We have all heard the phrase that time is a precious resource, and with home life as busy as work life, managing time is an essential life skill.
Recording time – most businesses track time in some way, some are more sophisticated than others. Systems include, Time and attendance systems, Time tracking software, Specialist scheduling software and Project planning and management tools.
There are several time and expense tracking software products available. For organisations just needing to track time to tasks, with simple reporting, there are several solutions available. Make sure that you choose a solution that also allows expenses and costs to be tagged to the calendar too. See www.getharvest.com
Specialist manufacturing organisations use Resource Planning (MRP) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software systems, which have a powerful production planning module. If your organisation needs sophisticated scheduling with physical resources such as engineering plant and machinery, CADCAM systems, production lines, surface mount technology (SMT) lines, as well as people, then you should consider investing in an ERP or MRP solution.
Project planning and management tools help manage projects that last several months, a visual software tool can be really helpful. We use Microsoft Project to manage all of our projects, which typically last from three months to two years. Each phase of work has a number of sub-tasks associated. Each phase is visualised as a ‘Gantt’ chart, consisting of horizontal lines per task, from their start to end dates. Resources (people, plant, equipment) can be applied to each task. Tasks can be colour-coded to help prevent resource conflicts. See www.microsoft.com and search for ‘project’.
The benefits of Time and task management software will help you plan better, prevent resource conflicts, and ensure that everyone has a personal schedule and view of their tasks over a period of time.