The success of every project can be measured in two ways, results and efficiency. A perfect result that takes years to complete is often considered less desirable than a near-perfect project delivered in months. Project managers use time tracking to ensure that each stage and task within a project is completed within a reasonable amount of time. Time tracking can then be used to optimize processes, identifying where unnecessary tasks, complexities, or delays can be removed in order to achieve the same or higher quality in a more efficient span of time.
Time tracking, in fact, has a wide variety of benefits to both project managers and the teams who use these methods. Today, we’re taking a deep dive into why project time tracking is important and how teams that properly use time tracking will thrive.
Improve Productivity
Without time tracking, projects often have a way of dragging on. Time tracking provides a way to estimate how long a task will take, clock how long employees work on a task, and create accountability for time spent on each task in a project.
Oversight over these elements of time spent during a project can help to improve productivity. In fact, the simple act of clocking into specific tasks and the satisfaction of marking tasks as complete can boost employee’s performance speed and desire to deliver faster results.
Clarify Roles and Contributions
With planned-out time tracking, everyone knows what they are supposed to be doing. Often, in teams where skills overlap, team members may not be clear on the best way they can contribute to the project without overlapping another’s efforts, stepping on toes, or under-contributing in comparison to their peers.
Time-tracking makes it easy to balance assignments and workloads within a project so that everyone is clear on their role and their contributions right through to project completion.
Efficiently Manage Resources
Time tracking can also keep track of the resources used in each task, whether those resources include project materials, booked working space, or even hosted server capacity. Time tracking records how long employees work with specific materials, and the Time Tracking app from eBillity gives your team the ability to make requests regarding the resources they need through detailed reporting.
Time tracking can give you the insight into how resources are being used and for how long, allowing you to increase efficiency and optimize resource availability for the times in which they are necessary.
Deliver Projects and Tasks On-Time
Of course, one of the primary benefits of project time tracking is the ability to deliver your projects on time. When project managers know how long each individual task or project stage will take, they can effectively plan employee time to complete the work within the deadline – often with a margin for review and final polishing.
For larger and more collaborative projects, time tracking ensures that each individual or team brings in their tasks in time to combine efforts with other teams for a combined result. Time tracking can coordinate teams that rely on one another to be finished, to be ready to collaborate, or to take the baton for the next stage without lost time in between phases. Together, you can deliver on-time projects and sub-project tasks.
Manage Project Costs
Project costs can balloon when projects go over-time due to the need to maintain a project environment, provide further resources, or pay overtime to the team. Time tracking keeps every aspect of a project on-point and more efficient. Because you can plan each task ahead of time, including how long it will take and the resources needed to complete the task in that time, time tracking provides the ability to manage project costs from planning to completion.
Around-the-Clock Coordination
Project time tracking also makes it possible to keep team members on task around-the-clock while ensuring that everyone gets ample rest in preparation for their next shift. This can be essential if you have a short deadline that the team is rushing to complete, if you must be available at all times during project development, or if you have an international remote team whose workdays fall into around-the-clock time zones.
Time tracking can make it easy for managers to visualize a full work-day view of scheduled tasks and shift, keeping track of who is available during what times and ensuring that overlapping shifts work together to achieve planned goals.
Ensure Regulation Compliance
Time tracking can also ensure that, even in a hectic delivery schedule, employees are scheduled according to regulations and company policies regarding safety, overtime pay, and work-life balance.
Project time tracking ensures that employees who work overtime are paid overtime – or help managers minimize the need for overtime with considerate shift assignments. Time tracking ensures that no one works too many hours in a row, even if they might sign up for that time. Time tracking also provides clear documentation that your project has always been compliant.
Accurate Billable Hour Invoicing
If your project is contracted work that will be billed by the labor hour, time tracking is essential for providing accurate and seamless weekly invoices. The hours worked by each of your team members, or pooled project hours, can be easily tracked using clock-in, clock-out features that provide perfect clarity.
Time Tracker can then translate those hours into an invoice template, making it easy to invoice your clients with the click of a button.
eBillity Time Tracker Has Everything Your Project Needs
Time Tracker by eBillity app has everything you need to make your projects more efficient, cost-effective, compliant, and of course, delivered on-time. With digital time clocking, employee requests, manager approvals, and alerts for last-minute changes, you can keep your team on-point and make sure your project is delivered within estimated timelines, cost estimates, and performance metrics every time.
You can try out Time Tracker for yourself with a free 14-day trial to see if the app features naturally enhance the efficiency of your project team, providing everyone with the transparency and tools they need to thrive.