Click for next page

Timesheet Best Practices:

Driving down the cost and increasing the efficiency of time capture

Click for next page

Automating timesheets

Challenges of automating timesheets

Best practices solutions

The payoff

Return on investment

Click for next page

Addressing multiple business needs with one solution

The Timesheets Business Challenge

Click for next page

Challenges of Timesheet Collection

Lengthy Turn-around Times and Procedures

Time and costs of tracking down late or missing time sheets Manual, paper-based approval process Drains on employee and project manager productivity

Errors and Inefficiencies

Time reporting errors due to inaccurate project codes and time data Re-key often required in Payroll or Billing Delayed billing cycles; slow turn-around on receivables

Lack of Real-Time Data

Inability to capture real-time billing and revenue data Difficulty tracking project status and cost Lead times in obtaining employee utilization information

Click for next page

The path of the timesheet today

Employee Manager

Timesheet Admin

Back office systems

1. Admin has to remind employee to submit timesheet.

2. Employee enters time on paper timesheet and sends to Admin

Finance

3. Administrator contacts Finance to get updated project codes

4. Administrator sends timesheet to manager for approval

5. Manager returns approved timesheet to administrator

6. Administrator sends timesheet to appropriate finance staff

7. Finance enters timesheet into back office systems – including General Ledger, Payroll & Billing

8. Finance has to correct invalid project codes

Click for next page

Typical problems with the process

Employee Manager

Timesheet Admin

Back office systems

Finance

IncorrectApprover

IllegibleSignature

PaperLost!

Re-key

MissingInfo

Late

OldCodes

InvalidCodes

Click for next page

Best Practice Solutions for timesheets

Streamline and automate

Visibility

Increase accountability

Performance improvement

Click for next page

Streamlined and Automated timesheets

Automated time capture increases efficiency and reduces the cost of:

• Managing projects and activities that utilize cross-departmental teams

• Project resource allocation and utilization

• Internal cost allocation and/or charge-backs

• Time and attendance tracking

Click for next page

Why automate time reporting?

Reduces time collection and accounting costs

Eliminates paper forms and manual processing

Provides real time visibility into time recorded

Increases employee productivity

Improves management of project costs

Increases reporting accuracy

Click for next page

Process improvements

Employee

ManagerBack office

systems

2. Employee complete electronic timesheet

5. System sends approved timesheet to appropriate back office system

Timesheet Admin

3. System sends completed timesheet to appropriate manager

1. Employee receives a reminder if a timesheet is late

4. Manager reviews and approves timesheet

Finance

Clockware timesheets

Click for next page

Improvement points

Employee

ManagerBack office

systems

Timesheet Admin

Finance

EliminatePaper

AutomatedWorkflow Valid

CodesNoRe-keying

EliminateDelays

Clockware timesheets

Click for next page

Timesheets to Manage Projects

How do I effectively manage a project where the resources do not report to me?

Do I have the right resources working on the right things to keep the project/phase on track?

Am I still within profitability on a ‘fixed bid’ or ‘negotiated’ contract?

Am I within the budgeted amount for the phase or over all project – do I need to review my projections?

Project managers should be able to answer the following questions:

Click for next page

To manage internal costs

What product lines/services are truly profitable?

What customers are truly profitable?

What are my true costs?

How do I drive more accurate and dynamic ‘activity’ based allocations vs. the standard ‘static’ internal General Ledger allocations?

