Recruiting
Timesheets for a temp staffing agency
Temporary workers submit hours per shift from a phone, the client manager approves them, and approved hours generate both the worker's pay and the client's invoice. A disputed timesheet blocks the invoice until it is resolved.
Automatically generated draft
Written by machine against our own engineering playbook. The company is invented; the decisions are the ones we would make on a real build. A reviewed blueprint goes further — nine sections, agreed line by line, and it is what the build is tested against.
Section 01 · What has to work
Temporary workers must be able to submit shift hours from a phone and client managers must be able to approve them so that payroll and invoices generate without manual calculation.
Section 03 · Screens
Every screen, and what it is for.
- ›Shift Submit — worker logs shift hours, instant validation
- ›Manager Approvals — client manager reviews and approves pending hours, instant list load
- ›Timesheet Dispute — worker or manager flags discrepancy, instant status update
- ›Payroll & Invoice Summary — admin views calculated totals, instant export
Anything not on this list is not in version one. That is what keeps a fixed price fixed.
Section 04 · The data model
What it stores, and who can read a row.
shift
id uuid, worker_id uuid, client_id uuid, start_time timestamptz, end_time timestamptz, break_minutes int, status enum(submitted, approved, disputed), created_at timestamptz
Access · Workers read own rows; client managers read rows for their client_id.
timesheet
id uuid, shift_id uuid, pay_amount numeric(10,2), invoice_amount numeric(10,2), status enum(pending, approved, blocked), updated_at timestamptz
Access · Workers read own pay; client managers read invoices for their client.
dispute
id uuid, timesheet_id uuid, raised_by uuid, reason text, status enum(open, resolved), created_at timestamptz
Access · Workers and client managers read disputes tied to their shifts.
Those access rules belong in the database, not in the screens. Someone who edits the address bar still cannot read a row that is not theirs — and the test that proves it blocks delivery if it fails.
Section 05 · States
submitted → approved → billed | disputed → resolved → approved → billed
Most scope arguments three weeks into a build are really arguments about a state nobody named at the start.
Section 06 · Where this breaks
What bites products like this one.
Workers submitting hours in areas with intermittent cellular connectivity.
Client caches submissions locally in local storage and retries automatically upon reconnection.
Disputed timesheets silently blocking end-of-month client invoice runs.
Dashboard flags unresolved disputes past 48 hours directly to the platform admin.
Section 08 · Deliberately left out
What version one does not do.
- ×Automated ACH payout generation — integrate manual CSV bank exports in v1 to save three days of gateway integration overhead.
- ×Multi-tier client management hierarchy — restrict to a single manager per client location for v1.
This is the section that protects the date, and the only place in the document where somebody says no. It is also why clients trust the rest of it.
Still open
What we would ask before quoting.
- What exact tax or overtime rules apply when shift hours exceed eight hours in a single calendar day?
- Does a disputed timesheet block the entire client invoice or only the line item belonging to the disputed shift?
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