Without quality project management tools, the administration function can be very costly for your business. It generally requires a lot of manual data entry, double handling, and tedious paperwork. Slow or excessive processes can have a significant negative impact on your ROI and can prevent companies from saving money.
Businesses will struggle to grow and remain profitable if all their time is allocated to filling out paperwork and applying time to non-value administrative tasks. So what is effective project management and how can you break it down for company wins using project management tools to accomplish the;
- Completion of timesheets, EBA related payroll and awards
- Reconciliation of material receipts, purchase orders and invoices
- Scheduling and tracking of Jobs, Tasks and Resources
- Capture of critical information like meeting notes, call logs
It’s well documented that ineffective project management and lack of project management tools adds extra paperwork to your day. Your business won’t have access to real-time data or any reliable way of tracking data and records if you maintain reliance on paper and you don’t evolve towards intelligent project management tools.
Moving to a digital world and mobile first approach that automates and simplifies a large majority of project management functions can all be done with minimal manual input. Automating processes (making the project management tools align exactly to your business) will stop time wasted chasing paper or trying to run in a poorly designed digital process. Making the project management tools your own, will allow you to mitigate the risks in your business and manage tasks more efficiently in one place.
What is effective project management?
Administration work can seem tiresome when completed through paper-based systems. We have witnessed companies transposing paper forms into expansive project spreadsheets containing over 500 lines to complete client reconciliations to allow accurate invoices to be created for clients. This is now considered by many as an inefficient approach that increases the administrative burden on your business and removes the likelihood for inaccurate billing or reporting.
When you rely on paper systems you are also increasing the chance of staff losing paperwork or having forms filled out incorrectly. It is impossible to ensure paper forms are filled out correctly by your field staff when they are required (not after the job), as there are no forced workflows in place (complete the safety form before you start the job).
Forms can be submitted with incorrect information, possibly days or weeks later, and it will only be after you receive the incorrect information, that you are able to identify the errors. And this is where mistakes can become extremely costly! Try asking for a variation after the fact!
Transitioning to a digital system could save your business over 30 hours a week, and reduce billing cycles from weeks to days. Reducing the time required to invoice means there is more time available for other tasks and more time to apply your teams to income generating exercises.
Automated processes make data capture simple
Imagine a time when you can raise invoices the same day as the job is completed rather than waiting days to get the data back from the field. By empowering your field staff they can easily log their timesheets from their phones once a task or project is completed. Details can be pre-populated and forced sign-offs ensure staff are providing the correct information.
Automated workforce technology can reduce fraudulent time clocking as well, by requiring employee verification methods. This can include PIN codes, badge swipes, or NFC tags to validate point in time activities and makes the job of the project manager so much easier.
Manage timesheet submissions more efficiently
Letting employees submit their timesheets digitally reduces the number of queries received by the HR and payroll teams, which lets them focus on their core duties instead. Project management tools allow you to track absence patterns and ensure staff are achieving the key results areas that they have been given.
It also makes it easier to find available replacement staff when you have temporary absences or short notice leave requests. With a range of scheduling tools for staff, contractors, equipment and other resources, combined with intelligent clash detection, resource changes become manageable and easy. This minimises the disruption to your productivity and bottom line.
With project management tools you can perform complex pay rules and calculate employee awards, pay rates and penalties accurately, reducing the chances of payroll being completed incorrectly. Automating these processes ensures that you won’t incorrectly allocate or over pay your resources, that they are super happy and that you comply with the employee award systems.
Use ‘ONE SYSTEM’ for for better continuity of your project management tools
Automating administrative processes with a paperless project management system can significantly reduce the amount of time spent manually entering and reviewing data. Effective project management will be the key to the success of many businesses. Technology will give you the power to prepare projects, track progress in real-time, and manage milestones with ease.
Manage all your administrative project tasks in one place with the following project management tools:
- Quoting and invoicing automation from field
- Job & task management
- Time and attendance with payroll rules and awards
- Asset & equipment allocation and maintenance
- Resource scheduling and clash detection
- Managing Licenses, certificates and training
- Submitting forms for safety, toolboxes and client requested validations
- End of day or job financial summaries
Ask yourself “what is effective project management?”. If your current paper-based system or your hybrid excel, paper and email system isn’t up to scratch, then it’s time to consider making the switch to a fully digital approach. Paperless project management tools provide a simple and centralised digital space where all project-related files, tasks, forms, costs, and schedules can be managed.
Manage everything in the ONE SYSTEM, so that it’s well integrated between operations and finance and make sure data is collected accurately and on time through ubiquitous mobile field technologies that connect seamlessly to the cloud. There is no excuse for not enabling your team to keep all of their work, on glass and in the palm of their hand where the information is front and centre for the business!
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