There have been so many great system enhancements in the last few software releases, but we wanted to focus on 5 key time saving features in the Time and Labor (TLM) module. These new features streamline data collection, review, and approval in the most efficient manner possible. Let’s run through some scenarios on ways to take advantage of these for your organization.
1) Timesheet Change Requests
Jenny Employee typically arrives to work at 9:00 a.m., punches in, and begins working. But on Wednesday, she goes straight to the conference room for a meeting, hence not clocking in upon arrival. Once at her workstation, Jenny punches in (could be from her mobile device, on a PC, or at time clock), but her punch shows 10:25 a.m.
The Timesheet Change Request enables Jenny to put in a request to “change” the timesheet entry for this date. This feature is typically used when a company does not allow end-users (employees) to edit timesheets but still wants to encourage employees to be responsible for accurate time capture. Once approved, the time is automatically adjusted on the timesheet. No need for manager edits!
2) Real-Time Job Costing
A manufacturing plant has “line” workers who transfer from line to line throughout the day working on different products. At the end of the week, the finance department splits the hours for accounting purposes. Not only does this require extra time and effort on the part of various departments, but there is a high likelihood of inaccurate data.
Cost Centers – whether plant “lines”, jobs, tasks, departments, locations or any other name – are an excellent way to allocate time accurately, in real-time. You can customize the Change Cost Center “button” in OnePoint with an appropriate label and use it from any OnePoint enabled device. This is a super quick and simple way to accurately allocate time at the point of entry.
3) Timesheet Submission
Joe Manager is reviewing timesheets at the end of a stressful week. He is responsible for 10 employees, and of the 10 timesheets for the week, it appears eight have missing or incomplete punches. He now needs to track down these employees to correct their time for payroll.
By implementing timesheet submission Joe Manager empowers his employees to check for inaccuracies, so timesheets will arrive to managers complete and mostly accurate! This saves managers time on the receiving end and affords employees the opportunity and responsibility to ensure the timesheet is accurate. And yes, there is a full audit showing the timesheet approval actions, including the submission. Oh, and as a bonus, you can add a customizable disclaimer to appear on the screen at the time of submission!
4) Timesheet Rules
Jenny Employee is required to review her timesheet and submit it for approval at the end of the week (see #3). Come Friday, she submits the timesheet but never makes that Timesheet Change Request (see #1) from earlier in the week.
Joe is thrilled the week is ending and quickly goes to approve Jenny’s submitted timesheet. But he is alerted that something isn’t right with Jenny’s hours.
STOP – Warning: Wednesday’s Hours are less than Jenny’s “Standard.”
With over 100 rules available for configuration, pop-up messages can alert users to exceptions. In this scenario, management could have a “Warning” or “Error” message set to let Joe know that Jenny worked less than her standard hours in a day or in a week.
5) Time Off Requests/Days Profile
Lynn, in Human Resources, has been using OnePoint for over a year now and has become quite the reporting expert. She’s reviewing the new dashboards she built (using the new user experience interface!) and her pie chart shows that 10 percent of employees in the retail store are scheduled to have the day off the Friday before Labor Day. This is concerning, as she knows it’s a super busy time for the store. Lynn ponders how to avoid additional employees from requesting this day off. She can apply a Days Profile to the Time Off Request Profile!
The Days Profile allows users to define a day, or set of days, and then apply those days to rules elsewhere. In this situation, Lynn simply needs to define August 30th as a Days Profile. Then, in the Time Off Request Profile of the Timesheet settings, she can assign the “Days Block Profile.” By disallowing the “Employee Can Request Block Days” setting, no more employees will request time off for August 30th.
Contact OnePoint or your CSR about enabling any of these time saving features for your organization.