What does “Unable to enter time before manual profile review is completed” mean?
Last updated: October 6, 2026
Applies to: Any worker who enters time in Ascen on an assignment that requires a screening, such as a background check, a drug screen, or a driving record check for a role that involves driving. If your assignment needs no screening, this message does not apply to you.
Summary: This message means a screening that your assignment requires has not cleared yet, so the platform cannot accept time for that assignment. It is not a problem with your timesheet, and your staffing partner cannot clear it for you. Finish anything the screening provider has asked you for, check your status in your onboarding checklist, and email support@ascen.com if it seems stuck.
What the message means
Some assignments need one or more screenings to clear before time can be recorded against them. Until they do, the platform turns away time for that assignment and shows this message. Despite the wording, what is being waited on is a screening result, not a review of your profile details.
If one of your screening results is being looked at more closely, you may see the message on every assignment at once until that review is finished. See Your background check returned a result that needs review.
Assignments where screenings must clear before time and pay
On some assignments, time and pay wait until every screening the assignment requires has cleared.
Starting before your report is back. Some screening packages let you begin once you have completed your part of the screening (the provider's forms), for a limited number of days while the report is still being processed. You will get email reminders before that period ends. If the report has not cleared by then, time entry pauses until it does. Screenings required because of the type of role, such as clinical healthcare, always have to clear before you start.
Screenings that repeat. Some screenings are repeated on a schedule, for example every year. When one is due, you may receive a new invitation from the screening provider and reminder emails. Complete it promptly: on some assignments an expired screening pauses time entry, and pay for time you have already worked can be held until Ascen reviews it.
How to get unblocked
Log in at app.ascen.com and open your onboarding checklist. Find the screening step: a step that is not marked complete is what is holding you up. See Checking the status of your background check or drug screen.
Check your email, including spam, for a message from the screening provider. A request for a document or more information, or an invitation you have not finished, is the most common reason a screening stops moving.
If your invitation has expired, email support@ascen.com to have a new one sent. For a drug screen, see Your drug screen invitation expired or you cannot find a collection site.
Once the screening clears, the message stops appearing for that assignment. If you have already worked hours that you could not enter, tell your staffing partner, who handles timesheets.
Why it works this way
A client or a role can require certain screenings before anyone works on the assignment. Holding time until those screenings clear keeps work and pay in step with that requirement, rather than finding a problem after hours have been worked and paid.
If something's wrong / who to contact
Screening status, a new invitation, or a correction to your name or details: Ascen, at support@ascen.com.
A screening result you disagree with: follow the steps in Your background check returned a result that needs review.
Your start date, whether you should be working yet, and hours you could not enter: your staffing partner.