Job/time tracking software?

Bronson · Sep 11, 2008

Hi all,

I'm an electrical contractor that uses sub contract electricians for the larger jobs I win. The sub contractors give me a written timesheet with their invoice, the times are added up, and I issue an invoice to the client or main contractor, and then their timesheets are filed.

Does anybody use software to monitor their projects/jobs so that labour for any period, and for any project/job can be called up at any time?

I realise it would mean entering the sub contract timesheets into a program once they have been issued to me, but this wouldn't be a problem. As I sometimes don't invoice clients for months on end, this can mean sifting through many different timesheets for many different people to find times (sometimes odd days) so my invoice to the client can be accurate.

I have spent quite a while online looking for a solution, but many sites offer web based timesheets so that people can enter their times remotely. I would like to keep the paper timesheets that are issued to me in place, but run software along side them that means I can see who has worked where and for how long at any time.

Thanks in advance for any help, and I look forward to hearing any suggestions,

B.

Bane · Sep 11, 2008

I don't think it'd be very practical for yourself plus it'd be time consumning.
Excel Spreadsheet? (Suppose it depends how many guys you got)

If you think that's a ---- idea I'll have a word with the brother-in-law at the weekend, see if he has any ideas.

frankmac · Sep 11, 2008

Hi Bronson,
defo some kind of software out there ...........have seen it used,again i think it is very time consuming.

Bronson · Sep 11, 2008

Hi, thanks for replies so far...

I don't use enough sub contractors for it to be too time consuming, and having the ability to be able to invoice a client for labour at a click of a button, months after people have been to site, defiantly outweighs the time spent once a week entering their times into software.

(Wow, just read that back and that is one looong sentence

)

wattsup · Sep 11, 2008

It's a data base you need not a spread sheet. If you have word installed on your pc its built in. Microsft Access, loads of options, the one that may suit is 'Inventry Control', 'Resource Scheduling' or and 'Time and Billing'.
Walk through wizard to help

ElectricMick · Sep 11, 2008

I agree with Wattsup....I use Excel myself, but I don't as much as you want it to. MS Access would probably be the answer. Its fairly straight forward to create a database and if you can't do it yourself it would be much cheaper to pay a local computer geek to create a personalised dtatbase than to shell out hundreds, if not thousands for a software licence that may not be exactly what you want.

Bronson · Sep 11, 2008

wattsup said:
It's a data base you need not a spread sheet. If you have word installed on your pc its built in. Microsft Access, loads of options, the one that may suit is 'Inventry Control', 'Resource Scheduling' or and 'Time and Billing'.
Walk through wizard to help

Many thanks Wattsup,

Although I do have MS Word on my computer, strangely enough I don't have MS Access. Reading the box though, MS Access is in the package (old 2003 version), so I must have declined to install it. I'll install and have a play...

Have you (or anybody else) used MS Access before? Is it something that's fairly easy to configure do you know?

Again, thanks for the feedback,

B.

wattsup · Sep 11, 2008

If you are new to pc's it can be a pain, if you are fairly clued up, a couple of hours playing you will soon get the idea.
If you have no clue, get someone in to set it up for you, probably only cost about £15 an hour + exes and min call out of course.
Where do you live -

Bronson · Sep 12, 2008

wattsup said:
If you have no clue, get someone in to set it up for you, probably only cost about £15 an hour + exes and min call out of course.
Where do you live -

Hi Wattsup,

I'll try installing MS Access and see if I can tinker with the time and billing template as you have suggested. I'm fairly computer savvy, but I'll let you know if there are problems

Thanks again,

B.

gerrywilson · May 16, 2013

Time tracking software is very good. Using software time can be tracked accurately. Time can't be changed without the permission of admin of the software.

Sarz11 · Mar 10, 2014

Bronson said:
Many thanks Wattsup,

Although I do have MS Word on my computer, strangely enough I don't have MS Access. Reading the box though, MS Access is in the package (old 2003 version), so I must have declined to install it. I'll install and have a play...

Have you (or anybody else) used MS Access before? Is it something that's fairly easy to configure do you know?

Again, thanks for the feedback,

B.