How can you set up an effective activity tracking system in your company?

As a service company, knowing how much time is spent on each task is essential. This is because billing depends on it, and consequently profitability profitability.

Choosing the right business tracking software is therefore essential. While this is decisive for service companies, other types of business will also benefit from advanced activity tracking: resource optimizationbetter budgeting or even reliability data reliability.

In this article, we present the 3 key steps to set up activity tracking software in your company.

1. What is activity tracking? 

Activity monitoring, also known as activity statement or activity report, refers to the set of processes to monitor activity within a company.

This involves monitoring and analysis to task optimization.

The activity log records attendance and absences, and focuses on time spent. It can be broken down by project, department, task or customer. 

While activity monitoring is already common practice for consulting companies, in reality any project can benefit from it, improving performance and profitability.

2. Why implement activity monitoring in your company?

The implementation of effective activity monitoring is a real performance lever. For some organizations, such as service companies, it is essential.

A. Improved business visibility 

A clear view of time spent per task enables you to quickly identify the strengths and weaknesses of each department and employee. In particular, it highlights any need forsupport or complementarity.

Finally, a better understanding of resources leads to better overall overall performance.

B. Better optimization of resources 

Activity monitoring enables managers and supervisors to steer their teams with greater visibilityand therefore precision. This makes resource allocation easier and more pertinent.

C. Increased productivity 

By recording information automatically using activity tracking software, human errors such as double entries are minimized. The company's productivity productivity.

D. Improved profitability 

Activity reports enable more precise more precise cost control for finance teams.

Tracking time spent facilitates cost analysisand helps identify the need for re-invoicing.

E. Refining the invoice price 

Better identification of costs by project or type of project will enable us to refine the price to be invoiced in a more representative and fair.

F. Support for HR and finance teams 

A particularly reliable and accurate reliable and accurateactivity monitoring proves invaluable for HR and financeteams who need to justify their accounts to the company and the government.

Visit data centralization (e.g. time histories) and rapid report production will help make information accessible and shareableparticularly in a legal or tax context.

G. Reliability 

Thanks to automated activity monitoring, data has never been so reliable. reliable. This reinforces the precisionproductivity, and by extension, profitability.

• Monitor project progress and collaborate effectively
• Meet your project delivery deadlines

Download the activity tracking table template

3. Who benefits from implementing activity tracking? 

A. Precise control for project leaders and managers

Activity tracking enables project leaders and managers to manage their projects more effectively. They can quickly measure productivityidentify areas for improvement and work onoptimization the work of their teams and the distribution resources.

A careful validation by managers becomes necessary.

This first step reinforces data reliabilityThis first stage reinforces the reliability of the data, which is used by other departments within the company, notably for customer invoicing.

Stafiz activity tracking software, for example, offers resource management functions to facilitate team management. 

B. Greater predictability for the finance department

• Monitoring budgets, margins and invoicing

With activity monitoring, costs are more under control, and a precise accurate budgeting is made easier. What's more, thanks to precise tracking of task deadlines and time spent, cash flow is optimized. Activity tracking software such as Stafiz can automate these operations by enabling teams to work closely together in the same environment, using triggers, alerts and reminders.

• Long-term planning

The more accurate information the finance department has on the company's operating costs, the more realistic a realistic projection is possible. Activity monitoring thus provides a reliable source of data for planning purposes.

• Centralized data for global performance analysis

Activity monitoring centralizes and consolidates datamaking it easier to access and analyze. Software such as Stafiz will enable you to consolidate and track all costs (internal, subcontracting, purchasing, etc.) and their impact on KPIs in real time and, in other words, at project completion.

• Anomaly identification, anticipation and correction

Correct monitoring of activity will enable any deviations to be quickly identified and corrected. correct with the utmost reactivity.

Once mastered, activity monitoring tools will help finance departments to anticipate any potential risks and rapidly propose alternative solutions.

