Control over hours,
projects and profitability
At an engineering firm, a large part of the business revolves around hours. Engineers, consultants, draughtsmen and project managers spend their time on a wide range of activities, such as design, calculations, research, reporting, meetings and project supervision. Moreover, these activities often take place simultaneously across multiple projects. Reliable time tracking is therefore essential to know how much time is actually being spent on an assignment and whether that time matches the original budget.
With TimeWriter you can easily track the time employees spend on clients, projects and activities. The recorded hours then provide insight into the progress and actual costs of projects and form a reliable basis for invoicing and post-calculation. That way, time tracking becomes not just an administrative obligation, but a practical tool that gives you more control over your projects and the financial results of your engineering firm.
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Where do those hours go?
At an engineering firm, a working day consists of many different activities. An engineer works on a design, for example, is called by a client in between, discusses a technical change with a colleague and then produces an additional calculation. Each of these activities takes time, but not every employee stops to consider during the day that all that time may ultimately be part of a project or assignment.
When hours are only recorded at the end of the week, it is also easy to forget small tasks. A fifteen-minute phone call may seem insignificant, but when several employees regularly carry out such tasks over the course of a project, the total can add up considerably. The same applies to additional calculations, changes and work that falls outside the original assignment.
Poor record-keeping therefore affects more than just the administration. You run the risk that billable hours are not invoiced, that additional work is insufficiently visible and that projects take longer than budgeted without this being noticed in time.
- billable hours are forgotten or not invoiced;
- additional work goes unnoticed;
- project budgets are exceeded without anyone noticing;
- deviations from the schedule only become visible late;
- the actual project costs are difficult to reconstruct afterwards;
- post-calculation provides insufficient information for future projects.
Good time tracking will of course not prevent a project from taking more time than planned. It does ensure that you see sooner where the time is going and when a project is starting to go off track.
From hours worked
to insight into your projects
For an engineering firm, time tracking is more than recording the number of hours worked. The records are an important source of information for the day-to-day management of projects. When employees consistently link their time to the right projects and activities, an up-to-date picture emerges of the amount of capacity an assignment requires.
That insight can then be used at various levels. A project manager can check, for example, how many hours have been spent on an assignment so far. The administration department can use the recorded hours for invoicing. Management can compare projects with one another and analyse which activities require relatively large amounts of capacity. For the employees themselves, a clear project structure also provides more insight into how their time is spent during the working week.
- Project monitoring – compare the hours actually spent with the available or budgeted hours and see more quickly when a project is at risk of overrunning.
- Post-calculation – analyse after an assignment is completed which activities took more or less time than originally estimated.
- Invoicing – use recorded hours as a reliable basis for invoicing work.
- Billability – make visible what share of the available capacity can be attributed directly to clients and projects.
- Flagging additional work – recognise work that falls outside the original assignment or budget.
- Capacity insight – gain a better understanding of the available capacity and how employees spend it.
Time tracking that suits
project-based work
Engineering firms generally work on a project basis, but no two firms work in exactly the same way. One firm works on large, long-running projects, while another carries out dozens of smaller assignments at the same time. Within a single assignment, moreover, different phases and disciplines can be distinguished. A design, for example, may be followed by engineering, calculations, drawing work, meetings and supervision during execution.
Time tracking must therefore fit the way your organisation manages projects. With TimeWriter you can structure the records around clients, projects and activities. Employees can thus track their time at the level that is relevant to your organisation. This keeps the records clear for the employee, while you as an organisation have sufficient detail available for project monitoring, administration and analysis.
An employee does not have to work out afterwards exactly what a large number of hours was spent on. By recording hours regularly throughout the working day or week, the records stay up to date and the chance of forgotten hours decreases.
Make billable
hours visible
For many engineering firms, employees' hours are a key part of the business model. The available capacity is deployed for clients and projects, and part of that time is charged directly to clients. Every billable minute that is not recorded can therefore ultimately represent revenue that is not invoiced.
