecting Microsoft 365 Calendar for your organization · Connecting Google Calendar for your organization

4. Install IDE integrations (Tempo admin)

Go to Apps → Integrations, then install the plugin for each team's dev environment: JetBrains, VS Code (incl. Cursor), or GitHub/GitLab/Bitbucket. Full list: Integrations.

5. Log time from suggestions

Use proposals from Jira activity, calendar events, and dev tool commits to log with one click. Logging time to your activities · Video: log time quickly with automation. Show people the "Log Activities" and "Log All Activities" buttons in My Work to log a day or full week in one click. Shortcut: the w key opens Log Time anywhere in Tempo (in Jira, open the Command Palette first with Cmd+K / Ctrl+K once per session).

6. Roll out by team

Start with one pilot team. Measure integration adoption after two weeks (target: more than 80% of the pilot with at least one integration active). Expand team by team once stable, treating each rollout as its own onboarding.

7. Find the manual gaps

Ask each team what they still log by hand that integrations do not cover, and use that to add integrations or adjust the process.

8. Optional extras

Time Tracker for Chrome and Tempo for Slack (/tempo) are available when the primary methods do not fit a specific context. If Rovo is enabled on your instance, the Timesheets Worklog Assistant lets people log time in plain language from any Jira page (verify worklogs in My Work after use). See Tempo Rovo Agents.

Establish Submission Cadence with Approval Workflows

(Timesheets)

A weekly submission and approval rhythm catches logging gaps at day five instead of month-end, with accountability and no Slack chasing.

1. Understand the two locking mechanisms

The Scheduler sends automated reminders and enforces the weekly logging deadline (configure this first). Period Management manually opens and closes periods after approval (use this to lock at month-end). They serve different purposes; confusing them is the most common setup mistake. Timesheet Approvals · Video: setting up periods and the Scheduler

2. Configure approval periods

Settings, Period Configuration. Set Weekly or Monthly to match your workflow. A common pattern is a weekly logging deadline with monthly approval. Configuring timesheet periods for approvals

3. Assign approvers

Map each Tempo Team to its lead as primary approver. Add backups by granting the Approve Timesheets permission in Permission Roles, so submitters can pick from available approvers. Use Tempo Teams to drive routing. Note: only one reviewer can approve a timesheet at a time, and self-approval is blocked. Approving or rejecting timesheets

4. Set deadlines via the Scheduler

Configure automated reminders and enforce the weekly deadline. A common deadline is end-of-day Monday for the prior week. For billing-sensitive workflows, run the Scheduler weekly for reminders and close monthly via Period Management. Configuring the Scheduler

5. Submit and review

Team members submit before the deadline (Submitting timesheets); leads review the queue and approve or reject (Approving or rejecting; video).

6. Create the review cadence

Review the queue every Monday morning. Approve complete submissions the same day. When rejecting, add a specific one-line note rather than just clicking; clear feedback helps people fix issues faster and cuts repeat rejections.

7. Close the period

Lock the approval period via Period Management so historical data cannot be changed by accident. Closing and opening periods manually