When trying to batch update time or expense entries from the Time Entries, Expense Entries, or Time & Expense Reviewer screens, you sometimes see these messages indicating the operation failed on some entries:
184 of 200 records were updated successfully. 16 records couldn't be updated due to validation or permission restrictions.
OR
No records were updated. The selected records couldn't be processed due to validation or permission restrictions.
This means CORE checked each selected entry before applying the change and found that some entries could not be updated. CORE never forces a change on an entry that is locked, in use elsewhere in your accounting, or restricted by your settings. It skips those entries and updates the rest.
The sections below explain some of the common scenarios in which this can happen.
When some entries are skipped
In these cases, CORE updates the entries it can and skips the ones it cannot. The count in the message reflects the number of entries updated and not updated.
Project Assignments restrict the updates
If you are moving entries to a project that has project assignments limiting which employees, activities, or expense items are permitted on it, any entry whose employee, activity, or expense item does not match the project assignments is skipped. This is the most common reason entries are skipped when moving them between projects or phases. Similarly, if you are changing the employee, activity, or expense item on entries whose projects have assignments that do not permit the change, those entries are skipped too.
What to do: Review and update the project assignments if needed before retrying, or restrict your changes to those permitted by project assignments.
See also:
- Cannot batch update activity for time entries
- Moving time entries to another project
- Unable to batch update project on time entries
Setting billed flag on unapproved entries
If you are trying to set the Billed Status flag to True on entries that have not been approved, CORE skips them. Entries must be approved before they can be marked as billed.
What to do: Approve the entries and then retry the batch update if needed.
See also: Unable to mark time entries as billed using Batch Update
The entries are locked in an active billing session
Entries that have the Locked status are in an active invoice batch and cannot be updated at all, regardless of whether it is your own batch or another user's. CORE skips them entirely.
What to do: Complete or cancel the invoice batch for those entries first, or ask the batch owner to do so, then retry.
The entries are already billed on invoices
Invoiced entries have some fields locked, meaning CORE protects them and does not allow them to be changed. Normally, if a batch update includes some fields that are restricted on a given entry, that entry is skipped entirely even if other fields you chose to batch update are not restricted. However, invoiced entries are an exception: when you batch update a mix of locked and unlocked fields on invoiced entries, CORE applies the update field by field. The unlocked fields are updated and the locked fields are left unchanged.
The fields that can still be batch updated on invoiced entries are: Description, Memo, Classification, Cost Rate, Paid Date, Paid flag, Flag 1/2/3, Actual Hours (time entries), Comp Time (time entries), Reimbursable flag (expense entries).
All other fields, including Employee, Date, Project, Activity, Bill Rate, Billable flag, Billed Status, tax rates, and the linked accounts, are locked from batch update.
What to do: To update a locked field, unlock it by removing the entry from its invoice first, if possible. Otherwise, limit your batch to the updatable fields listed above, or filter invoiced entries out of your selection before running the update.
Note: Some of the updatable fields above also require specific security permissions. If you expect a field to update but it is not, check your security permissions to identify the cause.
The entries are linked to transactions in closed periods
Time and expense entries linked to vendor bills, checks, or credit card transactions that fall in a closed period are skipped. If your company has Revenue Recognition enabled, entries are skipped if their associated revenue recognition journal entries fall in a closed period. If your company uses a Closing Date instead of accounting periods, entries on or before that date are skipped.
What to do: An administrator can reopen the period or adjust the Closing Date. Entries that must stay in a closed period cannot be batch edited until the period is open again.
The entries have been synced to a payroll run
Entries that have been synced to a payroll run are locked so that payroll figures remain accurate. CORE skips them during batch updates.
What to do: Exclude the entries from the payroll run, then retry.
The entries are linked to a reconciled transaction
If the entries are tied to check or credit card transactions that have been reconciled and the reconciliation is finalized, they are skipped from batch updates to keep the reconciliation intact.
What to do: Undo the reconciliation or set it to draft if the change is required, then retry.
Your Manage Access settings prevent the update
Manage Access only affects batch updates that change the project, activity, or expense item of entries. CORE validates the target project and activity combination (for time entries) or project and expense item combination (for expense entries) against your permitted set. If either value in the combination falls outside your permitted set, those entries are skipped.
What to do: Update both the project and activity or expense item together in the same batch operation, choosing a combination within your permitted set. Or ask your CORE administrator to review your Manage Access settings.
DCAA compliance is enabled
If DCAA compliance is turned on for your company, you can only batch update your own time entries. Entries belonging to other employees are skipped, regardless of your security profile.
What to do: Each employee updates their own entries. If this is a recurring issue, review the DCAA setting with your administrator.
The entries are linked to transactions you don't have access to
If the entries are linked to checks or credit card transactions, and your security profile does not include access to the corresponding screen, CORE skips those entries in the batch update.
What to do: Ask your administrator for access to the relevant screen.
The entries are linked to paid vendor bills
When a vendor bill is paid, CORE restricts what can be changed on the linked time and expense entries. Fields such as Date, Employee, Activity Item, Expense Item, Units, and accounts are blocked from batch update to preserve the integrity of the posted accounting. Just like entries billed on invoices, the batch update here is applied field by field. This means the unlocked fields are updated and the locked fields are left unchanged if included in the same batch operation.
What to do: If the change is necessary, the bill payment must be deleted. Contact your administrator to assess whether that is appropriate.
You are trying to set the Paid flag on non-reimbursable expense entries
CORE only allows the Paid flag to be set on reimbursable expenses. If non-reimbursable entries are included in the batch, the Paid flag is not applied to those entries. Just like entries from paid vendor bills, other fields included in the same batch operation are still updated.
Note that this scenario only applies when Allow reimbursable expenses to be marked paid without a bill payment is enabled under Settings > Time & Expenses > Expense Entry. Otherwise, CORE does not allow selecting the Paid flag for batch update.
What to do: In the same batch update, include the Reimbursable field and set it to True alongside the Paid flag. Or run two separate batch updates: first set Reimbursable to True, then set the Paid flag.
See also: Unable to batch update Paid flag for expenses
When the entire batch is blocked
In this case, nothing updates at all, regardless of how many entries you selected.
Your filters changed while the Batch Update dialog was open
If the filters applied to your list no longer match what CORE has on record for it, for example because filters changed in another tab or the list reloaded while the dialog was open, CORE blocks the entire update to stay safe, displaying the error message:
This batch update operation could not be completed. The system detected an inconsistency. Please review the applied filters and try again.
What to do: Close the dialog, refresh the list, reselect your entries, and try again.
A note on other screens
Similar skipping behavior exists when using Batch Update on projects, clients, or other record types in CORE. Those screens do not currently show a count of skipped records, so a batch update that appears to have done less than expected does not tell you why. The same general causes apply: locked records, closed accounting periods, permission restrictions, and links to downstream financial transactions. See Using Batch Update for general guidance, and the following article for a specific known case in the Projects screen: Batch update excludes phases.