Why the Founding Fathers would have liked AboutTime

It’s the 4^th of July tomorrow!  In honor of Independence Day we thought we would share a few quotes from America’s Founding Fathers.  As I looked through a myriad of amazing quotes from amazing men,  I couldn’t help but think that the Founding Fathers would have seen the value in a mobile resource management solution.  They would have liked AboutTime.  

“You have too much at stake to hesitate. You ought not to think an hour upon the matter, but to spring to action at once...Now our time and turn is come, and perhaps the finishing stroke is reserved for us. When we look back on the dangers we have been saved from, and reflect on the success we have been blessed with, it would be sinful either to be idle or to despair.” -Thomas Pain

Sometimes it is hard to make a change.  Especially when you have been running your business the same way since you started it.  Even though change is hard “there is too much at stake to hesitate.”  Implementing a mobile resource management could be saving your business money while you are reading this blog. 

“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclination, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”-Thomas Jefferson

A mobile resource management solution ensures that all of the data collecting in the field is accurate.  Features such as GPS time stamps  ensures that your data is unaltered and can be used as evidence if needed to protect your business from litigation.

“… having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obligated, by better information or fuller consideration, to change my opinions even on important subjects, which I thought right but found to be otherwise.”-Benjamin Franklin

A mobile resource management system, like AboutTime, sends the information collected in the field directly to the office in real time., where it can be compared to budgets.  Managers can give “fuller consideration” to how projects are progressing and make changes immediately, thus keeping projects on time and on budget. 

Yes, a lot of leeway was taken with these quotes but the messages, though applied to different circumstances, remain the same. 

Happy 4^th of July from AboutTime!

A Quick Thought ...

Time is the scarcest resource and unless it is managed, nothing else will be managed. – Peter F Drucker

AboutTime Technologies began as simply a time and attendance collection system.  10+ years have passed and their feature set has grown.   Over the years AboutTime has developed into an entire mobile resource management solution.    I spend a lot of  time focusing on all the great innovative feature sets that are available to use in the AboutTime solution.  Sometimes I forget that time and attendance was the first feature developed by AboutTime, and for a very good reason.   As Peter F Drucker said, “Time is the scarcest resource and unless it is managed, nothing else will be managed.”

The first step to managing any project effectively begins with collecting employee time and attendance. 

Standing Around

Tracking, documenting and managing a project from start to finish is a huge task.  It takes multiple people to complete a single project.  Each person has a specific role to play from design through completion. Everyone involved in a project cannot be at the project site full time to make sure that it is progressing correctly.   At the same time, everyone on the project needs to know what is happening on the job site to make sure it is progressing correctly. 

It goes without saying, standing around and watching workers do their particular job is the least effective way to manage a project, especially when there are multiple projects running simultaneously.    Not only is this ineffective but it is impossible. 

So how is it possible to proactively manage remote job sites without actually being on the job site?  TECHNOLOGY!  Using mobile resource management software in conjunction with smart phones and other mobile devices, information can easily be gathered and documented in the field and delivered in “Real-Time” directly to office staff.  This allows various staff members to make immediate, sometimes critical, decisions regarding the project.  

With the use of technology, the office can easily communicate with field staff, keeping the flow of communication open.  “Real-Time” means that the information is delivered “as it happens,” completely doing away with the need for office staff to physically be on site. 

Time and Attendance Part 5: Integration

A study done by Aberdeen research group published in 2011, “Time and Attendance Strategies: Beyond Accuracy and Compliance,” found “organizations using automated time and attendance solutions integrated with payroll saw a 61%improvement in compliance audit scores over companies that did not automate time and attendance or integrate time and attendance with payroll."

Automating the collection of time and attendance is the first step to gather accurate information, but what happens to the data after it is collected?   If it is sent to the office and then entered by hand into accounting, all of the other steps to compliance are void.  Data entry is where the largest number of mistakes happen. 

 

Integrating your time and attendance system with your accounting system eliminates the need to re-enter information.  Data entry pollutes your data by allowing room for error.   Keep your data pure by using a time and attendance system that has the ability to push and pull critical information from job costing or accounting systems without using data entry.