Introducing Manufacturing Time Tracking Systems to Your Business
Published: 28/11/2022
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Our topic today is about bringing innovation to your manufacturing business. We encourage business owners and senior managers to start the process with time tracking systems as they provide benefits to everyone across the company. And, with the right approach, it won’t be difficult to have your teams utilise them to their full potential.
Decision-makers often forget that it’s ultimately their workers who will be using the software. Therefore, if they aren’t happy with the solution or find it difficult to use, the investment in software might be wasted. For this reason alone, it’s vital to prepare them for the change, seek their approval, and introduce it gradually rather than simply expecting your teams to ‘deal with it’. Unfortunately, your challenges don’t stop there either.
If you are considering introducing time tracking to your manufacturing business - congratulations, you're on the right path. However, it does come with challenges. Firstly, the market is full of various solutions designed for this purpose. Navigating through them is difficult, let alone finding the best product that suits your needs and budget precisely - but not impossible. But let's start from the beginning…
Intuitively, you might be searching for solutions specifically tailored to manufacturing firms. On one hand, such a focused query will significantly narrow your options. On the other hand, you could miss out on more comprehensive and better-developed tools that aren’t limited to a single industry. Additionally, highly specialised tools tend to cost more and offer less, primarily because they are aware their client base is smaller and need to generate revenue. More versatile solutions, as a general rule, tend to be more competitively priced.
For example, at Timesheet Portal, we specify manufacturing and engineering as one of our key focus sectors. However, we also recognise that our solution is useful for businesses across other industries as well. This is mainly because our platform is rich in functionality, and the pricing model is designed for clients to build their own customised package with the features they need. Therefore, we can provide specialised software—if you choose to develop it as such. And if you are unsure how to do that, our highly capable experts will be happy to assist.
Before you start reaping the benefits of time-tracking software, it’s important to ensure your team is on board with it. Unless you succeed in communicating its value, you are likely to face resistance against using the new tool. So, before adjusting the processes, get buy-in from your team, and also think through your future employee onboarding programme.
Often, people oppose change, especially when they are accustomed to existing processes and don’t understand the need for ‘fixing what isn’t broken’. Sometimes, these processes might actually be flawed. Before introducing new software and expecting your staff to adapt instantly, you should first give them notice, and then sell the idea to them. Simply put, if they don’t understand the reason for the change or how it benefits them, they will either take longer to adapt or ignore it altogether. The last thing you want is to commit to a software contract only to find out your employees are not using it.
Depending on your company's size, try to have a conversation with individual workers or teams where you outline how the new approach will affect their daily routines. Emphasise the positive benefits that time tracking systems offer for different business areas. For example, in accounting, you might highlight pay-and-bill automation based on timesheet data. For legal teams, point out how much easier business audits will become. HR will particularly benefit from holiday management, attendance tracking, and easier identification of absenteeism patterns. Overall, there is definitely something for everyone - you just need to identify and communicate it effectively.
Ideally, you will stick with your chosen software for years to come. This means that while your current employees have the chance to learn how to use it together, your new staff will require additional training when they join, as they might be accustomed to a very different process. To save yourself time and effort, include details about your time-tracking procedures in your employee handbook. This is a good place to clearly outline how your business operates, preventing new hires from making assumptions based on observation.
While additional training from either you or longer-staying workers may be necessary, having the process clearly defined during onboarding should significantly reduce the adjustment period. It would also help in minimising mistakes that new hires might make while figuring out the ins and outs of the business by attempting to understand the processes themselves. In other words, including your time tracking practices and a brief introduction to the software will help you bring new hires up to speed more quickly and also act as a reference for other team members when they are unsure of the procedure.
The market for SaaS solutions is among the fastest growing, and it is already packed with various types of software. There are many time tracking systems, each offering unique features and making big promises. However, don’t be dazzled by these. Instead, concentrate on the core functionality - the rest are nice to have.
Since manufacturing firms are heavily focused on on-site work (hence lagging in back-office automation), accessibility is among the key factors when choosing time tracking systems. Unlike the back office, work sites aren’t always equipped with computers. And even if they are, the number of machines available isn’t likely to match the number of workers. Paper timesheets aren’t ideal either as they are easily damaged and lost, as well as susceptible to malicious tampering such as buddy-punching. This is why you need a solution that is accessible from every device and is not location-dependent.
An easy-to-use on-the-go solution offers convenience to workers, allowing them to clock in and out with a tap. Additionally, filling in timesheets on a personal device removes the hassle of waiting for your turn. The information entered into the app is then received by the back office, where it can be approved, exported to accounting software to quickly calculate payments, analyse team performance, and perform many other tasks. In essence, a readily accessible time tracking system benefits everyone, whether they’re working on-site or in the office. Not to mention, it creates the missing link between two groups of workers who might otherwise rarely interact on a daily basis.
Let us be clear - when it comes to timesheet software, you don’t need a complex, feature-rich solution. Even if your back-office staff are tech-savvy and quick to adapt to new software, on-site workers usually have little interest in figuring out an additional system. Since their use of the software will mostly be for timesheet filling, expense claims, and holiday requests, it’s worth bearing this in mind. Depending on the back-office processes you aim to improve, these three features might be enough for your company overall. When it comes to time tracking software, less is often more.
Ultimately, the range of functionality you should choose depends on your needs. We don’t recommend software packages with extensive features for two reasons. Firstly, they generally cost more than those with basic features, which are often entirely sufficient. Secondly, you are unlikely to use all of them, resulting in wasted money on unnecessary functions. Additionally, it’s easy to become overwhelmed when faced with a cluttered interface - something that’s unavoidable when a platform offers many processes. If you want a larger solution, we advise starting with the basics and upgrading gradually to ensure your growth and learning are steady.
Now that we’ve touched on growth, it’s important to point out that it never truly stops. Adoption of the right software only kickstarts the process. For it to bring success, you need to continually use it to improve your processes, as well as harness the data it collects to explore new opportunities. Experimenting, analysing, and optimising create a cycle that must keep going for your business to continue thriving.
Most tracking systems operate on the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, meaning they not only collect data but also present it to you in a visual, easily digestible format. Most tools will display a sleek dashboard that highlights all the most important stats the moment you sign in. Additionally, a good solution will feature an advanced reporting outlet, generating detailed reports for you to analyse within seconds. At Timesheet Portal, we enable our users to create their own granular report templates using an extensive drag-and-drop interface.
This approach will make it easier to identify your strengths and weaknesses, enabling you to start working on them. As you implement changes, the data you receive will also evolve, providing new insights to act on. In other words, optimisation is not a one-off task but an ongoing process. Moreover, you can link different SaaS solutions (e.g., accounting packages) together, allowing them to share data insights. This way, you can analyse data from entirely different business areas in a different context, potentially deepening your understanding even further. Without integrated software, accessing these insights would be impossible.
The manufacturing industry requires time tracking systems. From on-site teams to back-office staff, it provides benefits for everyone in your organisation. However, we also recognise that the industry is often resistant to change, especially when it involves familiar processes. If you simply impose the new procedures and software on your workers, you risk facing backlash and wasting money on tools they refuse to use. That's why it is important to plan and strategise the introduction of digital timesheets carefully.
In a nutshell, you need to communicate to your workers what they will gain from this change. This also ensures that figuring out the software isn’t a task of its own. You should therefore aim for simpler solutions that meet your needs rather than feature-packed tools that are likely to overwhelm the users. No matter how easy-to-use your new software is, however, you must ensure your staff is comfortable using it. With this, you will be on the path to digitisation and industry innovation.
There is no better moment than now to start this journey. Take the first step.