The cutoff
Payroll will not wait. What the deadline does to the quality of everything upstream of it.
The Payroll Cutoff Is the Only Fixed Point
Everything in a timesheet process bends around a date that cannot move. Mapping the real timetable backwards from it explains most of what looks irrational.
What a Deadline Does to the Record
Tightening a deadline improves submission rates and degrades what is submitted. The two effects are usually reported as one.
Chasing
Somebody spends a day a week sending reminders. Who they chase, in what order, and whether any of it is necessary are rarely examined.
How Long the Approver Actually Gets
Count the timesheets per approver, multiply by the time a real review takes, and compare it with the window. The arithmetic usually settles the argument.
The Same Eleven People
Habitual late submission is a structural fact wearing the costume of a discipline problem. Diagnosing the eleven is faster than chasing them.
The Broken Week
Public holidays, shutdowns, part-weeks and period boundaries break every assumption the process makes. They are also entirely predictable.
Paying Someone Whose Timesheet Has Not Arrived
The decision has to be made every period and is usually made by whoever is at the desk. Writing the rule down removes the pressure that breaks everything else.