Consulting services provider keeps tight control with Straightforward™ Timesheets
IT solutions and consulting services provider, ICS, holds a database of more than 2000 consultants and has more than 50 people working on projects at any one time. It was struggling to maintain a consistent approach to managing consultants and processing timesheets. This had a knock-on effect on utilisation, billing and cash flow. At times, projects weren't invoiced until up to 3 months after completion.
Increasingly aggressive timescales and targets for billable work meant ICS needed a system that would give it a much tighter handle on its utilisation and invoicing. "We wanted a consistent approach and we wanted to shorten the time lag between doing the work and billing the customer," says Alan Ridge, Project Manager, ICS Solutions.
Easy to use
Having struggled for many years with different timesheet applications, ICS needed something that would be easy to use straight away and would provide the levels of information and control it needed. Straightforward™ Timesheets fitted the bill.
"One of the selling points for us was the familiarity of the user interface. Everyone who is working with says that it looks good and is easy to use. There wasn’t even any real need for training – we just held an awareness session and people were up and running," says Ridge.
Because the system uses SharePoint technology, ICS could also share information between different project managers and consultants. Project managers could create and manage their own projects within the shared system.
Control utilisation
Ease of reporting was critical to the product’s fit for ICS. Project managers needed to be able to analyse utilisation in order to measure it. Because Straightforward™ Timesheets uses SQL Reporting Services it was easy for competent users to create their own reports.
"We can react quickly and make sure we stand a better chance of hitting our utilisation targets – instead of not knowing anything about it until the end of the month by which time it’s too late," says Ridge.
Timesheets for SharePoint gave ICS project managers the reporting tools to manage forward load, schedule resources and control the number of days booked to prevent consultants from going over budget.
Improve cash flow
Straightforward™ Timesheets promoted a much more consistent approach to billing clients. With greater control over timesheets, invoices could be more timely and more accurate. "We are creating a cycle in which everything is done by a certain date and timesheets are just part of that. We can get the work done and get it invoiced. We could even go to weekly invoicing to really improve our cash flow," says Ridge.
