As a decision maker in your organisation, you understand the crucial role that effective labour cost management plays in the success and growth of your business. One key factor in achieving this is accurate timesheet capture. Whether you are in the manufacturing, project costing, or professional services industry, the ability to track and manage employee time and attendance are essential for ensuring optimal resource allocation, cost control, and profitability.
However, many businesses today are still entering manual timesheets which are time-consuming, error-prone, and can lead to inaccurate data. That’s why cloud-based ERP systems like AlphaBiz Solutions MYOB Advanced ERP and MYOB Advanced Payroll have become increasingly popular in recent years, offering streamlined and accurate timesheet capture that can help you make better decisions and achieve effective labour cost management.
In this blog post, we’ll explore the impact of digital timesheet capture on growing businesses. We’ll also discuss how modern cloud-based ERP systems can help you achieve it.
Read also: Improve Your Payroll Process Efficiency with Cloud Payroll Management System
What is Digital Timesheet Capture?
Digital timesheet capture is the process of using technology to track and record how your employees spend their time at work. This involves collecting data electronically, such as through a computer application, to record the start and end time of each work shift or total hours worked, as well as the time spent on specific tasks, projects, or clients throughout the day.
The Challenges of Manual Timesheet Capture
Manual timesheet capture can be a major headache for businesses of all kinds. Whether you’re running a manufacturing company or a professional service firm, inaccurate data can have serious consequences, which can result in incorrect payroll processing, billing, and project costing.
Take a manufacturing company, for example, if hours are not captured at each stage of the production process or creation of all the assembly parts how are you confident that production is running efficiently, and total labour cost is within the estimated cost.
Project costing, different from full manufacturing where projects are bespoke and custom to orders is another area where actual hours are not accurately captured makes it extremely difficult to determine profitable projects and the ability to better estimate future projects.
And if you’re a professional services firm, accurate and immediate time entry is essential for project management and billing. If employee work hours aren’t accurately recorded, you could end up undercharging the client or delayed billing ultimately causing cashflow strain to the business when the invoice due date is extended.
The Benefits of Digital Timesheet Capture
Tribe AI made a study titled Global Timesheets Benchmark Report, wherein they surveyed 1,239 managers and senior professionals across the US, the UK, and Australia. In their white paper, managers estimate 28.4% potential additional revenue could be generated if timesheets are accurate.
Let’s look at how digital timesheet capture can significantly improve the following industries.
A. Manufacturing
Resource allocation
Accurate timesheet capture can help manufacturers identify which employees are spending too much time on non-productive tasks, allowing them to reallocate staff to more productive areas. This helps to optimize production processes and improve productivity, ultimately reducing costs.
Process efficiency
Manufacturers can greatly benefit from tracking the time spent on each task or project. By doing so, they can identify areas of inefficiency and take steps to improve them. For example, if you find that one particular process is taking longer than it should, you may want to re-allocate staff to different areas to speed things up. Or you may want to introduce automation to streamline the process and reduce the amount of time it takes.
Compliance
Manufacturers must comply with labour laws and regulations, which can be complex and time-consuming. Accurate time sheet capture is a critical component of compliance, as it helps ensure that you’re meeting your obligations and avoiding costly penalties.
B. Project Costing
Accurate forecasting
By knowing exactly how much time each team member has spent on a project, project managers can more accurately forecast future costs and adjust budgets accordingly. This also helps project managers identify where costs can be reduced, ultimately improving project profitability.
Improved project planning
A more accurate picture of project costs is essential for project managers. It helps improve project planning and scheduling, ensuring that projects are completed on time and within budget.
C. Professional Services
Accurate billing
Accurately tracking the time spent on each project or task allows professional services firms to invoice clients for the exact amount of time spent, improving billing accuracy and avoiding disputes.
Improved project profitability
Accurate timesheet capture is critical for firms to track project costs and improve project profitability. With digital timesheet capture, you can capture real-time data on how much time employees spend on each task or project. Identifying areas where costs may be higher than expected using this data is essential. It allows you to take action to reduce expenses and improve profitability accordingly.
Improved project planning
By having a more accurate picture of how time is being spent, professional services firms can improve project planning and scheduling, ultimately improving the profitability of billable hours.
Importance of Digital Approval
Accurate timesheet capture is undoubtedly important, but it’s just one part of the process. To fully leverage the benefits of digital timesheet capture, comes with an extra benefit of digital approval.
Here are some of the benefits of digital approvals:
Expedited correction of incorrect timesheet entries
With digital approval, you can easily identify and correct any errors or inaccuracies in your timesheets. This allows you to quickly reject, correct, and resubmit timesheets electronically, rather than having to wait for paper forms to be corrected and resubmitted. This streamlined process saves time and reduces the risks of errors.
Accelerated project or task progression
Through digital approval, you can accelerate the progress of projects or tasks by ensuring that accurate time records are kept, and approvals are obtained quickly. This allows you to make informed decisions about resource allocation and ensure that projects stay on track and on schedule.
Timely billing
With digital approval, you can ensure that billing is done accurately and on time. This means that you can avoid delays in invoicing and ensure that your cash flow remains healthy. In addition, accurate billing helps build trust with your clients, improving your business’s reputation.
Control over your project management
By keeping accurate records of time spent on each task or project, you can identify areas where improvements can be made, allocate resources effectively, and make informed decisions about project timelines and budgets. This helps you stay on top of your projects and ensures that you meet your goals and objectives.
Encouraging Time Management Best Practices
By requiring timely and accurate time sheet approvals, companies can encourage time management best practices. This includes setting clear expectations and deadlines for employees, as well as providing training in time management techniques. By promoting good time management habits, companies can improve overall productivity.
How AlphaBiz Solutions Can Help:
AlphaBiz Solutions‘ MYOB Advanced ERP and Payroll is a comprehensive cloud-based management system that offers numerous benefits to businesses. Some of these benefits include:
Single platform
Having all of your employee data in one place allows for easy tracking and management of employee time and attendance. This, in turn, can help improve operational efficiency and productivity. You can approve leave requests, manage schedules, and track overtime more efficiently. This helps to reduce the likelihood of errors and inaccuracies, providing you with a more accurate and comprehensive picture of your labour costs.
Mobile or Kiosk Time Capture
With mobile or kiosk time capture, your employees can easily clock in and out using their own device or a shared kiosk, reducing errors and inaccuracies in their recorded work hours. You can also access real-time data on employee attendance, allowing for more effective management of labour costs and better decision–making.
Automatic Notifications for Timely Review and Approval
When employees submit their timesheets, the MYOB Advanced system sends automatic notifications to managers for timely review and approval. This feature reduces delays in the approval process, allowing for timely payroll processing and payment. Managers can ensure timely approval of timesheets by setting up reminders.
Seamless Integration with Payroll
MYOB Advanced ERP integrates with payroll, making it easy for payroll to load approved timesheets for payment. This feature streamlines the payroll process and reduces manual entry errors.
One source of truth
By using one application you will have a well-controlled and unified familiarity with the application across all departments and users. One powerful application that records all activities from start to finish ultimately giving you one source of truth whether you are enquiring at a production, project, or employee level, all the approved hours and activities will be captured in the one system.
Don’t hesitate to book a demo today and take the first step towards a more efficient and productive business.
