Business Unusual has secured the exclusive Southern African rights to market time@work, a time accounting system designed to support professional services organisations. The solution was developed by Czech-based company LLP.
Time@work complements the Business Unusual group`s high-level financial services offering, and is aimed at project-based organisations. It supports the business requirements of a variety of users, from smaller consulting companies such as accounting, tax and management consultancies and advertising and public relations agencies, to large multi-national corporates.
"Time@work is designed to meet sophisticated reporting requirements for online, mobile workforces," says Paul Murphy, Business Unusual sales and marketing manager. "It allows companies to see which employees, projects and clients are actually delivering profit, and because it has an online interface that is easy for busy fee-earners to use, it can result in more billable hours."
The time accounting solution offers extended reporting capabilities. It allows accounts departments to track profitability, revenues and margins right down to individual employees, projects and clients. Pre-defined reports are automatically generated and distributed by e-mail or over the Web to staff and customers.
Murphy says time@work addresses issues particular to professional services organisations, such as over-servicing of clients. "Research shows that most consultancies over-service their clients, either by exceeding agreed service levels, or by charging for only some of the services provided. It helps manage this by giving accurate, up to the minute reporting right down to the level of individual fee-earners on individual projects."
The solution cuts administrative overheads by automating key processes. This reduces the billing cycle and cuts the amount of time employees spend on processing data.
Says Murphy: "Consultants get their timesheets in more quickly and more accurately which means quicker invoicing with fewer disputes."
Time@work also addresses customer demands by allowing them to have greater involvement in business processes and letting them see exactly where value is being added. It empowers customers by letting them choose the data they want to see and enabling accurate, timeous decision-making.
Because time@work produces reports tailored to customer and employee requirements it gives them greater control over their projects. Reports can be viewed over the Web or mailed to them automatically. They can also see who is working on their projects and the time spent on each activity and compare that against the project plan.
The approval process further enables budget management by allowing them to see exactly what they are going to be billed, both for professional services and disbursements.
Murphy says the solution`s analytical and reporting capabilities allow companies to have a clear picture of their business, with up to date reports on utilisation, profitability and contribution. Financial directors can make quick, informed commercial decisions as the solution integrates seamlessly with financial systems and offers accurate reporting that gives a clear and consistent picture of the company`s current position.
It also enables improved cash flow as client approval reduces queries on invoices and automated invoicing allows companies to choose when to invoice without disrupting their schedules.
For fee earners the solution offers simple time capture via an intuitive time entry system that allows the user to pick from commonly used items. Online validation alerts the user immediately there is a problem. Because time@work has flexible time units, time can be entered according to the client`s demands. It lets users submit time and expense data online using a zero deployment web client. By using the e-mail-enabled PC client users can submit and validate timesheets and expense forms offline and synchronise them whenever they choose.
The solution is flexible, scalable and integrates with existing ERP (enterprise resource planning) and CRM (customer relationship management) systems using XML (extensible mark-up language). With multi-currency, multi-company and multi-lingual capabilities, it also supports international expansion.
Based on the Microsoft platform, time@work runs on Windows 2000 and NT with an SQL server database. Access to the system is either through Web-based ultra-thin clients, or using e-mail enabled client software. Designed with separate display and application logic, the development of interfaces for new devices is straightforward.
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