What is a time report?
The activity report is now an essential tool in the professional world.
This document, synthetic and structured, aims to inform and reassure its sponsor: whether they are customers, managers or investors.
But then how do you build a clear and impactful activity report?
In this article, we propose a methodology to understand the objectives and challenges of an activity report as well as how to build one effectively.
What is a time and activity report?
CRA: definition
The acronym CRA stands for activity report and corresponds to the activity report over a given period.
The activity report takes the form of a report and is usually produced by a consultant or employee to justify the work done or the skills acquired during a project.
The activity report includes:
- the objectives initially set,
- the status of the project,
- the developments to follow.
It is therefore particularly useful for service companies because it informs the customer of the status of the project.
Time reports: for what goals?
The ARC makes it possible to check the progress of the project, the working time, the workload and the productivity. Thus, it reports on the time spent, the tasks completed and any difficulties.
Communicate progress and justify time spent
The activity report serves several purposes depending on the writer.
- The CRA for employees allows them to demonstrate their progress to their manager (especially when teleworking).
- The consultants' activity report is used to present the work accomplished to their client.
Inform... and reassure
One of the first objectives of the CRA is to inform. Thus, a clear and structured activity report improves communication with the client, manager or investor at the origin of the request.
The activity report presents a progress and an assessment. While it can be used to justify, it must not attempt to convince or argue.
An effective ARC can provide an inventory that helps in decision-making.
Track productivity through time reporting
Productivity monitoring is a key objective of activity reporting.
Through rigorous time tracking, the person in charge of writing a CRA obtains accurate data on their performance and can optimize their work.
The resulting ARC ensures traceability, improving overall visibility.
Optimize resource management in IT Services
Finally, the third objective of the ARC is to improve the management of resources. This is a valuable tool for IT Services and companies using consultants.
Required by the hierarchy, partners or customers, the activity report paints a realistic picture of the time spent.
This visibility allows you to reallocate resources, review workloads, and bill more accurately.
Generate decision-making
The activity report must be used to inform decision-making. Thus, it helps to:
- reorient the management of a project,
- carry out preventive and corrective actions,
- Adjust workloads
- build a history to facilitate the preparation of subsequent projects.
What are the different types of time reports?
There are 3 different types of activity reports:
- the individual CRA,
- the team ARC,
- the CRA for the management.
Common issues and challenges of time reports
Collect reliable data
Limit errors and oversights
One of the biggest challenges in reporting is getting reliable data to build on.
Indeed, time tracking must be accurate and regular to remain relevant. It is impossible to be vague or approximate!
To limit this risk, use a real-time time tracking tool .
Supporting strategic decision-making
The ARC, by providing key information on the skills and tasks performed, feeds into strategic decision-making.
⚠️ We recommend being particularly vigilant about mistakes that could impact your projects, or even the rest of the project portfolio and consequently, the credibility of your company.
Best practices for collecting reliable data
Here are some tips to limit data collection errors:
- determine the objectives to be achieved from the preparation phase,
- Identify the data to be collected (e.g., time spent per task)
- Raise awareness among teams about the consequences of oversights and errors.
This collection task is often neglected by employees. Indeed, it is often considered to have low added value compared to other more billable tasks. Hence the importance of communicating about its importance and its challenges.
Ensure compliance with contractual commitments
It should be noted that there are contractual requirements of IT Services to customers.
The CRA responds to a need for traceability and impacts the compliance of services.
The financial aspect is concerned, as well as customer relations.
Secure invoicing and profitability of projects
The CRA contributes to rigorous and reliable budget monitoring by providing accurate data.
Thus, invoicing is carried out as accurately as possible, thus guaranteeing margins and the good financial health of the company.
Maximize productivity
The activity report is a valuable tool for plan the management of the resource planning.
Indeed, it makes it possible to organize assignments accurately and to balance workloads.
In addition, the CRA supports the monitoring of individual and collective project performance because it makes it possible to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each individual.
This helps to alert on the need for training or recruitment to improve productivity.
How to write an effective activity report?
What is the content of an activity report?
Here is an example of an activity report to help you produce or consult an effective document.
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- The context and objectives of the project: the name of the project, the people involved, the date, the duration and the overall context of the project.
- Objectives achieved and tasks accomplished : the work done and the deliverables. Fill in the durations and resources needed.
- The results obtained: Be specific and use numbers to justify results.
- Difficulties or risks: come back to the obstacles encountered and the solutions proposed to overcome them.
- Differences between planned and realized: this involves highlighting the time differences observed over the period through a timesheet.
- Next steps: a reminder of the next steps to come. Use this space to share recommendations if there are any a.
- The conclusion.
- Any annexes if the recipient wishes to have more details.
How often should I fill out an activity report?
The frequency of sending the activity report depends on the sponsor.
There are several types of CRA in terms of frequency:
- daily activity reports,
- Weekly
- Monthly
- or even annually.
In addition, the frequency of sending depends on the type of activity and the problems of each structure.
Thus, the Constraints of the activity management of IT Services vary from those of agencies, for example, because they are required to work on long-term assignments.
Best practices for good activity reporting
Now, you still need to follow three rules to write effective activity reports.
- Keep it concise and structured: Be precise and focus on synthesis to make it easier to read.
- Justify your statements with figures and key indicators: you can set up a timesheet validation system, for example.
- Choose a readable and clear format: ideally, integrate graphical representations, tables and lists.
Analyzing an activity report: the right KPIs
Some indicators are particularly interesting to follow when analysing an activity report.
While there are dozens of relevant ones to keep track of, here are two important ones.
Time spent by activity
This activity report indicator can reveal several shortcomings, including:
- a shortage of resources,
- insufficient skills,
- a lack of motivation.
By having a view of this indicator, you can identify the need for outsourcing, training or reallocation of resources.
Originally planned time compared to actual production time
This indicator helps you identify and analyze the gaps between the forecast and the actual.
This may require you to review your schedule or resources in order to stay aligned with the initial budget. This indicator is essential to maintain the profitability of the project.
Rate of achievement of objectives
This indicator allows you to monitor the objectives over a defined period of time in order to identify any gaps.
This then involves carrying out corrective actions, such as reviewing the allocation of resources on a project or setting up training.
In addition, this KPI is particularly important for employees whose remuneration is variable and depends on the achievement of objectives.
Profitability of the project
Several indicators can be used to calculate the profitability of the project, such as the expected time compared to the time spent or the rate per activity.
The billable work rate is another relevant indicator for consulting companies to monitor.
Indeed, the work done by a consultant is not always billable in full, hence the importance of defining appropriate daily rates to be invoiced.
Calculating the billable work rate will allow you to distinguish the most productive employees and identify opportunities for optimization, helping you maximize the profitability of projects.
The activity report is an essential document that must be mastered in a company.
Thus, meticulous time entry using software such as Stafiz makes it possible to meet this need for traceability.
Other features such as 1-click invoicing from an activity report or the monitoring of resources and productivity facilitate project management to guarantee productivity and profitability.
