Digital time registration gives field employees and the office five things that paper and Excel cannot: the time is linked to the right task, the time of day can be documented, approval happens in one place, approved hours move on to payroll and invoicing, and management can follow hours as they come in. Paper and spreadsheets can record hours, but not link, document and pass them on. Microbizz is a Danish field service management platform for task and project management for companies with employees on the road, and time registration is part of the same platform as task management and invoicing.
The difference is rarely in the registration itself. It is in what happens to the time afterwards.
On a slip or in a spreadsheet, time is a number on a day. Someone has to write down which task it belongs to, and find it again later. Digitally, hours are linked automatically to the task or project they were registered on, so it is clear what the time was spent on.
Time on paper is a recollection. When the employee registers with check-in and check-out on the task, the system sets the time. According to Microbizz, check-in and check-out can also carry a GPS stamp, so it can be shown when and where the work started and ended.
Employees can register time on mobile, tablet or PC, and the app is available for both Android and iOS. Timesheets can be created, edited and submitted from the phone, so they do not sit in the van until Friday. Partial registrations, breaks and overtime can be registered along the way.
Paper slips and spreadsheets easily end up with several versions of the same week. Digitally, a middle manager can approve the timesheets before the hours are locked for payroll and invoicing. That leaves one version, and deviations are caught while the task is still fresh in mind.
Approved hours are transferred automatically to the payroll system (through an add-on module) and to invoicing, where they become part of the invoicing basis. Partneren A/S says on Microbizz's time registration page that payroll processing, which used to take two to three days for two people plus a day for data entry and checking, can now be done in one day. That is the customer's own statement, and results vary.
In the reporting module, the manager can see hours per employee, task and project, and react if a project is heading over budget. With paper and spreadsheets, the overview only arrives once someone has collected the figures.
If you have few employees and few tasks, and time does not have to be split across projects or used directly for invoicing, paper or a spreadsheet can work perfectly well. The need typically arises when more time goes on collecting, correcting and retyping figures than on registering them, or when you need to be able to document when the work was carried out.
According to Microbizz, working time registration documents total working time, breaks and overtime, while time registration is about how much time was spent on specific tasks or projects. Many companies need both. Microbizz's page also refers to the legal requirement to register working time. What applies to you depends on your company and collective agreement, so check with your industry association or adviser.
It can link time to the task automatically, document the time of day with check-in and check-out, gather approval in one place and send approved hours on to payroll and invoicing without retyping. Management can also follow hours as they come in.
Working time registration documents total working time, breaks and overtime. Time registration is about time spent on specific tasks or projects.
Yes. Time can be registered on mobile, tablet and PC, and the app is available for Android and iOS. The employee can either enter hours manually or use check-in and check-out on the task.
Yes. After approval, the hours are transferred to the payroll system and invoicing. Integration with payroll systems is an add-on module, so ask about your payroll system before you decide.
Yes. Timesheets can be created, edited and submitted from the phone, and managers can approve them in the system. You can book a demo and see what it looks like with your own tasks.