4 Ways the NetSuite Time Tracking App Simplifies Timesheet Management

If you work with projects, you know how important accurate time tracking is. It impacts progress reporting, billing and profitability. But you also probably know how painful it can be to actually get the time entered! Employees often treat time entry as an afterthought at the end of the week. You may even have a few stragglers that wait until they get the reminder to enter time for monthly billing.

The reason employees put this off is usually because the systems and processes for tracking time are tedious and cumbersome. NetSuite time tracking simplifies the whole process with an easy-to-use interface and streamlined approvals, eliminating the pain for everyone on your team.

1. Easy daily time tracking

Entering time worked at the end of each day is the key to improving accuracy. NetSuite makes this super easy with a weekly timesheet that they can fill in from their computer or mobile device. They can easily copy tasks from any previous week to reduce the repetitive work of manually re-adding the same tasks each week. Ease of use is the most important component here – because NetSuite’s time tracking app is so simple to use, you’ll have a greater chance of convincing your team to abandon their notebook, spreadsheet or calendar for time tracking.

2. Automated reminders for missing time

In a perfect world, every employee would be on top of their time entry. But there will always be a few stragglers. NetSuite makes it easy for approvers and admins to report on missing timesheets, so they can zero in on the individuals that require follow-up. And you can set up notifications to prompt both the employee and their immediate supervisor if time hasn’t been submitted by your deadline.

3. On-time approvals

Every company will have their own approval processes for billable time, but it can be time-consuming to review and approve every single time entry on a project. The larger your team is and the more projects you have, the more unreasonable this is to do manually. NetSuite allows approvers to bulk approve or reject time entries to save time. They can also add notes to the rejection, minimizing back and forth with the employee. Just as your team should be entering time on a weekly basis, get your project managers and supervisors in the habit of reviewing and approving each week. This will keep the process moving smoothly and avoid a lengthy review period at the end of the month while your accounting team waits for billing instructions.

4. Integrate time tracking with projects

Simplicity is key for project-based organizations. Given that time is your most important data to track, you want a single entry that flows through to all other areas of the business that rely on timesheet data. NetSuite timesheets are tied directly to projects, so you can create planned time entries when a resource is allocated to a project. The planning information feeds into project budgeting and long-term resource planning, while the actual time worked feeds straight back to the project, so you can monitor progress, budget usage, utilization and more. Project managers also have the control to restrict which resources can track time against a project and who can approve time. Everything related to your projects is in one place, so you aren’t transferring data back and forth.

NetSuite time tracking has all work-related activities in a single place, helping you generate time tracking reports against clients, projects and activities. You’ll have more accurate timesheet data and better insight into performance indicators. NetSuite’s professional services automation (PSA) solutions streamline services delivery, financial management and sales operations.