Consolidated Communications Management: A Secure & Automated Timesheet System
In April 2007, Consolidated Communications Management approached us with a unique challenge—ensuring that employees consistently logged their time without compromising productivity. Tracking time effectively is often a necessary but tedious task, and their solution required a level of enforcement that ensured compliance. After a short tender process, they selected us as the most suitable provider for the project.
Developing a Seamless and Secure Solution
We built a custom web-based timesheet system with a secure username/password authentication mechanism. While accessible from any device with an internet connection, it required employees to log in before gaining access to the company’s internal network, ensuring that time tracking became an essential part of their workflow.
User-Friendly Interface & Flexible Time Entry
The system was designed to be as intuitive and user-friendly as possible. The homepage dynamically adjusted based on the user’s role, ensuring that relevant sections were visible while minimizing clutter. It also provided a breakdown of any outstanding timesheets, making it clear what needed to be completed.
To cater to different working styles, we implemented three flexible entry methods:
- Quick Entry: Fast and minimal input for users who only needed to log basic details.
- Daily Entry: Allowed users to add detailed narratives, including call logs and notes, useful for record-keeping.
- Weekly Entry: Enabled bulk entry for an entire week, reducing friction for users who preferred logging time retrospectively.
Advanced Reporting for Managers
The system featured comprehensive time utilization reports, giving managers deep insight into employee activity. At launch, the data could be copied into Excel for further analysis, but discussions were already underway to implement direct Excel exports and built-in graphing functionality for a more streamlined experience.
Expanding the System’s Use
Following its successful deployment, we adopted a tailored version of the timesheet system for internal reporting. Given its modular and adaptable architecture, we recognized its potential for use in other organizations and began offering customized versions for clients with similar needs.
If your organization requires an intuitive, compliance-focused time management solution, contact us today to see how we can help.
We asked the site doctor to build us a timesheet system and are delighted with the result. Almost as importantly they delivered within both time and budget. It was a refreshing change to find a supplier in this field who comfortably exceeded expectations.
Stephen Marsh | Finance Director, Consolidated Communications Management