When you automate time tracking perhaps the greatest benefit is an immediate dramatic increase in visibility into timesheets and time off taken, and time off schedules. With manual paper-based timesheets, time cards or Excel sheets, to see any information you have to wait until they are turned in at the end of the day or week. With an automated time tracking system you can see any information you need with one or two clicks.
Employees and supervisors can have real time visibility into the status of their timesheets or requests. Dashboards can show supervisors, payroll or other managers the progress of timesheets throughout the day or week. Automated email reminders to submit or approve timesheets, automated rejection notices for timesheets that need corrections, or notices when time off requests are approved or rejected. A “no excuses” environment where timesheets are completed and approvals are made on time and errors are corrected promptly.
Auditing Everything
In an automated timesheet system time entries, whether they are captured through a browser, time clock or smart phone, have detailed audit trails for DCAA and SOX compliance. Timesheet approvals, rejections, time off requests and approvals or rejections – all of these can be tracked with detailed auditing of creation dates, modification dates and more. All actions, such as creating entries, editing, submitting, approving or rejecting them, can be tracked every step of the way and reported on easily during labor department or finance audits. Auditing also helps to easily resolve internal employee disputes with supervisors, and can become a powerful management tool to ensure that supervisors approve timesheets and time off requests on time.
Conclusion:
Increased visibility into timesheet activities and data alone created significant material benefits to any organization. When employees know that all time tracking activities are closely and easily monitored in real time, they improve their performance. Accordingly, data quality and compliance can improve significantly.