Improve project management with CMap's timesheets system

Timesheets are a way for professional services firms to capture the time spent working on a particular project or task, filled out on a daily or weekly basis.

They include important data such as the date, duration and description of the work completed, which can then be used to track utilization, productivity, recovery rates, and project performance.

Employee time tracking software is often used by project-based organizations to automate the time tracking process.

Employee time tracking software is an essential tool for professional services firms as it can help them to monitor project performance and progress, including important metrics such as:

1. Tracking billable hours: Tracking billable hours accurately is crucial for businesses that bill their clients based on timesheet data captured against a project
2. Analyzing productivity: Project managers can use timesheet data to measure the productivity of their team and potentially identify areas where staff are over or underutilized, allowing them to make smart people decisions (e.g. providing extra support& training).
3. Forecasting & planning: Managers can also use historical time tracking data to forecast how many hours and resources are needed to complete similar projects in the future
4. Compliance & audits: Having a verifiable record of the time spent on various tasks and projects is important for compliance purposes—it can be used as evidence during audits to prove your business is operating in accordance with relevant regulations.
5. Improving profitability: With efficient time tracking, businesses can identify issues such as inefficiencies and promptly address them—which in turn can help improve their profitability and bottom line.

Although most standalone timesheet software offers basic time tracking capabilities, they often lack the integration & functionality that a PSA-hosted timesheet software can provide. There are several reasons why time tracking software that’s part of a PSA are often more beneficial:

1. Centralization: With a PSA software, you get a centralized platform where every aspect of your business—including time tracking—can be managed. That means no more hopping in between systems—employees can easily track time, and project managers can easily approve timesheets and create invoices, all without leaving the software.
2. Integration: Using a PSA system allows project managers to easily track the time spent on each project and generate invoices based on timesheet data.
3. Automation: With a PSA software, time-consuming tasks can be easily automated—for example, sending time tracking reminder emails for timesheet submissions, generating invoices, and creating reports. This frees up time for employees and managers to focus on more productive work.
4. Reporting: Identify areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions with detailed reports and time tracking data analysis—all of which helps to optimize resource utilization.

To conclude, having an integrated employee timesheet and PSA software offers much more powerful functionality than a standalone timesheet software. Although standalone time tracking softwares may offer free plans and unlimited users, the benefits of an integrated timesheet software—including centralization, automation, and reporting—provide a much more effective tool for tracking time for professional services.