Time and workload Project time tracking
Project time tracking begins where time entry stops. Collecting is one gesture, using it is another, and it is the second that decides whether the effort asked of the teams serves any purpose. Three things must happen after entry: it must be approved, it must feed into the workload, and it must meet what was sold.
From reported to margin, in four steps.
Each missing link turns time entry into an administrative obligation with no return.
1. Reported
What each person has entered, by quarter-day and by work package. It is a declaration, not yet data.
2. Approved
The manager approves, corrects or sends back. It is this step that authorizes calculating anything.
3. Consumed
The approved time, costed and tied to the work package it serves. It becomes comparable with what had been planned.
4. The gap
Consumed against sold, and workload against capacity. The only two readings that call for a decision.
The entry gesture itself is covered on time entry software. This page covers what comes after.
The link that breaks is almost always the same.
Time entry exists, approval too, and the total goes off to billing or payroll. Then the chain stops. The time consumed is never compared with what was sold, because what was sold lives in another system, or in a contract filed elsewhere.
The symptom is recognized by a sentence heard in the monthly review: "we have consumed a lot on this project". A lot compared to what? Without a reference, the total is a quantity, not information. It allows invoicing, it does not allow deciding.
The second link that breaks is the feed into workload. The time consumed in past weeks is the best source for estimating the real capacity of the coming weeks, and it is almost always ignored: capacity continues to be set as an assumption, as on day one. This is the subject of the project workload plan.
Time consumed only means something against time sold.
It is the only sentence to remember. Time tracking that totals without comparing produces a figure that is exact and useless; tracking that compares produces a gap, that is, a possible decision.
For the comparison to exist, what was sold must be in the same place as what was consumed, and tied to the same work packages. This is not a question of technical integration between two tools: it is a question of model. As long as the commitment lives in a document and production in a system, the reconciliation will remain manual and monthly.
Holding the two in the same place is what we call operational commitment management.
In pylotik.
Four readings, all built on the same entry and with no re-entry.
Approval by the manager
It turns the declaration into data, and it is the moment when an entry error can be corrected while it is fresh.
The gap between sold and consumed, by work package
Not only at project level: it is the work package level that says where the drift occurs.
The feed into capacity
Past time consumed feeds the real capacity of the coming weeks, instead of letting an assumption age.
The reading by person
Who is overloaded, and for how many weeks. It is what the reading by project always hides.
The financial extension is covered on project financial tracking. The full tour is on the product page, and the order of magnitude of what is lost on lost value.
What we are asked about time tracking.
How do you measure the gap between time sold and time consumed?
By tying both to the same work packages. Comparing a project total with an overall budget hides offsetting effects: a work package far over budget can be hidden by another that is ahead, and the project looks healthy until the first one reaches the end of its run.
Should you approve your team's time?
Yes, and not only for compliance. Approval is the only moment when someone looks at the entries with a manager's eye: an odd split stands out there, whereas it would be invisible in a monthly total.
What should you do when time consumed already exceeds time sold?
First check the remaining work, which is the real question: an overrun with no remaining work is a lesson for the next quote, an overrun with half the work still ahead is an immediate alert.
Does the client see the time consumed?
No. Time consumed, workload and margins are internal supplier data. The client sees the progress, milestones and risks that concern them.
Can you track time without invoicing it?
Yes, and it is even the general case on fixed price: time is not invoiced, it is used to know whether the commitment holds. That is the fundamental difference with time-and-materials tracking.
Which level of analysis should you use?
The work package to understand where the drift occurs, the person to spot an overload, the project to decide. All three come from the same entry, there is no additional breakdown to ask of the teams.
Going further.
- Time entry: the gesture, upstream of this page.
- The workload plan: what the time consumed lets you project.
- Financial tracking: budget, consumed, remaining work.
- Operational commitment management: the definition of the category.