Timesheet Management Software
We have come a long way since the industrial revolution to the technological revolution that we are part of – today! During this period, businesses have evolved too; new ones have taken shape. However, one aspect of the professional life that has not changed much is – the discipline of employees to report their time spent while at work.
Today, there are numerous Timesheet Management Software to manage such a mundane activity of capturing time spent at work!
Did someone talk about organizational efficiency?
Does it mean that businesses still don’t trust their employees to be productive throughout a business-day?
That would be a Communist’s view!
Businesses are getting complex by the day – the nature of their work also has! There are different types of “contract work” or “projects” that a company delivers for its customers – Fixed Price, Cost Plus, or Time & Material. For that matter, even companies that develop ‘Of-the-shelf’ products need to manage their product profitability.
In most projects, the time spent by the project team happens to be a chunk of the overall cost – hence the laser-focus on Timesheet Management Software/Tools!
Depending on the nature of your project contract type, the factors that influence profitability varies. While working on a fixed-price project, enterprises must closely guard their profitability; leaders may need to be microscopic on the costs incurred. In a Time & Material project, companies get paid based on the effort of their teams; in cost-plus projects, companies need to indicate and submit all costs incurred, only after which the customer reimburses them.
The big question – how does a Timesheet Management Software add value?
Let us consider the scenario where companies deliver projects to its customers, who, in turn, pay them – it could be professional services, consulting firms, engineering services, EPC (Engineering, Procurement & Construction), software development, and others.
The fundamental premise in the above scenario is that the performing organization (your company) delivers value in diverse ways:
- Developing custom-software to address a business problem or need
- Design and deliver large infrastructure projects
- Design services for an automotive project
- Improve the customer’s organizational efficiency or productivity
What is the basis on which your customer pays for your services?
Your company must have completed specific ‘project deliverables’ using ‘resources’ that have worked for ‘specific hours or days or months.’
The next question is – what documentation do you offer in support of your services?
A world-class Timesheet Management Software comes to your rescue now!
It is not just about – so many people worked for so many days, and you invoice your customer for relevant dollars! You need to ensure that the customer trusts every bit of data that you offer in support of your deliverables, including:
- Number of hours or days worked
- Type of resources deployed
- Billable rates for the project resources
- Supporting documentation of the work completed and,
- Others depending on the specifics of the project.
You may be wondering – this is fine for the customer! What about my company? Why should I go through so much pain? Why doesn’t the customer trust my team?
Fair enough – the questions are valid!
We must remember that businesses rely on formal documentation more than anything else!
But, how does a Timesheet Management Software benefit me?
Now that is a better question.
While business opportunities are numerous, we understand that competition is no less severe. In this background, how do you stay competitive?
One of the ways is – cost control!
When organizations use a robust Timesheet Management Software, they are trying to enforce the discipline of cost control within the organizational ecosystem.
Imagine trying to control resource costs without knowing where and how much are they!
Impossible!
If you have to improve something, you must first measure it – says the golden rule of Continuous Improvement.
Closely tracking the efforts of your teams offers visibility to:
- Current levels of resource efficiencies and utilization
- Analyze possibilities to improve utilization and productivity
- Analyze costs based on lower levels of resource utilization and productivity
- Realign resource decisions from a project, to a business unit, and finally to the organizational level.
Another potential value of using Timesheet Management Software is that it allows you to compare the planned effort vs. actual effort of every deliverable – becomes an insight while pitching for new projects!
Now for projects where you develop products that are for end-customers or B2C. Even in these cases, you must track and closely control every hour (and thereby every penny) spent.
Remember – your customer is not going to pay for your inefficiencies of either resources or effort!
So, irrespective of the nature of work that your teams work on, it is imperative that you track their effort and the associated deliverables.
However, there is a catch – your Timesheet Management Software must be ‘world-class’ and nothing less!
In sum, a mundane activity of reporting time spent by project teams opens up a world of business insights that drives the way your company manages resources, costs, as well as their time!
While my time’s up, you still have time to transform your project management culture through TouchBase.
Get in touch with us – it should be Get in touch with us – we guarantee that it would be time well-spent!
