5 Best Practices for Improving Timesheet Accuracy in OpenAir

Your employee and contractor timesheets track and record the amount of time spent on a task or project. As a tool used in project management, they help to improve project execution and assist in decision making. Timesheets are a big part of using OpenAir for project costing, tracking, job estimation, payroll, and client billing.  Here are five best practices you should consider to improve timesheet accuracy in OpenAir.

#1 Eliminate Redundant Timesheet Information

The more information entered into a timesheet, the more effort is required from your team and the bigger the chance of errors. It is vital to capture proper data while minimizing the amount of information the user needs to type in. Some of the areas where redundant information can be eliminated are:

• Timesheet Fields: The more information you include in the project setup, the less you have to enter into the timesheet. A great example is a billable/non-billable indicator.  This is a field that can be controlled at the task level in a project instead of delegated to the consultant for a decision. Another redundant field is Description on each time entry.   For many customers, the Notes field is more important so you can hide the description from the Other Settings controls under Timesheet settings.
• Specify Default Values: Many of the fields on your timesheet have the option to set a default value, such as project, time type, etc.  When turned on, the end-user may specify a default value for enabled fields as part of timesheet creation. This saves time and reduces the chance of making a mistake.

#2 Optimize Timesheet Setup and Rules

Besides timesheet configuration, there are rules to improve timesheet accuracy in OpenAir that you can apply to ensure the information submitted in a timesheet is valid.

1. Set the Minimum and Maximum Hours of Work per Week and Per Day

In OpenAir, you have the ability to set minimum and maximum hours per day or per week. There are two options available: Fixed Hours or Percent of Work Schedule. If everyone’s timesheet is, for instance, 40 hours per week, it does not matter which option you select. However, Percent of Work Schedule lets you set up different hours for different people depending on their work schedule setup.

2. Customize Timesheet Periods

Commonly, we find timesheets being submitted on a weekly basis. OpenAir gives you the choice of daily, weekly, semi-monthly, bi-weekly, and monthly timesheets to accommodate teams with different needs. If your company has team members with diverse timesheet requirements, you can optionally determine which teams may need to use a different timesheet period.   This override is found per user so you can determine which groups of users would benefit from daily vs. weekly timesheets while others in your organization use the weekly period.

3. Synchronize Your Timesheets with the Accounting Calendar

One of the first things to do when setting up timesheets is to consult your finance department and synchronize them with the accounting calendar.  In many cases, timesheets covering 2 different months at month-end will require specific handling by finance. Two configuration options exist if split timesheets are a necessity to support accounting rules:

• Proper Month End Split: If, for instance, the 30th or 31st falls on a Tuesday, you will find that the timesheet only has three days – 29th, 30th, and 31st.  When a second timesheet is created for the week, it will contain the first few days of the following month.   The Proper End Month Split switch also supports an additional switch to automatically create a second timesheet for the rest of the days in the calendar week when the first one is submitted.
• Prevent Time Entry On The Same Day Across Timesheets: If your accounting calendar has a different month end to the calendar date, for instance, the 29th or the 2nd, you can use this switch to ensure a second timesheet created prevents entering time on days already submitted on a different timesheet.

#3 Set Up Late Timesheet Alerts and Streamline Timesheet Approval

Occasionally, timesheets will be late. OpenAir has a Late Timesheet Alert, which can be configured to run on a specific day of the week or month, depending on your timesheet period.  However, you should be aware that, by default, this alert is not targeted and is sent to everyone who qualifies for the alert. There are filter controls and options such as ‘only send to users with booked hours in the period’ that will help support notifying only those contractors scheduled for work that they must submit their timesheet, as an example.

There is also a standard alert for overdue timesheet approval. We recommend you set this to run every day. If a timesheet is submitted and it still hasn’t been touched in a day or so, OpenAir sends out a reminder. This alert gives a gentle nudge that ensures that unapproved timesheets do not stack up.

On a similar note, you should also be aware that the system offers escalation routing. This means that if a certain number of days pass without the timesheet being approved, then it can be reassigned to a backup person like a project administrator or office admin to handle by using approval processes.

#4 Auto-Create Timesheets

A useful feature to improve timesheet accuracy in OpenAir that you may not be aware of is the timesheet Auto-Create feature.  This feature is not an internal switch but is actually a timesheet rule.

When enabled and someone submits a timesheet, the timesheet for the next reporting period is created automatically. This gets your team into the frame of mind that all they need to do is fill out the timesheet and submit it. No other actions are required since the system handles everything, including month-end.

#5 Have Users Correct Errors in Their Timesheets

When people submit timesheets, there are bound to be some mistakes that you will have to fix. The best way to fix timesheets with mistakes is to use the Timesheet Adjustment feature, which is controlled by roles. All administrators can make adjustments, and so can other users if specified. The timesheet adjustment feature is located in the Tips icon on the far left of the screen once you select the Edit tab of the timesheet.

If a person is constantly submitting timesheets with errors, it may be better to have them correct the timesheet by rejecting it back to the owner.  This is the only real way to adjust behavior and expectations on time completeness and accuracy.

NetSuite OpenAir gives you many configuration options for your timesheets, with the ones above being just the tip of the iceberg. Always remember that your end users are responsible for submitting the timesheets, so helping keep the process as streamlined as possible is a good first and ongoing step!

 

Your timesheets need to be easy for your users to complete in order to ensure that they enter accurate information. Watch our webinar which discusses more best practices for timesheet accuracy in OpenAir.