Staff
- Capture hours quickly, alongside the working day.
- Own hours always in view.
- Fewer queries, more focus on the work.
Capture, review and approve your timesheet digitally.
The teamspace digital timesheet replaces Excel spreadsheets and paper lists. Logged hours assemble themselves for approval, are retained with activatable GoBD mode and go to payroll and invoicing without double entry. Part of online time tracking, with no per-module surcharge.
Where you stand
Still emailing the Excel list every week?
- The Excel template is emailed to accounting every week
- A forgotten break or a shifted formula only surfaces during the invoicing run
- The spreadsheet produces no DATEV payroll import and no record at the press of a button
- Approvals run through inboxes, and nobody knows exactly which version is current
That costs the office team hours of manual work every week
Why go digital
Why the Excel template has had its day.
The Excel timesheet is still standard at many service firms: a template with columns for start, end, break and project, emailed to accounting once a week. Cheap, but outdated. Three points make the switch overdue.
- Legal certainty: since the German Federal Labour Court (BAG) ruling of 13 September 2022 (1 ABR 22/21) and the ECJ ruling of 14 May 2019 (C-55/18), working time must be recorded objectively and reliably. An Excel cell that can be overwritten without a trace fails the reliability test.
- Data quality: Excel forgives no typo, no forgotten break and no shifted formula. Discrepancies often only surface during the invoicing run, when the correction is expensive.
- Downstream processes: a spreadsheet produces no DATEV payroll import and no activity record at the press of a button. What staff capture in two clicks costs the office team hours of manual work afterwards.
teamspace solves all three in one cloud application. Hours land end to end, every change stays traceable, and the finished timesheet moves on without a detour.
Review and approve
Approval follows your project rule.
The timesheet collects the logged project hours and runs through a review workflow that you define per project. Once approved, the hours are locked and ready to send.
Week Month Hour balance
Timesheet · K. Lang
CW 20 DayStart · EndΣ
Mon 08:30 – 17:00 · 0:45 7.75
Tue 08:30 – 17:00 · 0:45 8.00
Wed 08:30 – 17:00 · 0:45 7.75
Thu 08:30 – 17:00 · 0:45 8.00
Fri 08:30 – 17:00 · 0:45 6.50
Week total 38.00 h
submitted
For review
Employees submit their week
approved
Approved
Project lead reviews, can adjust times
locked
Finalised
GoBD lock · 10 years · Frankfurt data centre
After approval the hours can no longer be edited. The timesheet is ready to send and feeds into payroll and invoicing.
For every role
What the timesheet does for every role.
The same timesheet answers three different questions, depending on who opens it.
Project lead
- Project hours live, not only at month-end.
- Hours clearly assigned to project and phase.
- Review with billing confidence and approve in one click.
Management
- Reliable figures instead of estimates.
- Less coordination, clearer records during audits.
- Better decisions, because the figures are in earlier.
“Our staff appreciate how simple the system is.”
Part of online time tracking
The timesheet is a building block of the whole time tracking system.
Timesheet, activity record, project hours, travel expenses and overtime all run in the same system. One entry feeds the hour balance, the project analysis and the payroll data at once. The overview page shows how the whole module fits together.
Go to online time trackingAutomatic
The timesheet assembles itself.
Unlike with handwritten or Excel lists, the timesheet in teamspace comes together on its own. You select the staff member, project and period, and the system assembles the matching entries.
- Select staff member, project and period, and the rest runs automatically.
- The reviewer is notified in the "My projects" tile and can adjust hours before approval.
- Don't need a review? Then the activity record shows the same presentation without an approval process.
That way the timesheet is no longer a separate task, but a press of a button on hours that are already logged.
From the day to approval
From the first clock-in to the locked week.
- 1
Start the day
One click on Start in the browser, in the installable app or at the tablet terminal by the entrance. Start, end and breaks are captured according to the stored rules.
- 2
Log project time
During the day, hours are logged on projects or tickets. One entry feeds the timesheet and project reporting at once.
- 3
Review the weekly overview
At the weekend, staff see their timesheet in weekly format: day bars, breaks, project totals, plan vs actual.
- 4
Correction with audit trail
Typos and forgotten entries can be added later. Each correction notes the editor and timestamp.
- 5
Approval in one click
Staff submit, managers review and approve. Approved hours go to payroll and invoicing and are locked afterwards.
Excel or teamspace
The Excel timesheet and teamspace compared.
A side-by-side comparison for everyone still working with an Excel template and weighing up whether the switch is worth it.
Feature
Excel timesheet
teamspace
Recommended Clock in in one click
Breaks deducted automatically by stored rules
manual
Project hours by phase and task
limited
Installable web app (PWA) on iOS and Android
Audit trail for corrections
Weekly and monthly overview, up to date daily
formula upkeep needed
Approval workflow per project
email
Hand-over to invoicing and payroll
manual
GoBD mode activatable (retention in activated mode)
uncertain
Recording in line with the BAG / ECJ ruling
uncertain
Hosting in Germany (Frankfurt)
varies
Operated in an ISO 27001 certified data centre
varies
Three views
Day, week and month in one interface.
Staff see their timesheet in three views, all from the same entries.
- Day view: start, end, breaks and project hours on a timeline.
- Weekly view: day bars with plan vs actual, break totals and project allocation.
- Monthly overview: hour balance, overtime balance, leave and sick days in one summary.
A correction in the day view takes effect immediately on the week and the month. If needed, the overview can be downloaded as an Excel report.
Initial call
Does this fit your timesheet template?
In 15 to 30 minutes we go through your current template, your approval path and the integrations. After that you'll know whether moving off Excel is worth it for your team.
More use cases
What else builds on captured hours.
From logging project time to managing absences: six use cases in the same system as the timesheet.