Empowers managers throughout the organization to answer the following questions:

timesheets is a great complement to ABC or ABM

Click for next page

Core System Features

•Real-time data access

•Drill-down reporting

•Standard import & export tools

•Web-based admin tools

Reporting &Administration

•Role-based view of approvals

•Review project-specific tasks

•Edit and add comments

•Flexible approval methods

Review & Approve

•Custom timesheet styles

•Pre-populated tasks and work items

•Unlimited hierarchy of project codes

•Email notifications and reminders

Timesheet Entry

Processing

• Integration with project & billing systems

Billing/PayrollEmployee ManagerEmployee Manager Finance

System Admin

Click for next page

Process Improvements & Benefits

• Increased productivity

• Any time, anywhere access

• Project and tasks code default based on employee

• Easy access to valid and active project codes

Employee

• Streamlines and automates timesheet collection and reminder process

• Timesheet data is validated on entry

• System ensures that proper approvals are obtained

Timesheet Admin

Click for next page

Process Improvements & Benefits

• Real-time visibility to time recorded

• Timely billing and revenue recognition

• Improved management of project resources

• Increased focus on strategic activities

Manager

• Elimination of re-key activities

• Accelerated billing cycles and cash flow

• Timely and accurate payroll processing

Billing & Payroll

Click for next page

Project Objectives

Core Requirements

Results

Case Study – Atex Media Solutions

• Fully web-based solution due to high number of remote employees

• Ease-of-use and ease-of-deployment

• Compatibility with the company’s existing SQL database

• Flexibility and ability to customize

• Replace paper-based timesheets process

• Improve effectiveness of management reporting tools

• Extremely easy to deploy

• Very user-intuitive; minimal training required

• Easy fit with SQL database

• Managers able to view data in many different ways

Provides content and information management solutions for publishers. Over 300 employees in 20 locations world-wide, many of whom are telecommuters.

Click for next page

Project Objectives

Core Requirements

Results

Case Study – Volvo IT North America

• System must be easy to install and manage

• Easy to deploy

• Easily accessible to all employees

• Implement centralized timesheets solution

• Establish billing procedures to bill other Volvo organizations for products & services

• 100% deployed in 60 days

• Able to collect real-time performance and employee utilization data

• Automated payroll data collection

• Helps organization prioritize time

• Employees bill time more effectively

Formerly the IT division within Volvo, became an independent subsidiary in 1998. As a result, the 2500 employees in this centralized service organization needed the ability to track and bill time.

Click for next page

What is your organizational readiness

for automated timesheets?

Questions for internal discussion

Click for next page

Key questions for internal discussion

1. Do we require employees/contractors to track time on paper or Excel timesheets?

2. Are managers responsible for authorizing timesheets before they are routed to the appropriate back office system for processing?

3. Do we have administrative employees who manage the timesheet process?

4. Do we need to be able to track time so that we can understand how much it costs us to develop and deliver products or services?

5. Would an automated timesheets solution would help us execute our Activity Based Costing/Management strategy more effectively?

Click for next page

6. Which employees are required to record attendance data on a daily or weekly basis?

7. Do project managers frequently manage resources who do not report to them?

8. Is timesheet data is manually entered into the appropriate back office system by staff in our accounting, finance, payroll and/or billing departments?

9. Is time incurred by ‘overhead’ departments is charged back to the departments for whom the work was performed?

10. Do we charge third parties for work performed by our employees/contractors?

Key questions for internal discussion

Click for next page

Costs of business as usual (BAU)

What are the costs of our current timesheets process?

What are our true costs for timesheet data collection and approval process? That is: employee, managers, accounting/payroll, billing

Do we have double data entry costs?

Are we losing money from:

selling unprofitable products (not knowing our true costs)

being over budget on fixed-bid contracts (not knowing our project costs from one phase to the next)

Opportunity cost of:

project budget over-runs

poor resource allocation

Click for next page

Timesheets system savings

Quick hit savings challenges:

Timesheet data entry, submissions and approvals take an average of 2 hours per employee per month. Can you reducing these costs by 50%?

Timesheet data entry errors and double key entry can cost $40,000 per year for every 100 employees. Can you reduce these costs by 80%?

Timesheet lateness and change edits can slow billings or charge-backs. How much are we losing from late timesheets?

A certain percentage of projects run over-budget because of poor visibility into project progress and costs. What percentage of our projects can be better managed from real-time project information?

A certain percentage of projects miss deadlines because of inadequate resource allocation. What percentage of our projects would benefit from easier project monitoring and resource management?