Managing resources Integrations & API Improved project financials

Easier invoicing process and overview of resource allocation

Difficulty gaining insight into project finances

In 2023, the Business Partnering Institute decided to look for a system that could gather time registrations and manage their consulting business, which works with fixed-price and time-and-materials projects.

Some of the challenges BPI experienced were:

Time tracking: Hours were recorded in several different spreadsheets, leading to manual labour and lack of overview.
Project management: The CFO lacked insight into the project finances and had to record hours and expenses on the customers themselves because the responsibility was not delegated to the responsible project managers.
Invoicing: The invoicing process was relatively manual with multiple people involved. Getting data between different systems was also a manual process.

We had two requirements for a new time tracking system: The invoicing process had to become significantly easier for the finance function, and at the same time, responsibility for parts of the invoicing process had to be delegated to the people in charge, i.e. the project managers.

Benita Ulrichs Nilsson

CFO & Partner, BPI

Still, it was not a simple decision to opt for a dedicated time tracking system.

Does time tracking increase the pressure on employees?

For us, it's people first. My concern was whether employees would feel pressure to record their hours. I want our behaviour to be driven by the fact that we have the right projects and the right customer tasks. The goal is not to make people feel like they have to work more or put in more hours.

Benita Ulrichs Nilsson

CFO & Partner, BPI

That is why BPI has chosen to have employees record time on external projects, and three major internal projects - and not the time they spend on other projects.

Among other things, they use the resource planner to see if an employee has available capacity. This helps managers ensure that no one is working too much.

From multiple spreadsheets to one centralised system

TimeLog has been well received by the individual employees.

"The goal was for the employees to have one place to register their hours, and they have embraced this.", says Benita Ulrichs Nilsson, CFO & Partner at BPI.

The solution: TimeLog PSA

When BPI was contacted by TimeLog, they had already decided to look for a new system, making both the purchase process and implementation quick.

The implementation of TimeLog aimed to:

Centralise time tracking and eliminate the use of separate excel sheets.
Integrate TimeLog with other business systems such as Pleo and e-conomic to automate
Make the invoicing process more efficient and delegate responsibility to project managers.
Gain better insight into project finances.
Gain a better overview of the distribution of capacity and employee time on projects.

"We were clear about what we needed, which made the process go quickly. It was a requirement for me that we could get integrations to e-conomic and Pleo, among others, to automate the invoicing process. Pleo works flawlessly, and the implementation consultant from TimeLog quickly set it up", Benita Ulrichs Nilsson, CFO & Partner at BPI.

Today, most of the invoicing process is automated, and from involving both student assistants, bookkeeper and CFO, there are today very few checkpoints for the CFO and bookkeeper.

The more we can automate, the better. I think there's even more that can be done in terms of integrations.

Benita Ulrichs Nilsson

CFO & Partner, BPI

The result: Better insight into project finances

Today, project managers are responsible for creating invoice documents and because the system reminds them to record tasks, hours and expenses on each project, BPI ensures that they keep track of all hours.

This gives Benita more insight into project finances and makes it possible to follow up on customers and see how many hours have been spent on each project.

It's an advantage that we are given this kind of checklist of things we need to go through on each project. The result is that we have more insight into our invoicing process and we invoice more than we would otherwise have done.

Benita Ulrichs Nilsson

CFO & Partner, BPI

Insight and the ability to forecast with the resource planner

"The resource planner was an important reason why we bought TimeLog. We use the resource planner to create an overview of capacity. The ability to forecast our resource utilisation is extremely important.", Benita Ulrichs Nilsson, CFO & Partner at BPI.

The resource planner is included in weekly meetings, where everyone utilises it to see how much available capacity employees have and whether hours or tasks need to be reallocated.

For us, it's a glimpse into the future. Who is available? When are they available and are we doing the right things? As a manager, you can also see if someone has too much or too little.

Benita Ulrichs Nilsson

CFO & Partner, BPI

Looking for more in-depth reports and resource planning

The resource planner, use of reports and more detailed project follow-up in TimeLog PSA are some of the things BPI will delve deeper into next year.

"This year, we have focused on implementation. I'm sure we can get more out of the system, and I don't think we'll need anything that doesn't exist on the TimeLog platform. It's about finding out what the system can give us with the data we put into it.", Benita Ulrichs Nilsson, CFO & Partner at BPI.

About Business Partnering Institute

Business Partnering Institute is a consultancy specialising in projects, training and education programmes for large companies globally within the financial business partnering industry.

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In 2023, the Business Partnering Institute decided to look for a system that could collate time registrations and manage their consulting business, which works with fixed-price and time-and-materials projects.

For resources : Dec 4, 2023 11:25:45 AM

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