Easy time tracking provides the CEO strong data to manage his business
CEO of the consultancy Type2Dialog, Christian Braad said goodbye to insecure data from Excel time tracking. Now he trusts his key figures.
We now have a system that offers the option to track time and expenses in real time, e.g. through the app. For the employees it is easy to register on the go, and it helps us trust the data we get inType2Dialog
Six months ago, the consultancy Type2Dialog spearheaded by CEO Christian Braad decided to say goodbye to Excel time tracking and start using TimeLog.
They now trust their data and key figures.
Will you recommend TimeLog to someone else?
"Yes, absolutely. It’s a well-tested system that includes the basis functionality a smaller consultancy needs to support the business. And it eases the administration."
Time tracking once a month in Excel sheets
Before Type2Dialog started to use TimeLog, the employees tracked their time in Excel sheets. Typically once at the end of the month.
Besides the consultants should pull themselves together to get it done, they were also challenged in re-creating their work the past month, if they hadn’t tracked time on an ongoing basis.
That made their time tracking imprecise, and they doubted the data that formed the basis for the company’s key figures on the projects.
Were the deviations in the projects reliable? Or was it because, they didn’t track time correctly?
Time tracking in real time provides safety around data and key figures
After Type2Dialog started using TimeLog, the time tracking became more reliable and structured.
Now the employees track their time and expenses on an ongoing basis, typically through the Mobile app, and submit their hours for approval once a week.
"This means that we now have more precise data on the individual projects. Both for the project finances and in the offers we give. We can see if we hit the nail and why projects didn’t complete as expected. And we can be sure of this, because data is tracked in real time." Christian Braad, CEO explains.
Good implementation of employees
”There was a good implementation with a high degree of flexibility in setting up workshops and finding the right data structure. Our backoffice responsibe feels safe in using TimeLog, and if she calls TimeLog’s support, she receives good answers.
The training of the professionals also took place in a good and pedagogical way. They actually see that this eases their workday in regards to expense tracking, scanning attachments etc.”
Visibility of billing rate and the realised hourly rate
It’s primarily the billing rate per consultant and the time consumption on projects that form the basis of the projects’ realised hourly rate. Christian Braad gets it from TimeLog, which he uses to manage the company.
The most important thing is the billing rate per consultant. Does the actual billing rate match the budgeted billing rate? If the billing rate is at 50%, but the employees report a workload of 70%, we can have a talk about the difference. It’s important when you live on selling your time.
At the same time, Type2Dialog uses TimeLog to keep an eye on the project finances. And if the realised hourly rate hits the budgeted hourly rate.
They use it to see the financial situation on the different project types they work with.
Budgeted vs realised hourly rate
When you start a project, you should budget an hourly rate. This means: How much do you expect to invoice for each hour of work you and your employees add to the project. In other words: How profitable do you expect your project to be?
As the project progresses and at project completion, the most skilled companies measure if the realised hourly rate actually hits the target.
A simple formula to calculate the realised hourly rate is:
The invoiced amount – project expenses
--------------------------------------------- = The realised hourly rate
Number of hours tracked on the project
For you to secure the project finances on ongoing projects, it pays out to keep an eye on the realised hourly rate on an ongoing basis. Here you should include the project’s completion rate to get an accurate hourly rate at the given time.
Type2Dilaog wants more than just time tracking
After six months, Type2Dialog has not yet started to re-prioritise the project types they work on based on data from TimeLog.
As Christan Braad says, they are in the middle of practicing the new way of working with projects. And becoming better at breaking projects down into phases and activities and distributing resources.
Good integrations to financial and salary systems
Type2Dialog makes use of TimeLog’s free integrations to the financial system Uniconta and the salary system Danløn.
From TimeLog they sent project expenses incl. attachments directly to Uniconta. This means that the bookkeeper avoids manual work and only need to look through the expenses before they are booked. In the same way, salary data (hours, vacation etc.) is sent from TimeLog to Danløn each month.
But the basis is in place now where they have a common project management system in TimeLog and everybody trusts the numbers.
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Who is Type2Dialog?
Type2Dialog’s 15 consultants deliver consulting services within the health and social work areas to both municipalities, regions and private companies.
They offer an array of different services. They include analysis of the clients’ financial and qualitative challenges, advice on management models and targets.
Type2Dialog also offers competency development and in-depth analysis and development to ensure better work procedures.
To secure good coherence in the clients’ organisations, 75% of Type2Dialog’s consultants are industry professionals with many years of experience while the rest have a background as management consultants.