Smart staff app. Employee sign in app

employee sign in app

The SwipedOn app has been designed exclusively for employees and makes signing in and out easier than ever. SwipedOn records the time of activity as well as answers to any questions you wish to ask your team when they sign in.

• Auto sign in and out based on a geofence perimeter
• Location verified sign in and out
• Sign in as working remotely or from a different office location
• Receive visitor and delivery notifications, manage preferences and change profile picture from within the SwipedOn app.

staff check in and out

with SwipedOn gives you an accurate record of everyone’s whereabouts that can be easily accessed at any time.

In the event of an emergency, Cloud-based technology means you can grab your iPad or tablet on the go, or log on to the SwipedOn web dashboard from your mobile device to easily conduct roll calls and ensure your employees are safe with the most up to date information.

Are you struggling to keep track of who is working where?

employee check in app

, identifying who is working remotely or from different locations has never been easier. The iPad and web dashboard give admin staff full oversight of who is where each day.

To increase transparency across the business, you can share a view of the digital in out board to a Smart TV in a communal area for those without admin access.

A digital version of your trusty in and out board helps to combat safety and security challenges with an always up-to-date employee dashboard.

This view can be shared to a Smart TV or spare monitor to provide a quick and clear way for everyone to see where their colleagues are.

Life is complicated, but your software doesn’t have to be. SwipedOn is designed with simplicity at its core.

Have a question? With SwipedOn you’ll get a reply from a real person in less than a minute, regardless of your plan.

By choosing SwipedOn, you literally make the world a better place. We plant a native tree for every new customer.

Employees can download the SwipedOn app from the Google Play store if using an Android OS smartphone, and from the Apple App store if using an Apple iPhone.

See our support article for more details.

No, we believe this essential feature should be available for all of our customers, no matter your plan.

Whichever SwipedOn plan you are currently billed for, your team will be able to use SwipedOn

location-verified employee sign in

via static (printed) QR codes, eliminating the need for any hardware.

Signing in via these QR codes can be made compulsory for employees using the SwipedOn app.When enabled, employees will be prompted to scan the QR code in order to sign in to that location via the app.The sign in will then be shown as ‘verified’ in the SwipedOn web dashboard. (Available on Business and Enterprise plans only)

See our support article using QR codes with SwipedOn for more info.

Roubler’s Smart Rota tool finds the right employees for each shift in an instant.

The power of connected employee data.

The award winning Smart Rota function makes the most of Roubler’s single platform design, pulling data from various features such as employee profiles, leave and unavailability requests and combining them with compliance interpretation to assess suitability for each shift.

This powerful data connection and analysis takes hours out of information gathering, cross-referencing and decision making, leaving you free for other important tasks.

Rota that gets the detail right.

Roubler’s Rota feature automatically assigns shifts based on both practical and compliance-based criteria:

• The employee’s location
• The role type
• The employee’s leave requests
• The hours already worked by the employee
• The maximum working hours allowed
• The minimum time required between shifts

Once the criteria are met, our algorithm can randomise choices to ensure a fair distribution of shifts within your workforce.

We are developing our machine learning capability so that employees can be suggested on the basis of performance ratings for different tasks, the days of the week they usually work and the hours of the day they are usually available.

Create online employee rotas your way.

Roubler’s Smart Rota function can be used to fill all shifts in a given time-frame, or to help you fill in the gaps once you’ve added in permanent and part-time staff shift patterns and individual shifts.

Staff called in sick? Just click the ‘Rota’ button to fill a single shift without having to phone around to find out who can replace them. It’s there to help you when you need it.

You have complete control over whether you accept or reject a suggested employee for a shift and can manually amend your rota as often as you need to.

• Recruitment
• Employee onboarding
• Rota software
• Time and attendance
• Leave management
• Expense claims
• Payroll software
• Employee self service
• Document library
• E-learning
• Compliance
• Business intelligence
• Outsourced payroll

Time attendance

Managing schedules, hours worked and time off is critical for payroll accuracy and compliance. Time attendance solutions from ADP make it easier.

