Posted by Sean MacKenzie on Mon, Sep 21, 2009
These days everything is mobile, and mobile device technologies are
changing small businesses because it enables them to extend their data
capture into the field like never before.
Forget about just sending emails or making calls while in the field.
Whether it is consultants, home care workers, electricians, or architects,
they are entering time, expenses, distance to the job, and product sales
on their mobile devices while at the site instead of waiting to use a
computer.
Most people have a mobile device, and in many cases they use a mobile
device more than they use a computer because they are always in the
field. Contractors and installers are receiving workorders and
instructions on their mobile devices while sitting in their truck, and
no longer have to wait for phone authorizations, printed instructions,
or other things that waste time. Technology project managers are
running quick reports and receiving automatic notifications while at the
airport.
On the other side of things, small business owners or project team leaders are
getting the benefit of real-time oversight of their billings and
resource usage, when they need it.
Posted by Sean MacKenzie on Fri, Sep 18, 2009
Say you're a bookkeeper; why would you want to change your small or
medium sized business over to an automated time entry or time-tracking
system? Well, you're going to get some of the biggest gains when it is
switched over.
How many timesheets do you manage in a month? Do you use paper
timesheets? An excel sheet; maybe one with a macro? How much time does
it take to finish it each month?
The amount of time saved in automation grows as you handle more and more
people. Say you have a company with 25 employees and contractors
working for you. A short month might have 21 workdays in it, so if you
are doing a manual sheet every day, you might have 525 sheets to
process, plus comments and dozens of expense entries. Even if people
only fill in a sheet one time per week, it is over 100 timesheets to
process.
Feedback from our customers tells us that, even for a company with only
25 people, this manual process can take over a week when you include
processing the invoices. Customers with the best success in converting
time entry have seen their time committment go from 5 or more days to 1
day (80%+ reduction in effort and cost). Numerous other benefits, like
the speeding up of receivables, have also followed successful
implementations.
So, we ask you: Are you a bookkeeper in a small or medium size business?
How many timesheets do you process? How long does it take you?
Posted by Sean MacKenzie on Thu, Sep 17, 2009
Making a Good Set of Categories
One of the most important things you can do when setting up your business on any kind of project management, expensing, or time-tracking software is to make sure you categorize your billing and expenses.
If you create a good set of categories in the beginning, your small business will really benefit down the road. You will be able to see important trends on how you ran your business in the past, and these will help you plan for the future. They will also help to simplify management of your general ledger (GL) and accounts receivable (AR).
Business Items
The first set of categories you create should include a set of items for the overall operation of your small business. These will not be related to projects you are working on, but generally account for "everything that is not a project". Usually, these will include some major categories such as Marketing, Finance, or Accounting. Within these areas, you might split the category into a few more, but generally that is where you would stop.
For example, you might add a few sub-categories like Market Research or Ad Design to the Marketing category.
Project Items
The second set of billing areas you can create will include your projects that you are working on for customers over time. Each project should have its own set of items and sub-items or categories. Your billing system should allow for projects to have multiple versions over time.
For example, you might write a small piece of software one year and then two years later do development to enhance the same software. If you do many versions over time, it is much easier to see statistics over the long run.
You should determine the kind of billing your project will need before you set it up. While some projects may have a standard set of items, others may need to have specific defined items created before you put your time and expenses against them. Make sure your system can do both.
A general contractor might simply put all his time against general items like Carpentry and Electrical, and this may be enough for his reporting purposes. Another contractor might need to specify exact items to bill against, like Breaker Box F, Switch Setup. A lawyer might set up project items for each contract or set of meetings they have been asked to do.
Get Advice
It may seem overly cautious to ask advice about which categories to set up, but it is also a good idea to talk with your accountant when setting up categories the first time. They will have good advice on how to set things up the first time, for both Business Items and Project Items.
Posted by Sean MacKenzie on Sat, Sep 05, 2009
So, you decided to organize your business around a time-tracking solution. You did your cost-benefit analysis and found that there would be big gains for your small or medium-sized business. What now? Well, there are some proven ways to help you succeed that aren't related to the software itself, but are more focussed on getting your people ready.
Designate a champion
Think about the person in your company that knows your projects and your business. Someone tech-savvy. Someone who is a good teacher. Have this person become the go-to person for the new system in your company. They will be key to your transition, and the main liaison with your staff and the software company's own implementation team.
Manage expectations
Moving an organization onto any new computerized system can be daunting. Raise the expectation in advance that there will be disruption to normal operations and procedures while the system is implemented. If you help staff to expect this in advance, then the actual stress on the team is reduced during the transition. Give people a good timeline and stick to it. If people know what to expect then they are less likely to be stressed when changes occur. Involve them in planning.
Communicate effectively
Tell everyone the benefits of the system and how it will help to make the whole company more efficient. Let them know that a time-tracking, billing, and invoicing system will actually help with every role in the company, be it accounting, project management, contractors, employees, customers and more.
Provide good training
Make sure that everyone has a good chance to train on putting their entries into the system, and to get questions answered by a trainer. Even after the initial training is completed, have the champion follow up with tips and tricks every once in a while.
Create supportive business rules
Think about the cycles in your small business and how a new system will affect them. If you create some business rules around the use of the system, it will help you get buy-in. For example, you might have a policy to support timely invoicing that says all contractors must have their time in by the 7th day of the month for work done in the previous month. If the business rule is that invoices go out immediately following this, then contractors have incentive to make sure they put their time in or risk having to wait for payment until the following invoice cycle.
Listen
During the transition onto a time-tracking solution, listen to those who bring up concerns or objections. Their input is extremely important because it can show things that may have been missed, or opportunities to use the technology in places to get further benefits. For example, you may have purchased your time tracker software simply to automate billing but then find that it can also replace a spreadsheet based project management system used by your team because of built-in project management functionality.
Keep a log
This will help you to see recurring issues with your invoicing, billing, user problems, training issues, and business rules.
Follow up
Whenever there are issues, make sure to follow up with users, first immediately following their issue or complaint resolution, then after some time passes. This gives ample opportunity to expose any unresolved or recurring issues.
Promote best practices
Overall, you'll get the best results from an online time entry system if you provide some best practices for users to follow. Keep in mind that because the system is new, people won't have experience in organizing their work around it. Some companies may encourage daily or weekly reporting from individuals, or may have practices around how long or short comments have to be for each entry if descriptions are required. Project managers may need a consistent way to set up each project in order for resource usage reports to meet certain guidelines. If you think of your company's practices in advance and tailor the use of your system to them, you can really get the most out of it.
In the end
In the end, the new system will benefit everyone. End-users who just put in their time every day will benefit from accurate and timely pay. Customers benefit from accurate, timely reporting and invoicing. The accounting side of the business benefits by slashing the time required to do billing, and the management side of things get a good view of everything that happens in the business. If you organize and help your team through the transition, everyone benefits!