Allocation with Automation

Allocating employees and where they spend their time isn’t easy.  You probably have multiple jobsites that are scattered across your state or even multiple states.  Each jobsite requires multiple tasks to be completed in order to finish a job.   Sometimes it is important to complete one task before the other.  Maybe project A has to be completed 2 weeks before project B.   You know what needs to be done and when but how do you communicate this to your field employees? 

I recently heard a story about a business owner who would print out 10 – 30 pages of instructions, calendars, forms, and anything else he felt like his crew managers would need in order to stay on top of their tasks and employees for the week.    So, Monday morning each crew manager would receive a packet.   The owner started realizing that things weren’t going according to his plan.  Instructions and timelines he detailed in his packet weren’t being followed.  He came up with a brilliant plan to find out which mangers were actually reading the packets and which managers were just tossing it aside.   One Monday morning he put a bonus check for two thousand dollars in the middle of the packet.  Can you guess how many checks were cashed?   NONE!!!!!

What did he do?  He purchased AboutTimes mobile resource management software.  When an employee clocks in using AboutTime they are given a list of task codes.  They simply choose the task that they are working on and clock IN and they are off to work.  The beauty of the system is that the office can restrict employees to only the tasks that they want them to work on.  When the employee clocks OUT at the end of the day, they submit how much of the task was completed.  WOW!  Now the owner knows exactly how far the job progressed that day.  Alerts can be sent out to his managers if a job is going over the budgeted hours and adjustments can be made.  No more huge packets of paper that get discarded.  No more misunderstandings on what projects should be worked on that day.  Instead the business is operating smoothly.  Everyone is on task and projects are completing under budget.