Timesheets: can you ease the pain?

Question

Project based organisations have to do timesheets, but everyone hates filling them in, and their accuracy tends to be poor.

Anyone got any IT type solutions (or any solutions) to this problem?

Answer 1

The simplest solution that is IT based is a free phpbb forum board. You can control all the features, make one of them a log in line, clear it out each week after recording their time. Create specific job lines where they can put in questions or thoughts and make the logging in first thing a requirement prior to work each day.

Answer 2

There are all kinds of timesheet related tools,applications,webtools for exactly this kind of deal.

The best ones are database driven websites that have all your history available on projects, codes used, time/amt used etc.

Ive only had 3 jobs (excluding restaurants in H.s.) that had real timecards, all others were calculated and were legally salary.

One way around using timecards is to have everybody on a 40*rate salary, and to control and do only OT on timecards.
Since OT is often only 'authorized' it would be easy to control.
This is a non-it solution as it requires less work.

IT wise, automation and history reduce errors in that u can use your previous timecard to update a current one.

Where Im at, I use the previous weeks timecard data to update this weeks, (exception is of course Holidays & timeoff, where I use the last 40hr week for next timecard).

ITs a given that using IT solutions will reduce errors and help on 'not liking to fill it in). My own is 3 clicks and Im done with it.

Accurancy can be poor by no fault of the employee if the systems used are substandard.

Answer 3

The only reason that the accuracy is poor is that certain employees have got their heads in the clouds and do not concentrate on the job.
If these employees would take the duty of accurate time sheet completion seriously, there would be no problem.