In handling and managing a business, in order to be more productive, you have to have access to all the business processes. You should know what is going on where at any given time to easily address to every issues and concern that may arise. However, you cannot be at a different place at the same time. And having to go from your one business department to the next and so on is just exhausting if not impossible.
To address to this kind of a hassle, you have to create a system that monitors certain tasks, how it is done and by whom, the progress to manage the process in staying according to set schedules. In short, you need to have a tracking system to stay well oriented of what is happening in your business.
Time Tracking and Its Importance
Measuring your productivity is the beginning of all improvements in a business. If you have a detailed data and information on your progress as a business or as an individual employee, you can easily see the trends and progress reports. Thus, helping you identify what works best and what doesn’t, or who. Why is a time tracking important in your business?
Time tracking can analyze the time that was spent or is spending working on certain projects or tasks. A successful project is something that has met its goals and that includes not only the end product but staying in its designed schedule. This helps you understand what your team is working on daily, helping you manage in following through schedules and end dates.
It also helps your business to close any profit leaks and bills your clients accordingly. In running a business, there are unnecessary expenses made which you often take for granted. In Time tracking, it allows you to organize and manage certain areas to cut your losses. Under-billing your clients is also a huge loss in your profit. This will assist you with that by accurately estimating the time needed to finish a task, thus, helping you bill your clients according to this.
Using a time tracker in managing your business also improves your internal communication with your team. And this provides an effective way and environment for work.
What is Time Tracking Software
Among all the time tracking methods available such as the honor system that only covers the rough estimate of hours a work is done, the paper method where you manually write your time, schedule and results, the spreadsheet method that involves manual entering of your time in Excel, and using this software that is the most efficient of all.
By using a time tracking software as your tracing system, you won’t just know how long you and your team is spending on a certain task, the program will also let you know when and where you are wasting some time. This time tracking method will also help you know if your team is honest about their time reports.
Using a time to track tool solution will aid in minimizing errors in monitoring labor, absences, sick leaves, vacation and holidays and reduce the time and even effort that is required in managing HR processes. This system function includes scheduling, estimating, generating payrolls and helps in your labor regulation management.
All in all, a time tracking software will help you and your business in many ways.
Key Features of a Time Tracking Software
In investing in a time tracking software solution for your business, you want something that is effective and can truly help you achieve your goals. In looking for an ideal time tracking software, make sure to cover all the bases in making sure the functions and features essential in a time tracking software are complete.
- Time Clock. The most basic function of a time tracking software is recording time schedules and it has to have a time clock that can either be manual or automatic. This will let your team record both the start and finish times of every task. Also, this will let you track the difference between the actual time and the estimated time to do a certain project.
- Time Sheets. Having detailed time records using it, you can now generate timesheets to reflect the time logs of each member of your team.
- Absences Management. Whether your team member is on vacation, holiday or sick leave, using this allows you to accurately follow the usage of their leaves and paid time off. It gives an easy calculation of attendance for your timesheets.
- Dashboard and Reports. This system does not only tail working hours but also allows you to create centralized schedules to follow in doing tasks and monitor and compare this to the actual time spent to finish the task. Using this, you can also set overtime notifications and send reminders in improving attendance and tardiness of your team members.
- Other types have integration features. This will allow you to incorporate the software into your existing management solutions. If your time tracking tool doesn’t have a built-in payroll system, this function will let you integrate it to your company’s payroll system. This feature also allows you to use the tracking system on your mobile phone which helps in clocking hours if you are working outside the office.
- Labor Regulation. The application helps you generate data and reports for compliance purposes on labor regulation management such as making sure your employees are taking breaks.
How Does a Time Tracking Software Works to Help You
A time tracking software has a central system that allows you to view current activities of your team. It generates activity levels where you can see who in your team is doing what task. This will also allow your team to add work notes that explain the task they are currently working on and the progress.
In just an easy step, the time tracking software can give you a quick detailed breakdown of what tasks your team have finished and how long was spent to finish the chore for your timesheet records. This will keep trail of your team’s pain and unpaid time. You can also export your billable hours to some payment apps so you can easily pay yourbunch .
When work and progress reports and timesheets are produced, the software allows you to customize it to fit your business needs. You can filter and organize the data and reports by organizations, project names or types, individual team members. It also allows you to download your customized reports and data in PDF form or you can email it to your list of contacts. Time tracking software gives you the accurate time records of your team.
This serves as your central business system where you can communicate with your team, create projects and project schedules, set pay rates and add optional integrations with other 3rd party services. It will give you and your team an easy access to data and information whenever it is needed.
Time tracking software has some integrating features. This gives you an added extra to help you do your work efficiently and quickly. Some can be mobile integrated where you can access the system through your mobile phone anytime you want. It can also have email integration functions where it makes it easier for you to send documents to certain business contacts that need it.
The time tracking software will also allow you to an easy streamlining of your team’s work hours in accounting, payroll, and invoice. What makes an amazing time tracking software is having a system that has everything you need to improve your business effectiveness and which can also work along with your existing management systems to achieve common goals.
Market Trends to Consider When Buying a Time Tracking Software
In buying a time tracking tool, aside from the common and basic features and functions to consider, you can also look for the newest trends in the market to add to the essentials.
With the rise of technology and internet, web-based time tracking software is also on the rise. Software as a service or SaaS systems offers a wider range of accessibility. Your tracking system can now be accessible anytime and anywhere through your laptop, tablets and smartphones gave that there is an internet connection available.
Other time tracking software system has a service-based economy for a more innovative way of tracking the productivity of every employee and outputs and this tool is becoming popular in the software market right now.
Its newer versions now offers Flexible Work Arrangements or FWAs in addition to the benefits of the employees. This included telecommuting and allowing employees to customize their working times but still having to complete the 8 hours of work daily. For companies that offer FWAs, it can be hard to track employee times accurately. However, some are specially designed for this.
In looking for ways to improve the effectiveness of your business system and grow with time, investing in a time tracking software can be an ideal choice. To know more about time tracking software and its benefits in small businesses and the available time tracking software in the market, visit CrowdReviews.com and read our https://crowdreviews.com/best-time-tracking-software reviews.
John Tovar
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