Tracking timesheet is a daily task with hourly segments. If you’re not using a timesheet management software, then your field service teams will get drowned in paperwork.
Apart from time-tracking field service technicians, timesheets carry insights on improving field service business profitability. Effective implementation of timesheet management software will help you reduce the time for project execution.
Your field service technicians will also appreciate the transparency in payments and make them productive. Since they work remotely and often independently, timesheet management software helps fill the required trust deficit.
In this article, we share best practices for implementing timesheet management software for effectively tracking your field service technicians.
How to use timesheet management software for managing field service technicians
One of the parameters that affect a field service business’s productivity is how well-managed the field service technicians are. Here are six best practices to make the most of your timesheet management software to manage them:
Create a centralized dashboard for a snapshot view
Ensure your chosen timesheet management software has provisions for custom dashboard creation.
It will provide you with visibility on multiple job sites. A project manager can look at real-time status, and quickly dispatch additional field service technicians if required. It ensures you do not miss deadlines, appointments or create conflicting schedules.
Prioritize tasks and urgent requests
A project manager can take care of approvals for time offs and monitor field service technicians in one single place. Sometimes one may raise an emergency request due to mishaps on the job site.
Or a field service technician may have wandered off the geo-fenced region.
A business can also schedule and dispatch field service technicians by knowing their availability for urgent tasks. Such measures improve your response time and customer satisfaction.
Optimize routes taken by field service technicians
A good way to optimize your scheduling and dispatching operations is to check how much time your workers are taking to reach job sites. Try to opt for shorter routes or assign the job to a technician that can navigate the location.
For example, UPS trucks almost never take left turns while navigating for delivering their services. This simple decision saves 10 million gallons of fuel for them per year!
Implement SOPs for approvals
Using software like Zuper, a project manager can create approval hierarchies and ensure approvals for projects, timesheets, dispatching and time offs are done with multiple checks. Having SOPs in place instills discipline among the field service technicians.
This also makes raising escalations or solving disputes done responsibly.
Design KPIs to monitor technician’s performance
The payment for jobs done by field service technicians is often calculated on an hourly or daily basis. Using timesheet management software, a business can place key performance indicators to track their professionalism and reliability.
Time tracking data provides insights into which technicians are productive and efficient for the job at hand. The management can look into why few workers are productive and some are not to take necessary action for disciplining them.
A business can also design reward and punishment schemes to make field service technicians more productive and accountable.
Study timesheet data for optimizing operations
A technology-enabled timesheet management software will have provisions to analyze tracked time data and generate insights.
Some use cases include:
- Monitor shifts completed by field service technicians to study workforce performance
- Track the demand and supply of workers at job sites
- Find opportunities to take more customers at a location
- Provide training to field service technicians to help them complete their jobs faster
- Identify common appointment types and frequent time slots chosen by clients
Effective time tracking involves collaboration with field service technicians
A prime challenge in ensuring your timesheet management is effectively enabling your operations is ensuring field service technicians use it properly. Choose a time-tracking software that is user-friendly and provides training support for field service technicians.
Another important feature is to have app integration provisions with other software. With this, it is easy to integrate with your accounting, project management, or procurement without the hassle of migration.
Zuper, a field service management software includes advanced features like geo-fencing, GPS tracking, payroll management, and integrations – in a single, secure platform. Book a demo to know how you can integrate Zuper for effective timesheet management tracking.