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Timesheet Feature Review #7: Reminder Emails
Keeping track of everything is difficult in today’s hectic and multi-tasking world. Whether you are a blue-collar worker or a high-ranking manager, remembering to do all that you need to do is definitely something that everyone struggles with. There are several ways to help people organize the world around them. For example, to-do lists; calendar schedules; personal assistants, all these exist for the purpose of reminding us of important tasks and dates to be kept.
Timesheet systems are no different, employee timesheets can only be effective if filled and approved regularly. Tasks and projects can only be analyzed and managed well if the information keyed into the system is up-to-date and accurate. However, accessing the timesheet system may not be a very instinctive thing to do, particularly if the timesheet system was recently implemented or if you’re dealing with new staff. This can cause your employees to forget to fill in their timesheets and project statuses. Allow this to go on long enough and your timesheet system becomes useless, your ability to track employee performance evaporates and your company may start bleeding cash.
Employees are not the only ones who need to remember to login into the timesheet system regularly. Project managers and department heads also need to remember to keep track of all the various projects and tasks that they are in charge of. Forgetting to do this can have disastrous results, projects can run way over budget; backlogged expenses can choke otherwise-productive teams into inactivity; work may be unable to proceed without approval from the manager. Timesheet systems can only operate effectively if both managers and employees are able to do their jobs and log onto the system regularly to do what is necessary.
So, how do you constantly remind your teams and managers of the various tasks that need to be done? One popular and effective way is through reminder emails, the #7 in our list of most requested must-have features for timesheets.
What makes reminder emails so effective?
Logging into a timesheet system may not be a habit for your employees, or perhaps they simply tend to forget to submit their timesheets on time. In such cases, you need a way to remind them to regularly fill in their timesheets/update their statuses/etc.
Now, while not all workers are accustomed to working with a timesheet system, almost everyone has the habit of checking their email everyday. The email is all-important for any working adult: corporate news and assignments are distributed through emails, departments communicate with each other through emails, clients and co-workers correspond through emails. Checking your email regularly is just a habit (maybe even an addiction?) that is common across most people.
Reminder emails take advantage of that habit to send you updates on your timesheet duties. Employees are sent reminders on timesheets that have not been filled up, statuses that have not been updated and the like. Administrative staff or managers can also be sent emails that report on project progress and remind them of timesheets and expenses to be approved. Reminder emails are usually sent on a weekly basis by default but can also be configured to send daily reminders or monthly reminders based on your particular needs. This way, whenever you check your email, you’re reminded of your timesheet duties and you are able to do them right away and prevent yourself from forgetting.
Automated reminder emails also save administrative staff the trouble of nagging at employees who forget to submit their timesheets on time. This way, employees are spared the embarrassment of receiving manual reminders from the administrative staff and the administrative staff are also spared the trouble of sending individual reminders. In cases where the timesheet system is newly implemented, this will also allow your employees to become more accepting of the new system.
What sorts of reminder emails are there?
The most common reminder emails are the ones sent to regular employees telling them that their timesheet is due. This helps ensure that the timesheets are submitted on time each week.
But reminder emails can come in all shapes and sizes. Usually, such emails are combined with account types to generate emails that suit the user’s job scope. For example, regular employees are not sent reminder emails telling them to approve timesheets or generate reports because such tasks are beyond their responsibilities. Project managers on the other hand, receive such reminders because they are expected to do these tasks on a regular basis.
Reminders can also be sent informing managers of the system’s ability to generate certain reports. This allows managers to be reminded of the features of the timesheet system so that they are able to analyze the timesheet information better. Status updates can also be sent to managers to inform them of all the work by their teams done in the day/week/month. This way, managers are able to keep better tabs on all their projects and teams which allow them to manage these projects/teams more effectively.
Finally, urgent reminder emails can also be sent informing employees or managers of tasks and projects that have fallen behind schedule. Managers can also receive urgent reminder emails informing them of tasks that are overdue and any backlogged expenses or timesheets that urgently need to be approved. Billing departments can also receive urgent reminders of uninvoiced time or unpaid invoices so that action can be taken immediately. Although most companies would prefer to avoid receiving such emails, the urgent reminders from these emails can be invaluable in averting potential catastrophe.
e.g. Weekly Reminder Emails from TSheets Timesheet (www.tsheets.com)
e.g. Daily Reminder Emails from Intervals Timesheet (www.myintervals.com)
Are there any limitations of reminder emails?