That does not mean every minute worked must be billable. Engineers naturally also spend time on internal meetings, administration, business development, training and other activities that cannot be charged directly to a client. That is precisely why it is important to be able to distinguish between different types of work.
With good time tracking, it becomes visible how much time employees spend on, for example:
- billable work for clients;
- project management and project meetings;
- internal meetings and organisation;
- business development and sales;
- administrative work;
- training and development;
- other non-billable activities.
As a result, you see not only how many hours have been worked, but above all what the available capacity is actually being spent on. That gives management better information for assessing the deployment of employees and the financial performance of projects.
Control over project budgets
A project may initially appear to be running well within budget, while over the course of the project more and more hours are spent on work that was not included in the original plan. If the total hours are only reviewed at the end of a project, the scope for corrective action is limited.
By recording hours throughout the project, an up-to-date picture emerges of the actual time spent. You can compare the recorded hours with the budgeted hours and thus see more quickly when a project requires more capacity than expected. That gives project managers the opportunity to investigate the cause of the deviation in good time.
Perhaps it turns out that a technical solution is more complex than anticipated. Perhaps the client has additional requirements. Or perhaps the original hours budget was simply too optimistic. In all these cases, it is valuable to identify the deviation as early as possible. That way you can reschedule work, make internal adjustments or reach agreements with the client about changes and any additional work.
Recognise additional work sooner
Additional work does not always arise as a clearly defined supplementary assignment. In technical projects, all kinds of changes can occur along the way. A client asks additional questions, a design is modified or a technical solution turns out to be more complex than originally thought. Employees then get to work without it being immediately clear whether this extra work falls within the original assignment.
Accurate time tracking helps to make such situations visible. When the hours and work actually carried out are compared with the original assignment, deviations can be identified sooner. This provides a concrete starting point for discussing with the client what falls within the assignment and which work should be regarded as additional work.
Time tracking is thus no substitute for good project management, but it is an important source of information for project managers who want to keep control over scope, schedule and budget.
From time tracking to better post-calculation
Every completed project contains information that can be valuable for future assignments. How much time did the design really take? How many hours were needed for calculations and drawing work? How much consultation with the client was needed? Which project phase took longer than expected? And which activities were underestimated when the original budget was drawn up?
Without reliable time tracking, such questions remain largely based on assumptions and the experiences of individual employees. With recorded hours, you have concrete information from previous projects at your disposal. This allows you to analyse completed assignments and better understand the differences between budget and reality.
This information can then be used when drawing up new budgets and quotations. If it turns out that a certain type of work structurally takes more time than initially assumed, that knowledge can be incorporated into future projects. In this way, time tracking becomes part of a process in which the organisation gets steadily better at budgeting and planning.
Easy for employees,
valuable for management
A time tracking system only has value when employees actually record their hours consistently. A system that requires many actions or is complicated to use increases the likelihood that employees will postpone their records. As more time passes, it then becomes harder to reconstruct the hours worked accurately.
That is why it is important that time tracking takes as little administrative time as possible. With TimeWriter, employees can clearly record their hours on the projects and activities they have worked on. The records thus remain part of the normal working day and do not have to grow into an extensive administrative task at the end of the week.
At the same time, those same records provide information for project managers, administration and management. A single record can therefore serve multiple purposes: the employee logs their time, the administration department has information for invoicing and the project manager gains insight into the progress of the assignment.
For different types of engineering firms
Engineering firms are active in a wide range of technical disciplines and each has its own way of working. A civil engineering firm may, for example, work on long-term infrastructure projects, while a mechanical engineering firm carries out many different design and engineering assignments at the same time. Building services consultants, electrical engineering firms and technical consultancy organisations also each have their own project structure.
The need for insight into how time is spent, however, is similar. In virtually every project organisation, you want to be able to determine how much time is spent on an assignment, which activities require the most capacity and how the actual hours compare with the budget. TimeWriter can be configured to match the structure of your organisation, so that time tracking fits the way your firm actually works.