Automated employee time tracking allows you to get more done

Keeping track of time manually? Automated time and attendance software can reduce manual — and often error-prone — data entry and improve payroll accuracy. It can also help you:

• Increase productivity by ensuring the right people are where you need them every day
• Track time simply by enabling employees to use their computer or phone
• Assert more control over how time is tracked with a shared device, a time clock or the ADP® Kiosk
• Create, publish and manage schedules online
• Handle time-off requests, approvals and vacations

The best part? It integrates with your ADP payroll software and other ADP solutions, which means:

• Data flows automatically between HR, payroll and time
• People only have one username and password to remember
• Time, pay, benefits and other information can be accessed from the web or a mobile app

ADP ® Timekeeping Plus Scheduling for small businesses

ADP® Timekeeping Plus Scheduling is a Cloud-based time tracking and scheduling tool that helps control costs, improve compliance and enhance productivity.

Clocking options for worry-free time tracking

Capture time confidently in ways that work for both you and your employees. With either ADP Kiosk, an all-in-one time collection device, or the ADP® Time Kiosk app, which you can download on your own shared device, your timekeeping system is seamlessly connected to your ADP payroll solution and backed by ADP support. Other features include:

• Employees can clock in and out, record a meal break and transfer their time between departments, locations or jobs.
• Biometric log-in options, like facial recognition and finger scanning, provide an extra layer of security.
• Smart buttons predict next options, allowing employees to perform clocking actions more quickly.

Available for customers using timekeeping solutions for ADP Workforce Now® and RUN powered by ADP®.

ADP Kiosk recognized for excellence

ADP Kiosk is winner of the Brandon Hall Group Silver award for excellence in two categories – Best Advance in Time and Labor Management and Best Advance in HR or Workforce Management Technology for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses.

Online time and attendance software features and benefits

Improve supervisor productivity with a manager dashboard

An ADP team dashboard streamlines employee time tracking for you and your managers. From one convenient place, you can quickly:

• See who’s on the job or if anyone was late or absent
• Access schedules to stay on top of staffing
• Monitor hours worked and overtime to help control costs
• Track the status of timecards to avoid payroll delays
• Quickly navigate to other tools, run reports and more to save time and maximize efficiency

Manage compliance with wage and hour regulations

Complying with wage regulations and hour rules, such as overtime and meal breaks, is necessary to protect your business from penalties. But relying on managers alone for consistent enforcement and oversight is risky. Alternatively, you can use ADP time and attendance software to help meet compliance requirements and track the data and documents you’ll need in case of an audit.

For our ADP Workforce Now® clients, you can add on Compliance on Demand, which lets you consult ADP’s team of experts or share best practices with peers in our online customer community. This service also has a content library full of information on wage and hour compliance at the federal, state and local levels.

Time tracking helps control labor costs

Tracking and monitoring time is an important part of managing your labor costs. And, as you grow, this can become more challenging. With ADP, managing and improving your time and attendance process just got easier.

With employee time tracking and payroll reporting from ADP, you can see when people are approaching overtime and visualize the true costs of labor — including temporary staff — and adjust hours as necessary.

Our time and attendance software also offers features to help prevent employees from abusing the system and costing you money. For example, facial or finger scanning as a form of identification can stop people from clocking in and out on behalf of others – also known as “buddy punching.”

Geo-fencing ensures that those who are using a mobile clocking app are within a certain distance of a physical work location, and geo-pinning can mark precisely where they were when clocking, so you can see location violations.

You could reduce errors in your time-tracking by nearly 30%.

Total Workforce Management 2013: The State of Time and Attendance, Aberdeen Group, July 2013.

Manage employee scheduling efficiently

ADP time and attendance solutions make it easier and faster to create schedules that work for everyone. You can spot trends and correct gaps in coverage before they negatively impact your environment and employees have access to self-service features for improved productivity and engagement.

Available scheduling features include:

• Shift scheduling brings your employee schedules online, and provides many conveniences for managers to quickly create and assign shifts to workers, including the ability to post open shifts for the staff to claim.
• Collaborative scheduling permits employees to swap shifts with or request coverage from coworkers, and people can communicate when they can or cannot work in advance. – all from a mobile device.
• Configurable work rules, such as maximum daily hours and maximum consecutive days, help simplify compliance with work policies.
• Real-time cost calculations allow you to see the cost of your schedules as you create them, so you can keep an eye on your budget.
• Skill-based scheduling helps you match people to the job based on required skills, licenses, certifications, languages and training.

