Distributed Timesheet Exception Coding Agreement

Key finding

The unit is one timesheet-period exception selected before either reviewer assigns a code; missing and conflicted evidence remain explicit outcomes.

Research question and decision use

Distributed Timesheet Exception Coding Agreement protocol note 1: This study will measure whether qualified reviewers classify the same distributed timesheet evidence consistently. It evaluates local administrative evidence and does not determine employment status, wages, legal compliance, privacy permission, security adequacy, payment authority, or individual performance.

Distributed Timesheet Exception Coding Agreement protocol note 2: Register the question, systems, workflow versions, dates, population rules, primary outcome, subgroup plan, exclusions, and stop criteria before examining results. Preserve every dated amendment.

Population and sampling frame

Distributed Timesheet Exception Coding Agreement protocol note 3: The observation unit is one timesheet-period exception selected before either reviewer assigns a code. Build the eligible frame from stable source identifiers and retain canceled, superseded, failed, unresolved, and restricted records.

Distributed Timesheet Exception Coding Agreement protocol note 4: If a census is impractical, select a reproducible random sample with predeclared strata and a published seed. Never replace a selected incomplete record with a cleaner example.

Data dictionary and lineage

Distributed Timesheet Exception Coding Agreement protocol note 5: Capture study key, worker region, period, schedule evidence, reported time, source zone, proposed code, reviewer confidence, disagreement, and adjudication. Define allowed values, source authority, observation time, transformation, missing-state codes, and adjudication for every field.

Distributed Timesheet Exception Coding Agreement protocol note 6: Separate absent, inaccessible, disputed, not applicable, overwritten, and indeterminate evidence. Link every derived measure back to the read-only source export and transformation log.

Reviewer reliability

Distributed Timesheet Exception Coding Agreement protocol note 7: Train reviewers on cases outside the analysis sample, lock the rubric, and independently double-code a blinded overlap set. Keep confidence and disagreements before adjudication.

Distributed Timesheet Exception Coding Agreement protocol note 8: Report raw agreement, category-level disagreement, chance-adjusted agreement where appropriate, adjudication counts, and every dictionary clarification. Weak agreement is a measurement finding.

Primary analysis

Distributed Timesheet Exception Coding Agreement protocol note 9: Compare exception family, region, shift pattern, evidence completeness, reviewer pair, and adjudicated code. Publish counts, denominators, missingness, and uncertainty with each rate; use medians, quartiles, and unresolved observations for elapsed-time outcomes.

Distributed Timesheet Exception Coding Agreement protocol note 10: The predeclared primary outcome is raw and chance-adjusted agreement on the primary exception category. Keep performance distinct from documentation quality, because missing evidence cannot prove that the underlying event occurred or failed.

Sensitivity checks

Distributed Timesheet Exception Coding Agreement protocol note 11: compare primary-code agreement with a declared multi-label analysis and report prevalence by code. Also bound inaccessible records once as missing and once as adverse, and repeat after removing linked duplicates.

Distributed Timesheet Exception Coding Agreement protocol note 12: Preserve the registered result even when an alternative definition appears more favorable. State the assumption, number of units moved, and whether the operational recommendation changes.

Privacy and limitations

Distributed Timesheet Exception Coding Agreement protocol note 13: The central ambiguity is that a discrepancy can reflect time-zone conversion, missing evidence, schedule change, or a pay question requiring qualified review. Also assess selection, system clocks, retrospective edits, channel-specific missingness, correlated records, workflow changes, and reviewer learning.

Distributed Timesheet Exception Coding Agreement protocol note 14: Replace worker, customer, vendor, and location identifiers with study keys. Restrict the linking table, minimize free text, log access, and suppress sensitive small cells.

Evidence quality checks

Distributed Timesheet Exception Coding Agreement protocol note 17: Trace a stratified quality sample back to study key, worker region, period, schedule evidence, reported time, source zone, proposed code, reviewer confidence, disagreement, and adjudication. Confirm that extraction preserved the source event, time zone, actor, version, and later correction. A copied spreadsheet or dashboard derived from the same system is not independent confirmation.

Distributed Timesheet Exception Coding Agreement protocol note 18: Document every failed link, inaccessible artifact, conflicting value, and reviewer query in an evidence-quality log. Summarize defects by source and field while retaining the affected observation in the appropriate missing or disputed category.

Governance and replication

Distributed Timesheet Exception Coding Agreement protocol note 19: Separate data custody, coding, adjudication, and operational approval where staffing permits. Record conflicts of interest and require an authorized owner to approve any use beyond the registered study purpose.

Distributed Timesheet Exception Coding Agreement protocol note 20: Give a second analyst the frozen extract, dictionary, and transformation log without the first analyst’s private notes. Compare the replicated counts and exceptions, explain every difference, and version the final analysis package.

Reporting and responsible use

Distributed Timesheet Exception Coding Agreement protocol note 15: Publish frame construction, observation count, exclusions, source coverage, dictionary, missingness, reliability, primary estimate, subgroup counts, sensitivities, counterexamples, and limitations.

Distributed Timesheet Exception Coding Agreement protocol note 16: Use findings for a bounded process trial with an owner, duration, review date, rollback condition, and privacy check. Do not use the study alone for discipline, compensation, surveillance, or automated consequential decisions.

Sources

Apply this research to your workflow

Use the protocol to define the records, review owner, and decision boundaries before work is delegated.

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