Timekeeping and Approvals Solution for Field Operations

Our client Cardston County is a rural municipal organization in Southern Alberta with a wide geographic service area and teams working across public works, operations, and administrative services. A large portion of their workforce operates in the field, including seasonal and role-based staff who need a practical way to capture time while on the job.

Accurate time entry is critical, but so is keeping payroll predictable and compliant. They needed a mobile-friendly way for field teams to submit time quickly, while giving supervisors and administration a structured way to review, approve, and export payroll ready data without chasing paper or spreadsheets.

Profile Highlights

  • Organization type: Rural municipal government
  • Operating environment: Distributed workforce with significant field-based activity
  • Workforce mix: Multiple departments, seasonal roles, varied pay rules
  • Business priority: Reliable time capture with controlled approvals and payroll-ready outputs

Key Challenges

  • Field staff friction: Timesheets were not designed for quick daily entry on a phone, causing late or incomplete submissions
  • Approval bottlenecks: Multi-step approvals stalled easily and required frequent follow-up
  • Payroll rework: Manual re-entry and reconciliation increased errors and cycle time
  • Limited visibility: No consistent system view of what was submitted, missing, rejected, or approved
  • Weak reporting: Minimal rollups made it hard to spot trends, staffing pressure, or where time was being allocated

Problem

The existing timesheet process was manual and approval heavy. Employees submitted time on a weekly cycle, approvals moved through multiple layers, and payroll staff had to key in data and reconcile it under tight cutoff dates. Different employee groups followed different pay periods and hour rules, increasing complexity and the risk of errors.

Solution

West X delivered a timekeeping solution built around two experiences: one optimized for field entry, and one optimized for supervisory review and payroll processing.

What We Delivered

  • Mobile-friendly time entry:
    • Simple daily entry with minimal steps
    • Validation to reduce common errors (missing details, overlaps, incorrect coding)
    • Role-based activity options so staff only see what applies to them
    • Clear feedback loops for corrections and resubmission when entries are rejected
  • Structured management and approvals:
    • Approval dashboards to review submissions by employee, date, project, or status
    • Batch approval to reduce weekly administrative effort
    • Comments and rejection reasons to reduce back and forth and improve resubmission quality
    • Visibility into patterns like missing time, recurring corrections, and late submissions
  • Workflow automation:
    • Automatic routing to the correct approver
    • Reminders and notifications to keep submissions moving
    • Consistent approval tracking and status history
    • Payroll-ready export output to reduce manual re-entry and reconciliation

Technology Used:

Modern logo design with purple and pink geometric shapes for West X Business Solutions.
Power Apps Canvas
Modern logo design with purple and pink geometric shapes for West X Business Solutions.
Model-Driven Power Apps
Vancouver business solutions logo with green abstract design.
Dataverse
Swoosh logo representing West X Business Solutions.
Power Automate

The Results

Cardston County moved from a manual, hard-to-scale timesheet process to a structured system that works for both field staff and administration. Field teams gained a faster way to submit accurate time without friction. Supervisors gained a clean approval workflow that reduced follow-up effort. Payroll gained more consistent, export-ready data to support faster processing and fewer corrections. Management gained improved visibility into submission status, approvals, and bottlenecks, helping payroll run with more confidence and less operational overhead.

Outcomes

  • Faster, more consistent time submission from field teams
  • Reduced follow-up effort for supervisors and administrators
  • Fewer payroll corrections due to validation and standardized coding
  • Clear status visibility across the full submission-to-approval cycle
  • More predictable payroll processing under tight cutoff timelines

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