The only critical flaw in reminder emails lies in the fact that reminders can only bring you so far. While it’s all good and nice to receive constant reminders on what to do, the fact of the matter remains that unless you or your employees are disciplined enough to click the included link and perform the necessary actions, reminder emails are unable to do their job.
In conclusion
Reminder emails is a fairly common timesheet feature. Of the 21 timesheet products reviewed by Software Shortlist, 14 products offer this feature either as part of their basic package or as an optional add-on. It then comes at no surprise that the ability to receive reminder emails is ranked #7 in Software Shortlist’s list of “must have” features of timesheet products. An all-round useful feature, reminder emails perform a much appreciated service that is well-loved by many timesheet users. After reading this post, I hope you have gotten a better understanding on the different types of reminder emails, why they are so effective and why they remain so popular amongst timesheet users.
As always, don’t forget to stay tuned for more reviews as Software Shortlist continues its countdown on the top “must have” features for timesheet users!
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Timesheet Feature Review #6: Access & Report Permissions
For any company to run successfully, employees need clear roles and responsibilities within the organizational structure. After all, one employee cannot be expected to do everything by himself/herself; and neither is it useful to have people stepping on each other’s toes in getting things done. In order to ensure that everything is done promptly and efficiently, it is helpful if employees focus on his/her personal work scope. Regular employees do not need to trouble themselves overly about issues in managing projects, while the project managers should not be micro-managing the specific tasks of employees on those projects.
When managing your timesheet system, it is important that your timesheet product is able to reflect this organizational hierarchy. This way, employees will be able to focus on completing their timesheet duties without having to be bogged down by features that fall outside their personal work scope.
One great way of doing this is by managing access permissions, the #6 item in our list of most requested “must have” timesheet features.
Why do I need to manage access permissions?
Timesheet systems are often loaded with tons of features – built-in invoicing, report builders, accounting integration, etc. The only problem with all these features is that the system can be extremely difficult to navigate. One way of avoiding this problem is by limiting access to unnecessary features. For example, regular employees will not need access to report or invoicing features; by removing these unnecessary features, the system becomes more streamlined and well-suited to the employees’ personal work scope.
Another advantage of managing access permissions is that sensitive information can also be controlled. Every company possesses some form of sensitive information – payroll information, secret projects or even company finances; all these need to be kept within a select group of people and not be readily available to everyone. Such information could have devastating effects if released to your employees or worse still, your competitors! By managing access permission, the risk of leaking sensitive information from your timesheet system is minimized.
Other reasons why you will want to manage access permissions include preventing unwanted edits; and allowing appropriate client access and review of data on projects relating to them. For example, it is important to ensure that your employees are unable to view or make changes to the timesheets of other employees. That way, each employee can be held accountable for their own timesheets and employee billability can be accurately gauged from their timesheets.
Being able to manage access restrictions also means you can allow clients to review their projects and relevant timesheets on an as-needed basis, without you having to prepare and send a report. Clients can be allowed to only view projects and timesheets that concern them. This way, the client is able to know just how much time was spent on their project without being able to access the other project files in your company.
How you manage the access permissions of your timesheet system will depend on your organizational structure. For instance, project managers can be permitted to review and approve timesheets submitted by the staff under them. Other managers could possibly be allowed to view the project details but not be granted approval or review permissions. Project staff may be restricted from viewing other people’s timesheets while reporting functions can also be restricted to managers and finance staff. Finally, clients may be able to look through relevant projects but not be granted edit permissions or access to other projects.
What types of access permissions exist?
Apart from the examples already listed above, other forms of sensitive information also exist. Timesheet products that offer access permissions as a feature usually group these into an “admin” package. This means that only accounts that have administrative permissions may view reports that display such information. On the other hand, ordinary “employee” accounts can only view information that concerns their personal work scope. This way, employees are still able to do their jobs well within the timesheet system while all sensitive information is kept hidden from them.
Of course, as you can imagine, different timesheet products offer different ways of managing access permissions. The most common way of managing access permissions is through the accounts permissions method outlined above. However, other ways of managing access permissions include employee assignment and template assignment. Both these methods offer a more customizable approach to managing access restrictions.
Employee assignment allows you to manually configure what sort of information/projects/reports that an individual is allowed to view. This is usually bundled together with accounts permissions to offer a more flexible way of managing access restrictions. For example, a web developer may be granted temporary access into marketing projects so that he can design websites to suit the company’s marketing strategies.
