Time-tracking before
Time is the key factor in service industry. Crowe Erastus & Co. projects are based around customers so the company needs accurate time logs for generating invoices and keeping track of agreed schedule to timely meet client deliverables. Each project usually takes 3-4 weeks and consists of a field work on the customer’s side and reporting. The firm was using Gantt charts for planning but was also striving for a better control over the time allocation for each project activity.
Initially the team tried to do it via an Excel spreadsheet but this tool had too many limitations.
Our main problem was lack of visibility in our performance. Project managers couldn’t automatically analyze time spent by staff members on different projects nor filter activities for a specified period. It was also very time-consuming to generate multiple staff reports and not all criteria were available for sorting.
Staff members also had their concerns: they demanded a simple and an easy-to-use tool for logging their time and for saving time spent on weekly reporting.
After running an online research of multiple time-trackers, Crowe Erastus & Co stumbled upon actiTIME that had a large portfolio of consulting and accounting companies among their clients. The latter became the deciding factor.
