Achieve better resource utilization
Agency life may get hectic, and most employees are no strangers to putting in some extra hours. Still, agencies shouldn’t ignore their employees’ workload, as the consequences of overutilization can be very serious. At the same time, employees who simply don’t have enough tasks to fill their days are also unhappy. As a team leader, you should try to maintain a balanced resource utilization. Thanks to timesheets, you can easily spot who has too much on their plate and who is underutilized.
Invoice your clients efficiently
Many agencies bill their clients in a time & materials model. If that’s the case for you, you simply have no excuse for not tracking your team members’ time. When you have accurate timesheets, it’s very simple to issue an invoice based on them. Your finance department will definitely appreciate having access to comprehensive data on project work.
Forecast resources
Resource forecasting means predicting how many resources you will need and when. Historical data collected from your team’s timesheets will help you tremendously here. Look at how much time your teams tracked in different months or weeks, and you’re likely to spot patterns (e.g. more hours logged when working on winter holiday campaigns). This year, instead of rushing to recruit new employees or employing freelancers at a higher cost, you’ll know to secure more human resources in advance.
Keep track of contractors’, freelancers’ and part-time employees’ work
Agencies often work with contractors or freelancers. Ask them to track time along with your team, and you’ll see how much time they spend on your project and how much you should pay them. If you’re using Teamdeck, you can also ask these people to log their daily availability. You’ll know exactly how much time they can spend on your project and when.
Create better estimates for future projects
Granted, estimates are rarely *really* accurate, but time tracking will help you to refine your agency’s estimation process. First, analyze your past projects looking at the estimates and actuals (planned hours and tracked time). Try to identify patterns: it may, for instance, turn out that your team is often underestimating the design phase of the project. Having this insight, you can draft the next estimates with more confidence.
Increase your teams’ productivity
In the previous paragraphs, we mentioned patterns that are often visible in timesheets. Looking at your team’s time entries, you may also spot some improvement areas regarding their productivity. For example, you may be surprised at how many hours your employees spend sitting in meetings. Chances are that you’ll get instant ideas for optimizing your company’s internal processes or refining project management techniques. It’s even more helpful when your teams track time, tagging both unbillable and billable hours. This way, you’ll see at a glance which activities are costing you the most.