Critical Characteristics To Demand From Your Timesheet Vendor

Timesheet software is not just for payroll anymore. Increasingly, project accounting and client billing are becoming important to professional organizations of all sizes.

If you've outgrown your current paper-based or homegrown timesheet system; if you're trying to use Microsoft Excel for timesheets; or if you have multiple installed time collection systems that produce inconsistent data, you need timesheet software. Without using timesheet software, it is difficult to understand project costs, figure out what people are working on, and send correct and timely bills out to your customers. It also can make payroll very frustrating.

How can you be sure you'll get a system that works for your company and is immune to the most common problems people experience when buying a timesheet collection automation system? Here are a few things to consider:

The Most Common Mistake In Buying Timesheet Software

Don't fall for a deceptive demo.

You have the power to demand that any vendor absolutely, completely prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that their solution will solve your company's specific business problem. You deserve a detailed demonstration that uses your employee list, your customer list, your project list, your company's logo and your color scheme, and that shows you reports on your data that will prove to you that your business problem is solved. If a vendor can't make you 100 percent certain that the solution will work for your specific business needs, then walk. Period. Canned demos are designed to deceive. Don't believe them.

What To Ask Vendors â€" "Can you absolutely prove to me that you will solve my business problem, using my employees, departments, projects, etc., and then show me the reports I need to see? Can you provide references of clients that have successfully integrated your product with my accounting system, my project management system and my payroll service provider?"

How To Know If You Will Get Responsive Support.

Many vendors provide a static outdated FAQ list, and a support staff that is part of the sales team. When support is part of the sales force, you only get help as a prospect. Once they've got your money, getting help is difficult.

What To Ask Vendors â€" "How many cases do you have published in your automated helpdesk tool? Is your support staff part of the sales team? What is your support staff response time? Can I talk to three recent customers that are happy with your support that are in my industry and are about my size? (And you need to actually call those references and verify they're really a customer and all is well.) What did your most recent support poll reveal as the overall satisfaction level for your supported customers? Do you even do such polling? What percentage of your customers renew their maintenance contracts each year? What is the retention rate of your ASP customers?"

ASP Flexibility Allows Early Rollouts, Server Protection and Easier Upgrades.

Some timesheet software companies either sell software that you must install at your location or sell an ASP service. Since most software of this type is primarily web-based these days, there is no reason a provider can't do both.

ASP means 'application service provider'. It means you can rent access to web-based software that's running on one of the vendor's servers instead of installing it on a server at your office. This allows early rollouts, server protection and easier upgrades. An early rollout is when the vendor lets you temporarily use the ASP site until your IT shop gets the machine purchased for your local installation. Server protection is the process of sending a backup to the vendor in case of machine failure at your local installation, so that the vendor can get your system up on his ASP site instantly. ASP vendors allow easier upgrades because they can provide you with a test site during the upgrade process that requires no hardware purchases on your part.

What To Ask Vendors â€" "What sort of backup generator do you have in case of a power outage at your ASP site and where is it hosted? How many connections to the internet does your ASP site have? How much does server protection cost? Can I rollout on your ASP servers and later transfer the data to my own servers? Where are ASP backup tapes stored?"

In summary, you deserve to be 100 percent positive that the timesheet software you purchase for your company is the right choice for you, and is capable of early rollouts, server protection, and simple upgrades. You have the right to demand responsive support and a tailored demo with your company's information.

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About Tom Jacobs

Tom Jacobs writes for http://www.superbtimesheets.info where you can find out more about timesheets and other topics. admin@superbtimesheets.info


And here is another random article you might be interested in...

5 Steps to Build Stronger Communication and Understanding

Part Three of a Four-Part Series

Part One: http://www.bizmanualz.com/articles/02-08-05_Process_Improvement.html?src=ART83

Part Two: http://www.bizmanualz.com/articles/02-14-05_Core_Processes.html?src=ART84

Next Week: Six Sigma Tools

Did you know that you should always create a process map for every procedure or system of procedures that you develop? And did you know that, like a table of contents, this will create stronger communication and better understanding in your organization?

