Eliminating Human Errors: The Case for Digital Timesheet Management Software

One way to always run your field service business into disputes with your workers is to manage their timesheets on paper. Making your field service technicians submit paperwork for their attendance, time-off requests, and grievances not only wastes their time but also means less work completed for your service delivery.

An easy way to avoid making your workers toil in paperwork for basic administrative tasks is to use a timesheet management software. In this article, we cover why timesheet management using field service management helps and how to choose good time-tracking software.

Challenges in managing the workforce via paperwork

Paperwork is still a major way for many field service business owners to run their on-ground operations. But by not digitizing their workflows, they are facing below challenges:

• Human errors leading to revenue losses: field service technicians may update numbers that may not be readable due to which managers may make wrong decisions. Such small errors can cause catastrophic situations, leading to the loss of customers.

• Workers cheating on attendance: field service technicians may include false updates about their time spent performing the job. Or else, they may spend more time, which may not get accounted for. Both lead to improper time tracking, leading to loss of revenues and payments for both sides.

• Difficult to reschedule: paperwork makes it not convenient to entertain any rescheduled requests or job changes. It is time-consuming to make scheduling and dispatching decisions as managers wait for data from timesheets or new job scopes.

• Limited accessibility: sharing documents or attendance records with managers, it may take days or even weeks depending on the job site location. This hinders making timely decisions, especially if it's an emergency.

What is timesheet management software?

Timesheet management software is a tool that helps in tracking time spent by workers on the job and analyzing it to improve workforce efficiency. It can be a standalone application or a part of a larger field service management software’s suite of features.

Here’s how using time-tracking software helps streamline field operations:

Automated attendance and time-off management

Many field service management software includes Android and IOS Apps for time tracking. This means, your field service technicians can simply log into the app, use biometrics or facial recognition to mark their attendance and share any on-the-job updates in real-time. They can also raise time-off requests without having to go to the office or make phone calls. If they have any issues or feedback – they can do so on the app itself.

For managers, it is easier to track timesheets and approve them based on the updates submitted by field service technicians. Thus, they can remotely monitor the site without having to visit.

Efficient and faster billing

Most businesses pay their field service technicians on an hourly basis along with having a base pay for servicing. Hence, tracking time spent on the job site is important to include additional labor done by the worker. This helps compensate your workers fairly as it includes any overtime too. Knowing hours spent means it's quick to calculate the payment and disburse it via digital payment methods.

Geo tracking features

Field service management software like Zuper comes with advanced features like geo-fencing, AI-enabled data analytics, Generative AI, biometric scanning, and much more to bring more accuracy to your timesheet management activities. Geo-tracking features help you provide necessary proof in real time about worker locations. It also helps in providing optimized routes to save travel time.

Performing AI-based analysis of data helps you identify roadblocks that are leading to delayed service delivery. You can identify which tasks take more time and design standard operating procedures for them to improve delivery time.

How to transition from paper to digital timesheet management practices?

Like every digitization exercise, you need to train your workers on using the field service management software. Make sure they understand every feature and can perform critical tasks key to effective time tracking.

For this, your timesheet management software should be user-friendly. Conduct tests for a few weeks to understand usage patterns and align end users accordingly.

At Zuper, our integrated time-tracking features with field service management software provide the visibility your business needs for on-ground work – Book a demo today to learn more.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, embracing timesheet management software is crucial for streamlining field service operations and avoiding disputes with workers. Relying on paper-based systems poses challenges such as human errors, attendance fraud, scheduling difficulties, and limited accessibility, all of which can result in revenue losses and customer dissatisfaction. Timesheet management software offers automated attendance, efficient billing processes, and advanced features like geo-tracking, contributing to improved workforce efficiency. By digitizing workflows and utilizing such software, businesses can enhance accuracy, save time, and make informed decisions for more effective service delivery. It is a transformative step toward a modern, efficient, and hassle-free field service management approach.