Log project hours
Hours on project, phase and task, distinguished as billable or internal.
Learn moreActivity record
Hours record per client as a PDF at the press of a button.
Learn moreTravel expense reports
Meal allowances automatically by duration and country, receipts included.
Learn moreTrack overtime
Plan vs actual live, premiums by collective agreement, payout or time off in lieu.
Learn moreManage leave and sickness
Request and approve absences and offset them in the hour balance.
Learn moreCapture hours via check-in
Clock arrival and departure at the terminal, in the app or in the browser.
Learn moreLocking
Approved weeks stay locked.
A record only holds up if it cannot be quietly changed. Approval makes the timesheet final, locking makes it immutable, two steps with different effects.
- Editing window per person: how many days back can still be changed, configurable up to a fixed cut-off date in the following month.
- Locking manually, centrally or automatically in the weekly or monthly run.
- A closed month stays closed. Anyone who still needs to correct it then requires the finance clerk's permission.
In the activatable GoBD mode the locked data is held in an audit-proof way for more than 10 years, in certified data centres in Frankfurt am Main. A tax audit then receives the same version the staff member signed off.
Hand-over
Approved hours flow into payroll and invoicing.
A timesheet is only valuable once the data flows into the downstream processes without retyping. teamspace hands over approved hours in a single run.
- Payroll: via the DATEV-certified interface to DATEV Unternehmen online; Lexware and Sage via standard exports.
- Invoicing: approved, billable hours become fee invoices with the stored rates.
- Your own analyses: REST API and CSV export for dashboards in common BI tools or Excel.
The timesheet thus does not end up in a folder, but becomes the data basis for payroll and profitability.
Records
Records are produced as a PDF at the press of a button.
For tax advisors, law firms, management consultancies and everyone who bills on a client basis, the activity record is mandatory. teamspace produces it from the same hours.
- Per client, with date, hours and activity description.
- As a PDF with company logo, verifiable online and ready to send for signature.
- The activity record offers the same presentation as the timesheet, only without a review and approval process.
Scope
What the digital timesheet captures.
Attendance
- Start, end and breaks per day
- Overtime account and balance
- Plan vs actual per day
- Premiums for night, weekend and public holiday work
Project
- Logging on project, phase and task
- Billable or non-billable
- Hourly rates per person and project
- Travel time and travel expenses per entry
- Activity record per client
Output
- Timesheet as PDF export
- Weekly and monthly overview
- Excel report to download
- DATEV-certified interface to DATEV Unternehmen online
- Direct hand-over to the invoicing software
What it's about
What a digital timesheet is and what it replaces.
A digital timesheet captures a staff member's working time, that is start, end and breaks, together with the project hours logged against it, in a cloud application instead of an Excel template. It forms the basis for payroll, fee invoices and records.
The difference from a spreadsheet lies not in the appearance, but in the downstream processes. An Excel list has to be reviewed, totalled and transferred by someone at the end. A digital timesheet is up to date daily, documents every change and passes its data on to payroll and invoicing without retyping.
The move off Excel typically takes two to four weeks. First the inventory: which template is in use, which fields are critical, which integrations exist. Then the configuration of break rules, hourly rates and cost centres. One team captures a week in parallel to resolve discrepancies, after which the remaining teams follow with a short induction. Finally the Excel template is archived.
Related modules
Three modules draw directly on the hour.
The approved timesheet is not the end. From it come project metrics, invoices and payroll data. Here are the shortest paths to them.
Project management
Logged hours land on project and phase and carry plan vs actual, margin and utilisation.
- Logging on project, phase and task
- Plan vs actual and margin up to date daily
- Utilisation per person and team
Invoicing software
Approved hours become the invoicing basis with no export, with hourly rates, flat rates and travel expenses.
- Partial, interim and final invoices
- ZUGFeRD and XRechnung
- Hand-over to DATEV Unternehmen online
HR software
Hours, overtime and absences run prepared into payroll, with no double maintenance.
- Export prepared payroll data
- Leave and sickness in the same system
- Overtime accounts per staff member
Frequently asked questions on the digital timesheet
Does the digital timesheet fully replace the Excel template?
Yes. teamspace covers every function of an Excel timesheet template, plus break automation, project allocation, audit trail, approval workflow and integrations. Parallel Excel maintenance disappears.
Does the digital timesheet meet GoBD requirements?
teamspace offers an activatable GoBD mode. In it, approved records and periods are locked against later changes and retained in an audit-proof way for more than 10 years; every entry and correction is documented with editor and timestamp. The mode is activated by teamspace. Blanket GoBD compliance additionally depends on your organisational processes.
Does the timesheet also work in the home office?
Yes. The digital timesheet works regardless of location, in the browser or on the app. More on time tracking in the home office.
Can staff export their timesheet as a PDF?
Yes. The weekly and monthly timesheet can be exported as a PDF, with company logo, staff details, daily overview and totals. An activity record per client can also be generated as a PDF, for example for tax advisors, law firms or management consultancies.
How does teamspace separate attendance and project time?
teamspace runs two linked views: attendance time records start, end and breaks, while project time serves commercial steering (which project, billable or not). A single entry feeds both views.
How long is digital timesheet data retained?
In the activated GoBD mode, teamspace retains data for 10 years. Staff and managers can access historical timesheets, and full reports can be generated for audits.
Where are the timesheets stored?
All data is processed in certified data centres in Frankfurt am Main, exclusively in the EU. teamspace is Made in Germany, hosted in an ISO 27001 certified data centre in Frankfurt and GDPR-compliant. The contracting party is 5 POINT AG, headquartered in Darmstadt.
Digital timesheet, reviewed in 15 minutes.
We look at your timesheet template, your approval path and your integrations with payroll and invoicing. A short call shows whether teamspace fits your team.