• Data accuracy

Time validation will help refine the relevance of the data collected, which is particularly important for IT Services.  

From activity reports (CRA) may be required, at specific intervals. A good activity-tracking software can offer you this functionality, such as Stafiz, which can easily generate and export your ARCs.

C. Increased visibility for the HR department

Activity tracking also supports HR teams, who benefit from a global and specific view of the resource allocationresource recruitment needs or even skills management.

4. 3 steps to effective activity tracking 

A. Choosing the right tool 

• Define your needs

Implementing activity monitoring in your organization means first of all defining precisely your needs. This first phase of project planning must be meticulous.

To be sure of covering all your company's needs, involve your teams. Talk to each department to identify their needstheir constraintsand how an activity tracking tool could simplify their day-to-day work.

Here's a table summarizing the two main categories of activity tracking requirements, with different software packages then recommended.

How to choose time and activity management software ? This article on Time and Activity management tools should enlighten you. 

• Choosing the right KPIs

Select the KPIs to be compared according to objectives you've set yourself.

Limit your choice to a few relevant indicators, which you can then analyze and interpret: time spent, hours worked, vacations, etc. 

B. Training teams

• Informing teams

Your employees should be kept informed throughout the project. Indeed, the implementation of an activity management tool may give them the feeling of being "spied on". 

In order to welcome the implementation of this new method, it is essential to communicate. With anticipation and transparencyexplain to your teams what data will be recorded, and what it will be used for.

Highlight the benefits (you can't improve what you don't measure), better organization and resource management, and greater visibility of the work being done.

• Support 

Finally, it is essential to support the implementation of this tool. Training sessions organize training sessions to help your teams master the new software. What's more, you need to a dedicated contact person may also prove useful.

You can also partners to support youto help you integrate into the company and train your teams.

C. Meet the challenges of implementing activity monitoring within a company

Although activity tracking brings many benefits, there are also risks to its implementation: 

• Make sure you choose a tool adapted to your companydepending on its size and activity. In fact, some software can be adapted to specific industry needs: hotels, restaurants, medical, consulting...

• Choose software that integrates easily with your existing tools, or risk compromising your productivity. Stafiz integrates with a large number of project management, CRM and invoicing tools .

• Invest in training your teams A change of this kind can give rise to resistance. The more you support your employees, the smoother the transition will be.

• Choose a tool that respects data confidentiality and security. It is also your responsibility as an employer to ensure that the tool is configured in compliance with current legislation.
  Hosted in France, Stafiz guarantees the security and confidentiality of your data. See our data processing policy for more information, and don't hesitate to contact us.

5. Case study: how does Colorado Consulting improve its resource planning rate and performance with Stafiz?

Colorado Groupe, a customer relationship consulting company, was facing challenges in resource planning and performance management, lacked visibility on the impact of vacations on forecasted workloads, and had limited visibility for employees. Management also encountered performance measurement problems, particularly with regard to forecasting project margins.

Stafiz provided a comprehensive solution that simplified resource planning and decision-making processes. The resource planning module provides visibility and time-saving functionality for project managers and employees. It also integrates upcoming contracts into the workload plan, improving utilization rates. A multi-criteria search engine was used to facilitate and accelerate resource allocation. The software also automatically calculated future project margins and visualized budget variances, improving decision-making.

The implementation of Stafiz improved utilization rates and project margins. In addition, Colorado has saved 5 hours a week on planning, and the centralization of the software has resulted in financial savings.

Learn more about Colorado consulting with Stafiz

Final thoughts

Setting up an activity tracker brings many benefits numerous benefitssuch as a significant improvement in productivity, which can have a positive impact on profitability. However, such a project needs to be implemented gradually to choose the right tool and prepare your teams smoothly for this new methodology.

Clearly identify your needs and constraints. Finally, keep in mind that your needs may evolve over time, and you need to adapt to change becomes a necessity if you are to remain competitive.