Availability of scheduling features varies by time and attendance product

Online timekeeping increases productivity

When you use ADP’s time and attendance solutions, staff enter their hours worked using a Smart timeclock, a web timesheet, a kiosk app on a shared tablet or a mobile app on a personal mobile phone. Breaks, PTO, holiday and other time are also collected directly from the employee.

The system then automatically calculates the totals and sends them to payroll, leaving you and your managers with little to do but monitor for exceptions, like missed punches, and make the necessary corrections. As a result of not having to go through every timecard you have more time to spend improving business operations and supporting customers.

Time tracking software improves payroll accuracy

Don’t leave the accuracy and reliability of your company payroll to chance. ADP’s complete “punch-to-paycheck” experience delivers fast, easy time tracking, scheduling and attendance management. Using it, you can instantly calculate hourly totals based on your payroll policies, including overtime, and avoid costly mistakes. Time data flows directly to payroll to avoid manual, and potentially error-prone, data entry.

Employee time tracking with flexibility

Give your employees and supervisors the ability to complete time-sensitive tasks quickly, easily and in a way that works best for them. ADP’s time and attendance solutions are built with self-service in mind and are compatible with Smart time clocks, computers and mobile devices. We also offer an all-in-one time collection kiosk and a kiosk app, both of which are designed for use with ADP payroll solutions and backed by ADP support.

complex time management needs? ADP can help.

Need more than just time and attendance tracking with scheduling? Workforce management from ADP can also help you forecast labor needs, automate attendance policies, track leave cases, and more. Learn how workforce management from ADP can help you improve productivity and employee performance.

Let’s find the perfect solution for your business

You know your business, industry and employees better than anyone. Tell us the details and we’ll get you a custom recommendation with pricing.

Time and attendance reviews

The most valuable aspect [of using ADP’s time attendance solution] regards the ability to see detailed hours and requests. Which allows for easier methods of requesting time off, and to calculate upcoming paychecks. Managers and upper management can approve the requests directly and makes it easier for both parties involved to work better.

Kareem H., Parkland College Library

Time and attendance FAQs

What’s the disadvantage of using a time clock from an office supply store?

While time clocks are certainly better than handwritten or paper timesheets, they typically only record punches or timestamps. Someone still needs to calculate the hours worked, know how to apply the pay rules and enter the time into payroll. With Cloud-based time and attendance software, a Smart time clock records the information, calculates the total hours immediately and sends them to payroll automatically. ADP time clocks also offer biometric identification, which prevents employees from clocking in or out for each other, also known as buddy punching.

Can ADP time and attendance software help us manage overtime?

Yes, complying with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and controlling overtime costs are two of the biggest benefits of online time and attendance solutions. Employee time tracking starts with proper classification of workers, followed by automatic and accurate calculation of hours worked during the pay period. Overtime rules specific to individual businesses and locations are then applied and sent for payroll processing. Managers only need to approve timecards, not calculate hours or apply overtime rules. They also have timely visibility into who may be approaching overtime so they can adjust schedules accordingly.

To what extent is employee time tracking integrated with payroll and HR?

Time and attendance features are part of all ADP HCM platforms. This means that users only need one username and password, the experience and design is consistent, and all pertinent information is housed in a centralized location. Employee data flows automatically between HR, payroll and timekeeping so there is no re-keying, fewer mistakes and more timely access to data.

Can employees use their mobile phones for time tracking?

Yes, the ADP Mobile app allows employees to clock in and out, view schedules, request time off and more. Geo-fencing helps ensure that staff members are within a specified distance from a work location when they track their time. Our app also has tools for employers, such as payroll, benefits administration and other HCM features.

Time Tracking Software

Analyze and optimize company time on projects down to the second. Intuitive employee time tracking software for smarter project organization, proof of work and budgeting.

