Report Resource Progress Via Timesheets

Summary

Once resources are assigned to work, it’s important to capture their progress to see whether they are performing the work as planned. This best practice offers advice on when and how often resources should enter timesheets, and the implications for various approaches.

Report Time

Resources should report time daily, signing a timesheet each week. Daily entry of time ensures that actual effort reported will be more accurate, and is actually less disruptive to the user, as it takes shorter and becomes habit. Then it can simply be submitted at the end of the week.

The level of granularity to which work is planned will dictate the level of detail to which resources have to report time. It is recommended that time be reported (and therefore that resources be scheduled to work) in increments no smaller than 15 minutes, and ideally an hour or more. This allows for accurate tracking of effort without requiring large amounts of time for performing the task.

Implementing a set schedule for when timesheets will be signed, approved, and integrated within your organization ensures regular, timely availability of status information. For instance, if the work week ends on Friday, you may require that timesheets be signed by noon on Monday and approved by Tuesday morning. Integration can then be performed on Tuesday night, and by Wednesday morning managers will have information available as to the actual work performed by resources during the previous week. Every department should use the same schedule to ensure that all timesheets are signed in time to be included in the integration process.