How do you do this?

Identify Core Processes

Last time, we followed the money trail and identified your business' core processes. We discussed where to best start a change in one of those core processes. And we introduced the technique of producing a process map. So this week, let's take a further look at how to create a process map â€" and see how it creates knowledge to benefit you and your organization.

Use Process Map as Communication Tool

A process map is a flow diagram of the primary processes within an organization. It very specifically shows you both who and what is involved in a process, as well as the requirements for that process to be effective. The primary goal is to use the map as a communication tool. It is to show the sequence of interactions of the elements involved in the process. And so process maps are drawn and used by organizations to achieve several benefits:

  • Increase process understanding
  • Clarify process boundaries, ownership and effectiveness measures
  • Identify process sequences
  • Isolate core processes, bottlenecks and opportunities for improvement
  • Clarify the interaction of Customer, Supplier, Management and Operations processes
  • Provide a tool for training and discussion

In other words, a process map details what happens first, second and third in a process. It shows what happens in each step along the way. And this is drawn in graphical form for easier communication and understanding.

This type of map shows the "big picture" of 10-20 core processes within an organization. The map also shows the critical elements within each section and its importance within the whole system. And these sections, or bands, are what relate the processes to each other AND to the outside suppliers and customers.

Link Suppliers and Customers

Although there are several ways to draw a process map, the basic diagram is typically constructed in four bands. And these four bands link together Customers, Primary Processes, Secondary Processes and Suppliers.

You improve effectiveness by showing the specifics of a process. And sometimes we've learned the hard way that the development phase of a project or a process is far more expensive than the planning phase. And so by thinking through and perfecting your processes beforehand, you decrease waste in development time. With a detailed process map, you identify and decrease such waste wherever it occurs in the process.

Here are a few key points to keep in mind while process mapping:

  • Identify core processes to support mission and goals
  • Determine how to create value for the customer throughout the process
  • Map ownership and performance metrics along with the process
  • Engage your people in process mapping to define problems and solutions

Now, let's break down the process map even further.

Define Steps of the Process

We've just defined the big picture process map as a sequence of interactions of multiple processes. These multiple processes consist of multiple steps. As we've discussed, the benefits are better communication and understanding and a decrease in waste. And this offers a great "big picture" view of your organization's processes. But...

When you go to write your organization's procedures, you need more detail. You'll need a method to define the sequence of interactions of each step. And you do this with a procedure map. Here's an example of a typical procedure map:

With this refined procedure map, you can see the steps that go into an organization's competency process, including the suppliers and customers for each of those steps. This is also called the SIPOC method. This method identifies the Suppliers of the specific data used as an Input for the Process to create Outputs for the Customer. The map also gives you both effectiveness and performance criteria for this process' owner(s). With such measurement criteria, you set the mark for continuous improvement of the process.

And so by creating a procedure map, you will further increase communication and understanding within your organization. Procedure maps become a strong tool in training, either to familiarize new employees to their jobs or to increase efficiency and performance with current employees.

Communicate, Understand and Apply Knowledge

Both process and procedure maps are crucial in an organization. And so as a rule of thumb, never develop a procedure or system of procedures without first creating a process and procedure map. Acting like a table of contents, a process map helps organize the chapters of a complex book in a way that this knowledge can easily be communicated, understood and applied.

Next time, we will discuss Six Sigma problem-solving tools and answer the question: how do you move from seat-of-the-pants decision making to measurable and continuous process improvement?

You have permission to publish this article free of charge, as long as the resource box is included with the article. If you do run my article, a courtesy reply to sean@bizmanualz.com would be greatly appreciated. This article is 927 words long including the resource box. Thanks for your interest.

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About Chris Anderson

Chris Anderson is the managing director of Bizmanualz, Inc. and co-author of policies and procedures manuals, producing the layout, process design and implementation to increase performance.

To learn how to increase your business performance, visit: http://www.bizmanualz.com?src=ART85