How to Manage Team's Timesheets?

[#1]

Timesheet management is a challenging task for all teams. It is a key tool to ensure that each team member is working efficiently and getting the most out of their time. Team timesheets are an important tool in any project manager’s arsenal. They provide valuable insights into how the team is performing.

A successful timesheet management system is essential for team members looking to maximize productivity and improve their bottom line. With the right strategies in place, managing timesheets can be a breeze. Here are some tips on how to manage the team’s timesheets and make the most of this valuable data.

Team Timesheets: Importance of Timesheet Management

Timesheet management is a critical component of any team’s success. Without proper time management, it can be difficult to stay organized and on task. This can lead to missed deadlines, poor-quality work, and low team morale.

Having a successful time-tracking system in place can help teams stay focused and productive. It also allows for better communication and collaboration between team members.

Managing team timesheets ensure effective time management. Project managers use timesheets to track the amount of time each team member spends on tasks and projects. This data is then used to measure productivity, analyze performance, and identify areas of improvement.

Some teams also opt to use Google sheets, Excel sheets, or manual timesheets. These are typically paper timesheets that require team members to record their time manually. While manual timesheets can be effective, they can also be time-consuming and prone to errors, that's why the best option for managers is to use timesheet software with advanced online timesheets.

Time Tracking Tips for Project Managers

Managing timesheets can be a daunting task. However, there are several tips that can help make the process easier and more efficient.

Have clear policies: create a standard system

The first step in managing the team’s timesheets is to create a standard system. This means setting up a system of rules and expectations that all team members must follow when entering their time.

This includes setting specific times when timesheets must be completed and setting rules for entering billable and non-billable hours. It is also important to set guidelines for when timesheets should be approved and when they should be rejected.

Having a clear and consistent system in place will help ensure that all teammates are on the same page and that the data collected is accurate and reliable.

Utilize automated systems

Automated systems make it easy for project managers to track and monitor timesheets, as well as provide clear and actionable data. These systems can be used to generate reports and dashboards, giving managers a snapshot of how the team is performing on any given project.

Automated systems can also be used to flag any potential issues or discrepancies, making it easy to quickly address any problems that may arise.

The most common is to use online timesheet software. These systems allow teams to easily enter and track time and generate reports. They also provide an easy way to track individual and team performance.

Use visualizations

Visualizations are a great way to quickly interpret and understand the team's timesheets.

They can also be used to compare different teams or projects to get a better sense of how the team is performing. By using visualizations to analyze timesheets, project managers can quickly and easily identify any issues, as well as any areas that could be improved upon.

Set clear deadlines

Set clear deadlines for when timesheets should be submitted. This will help ensure that team members are submitting their timesheets on time and that they are accurate.

Track overtime hours

This helps to ensure that team members are not working too much and are getting proper rest and recovery. By tracking overtime hours project managers can get a better sense of when team members are working the most, as well as which team members are working the most overtime.

This information can then be used to adjust workloads and ensure that team members are not overworked or underworked.

Monitor and analyze performance

Monitoring and analyzing timesheets can help teams identify areas of improvement and make sure that everyone is staying on track. Managers should review timesheet data regularly to make sure that everyone is meeting their deadlines and staying productive.

Project managers should also keep an eye on trends. By monitoring trends, they can quickly identify any potential problems and take action to address them before they become bigger issues. For example, if a particular team member is consistently billing more hours than other team members, this could be an indication of a potential issue.

Use timesheet data to make decisions

Finally, a project manager should use data from the project timesheets to make decisions. The data collected can be used to inform decisions about workloads, staffing levels, and project timelines. This helps to complete projects on time and within budget. Data-driven project managers can ensure that their teams are operating efficiently and effectively.

All of the aforementioned leads us to the conclusion, that every team that wants to improve productivity and achieve the established goals should use a mix of project management software and timesheet software to ensure the success of the current undertakings and future projects, avoid inaccuracies while billing clients, identify bottlenecks and save time.

Timesheet Management in Jira

Jira, as a powerful platform that helps teams of all types and sizes to collaborate and track their progress. Hundreds of teams use Jira for project management, task planning&tracking, reporting, and managing their resources. Most of them need effective timesheet management, so Jira provides a great variety of add-ons for different tastes.

If you're looking for a solution that will ease your resource planning and time tracking, you can take a look at the resource management add-on for Jira named ActivityTimeline.

How to do Time Tracking with ActivityTimeline?

Using ActivityTimeline for Jira, users can track tasks/projects, and activities, manage multiple teams and generate comprehensive reports. The tool also provides timesheet management facilities.

Monitor overall progress at different levels and timeframes with a comprehensive planning dashboard, that gives a cross-project view for shared resources. All of the data is fully synchronized with Jira and reflected on the dashboard, and vice versa.

Additionally, users can view their team's progress in real-time, allowing them to assess progress and make adjustments to their project plan if needed.

Track current progress with individual & team timelines

Timelines provide clarity, allowing users to track progress, plan future endeavors, and identify potential bottlenecks. Personal and team timelines make it easy to assign tasks and create new ones directly from the dashboard, with estimates available right away. This helps ensure that everyone is aware of their responsibilities and deadlines.

Track billable & non-billable hours

Companies widely use billable&non-billable time tracking for calculating employee payroll. The tool provides a possibility to log worked hours of different types and reflects it in the timesheets accordingly.

ActivityTimeline offers a superb way to log time without having to search for tasks in Jira, saving you precious time. You can see the current workflow in a few clicks, providing you with a comprehensive visual overview of all your tasks in one place. To log work, just open the log work dialog, and fill in the details. When you are finished, simply press submit and that's it!

Personal time tracking

Each user has an individual workspace where she/he can see only their own tasks and projects, and logged hours on their tasks:

Logging work here is pretty simple, user can log worked hours, almost from everywhere and this saves a lot of precious time:

Time tracker

Tracking time can be exhausting, but the app provides a built-in Time tracker that allows to track time even more accurately. It starts tracking time when the user presses the button after the user clicks the button again a log work dialogue appears automatically with already filled data:

Generate Online Timesheets

It's very important to supplement all your projects with quantitative timesheet data. ActivityTimeline provides different types of timesheets. Just choose the timesheet template and receive the desired data in a few clicks!

It's like a constructor, just choose a team or multiple teams, the scope (day, week, month), additional options if needed, and start generating!

Among timesheet templates are:

Progress Timesheets

These are high-level timesheets where managers can easily see how many hours users reported and what actual number of hours they worked.

Timeline Timesheets

In this timesheet, you can see how users log their hours within different timeframes:

In this report, you can use saved Jira filters, and decide how to filter and group data:

Detailed Timesheets

Last but not least is a Detailed report, which works as an expandable table that allows you to see all the available information about the time spent.

The same as a previous report you can group and filter it but in addition to this you can also expand it with additional information. You can add “Additional fields” to the report from Jira. When you add a new field the timesheet table will be adjusted to include this new data.

Finally, ActivityTimeline for Jira also provides users with the ability to export their data in an Excel file for further analysis.

Conclusion

Ensuring that teams are accurately tracking and submitting their timesheets is paramount for effective team management. By streamlining the process and utilizing the right tools, managers can better monitor the productivity of their teams, thereby improving the quality of the project delivery.