Template assignment is basically a middle-ground between employee assignment and accounts permissions. This method involves creating “templates” that only include certain account types. This way, when projects or reports are created, only certain account types will be able to access them. For example, a special report can be created that can be viewed by both billing managers and expense managers so that employee billability can be gauged. In such cases, employees can be granted special access to special types of reports and projects that may involve elements outside of their job scope. This can be more efficient than individually setting employee access restrictions, especially if a large number of people are involved.
Different types of access permissions management:
e.g. Administrative Account Permission on Harvest Timesheet (www.getharvest.com)
e.g. Restricted Ordinary Account Access on Harvest Timesheet (www.getharvest.com)
e.g. Setting Up Employee Project Access on Intervals Timesheet (www.myintervals.com)
e.g. Setting Up Template Report Access on Replicon Timesheet (www.replicon.com)
What sorts of limitations exist with access permissions management?
Depending on your preferred method of access permissions management, different timesheet products may work better for your company than others. Most timesheet products don’t only offer one type of access permissions management but solutions that incorporate elements from each of the three types. This way, it can be a little difficult to objectively compare between the solutions presented by different timesheet products. Also, because access permissions management is so subjective, what works for one company will not necessarily be relevant to another.
Possible frustrations that companies may face with access permissions management would include: a lack of flexibility – for “accounts permissions”-centric solutions; too much manual work – for “employee assignment”-centric solutions; and a lack of specification – for “template assignment”-centric solutions. No matter what solution you eventually opt for, there will always be a drawback or trade-off that you will have to deal with.
In Conclusion
Managing a company or project goes far beyond simply telling people what to do. You also need to be able to ensure that your employees are able to focus at the task at hand without being distracted by unnecessary tasks that fall outside of their work scope. It is only by combining the individual work done by each employee on different aspects of a project that projects can be completed quickly and efficiently. Managing access permissions of your timesheet product is very useful in helping you achieve this effect.
Of course, as seen from above, many methods can be employed to manage access permissions. Regardless of your choice, I hope this post has helped you gain a better understanding of what access permissions management means, the different ways of managing access permissions and the possible drawbacks of adopting certain solutions.
Being able to manage access permissions is a highly sought-after feature. In Software Shortlist’s list of the top 13 “must have” timesheet features, managing access permissions came in at #6. It is small wonder then that of the 21 timesheet products reviewed by Software Shortlist, a whopping 19 products offered some form of access management. This makes managing access permissions one of the most common features of timesheet products, and emphasises the importance of testing out exactly how the function works in a given system. It’s not so much a question of “does it have access permissions?” but rather “does it have access permissions that work they way I’d like them to?”
Software Shortlist is currently counting down on a list of 13 “must have” timesheet features for prospective timesheet buyers as suggested by our search data so stay tuned for our upcoming reviews!
Managing a company or project goes far beyond simply telling people what to do. You also need to be able to ensure that your employees are able to focus at the task at hand without being distracted by unnecessary tasks that fall outside of their work scope. It is only by combining the individual work done by each employee on different aspects of a project that projects can be completed quickly and efficiently. Managing access permissions of your timesheet product is very useful in helping you achieve this effect.
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Choosing the right software for your business can be challenging. Although there are best practice guidelines for effective software selection, sometimes it helps to be aware of the pitfalls – the things that can and do go wrong most often.
So, to help compile a useful list of mistakes to avoid, we recently reached out to our LinkedIn community with the question: “What are the top 10 mistakes people make when choosing business software?”. Thanks to everyone who contributed their practical insights and experience.
Here is our editor’s view on the top 10 mistakes people make:
- Not defining your objectives and requirements clearly
- Confusing systems with behaviour
- Buying into the hype
- Failing to invest adequately in internal change management efforts
- Underestimating the setup and customisation efforts needed
- Not enough consideration of support & maintenance issues
- Ignoring the hidden end-of-life costs of software
- Excessive dependence on a single vendor
- Letting vendors drive the selection process
- Ruling out some software options too early without good cause
If this list piques your interest, go to LinkedIn to check out the full discussion. Many people who contributed gave valuable detail that will help you explore the issues further. You might even like to join in the discussion.
What do you think? Are there others that should be here? Disagree with any of the above? Have your say by commenting below…
