|
TimeSheet Professional Replaces Internally Developed Time Tracking System in a Houston-based Oil and Gas Company
For many years, a Houston-based oil and gas company had used a custom
built time tracking software package. Eventually, though, it found
itself in a common predicament: the program had evolved over time
under the guidance of one of the IT employees who had originally
helped implement it. When he left the company two years ago, the
time tracking program began to show its age and rigidity. The company
began looking into other alternatives.
Although a custom designed time tracking program can be a valuable
tool in that it can be designed to fit the company's specific needs;
there is a downside. Any time tracking tool needs updating and maintenance
to keep the database stable and compatible with changing hardware
technology. If the person who designed and/or maintained the program
leaves the company or changes position, the program could become
unusable.
After reviewing several products, the Houston company chose TimeSheet
Professional. The program appealed to the company because of its
ability to handle the large volume of work being done over three
different states and by many different people throughout the company,
all of which needed to be tracked in order to assess performance
and resource allotment.
Since so many of the consultants and engineers tracked their time
outside of the office, the remote web capability came in handy.
Two of their three divisions track their time via the web browser
while the third uses the resident installation. The web version
offers all the same features of the full install version, minus
some of the reporting features.
The concern among many members of the workforce was that they would
lose some of the features that made their custom program so popular
and easy to use. With TimeSheet's scalability, this concern was
quickly put to rest. Employees, Tasks, and Projects all have ten
custom fields.
Another factor in the decision to use TimeSheet Professional was
its ability to link to Microsoft Project. After setting up their
resources in Project during the planning stages, they were able
to import that data into TimeSheet and track time against those
resources. The company had already used Project for planning, but
the original homegrown time tracking program had no capability to
link with it. The Project link with TimeSheet kept the company from
having to enter new components every time they started a new project.
This saved the administrator time and created consistency between
the two programs so that the time could be tracked against their
resources better.
On top of all the features the company discovered in TimeSheet,
they found another upshot: as technology developed and their system
was updated, TimeSheet would keep up. New versions would allow them
to add features and upgrade the software to keep up with the fast
paced world of technology. Additionally, a team of Corporate Consultants
from TimeSheet was there to help them with the setup and maintenance.
Now they no longer have to worry about the administrator leaving
and stranding them with an outdated software product.
This oil and gas company no longer has to worry about outdated
software, lack of features, or training on their time tracking software
product since implementing TimeSheet Professional. TimeSheet met
all those needs, even when the company thought they were going to
have to settle for less.
|
