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This short paper will expand
on two key reasons to move to a computerized timesheet
system at your company. There are more than two reasons of
course, but these will be expanded on at a later date. The
two key reasons to be discussed here are Timesheet
Efficiency, and Timesheet Automation. Timesheet Efficiency
is the concept of a single data entry exercise done
accurately and quickly. Timesheet Automation is the simple
concept of managing timesheet information electronically
rather than on paper. When taken individually both these
concepts make a compelling argument to move to electronic
timesheets, taken together you should be asking yourself
why you aren't kicking off the process today.
Timesheet Efficiency
When I started out my
working career in consulting we had paper timesheets.
These were (supposedly) to be filled in daily, submitted
weekly, and data from them entered into the accounting
system monthly. However, people being people, the
accountant only checked them once a month, so they were
generally only submitted once a month, and thus usually
only filled in once a month when prompted by project
managers. This resulted in inaccurate and late timesheet
information.
This affected billing, time
and materials projects would take up to four weeks to be
invoiced, and thus it could be up to 60 days before
payment was received. Why then are some companies
constantly challenged with getting employees to accurately
complete their timesheets while other firms have no
problems? The difference is usually leadership and data
ease of data entry. Most consulting companies employ
skilled intelligent people, and a manager who fills in his
timesheet information promptly and accurately can
legitimately expect his staff to do so. However if the
system is cumbersome and difficult to use then there will
be constant conflict.
Easy to use computerized
timesheet systems mean more employees are successfully
filling out timesheets as they work rather than writing
the time into a diary or calendar and then transferring
the information at the end of the week (or month). It has
been well proven that debtors are easier to manager and
projects more easily monitored the closer that timesheet
information is processed and invoiced to the time the work
is carried out. It is just much more simple to collect all
your billable hours (more chargeable time!) if employees
record their work as they do it.
Of course data entry is
just one side of things. Processing the information is
just as important. Internal discipline and company
policies must be set to ensure that all information is
collected by the time you have decided is the deadline.
Whether this is Friday 5:00pm, or Monday 9:00am, deadlines
must be followed and enforced. Timesheet software with
built in workgroup functionality like messaging, timesheet
approval, live monitoring, and so on can greatly enhance
this process.
There is no point
pretending that timesheet information and collection is
glamorous. It isn't. It should just be part of the normal
mundane fabric of business. It should be routine and
boring. But most importantly it should be quick, easy, and
provide no disincentive to doing it. Good computerized
systems should offer all of this.
Timesheet Automation
The most basic benefit that
a computerized timesheet system gives is one of
automation, timesheet information is entered into a
computer rather than onto paper. This eliminated the need
for people to transcribe their timesheet information from
a diary onto a paper form, and then for administration
staff to re-enter this information into a job costing
system. The computerization allows you to completely
eliminate the middle steps. Staff enter information
directly into the job costing system.
The next logical step of
computerization is to leverage off of the computer to
provide a host of other benefits. This includes interlocks
like preventing people from booking time to projects that
dont exist, or projects that are closed, or projects they
should not be booking time to. It allows project managers
to access live data showing actual time spent on their
projects, this data can be manipulated and visualized in
different ways using other computer software. It can even
interface directly with dedicated project management
software.
Other benefits can include
automatic timing of work, popup information showing
specific project information helping timesheet accuracy,
daily timesheets, reminders telling people to fill in
their timesheets, integration with messaging, email, and
the web, and live integration with accounting packages.
Conclusions
By themselves each of these
points makes a good argument for moving to a computerized
timesheet system. Taken together they are truly
compelling. Increased accuracy and reduction of the
billing cycle means that a computerized system can usually
measure its payoff in just a few months. For any company
that does bill its time, it is should not be an option any
longer, it is a simple next step. Interested in looking at
some low cost alternatives? Why not take a look at
Timesheets Lite or Timesheets MTS. These are low cost
systems ideally suited to the small company.
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About
The Author
Mark
Nemtsas
Moving Target Software
Get low cost, efficient, timesheet
software! This article is © Moving Target
Software, 2004. It can however be
reproduced in full on any web page as long
as it is edited in no way whatsover. |
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