Why Processing Frequency Matters for Your Time Tracking
You struggled with paper timecards for years before you finally could see beyond the trees. You had your mobile time tracking system installed, your people trained, and finally, began using this amazing new tool. And you loved it! It made life so much easier, much more so than ever before.
But then you began to get overconfident and complacent. You started processing payroll at the very last minute. For a while things continued to go smoothly, but your company continued to grow.
As your company grows, so does your labor data. The more employees you have on a crew, the more crews you have in the field, the more records you have to manage.
Before you know it, its payroll day, and you’ve waited till the last minute to export your labor record data. But, what is this?… One of the time card records doesn’t match an employee ID in your accounting system, bringing the process to a halt.
You can easily prevent operational issues before they arise by ensuring that your time tracking process includes exporting those labor records from your time tracking application into your accounting software with regular frequency. We strongly recommend that you process your labor records weekly, and here’s why.
Create a Weekly Process
Create a weekly process that includes exporting your data ahead of time. Giving your weekly process a 24-48 hour window should give you a comfortable margin to fix potential issues.
For example, if
- your “End of Week” is Saturday, and
- your daily labor records are added in mJobTime on a Daily Basis,
then you should,
- process overtime and break rules on Monday,
- export your data to your accounting software on Monday, and
- process payroll on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Related Article: How often do you pay your employees?
Daily Time Clock Exports
If time clocks are your preferred input device, ensure that your labor records are exported from the device on a daily basis. While some time clocks like the Acroprint DC7000, can store up to 20,000 events and have flash memory to retain the data if a power outage occurs, it is always good management practice to send those records to a location (server) where the data is regularly backed up. Although these devices are very durable and reliable, there is always the possibility of an extreme catastrophe like a fire, flash flood, power surge, or who knows what.
Daily Time Sheets
A delay in entering time sheets daily could hinder overtime and/or break rule processing, delay approvals, or even delay payroll processing itself. Leaving no room for error at the point when records are entered is simply a waterfall of operational challenges.
If the purpose of using mobile labor time tracking software is to capture time in the field more effectively and efficiently, why wait to enter that time? Whether the data is being entered in the field with punches, or at the end of the day by the foreman, making sure that time is entered daily will keep your time records accurate, and keep the operation flowing smoothly.
Back Up Your Data
If your payroll data is stored locally, ensure that your company has incorporated a backup operation to secure your labor time database. Backups can be scheduled to automatically run in Windows, and should be stored in an offsite location or a cloud hosting site.
Related Article: What If… You Lost Your Construction Payroll Data?
Processing payroll doesn’t get any easier than with mJobTime. Whether you’re searching for a new system or looking to upgrade your existing one, register for a demo with one of our experienced and knowledgeable sales professionals to see why more and more contractors are choosing mJobTime for their mobile time tracking needs.