130,000 users from all around the world already use Insightful

Time Tracking Software

Analyze and optimize company time on projects down to the second. Intuitive employee time tracking software for smarter project organization, proof of work and budgeting

Every Minute, Any Industry

The only solution you’ll ever need for tracking time on projects and tasks, productivity and effectiveness, no matter which industry you’re in.

Project Management

Simplify project management and access all project data from one neat Kanban board.

Time on Projects and Tasks

Track time on each task to ensure that no deadlines are missed, and to optimize time spent on projects.

Apps and Websites Usage

Get insights on which apps and websites your employees are using while working on projects.

Screenshots

Capture employees’ screens to get the ultimate proof of their work.

Project Management

Simplify project management and access all project data from one neat Kanban board.

Time on Projects and Tasks

Track time on each task to ensure that no deadlines are missed, and to optimize time spent on projects.

Apps and Websites Usage

Get insights on which apps and websites your employees are using while working on projects.

Screenshots

Capture employees’ screens to get the ultimate proof of their work.

Optimize Time on Projects

Insightful lets you track time, activities, productivity levels, budgets, and everything else you need to maximize your team’s efforts.

Real-Time Monitoring

See what your employees are up to anytime.

Time and Attendance

Track employees’ attendance automatically.

Productivity Tracking

Analyze productivity through insightful reports.

Timekeeping

Access data from up to two years ago.

Activities Tracking

Receive reports via email on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

Manual Time Entries

Let workers add manual time.

Productivity Labeling

Label which apps and websites are productive.

Budgets

Ensure profitability of every project.

Real-Time Monitoring

See which tasks your workers are handling.

Time and Attendance

Track employee attendance effortlessly.

Productivity Tracking

Measure and improve team’s productivity.

Timekeeping

Access data from up to two years ago.

Activities Tracking

Review active and idle time, or manual activities

Manual Time Entries

Let employees add manual time.

Productivity Labeling

Mark apps and websites as (un)productive or neutral.

Budgets

Ensure profitability of every project.

Optimize Time on Projects

Insightful time tracker lets you track time, activities, productivity levels, budgets, and everything else you need to maximize your team’s efforts.

Than Just Time Tracking

Insightful features go beyond employee time tracking to help you improve all aspects of your business.

Reports

Receive regular reports about your projects, or export them from the dashboard.

Manager Login

Let managers create projects and tasks for their teams.

Employee Login

Give employees access to data tracker collected to promote transparency and accountability.

API

Connect the software you relly on to Insightful through Rest API.

Raw Data

Get detailed data about activities your team performes every second.

Client Login

Let clients access their project’s or virtual employee’s data.

How Will Your Employees Use Insightful

InsightfulTimer

Each time your employees start working on a new project or task, they’ll start the time on it. Once they’re done, they can change task’s status, and you’ll see everything on your dashboard in real-time.

Use Cases

Optimize Project Delivery

Whenever you check the Insightful dashboard you’ll know exactly what your team is working on, and how productive they are. You can also seamlessly coordinate tasks and projects among employees to ensure they’re on the right track. At the same time, priority labels allow your workers to shift gears and prioritize better. All these options allow you to optimize project delivery and achieve maximum efficiency with your team.

Enhance Project Profitability

Insightful gives you full control over your projects not only by tracking every task, but also by tracking billable hours against your team’s hourly rates. You can keep the projects within the budget, while protecting your profits. Since time tracking software serves as a productivity booster as well, your team will soon become more efficient and you’ll be able to complete more projects in less time.

Better Client Management

Time tracking gives you an opportunity to provide clients with the most accurate project estimates. On the other hand, the Client login feature promotes transparent relationships because it lets them track project progress without interfering with your team’s work. Finally, it’s the most optimal way to provide clients with precise invoices which include every billable second and screenshots as proof of work.

Incredibly easy to install on both Mac and Windows

Try the simplest solution today

Ready to discover how smooth and seamless Insightful is to use?

Take an in-depth look at how our products work.

How Do You Want to Securely Store Your Data?

Cloud Solution

The best option for teams who want a fast, easy setup in just a few minutes. No tricky setup, added technical equipment, or involvement from your IT team. Your data is safely stored on industry-leading Google Cloud infrastructure using the latest security standards.

