Submission Types & Categories
Two settings shape every submission in FiscFlow: the category decides what a submission can carry (hours, documents, or both) and the type wires how it's routed and when (its approval workflow and pay-period schedule). Getting these right is what makes timesheets, requisitions, and document submissions behave the way your district needs.
A category is the broad kind (does it take hours? documents? which hours types?). A type is a specific form within a category that adds the workflow, schedule, and any extra requirements. One category can have several types.
Submission categories
A category sets whether a submission accepts hours and documents, using a simple three-state setting for each.
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Name * | What the category is called. |
| Hours Entry Requirements | None / Allowed / Required - whether the submission accepts hours entries. |
| Document Requirements | None / Allowed / Required - whether it accepts documents. |
| Hours Entry Types | The whitelist of hours types a submission in this category may use (worked, absence, holiday…). One can be the default. Shown only when hours are allowed or required. |
| Signing Report | Optional. A report format associated with the category. |
The three-state None / Allowed / Required setting is the heart of it:
| Setting | Effect |
|---|---|
| None | That section (hours or documents) is hidden - the submission can't carry it. |
| Allowed | It may be added, but isn't mandatory to submit. |
| Required | At least one must be present before the submission can be submitted. |
The category's Hours Entry Types collection is what makes a given hours type valid on a submission - an entry's type must be one the category lists.
Submission types
A type lives under one category and adds the routing and rules:
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Name * | What users pick when creating a submission. |
| Submission Category * | The category this type belongs to - it inherits the hours/document behavior above. |
| Active | Only active types can be selected on new submissions. New types default to active. |
| Submission Workflow | The ordered approval steps the submission follows - see Workflows, roles & filters. |
| Submission Schedule | The set of submission windows (pay periods). FiscFlow picks the next open window from it. |
| Require Account Entry | When on, hours on the submission must carry an account. |
| Site Specific | Adds Site to the timesheet's identity - a separate timesheet per site, and Site becomes required on every submission of this type. Off by default; see Grouping hours into timesheets. |
| Account Specific | Adds Account to the identity - a separate timesheet per account, each charged and approved on its own. Off by default; see Grouping hours into timesheets. |
| Require Sub-Type | When on, a sub-type must be chosen (the type can define its own sub-types). |
| Require Related Submission | When on, the submission must reference a related submission. |
| Document Templates | The templates this type offers (only when its category allows documents). |
| Supported Classifications | Which classifications can use this type. |
How it all fits together
- A type → category (required) → its allowed hours types and document behavior.
- A type → schedule → the pay-period windows a submission of that type uses.
- A type → workflow → who approves it and in what order.
- A classification or title names a default submission type (from its supported types), so creating a requisition or logging hours starts from the right type automatically.
Grouping hours into timesheets
When you log hours, FiscFlow packages them into a timesheet (a submission) automatically. Every timesheet is identified by three things that always apply:
- the employee assignment the hours are on,
- the pay period (submission window) the date falls in, and
- the category that accepts that hours type.
So by default, all of an assignment's hours for one category in one pay period roll into a single timesheet - regardless of which site they were worked at or which account they're coded to.
Splitting a timesheet by site or account
Two switches on the submission type let you split that further. They're most useful for multi-site assignments (an employee working across several school sites) and for keeping each funding account on its own timesheet:
| Switch | What it does |
|---|---|
| Site Specific | Adds Site to the timesheet's identity: hours split into a separate timesheet per site, each holding only that site's hours. Site becomes required on every submission of this type - including document-only ones that have no hours to derive it from. Approval also becomes per site: each submission carries its own site, so denying an approver one site hides only that site's submission. |
| Account Specific | Adds Account to the identity: a separate timesheet per account, with the account stamped on it so each account is charged and approved on its own. This is separate from Require Account Entry, which only makes the field mandatory. |
You can turn on either, both, or neither. With both on, hours split by site and account. Both are off by default, and every existing timesheet behaves as it always has - turning a switch on only affects how new hours are grouped.
Turn on Account Specific without Site Specific and a timesheet carries no site of its own, so approval is matched against the assignment's whole set of sites - a deny on any site it covers hides the entire submission. Tick both to split by site and account together.
How the split behaves
- A switch that's off isn't considered. Leave Site Specific off and a timesheet happily collects hours from any of the assignment's sites - exactly the original behavior.
- A switch that's on must match. With Site Specific on, an hours entry only joins a timesheet whose site matches; with Account Specific on, its account must match. New hours that don't fit an open timesheet start a new one, stamped with their site and/or account.
- The most specific timesheet wins. If both a site-grouped timesheet and a general (ungrouped) one could take an entry, the grouped one takes it. A general timesheet still collects anything no grouped timesheet matches, so hours are never left stranded.
- Hours stay consistent with their timesheet. An entry can't sit on a site- or account-grouped timesheet whose site or account differs ("The account doesn't match the submission account."). Change an entry's site and FiscFlow re-homes it to the right timesheet automatically.
Because Account Specific puts the account on the timesheet itself, it works hand-in-hand with account-based approval filters: each account's timesheet can route to the approver responsible for that funding - the practical reason a district turns it on. See also Create & submit timesheets.
Rules these settings enforce
The category/type settings surface as validation on the submission itself:
- Hours not accepted - "This submission type does not accept hours entries. Please remove them and try again."
- Hours required - "A time sheet entry needs to be included in this submission."
- Documents required - "A document needs to be included in this submission."
- Default type must be supported - a classification's default submission type must be one of its supported types, or "The selected default submission type is invalid."
Where to set these up
Submission categories and types both live under Setup, alongside submission
schedules and workflows. They can also be loaded in bulk - categories and types come in through the
Implementation Template (the SubmissionCategoriesAndTypes
sheet), so a new district's configuration can be stood up from a spreadsheet.