Also suitable for government projects
and grants
Engineering firms regularly carry out assignments for municipalities, provinces, national government bodies and other public organisations. In addition, technical research and innovation projects may be subject to grant conditions in which insight into hours spent and staff deployment is important.
Reliable time tracking makes it possible to link time worked directly to the relevant projects and activities. This creates a clear record of the capacity deployed. That makes it easier to check afterwards how much time was actually spent on a project and to substantiate the recorded hours where necessary.
Why TimeWriter for engineers?
Easy time tracking
Employees record their hours worked quickly and clearly, without time tracking becoming a major administrative burden.
Insight per project
See how much time employees spend on clients, projects and specific activities and gain a better picture of the actual project effort.
Compare the recorded hours with available or budgeted hours and identify sooner when a project requires more capacity than expected.
Reliable invoicing
Use the recorded hours as the basis for invoicing work and reduce the chance that billable hours are left out of the administration.
Post-calculation
Analyse completed projects and use the actual time spent as input for future budgets, quotations and schedules.
Flexibly configured
Set up clients, projects and activities to match the way your engineering firm works and keep the records clear for employees.
From logging hours to steering projects
Time tracking does not have to be an administrative obligation used only to draw up an invoice at the end of the month. When hours are recorded consistently and on the right projects, a valuable source of information emerges about the way your engineering firm works.
You gain insight into how employees actually spend their time, see which projects require more or less time and have better information for invoicing and post-calculation. Time tracking thus shifts from an administrative action to a tool for project control and business management.
TimeWriter helps engineering firms to track hours easily and make the most of the information those hours contain.
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Frequently asked questions about time tracking for engineering firms
Why is time tracking important for an engineering firm?
Engineering firms mostly work on a project basis and a significant part of their costs and revenue is linked to the deployment of employees. Accurate time tracking provides insight into the actual time spent per project and thus forms an important basis for invoicing, project monitoring and post-calculation. You can also use the recorded hours to budget future projects more accurately.
Can engineers track hours per project and activity?
Yes. TimeWriter can be set up with clients, projects and activities, so that employees can record their time on the part of an assignment they actually worked on. This allows you to analyse later how much time different activities and projects have taken.
How does time tracking help prevent lost revenue?
When employees do not record their hours, or only do so much later, there is a risk that work is forgotten or can no longer be linked to the right project. By recording hours consistently, a more reliable record of the work actually carried out is created. For billable assignments, these records can then be used as the basis for invoicing.
Can I see how many hours a project has taken?
Yes. When employees link their hours to the right projects, you can view and analyse the recorded time per project. This gives you insight into the actual deployment of employees and allows you to compare this information with the original hours budget or schedule.
Does time tracking help identify additional work?
Time tracking can help make deviations between the original assignment and the work actually carried out visible. When, for example, extra hours are structurally spent on work that was not included in the original budget, there is a clearer signal that the scope of the project may have changed. That gives the project manager reason to discuss the situation with the client.
Can TimeWriter be used for different types of engineering firms?
Yes. Engineering firms differ greatly in size, disciplines and project structure. TimeWriter can be set up with the clients, projects and activities that are relevant to your organisation. This means the records can be tailored to both smaller consultancies and larger organisations with multiple disciplines and many concurrent projects.
Can time tracking be used for post-calculation?
Yes. Recorded hours provide insight into the actual time spent on a project or specific activities. By comparing this data with the original budget afterwards, you can investigate where differences have arisen. This information can then be used to budget and plan future projects more accurately.
Can time tracking help monitor project budgets?
Yes. When you compare the current time records with the number of budgeted or available hours, you gain insight into the ratio between planned and actual effort. This allows project managers to identify sooner that a project is requiring more time than expected and, if necessary, take measures to prevent further overruns.
More control over your projects?
Good projects start with a realistic budget, but end with insight into what actually happened. By recording hours consistently, you gain a better picture of the actual effort of your employees and the development of your projects.
With TimeWriter you make time tracking easy for employees and useful for administration, project management and senior management. That way your engineering firm has the information it needs to monitor projects better, process hours correctly and learn from completed projects.
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