How to Choose a Time Tracking App for Your Project

Time theft, time spent in the workplace on unproductive or unrelated tasks, affects over two-thirds of businesses. To combat this problem while boosting productivity, companies invest in time tracker tools—and with great success. In 2020 alone, companies recovered, on average, $666,400.00 in annual wages after implementing time tracking software.

The question isn’t why companies should invest in time tracking software, but which tool is best for their team.

There is a multitude of time management apps out there. Some are stand-alone products, while others are bundled with project management software. Many time trackers are refined for specific industries. For example, Gorilla Expense’s Timesheet application is engineered to accelerate processing work for accounting professionals.

We’ve developed a list of critical features every time management software should have to help managers figure out the best employee time tracking app for their team. 

What features should you look for in time tracking apps?

Let’s face it: There’s more to tracking time than a play and pause button. 

As a company onboards more employees, and as projects become more complex, managing employee hours becomes more challenging. This becomes more apparent when working with remote teams as workers collaborate across various time zones.

Excel just doesn’t cut it. 

Yes, spreadsheets do offer some minimal customization. But it can be impossible to accurately determine employee productivity and billable time, let alone integrate this data into payroll software and scheduling apps.

Below are some of the top features every time tracker solution on your list should have. 

• Simple interface

Whatever app you choose should be easy to use. If your team can’t figure out the time tracking tool, no one will want to use it. This becomes even more important as projects get more complicated. Users should be able to clock in and clock out, as well as also add tags, customers, and other information as needed. Accounting professionals also require the ability to add multiple rows simultaneously to further boost efficiencies.

• Geolocation

Whether your team is on the road, working from home, or working at your customer’s location, the ability to geotag a user’s location when they begin tracking their working hours is an important feature to have. Geotagging makes employee time tracking more accurate, verifiable, and efficient.

• Multiple device support

These days workers aren’t necessarily working from their computers and may need to put in billable time on the go. Any time tracking app must be accessible from multiple devices—from the desktop to smartphones and tablets.

• Built-in reports

One of the most significant benefits of online timesheets is getting a birds-eye view of time reports. Your chosen tool should be able to create time reports from employee, project, or customer data.

• Multi-level approvals and routing

Managers should be able to view and approve individual timesheets quickly and efficiently. But sometimes, they may need to share employee timesheet data with another department for confirmation. If so, the time management application should allow sharing with other verified parties for final approval.

• System integration

Most managers and employees are sick of having a mix of software solutions that don’t speak to each other. It just creates duplicate work and reduces employee productivity. Finding a time tracker that works with your current system can be a godsend and help you accelerate user onboarding. For accounting professionals, this means choosing a time tracking tool that automatically sends timesheet data and receives project-related master data to and from your ERP, whether it be Microsoft Great Plains, Dynamics 365 Business Central, SL, or NAV.

• Fraud prevention

Employee hours need to be recorded and kept in the system for potential audits. Combined with other features, such as geotagging, the tracked time in an app deters fraudsters and time thieves.

• Stellar customer support

Finally, if something goes wrong or your team needs to modify its time tracking system, it’s critical to have an accessible support team. Experiencing problems is bad enough. 

Calculating the cost of a timesheets integration

How much does a timesheets integration cost? Unfortunately, it depends on several variables, including the platform features, the size of your organization, and the extent of customization. It can help find an app that offers flexible payment options, whether a SaaS subscription or an on-premise license.

However, there is significant evidence to highlight savings from using online timesheets.

For example, companies lose $50,000 per employee when they fail to track time spent on emails. At the same time, 46% of workers report stress due to an unmanageable workload, but only 17% actively track their time.

Employee time tracking is clearly less about employee monitoring than creating a healthier and streamlined workplace.

And for accounting teams, an automated timesheet integration for their ERP is all about saving time and money to focus on more fulfilling tasks.

Streamline your time management with Timesheets

Gorilla Expense’s Timesheets not only provides a clean and intuitive interface for tracking time but includes all of the essential time tracking features discussed here. If you want to:

• Integrate a time tracker into your ERP
• Streamline hourly project time tracking 
• Boost accounting and employee productivity
• Automate accurate recordkeeping
• Generate customized time reports

Then book a demo with our team today. 

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