Time Tracking
Time Tracking: it is necessary and not so bad
Copyright (c) 2010 Kelly Totten
Time tracking is a problem that causes a lot of eyes Director to roll. The concern is understandable. Most of us have suffered the negative consequences that occur when bad practices time tracking used. Time tracking can be a big headache if you are too grainy and can make employees feel like "man" is watching all their movements. There are many ways to implement the monitoring, while minimizing the frequently cited reasons to hate politics, but it is first necessary to understand why important follow-up period (even if the bill a lump sum). When you track time, which is the collection data that will allow you to project costs. This is especially important when working on a fixed rate. I once had a client that the offer a low draw, for he was a bit of good publicity. As I knew I would be a loser, did not bother to follow the reports project costs. When the project is finished, finally took the time to examine the data were collected time. Guess what? The project was over budget by 400%! The designers have gone mad trying to get the most out will never work. Why? Because no one gives a limit. When an active monitoring time plans and budgets, you can offer your employees a sense of the scope of the project scope creep and keep it under control.
Information on project costs also helps you project future costs. Take the above situation, for example. With time and cost information, the customer is armed with useful information for a quote similar. Sometimes a project on the budget because of poor project management, and sometimes it's just a go bad. Administrators have to do your duty of care thanks to identify why the project went south. The information will help track time understand the problem in the ongoing projects and will be an excellent resource prices for future projects.
An important advantage of time tracking is the ability evaluate work in progress. Bill on the basis of fixed fees, is hard to match income to expenses in a given month, the over time if they are not followed. Use the time of application for different projects that calculate the value of work done during the month, he whether or not the bill. The correspondence principle is a fundamental accounting and for good reason. When you can match revenues with expenses, you get an accurate picture of profitability. The sooner you see accurate financial reports, the sooner you can make better business decisions.
In addition to accurate financial statements, followed by the value of their work in the process you will see the potential cash flow problems in advance. For example: A customer who followed the work in progress, but it was followed, he came to me with cash flow problems. They do not understand why their sales were great, their income was good, and collections were good, but there was no money in the bank. An examination of trends reveals balance rapid growth in the counting process. They made a lot of work over the months, but there was a pause in the billing process. Projects or not invoiced after completion, or were dropping before the end. If they had been monitoring the ongoing work, it could have been this problem and make corrections before they have a liquidity crisis panic.
Now that we have reviewed some good reasons financial monitoring of the time, Take a look at some other advantages that will allow everyone to feel better about politics. A means to track employees time is the ability to "right size" their staff. I'm sure you're thinking: "My employees do not like that haunts me to productivity and the dismissal of his colleagues work, if we have enough work to keep everyone productive, "You're right ... your employees do not like that, but we FLIP that instead of looking around the negative side of the right size, we will see the positive side. I had a client whose employees complain they were constantly overworked. With tracking information, we were able to finally see, in real terms, they were overwhelmed. Not only can we see the areas of business, where they were overstaffed, we can see where they met with staff shortages. Overworked employees were happy to have some of their workload has happened to others. Keep your staff to burn as a productivity problem which has a capacity surplus.
For owners and employees, time tracking can also lead a better work / life balance. The act of checking how you spend your time allows you to be more productive. It is very disturbing to see the inefficiencies in your day. If you see, you can do something. This information will help justify the need to delegate or outsource the tasks you take too much of your time would be better spent elsewhere. You will also see areas where you can adjust your work habits to get more out of your day's work in less time.
Line the bottom .... Time tracking is a pain, but there are many advantages. You do not have to follow every moment of the day to achieve measurable results. Fight by capturing at least 80% of the day. When the policy is implemented time tracking yet, talk to your employees in terms of profits go to see the interview risk of burns to a minimum. Moreover, a better basis for the company means more opportunities for bonuses and salary increases. The company fully would be given better performances.
About the Author
Kelly Totten, CrackerJack
accounting consultant
and virtual cfo, helps creative business owners interpret their financial data, make smart money decisions, and meet their financial goals. Want more financial tips to help you boost your bottom line? Grab your free ecourse, 5 Proven Strategies to Make More Profit in Your Business Without Increasing Sales at ===>
http://www.MoreProfitSameSales.com
What made people start tracking time?
I'm doing a project on clocks and I want to add information on the need for time keeping, but I have no idea what to say.
This reminds me of one of my pet peeves. Reading or watching stories placed way back in time when the common man didn't have such a thing as a wrist watch and then a character says "Meet me there in 15 minutes". People at that time didn't know what 15 minutes was or how to measure them. (*sigh*)
I think that one reason could have been for religious ceremonies. Religion has often been a driving force for time measurements, showing the god(s) respect at the exact right time has often been crucial. Look at the different stone monuments that lets the sun in at important dates such as midsummer and midwinter.
From there it probably spread to official business, the leaders in old Egypt, Greece and Rome was often seen as gods on earth or half gods, so the step from religious ceremonies on time to seeing the leader of the country on time isn't that great.
And then it probably spread to the lower ranks too since having a time to keep is easier than to have a date to be there and then wait all day for your turn. It's more efficient to set times and dates when you have official power and many meetings to deal with.
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