On-Premise Solution

Wanting to store your data on your own servers? Our on-premise solution is for teams who don’t mind a little extra technical effort and have the IT team to pull it off. Your company provides the servers, we use them to store our data.

In a recent study, a group of Microsoft workers took, on average, 15 minutes to return to serious mental tasks, like writing reports or computer code, after responding to incoming e-mail or instant messages. They strayed off to reply to other messages or browse news, sports or entertainment Web sites.

“I was surprised by how easily people were distracted and how long it took them to get back to the task,” said Eric Horvitz.

Ready to Take Full Control of Your Workplace?

Try the simplest solution today…

The Ultimate Guide to Time Tracking Software(For Businesses in Any Industry)

Does every minute count in your business? Then, you’re just like the millions of savvy businesses that turn to time tracking software.‍Put simply, time tracking is the measurement and recording of hours worked. But nowadays, modern time tracking software is far more sophisticated than just when an employee clocks in and out. With the right work time tracker installed, like Insightful, you can optimize workflows, analyze productivity trends, manage projects more effectively, budget more accurately, and so much more.‍Even better, the best time trackers today are automated via computer monitoring software, removing time-consuming manual work and making day-to-day processes more clear and transparent. In fact, workplaces become 24% more efficient, track time 60% more accurately, and save up to 10 million in time annually with staff tracking.

Guide Topics

Why Productive Companies Track Their Time?

Considering Employee Time Tracking Software?Here’s What to Think About.

Down-to-the-Second Analytics, Data and Insights For Unprecedented Productivity

You May Be Thinking… Is Time Tracking Right for Me?

What Does Work Time Tracker do for Productivity, Performance and Profitability?

How Time Tracking Transforms the Way You Do Business

What Types of Teams Trust in Time Tracking Software?

What Will Employee Time Tracking Software Look Like in Your Business?

What Are Your Options for Tracking Time?

What do You Really Need to Track?

What Features Are a Must-Have to Track Time Effectively?

Understanding the Technical Side of Time Tracking

How to Introduce Time Tracking to Your Team?

Try Time Tracking in Your Business for FREE

Why Productive Companies Track Their Time

Employees Spend Less Than 3 Hours a Day Actually Working

Research shows, on average, workers only spend 2 hours and 53 minutes actually working during a typical eight hour workday. That’s a whole lot of wasted time and productivity. And worst of all, it leaves companies footing a bill of 544b in wasted time each year.‍Now, any manager, founder or executive knows the importance of capitalizing on every minute of work time. But putting this into practice in today’s fast-paced, increasingly remote digital workplaces is another story altogether. In today’s modern working world how do you.

Tell the difference between productive and unproductive time?Identify your most productive workers?Track time and attendance (especially if your team is spread across cities)?Tell the difference between time spent on task and time spent on social media?Bill hours accurately without going over budget?

If you’re part of a results-driven team that’s ever struggled with one or all of these questions, time tracker software might just hold the answers. Whether your team uses mobile apps (on Android, or iOS), or needs a desktop app for Windows, Mac OS or Linux. there’s a time tracker for all of them. Read on to find out.

Considering Employee Time Tracking Tool?Here’s What to Think About.

If you’re looking to build a more productive, effective and efficient workplace, it all depends on how you track, monitor and manage time. Good thing for you, we live in an era of sophisticated employee time tracking tool that lets you track employee time down-to-the-minute, then use the data and insights collected to optimize procedures and performance.‍All sounds great, no doubt. But, before you buy and download a work time tracker, it’s important to understand exactly what your team needs.- and which time tracking technology is best for you. So, first, ask yourself…

What features do you need?Are you looking for a simple time tracker app or something more sophisticated?How easy is it to install and use?Do you need to track time on tasks, projects, and billable time?Will it interrupt your team’s workflow?How much will it cost based on the size of your team?

Just some of the many things to consider when looking to buy time tracking software. And just by reading on, you’ll have all the information you need when it comes to choosing the best time tracking software for your team.

Down-to-the-Second Analytics, Data and Insights For Unprecedented Productivity

Capturing what goes on every minute of the day is the foundation of time tracking apps for employees. But it’s so much more than that. It’s about the data a work time tracker app collects, analyses and outputs as rich insights and reports. For forward-thinking companies, this data is a goldmine. It can be instantly deployed in real-time for smarter project organization, enhanced workflow, optimized processes and laser-like budgeting. With every second tracked and collated, you’re able to access.

