Case study
Crowe Erastus & Co. provides services in audit, tax, risk and advisory for over 20 years. It is one of the largest financial services firms in Kenya and a member of Crowe Global, ranked as the 8th largest accounting network in the world.
Time-tracking before
The company runs multiple projects for different clients simultaneously. Each project usually takes 3-4 weeks of field work on the customer’s side and providing reports. So, the company had to develop a smooth time tracking process to generate accurate client invoices, allocate time for separate project activities and meet deadlines.
The company used to make use of Gantt charts for planning, which didn’t provide enough control over time allocation for project activities. For time tracking purposes, it used Excel spreadsheets that were cumbersome and lacked analytics tools.
Our main problem was a lack of performance analytics. Project managers couldn’t review employee time spent across 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 easy-to-use tool for logging their working time and saving time spent on weekly reporting.
After running a research of time tracking solutions, the company chose to go with actiTIME because it had a large portfolio of consulting and accounting companies among their clients.
Favorite actiTIME Features
Works on any device
Access timesheets and log hours anytime in the browser or using a mobile app.
Time locking
Prevent employees from modifying time logs for finished or invoiced activities.
actiPLANS integration
Connect absence management module to access team calendar and PTOs.
Time-tracking after
Managers at Crowe Erastus & Co. went through a short onboarding session with actiTIME experts, which included a product demo and a step-by-step guide on how to use the software. They also introduced time tracking policies including due dates for time submission, which became the second and the final step of actiTIME implementation.
Changing work instruments is always a challenge but everything went smoothly with actiTIME. Actually, it was a relief for our employees to switch to a more efficient time tracking system.
After implementation of actiTIME, employees at Crowe Erastus & Co reported that time tracking became more pleasant and time-effective. They said that time spent on time logs had reduced by 50%, which allowed them to focus more on work activities. With the mobile app, the company’s accountants got an opportunity to track working time at the clients’ locations by starting timers and registering work details right in their smartphones.
Managers at Crowe Erastus & Co reported to benefit from actiPLANS integration, which allowed them to review staff availability, streamline leave requests and plan the workload by relying on team attendance calendar. Combined with time logs and task estimates, employee attendance data improved staff allocation and reduced employee downtime.
actiTIME has proved beneficial to Crowe Erastus & Co in a number of ways. First of all, the time tracking process became more time-effective. More than that, mobile time tracking allowed accountants to capture time spent on customers’ locations accurately to the minute, reducing project costs for clients. Finally, time entry notes and billing reports helped the company to support the cost of work to their clients and improve relationships with them.
