What it does
Logging periods turn hour logging into a review cycle: a program defines named date ranges, trainees submit their draft entries for a period, and administrators review, approve, and lock the period's entries. Each entry moves through a lifecycle — draft, submitted for review, approved, or rejected — and locking is what makes it read-only.
Who it's for
Program administrators and coordinators who define periods and run the review queue, and learners who submit their entries for review from the personal Work Hours page.
How it works
Defining a period. Administrators create logging periods with a Period name, Start date, and End date, plus optional Submission due and Supervisor review due dates. Each period also tracks a lifecycle status: Draft, Open, Closed, Finalized, or Reopened. Change it from the period's Workflow menu (Open period, Close period, Finalize period, Reopen period). That status marks the period's stage. It does not by itself approve or lock any entries.
Submitting a period. On the personal Work Hours page, a trainee submits the current period: every draft entry overlapping the period's dates is locked and marked as awaiting review, in one action. Entries a reviewer explicitly rejected are excluded on purpose — they are not silently re-locked. Each person's submission state shows as a submission slip, visible to both the trainee and the program.
The Logs page. Lists all entries with search, filters (including a 30-day default date window), and an approval-status filter. Tabs switch between Logs, By Person, By Rotation, and By Month. Administrators can Approve one entry, or select several for the bulk toolbar's Approve, Lock, Unlock, Export, or Delete. They can also edit or delete an entry, or export the filtered list to CSV.
Finalizing. Finalize Period opens a dialog. It approves and locks every undecided entry in the current date-range filter, then locks everything approved. On the By Person tab, Approve period does the same per trainee via Approve logging period for trainee?. Neither dialog auto-approves an entry a reviewer already rejected.
Unlocking and reminders. Unlock on a filtered selection releases a period's non-approved entries — for a whole program or one trainee — so corrections can be made. Programs can also dispatch submission reminders to trainees who haven't submitted a period; a reminder ledger shows what was sent.
Before you start
You need work-hours management permission to approve, lock, unlock, or finalize entries.
Confirm the trainee has submitted for review — finalizing skips entries still in draft.
Do this
Open the program logs page (
/work-hours/manage/logs) → you should see the Logs tab with search, filters, and an approval-status filter.On the page's filter section, set the date range and approval status to the period you want to close out → confirm the list matches the entries you intend to finalize.
Select Finalize Period → the Finalize Period dialog opens, showing total, pending, approved, and already-locked entry counts.
In the dialog, check the confirmation checkbox acknowledging the entries will be locked → the Finalize Period button in the dialog becomes selectable.
Select Finalize Period in the dialog → the dialog closes and the previously pending entries show as approved and locked on the Logs tab.
You're done when
✓ The Logs tab shows the period's undecided entries as approved and locked.
✓ Rejected entries in the range remain rejected and unlocked.
✓ Re-opening the Finalize Period dialog for the same range shows Already Finalized.
Boundaries and limits
Submitting a period only locks true drafts — entries with no approval decision. Rejected entries stay unlocked and must be corrected individually.
Finalization never approves an entry a reviewer explicitly rejected.
Admin unlock targets non-approved entries; releasing an approved-and-locked entry is a separate administrative unlock with its own audit reason.
Entry approval and locking are governed by role-based command enforcement: trainees can create, edit, and submit their own entries; approval requires supervisor or program-level authority.
A period's entry queue is bounded to entries overlapping the period's date range, scoped to the program.
Deleting entries is a soft delete; deleted entries leave the queue but are not physically erased.
Common questions
Q: A trainee submitted the wrong hours for a period. How do they fix it? A: An administrator unlocks that trainee's period, the trainee corrects the drafts, and submits again.
Q: What's the difference between approving and finalizing? A: Approving is a per-entry decision. Finalizing is the batch version — it approves all undecided entries in the range and locks everything approved, closing the period's books.
Q: Do rejected entries get swept up when I finalize? A: No. Finalization only promotes entries with no decision. Rejected entries remain rejected until corrected and re-reviewed.
Q: Can trainees still log hours after a period is finalized? A: They can log new entries for other dates, but finalized entries are locked and read-only for them.
Related articles