• Advanced project oversight that reveals every minute that goes into a project by setting priorities and assigning them to the right employees.
• Real-time progress reporting that keeps projects on schedule and guarantees deadlines are never missed.
• Automated time tracking that automatically assigns work-time to the correct project or task, without any manual effort.
• App and software usage that is costing or making you money.
• Productivity analysis to measure individual, team and company productivity.
• Time attendance charts that show every minute workers spend at work and what they get up to.
• Advanced project cost management that calculates project costs based on employee wages and their time tracked on tasks.
• Real-Time budget tracking so you can track costs over time, reallocate resources, and track total time invested.

This level of rich employee time tracking app data creates a huge shift in the way you work. Instead of manually tallying hours worked and income generated at the end of day, week, or month to track performance, you can now track, analyze and optimize in real-time as the work happens. Quite the game-changer, isn’t it?

You May Be Thinking… Is Time Tracking Right for Me?

So, by now, the advantages of time management tools are becoming pretty clear. But, is it really the right call for your business? To help decide if an employee time tracker software is the best option for your team, ask yourself if you’ve experienced any of the following…‍

• Lost time and costs due to late or false clock-ins and early clock-outs
• Inaccurate manual time causing soaring wages, overtime and absenteeism
• Time wasted and productivity lost because of employees not staying on task
• Project budgets blowing out due to poor time allocation
• Employees wasting time browsing social media, websites and personal emails
• Getting incorrectlybilled for hours by contractors on tasks that aren’t yours
• Staff time and work being charged to the wrong client
• Time and productivity wasted filling out manual timesheets and activity logs
• Difficulty determining staffing needs due to inaccurate project time calculations
• Having no visibility of time worked by remote workers and freelancers

For any results-focused workplace, these inefficiencies and costs that come with untracked time are a daily reality. The truth is, even 5-10 minutes of unproductive time here or there for a personal call, email, checking a status update, arriving late, or sneaking a longer break has huge ramifications for company performance. And when you consider nearly 3 out of 4 workers are distracted while on the clock at work, the reality is the cost and prevalence of unproductive time can be devastating. and is completely immeasurable and uncontrollable without time tracking software.

What Does Work Time Tracker do for Productivity, Performance and Profitability?

Results, data, proof… three things Smart business decisions rely on. So, what impact will a work time tracker projects have on your team (almost instantly)?

Discover just some of the results you can expect with a staff tracking software like Insightful.

How Time Tracking Transforms the Way You Do Business

There are so many elements that go into running a successful business. The caliber of employees, systems in place, management techniques, incentive structure, just to name a few. But, arguably, none has a more profound impact on success than time. Or, more precisely, how you use it.

Think about it… time is linked to absolutely every part of your business. From when staff come and go, what they get done, the way projects are planned and completed, how wages are calculated and budgets are planned… right down to whether the number at the base of your balance sheet is red or black.

So, then, it’s no stretch to say that tracking, analyzing and optimizing your time with the help of a work time tracker can completely transform the way you do business. How exactly? Read on to find out.

Streamlining Workflow, Processes ProgressProject gone way over budget? Dragging on longer than expected? A time tracker for work lets you analyze collected time data and pinpoint exactly what went wrong. This includes common causes like understaffing, overstaffing, the wrong people on the job, bottlenecks and poor workflow management. ‍In short, a time management software means clearer deadlines, progress tracking and deliverables. And if things are going askew, you can quickly and easily make course corrections in real-time. Instead of scrambling once deadlines and budgets are long gone.

Assemble the Perfect-Sized TeamLet’s say you budget 200 hours to a project based on five staff working on it eight hours a day for a week. You get to the end of the week, and the project is finished. Yay, go team! Not so fast. ‍On the surface, it looks like you got your budgeting correct. But, once you look at your time tracking data, you see those staff only averaged five hours of active time to get the job done, meaning it was in fact only a 125 hour job that could have been done by three employees. And those other two could have been allocated elsewhere. or not hired at all, in the case of freelancers. Insight you never would have had without a work time tracker installed.

