Timesheet exception rules that never change pay
ONYX1 reads every timesheet and writes a plain sentence on the ones worth a look. It never changes the hours or stops an approval. You decide.
Timesheets · 3 min read
Most timesheets are fine. The hard part is finding the few that are not, without reading every line. ONYX1 does that reading for you.
Each rule looks at the shifts on a sheet. When one matches, it writes a plain sentence on the sheet for whoever approves it, such as "The system closed this shift. Nobody watched it end, so the finish time is a guess."
A flag or a note
Every rule is a flag or a note. The test is simple: would a worker who did everything right set it off? If yes, it is a note.
- A flag takes the sheet out of the bulk approve button, so you open it and read one sentence. It does not mean anything is wrong.
- A note sits on the sheet for you to see. It never holds anything up.
- The crew comparison rules look like flags but never hold a sheet back. They are set off by other people's hours, and one person's hours are not wrong because someone else's are.
Your pay run stays yours
No rule docks an hour, rounds a shift down or stops an approval. You can approve any sheet, flagged or not. Once you have read a flag, tap "I've looked at this". The hours stay the same, the flag stays on the sheet marked "looked at", and the sheet can go through with the clean ones.
The bulk button checks every sheet again before it approves. A sheet that changed since you looked is left for you to read.
It works both ways
Most rules look for hours that might be too high. One looks for hours that are missing. If someone was rostered on a job, the crew logged hours there that day, and they logged none anywhere and were not on leave, their sheet is flagged.
Where they clocked in
If you record clock-in locations, ONYX1 takes one reading at clock-in. It only flags a start more than a kilometre from the job's site pin, not a ute parked down the road. You can switch location capture off.
The record does not move
When you approve a sheet, ONYX1 saves the flags and notes you saw with it. A colleague's late line or a deleted job cannot add a new flag to a week you already signed off.
Your own week gets the same check. As the owner, a clean week you hand in approves itself. A week with a flag waits until you have read it.
Every rule, in its own words
Here is the full list, grouped by what each rule looks at. Each line is the sentence your approver sees, with example numbers filled in.
The shift itself
How it started, how it ended, and whether it can be true as recorded.
- FlagThe system closed this shift. Nobody watched it end, so the finish time is a guess.
- FlagA colleague closed this shift: "battery went flat on site"
- FlagClosed by answering the still-on-site prompt, so the finish was supplied after the fact.
- EitherOne shift of 13.4h that nobody ended. This is the runaway shape.A properly clocked long shift is a note instead: "A long shift of 13.4h, clocked in and out."
- NoteThis shift ran past midnight. It bills to the day it started.
- FlagThe recorded break is as long as the shift, so the hours cannot be right.
- FlagThis shift overlaps another one, so the same minutes are counted twice.
Where the shift started
The geofence measures the clock-in against the job's site pin.
- FlagClocked in about 4.2 km from the site.
Who wrote the line
A hand-entered line is not wrong. Who typed it is worth knowing.
- NoteHand-entered by the worker on their own timesheet.
- FlagHand-entered onto this timesheet by somebody else.
- FlagNot on a job, and no reason given, so it cannot be costed.
- NoteNot on a job: yard and vehicle maintenance.
- FlagEntered later for work done on 2026-08-14.
What changed afterwards
Measured from when the hours changed, not from when the row was last touched.
- FlagChanged more than a day later, and the hours went up from 7.5h to 9.0h.
- NoteCorrected later, and the hours went down from 9.0h to 7.5h.
The shape of the day
Patterns across a day or a period. All notes: none is evidence on its own.
- Note12.5h across the day, every shift clocked in and out.
- Note5 separate shifts, moving between jobs.
- NoteClocked out during the day and also recorded a break, so the break may be counted twice.
- Note62.0h this period, against a usual 40.0h.
What the rest of the crew did
The only rules triggered by somebody else's data.
- FlagThe crew recorded hours on this job that day and this person recorded none anywhere.
- NoteAssigned to this job, but the day's hours went to another one.
- CrewThe crew's times on this job split: 8.0h vs 9.5h vs 6.0h. Nobody is clearly the odd one out.
- Crew6.0h on this job against the crew's 9.0h.
Set it up
Step by step, in the ONYX1 help centre.
Keep reading
- Safety forms that must be signed before clock-inMake a signed safety form the key to the clock on every job. Each worker signs their own, and no one can delete an incident report.
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- Working with no signal: what ONYX1 does offlineJob status changes, job and incident photos, and daily-report co-signatures queue on the phone. Other writes need a signal.