Guarantee Time Goes to the Correct ProjectsLike it or not, today’s workplaces run on multitasking. This can be great for getting more done, keeping staff engaged and increasing the projects you take on. On the other hand, it can often lead to mistakes when billed time is mistakenly allocated to the wrong project.‍A task timer like Insightful ensures time always goes to the projects they’re assigned. Either by using a one-click Work Time Tracker or innovative Automated Time Tracking.

Hire Freelance Remote Workers Confidently‍Making freelance and remote workers part of your team helps reduce wages, lowers headcount, and increases the talent pool you have access to. All positives. But, the downside is, when they’re in different cities, countries or continents, you lose visibility of time and attendance.‍An online time tracking software and employee monitoring solution like Insightful closes the distance gap between you and remote or freelance workers. Installed on their system, Insightful tracks through time based on computer activity logging, obtains proof of work via screenshots and monitors activity levels, app and website usage to make sure your independent workers are doing what you’re paying them for. It’s as if they’re in the office right next to you.

Enhance Focus, Efficiency and ProductivityFocus, efficiency and productivity, three pillars of all high performing teams. If you’re wondering how to increase productivity, a powerful work tracker like Insightful enables you to track employee time on tasks, apps and websites to see if they’re working on what they’re supposed to. Or, losing FOCUS on non-work-related tasks. Compare data from previous periods and projects to gain a forensic understanding of your team’s productivity, then make adjustments and prioritize tasks, as needed.‍Additionally a productivity tracker can help you even identify the most efficient workers, giving them the reward and recognition they deserve. Plus, allocating them to high ROI and top priority tasks and projects multiplies their impact on team productivity and performance. Besides being a work time tracker, Insightful is employee monitoring software, too, it also enhances FOCUS by monitoring the exact tasks, apps and websites your team is spending time on.

Improve Attendance, Reduce Absenteeism and Optimize OvertimeIt’s all-too-common that employees sneak 5 or 10 minutes here or there by coming to work late, leaving early or having extended breaks. No big deal to them. But extremely costly to you. and businesses in general who are left with a 3b annual bill due to tardiness.

It’s impossible to watch every employee come and go. But with work time tracker, you can monitor employees who are late, take extended breaks or are absent. What’s more, an employee attendance tracker delivers clear calculations of working hours, overtime, and leave balances, so you can manage time off and leave effortlessly.

Accurate Project Budgeting, Estimation and BillingBilling by the hour can be an inexact science. Especially for months-long projects that involve team members from across divisions. It’s no wonder companies like agencies, architects and design firms often estimate and budget for a set number of hours, only for the project time to balloon. This leaves you with two options: One, having a difficult conversation with a most likely unhappy client; or, two, taking the hit for the additional time involved. Neither is great for business.

An effective employee time tracking system makes budgeting, estimation and billing more exact. You can prevent under billing, track progress against time quoted, and adjust if a client requests additional work with evidence of time completed and the extra amount needed. Best of all, you can use data from similar previous projects to quote in future more accurately. Plus, with some staff tracking solutions like Insightful, you can link tracked time directly to payroll, for accurate, automated staff wages, or to create one-click client invoices.

As you can see, the advantages of time tracking cross every aspect of business. Put simply, a time tracking application lets you spend the most time on what makes you the most money by eliminating time-consuming work that doesn’t bring strong returns and allowing you to redirect FOCUS to the projects that bring the highest ROI.

What Types of Teams Trust in Time Tracking Software?

Today’s lightweight, versatile time tracking apps for employees are used the world-over by almost every type of company, from a small business to large enterprises. Here are just some of the teams who thrive on more productive time with employee time tracking.

Smart staff app

What are Smart goals?

Smart goals are rooted in reality and attainability. They help leaders, managers, teams, and individuals transform abstract aspirations into concrete, actionable steps.

Smart goals are especially crucial in project management as projects are vehicles for teams and companies to transform goals into reality. Projects typically include strategic and operational activities, such as breaking high-level aspirations into programs, projects, and tasks, assigning these to groups and team members, allocating resources to competing needs, and building and maintaining stakeholder relationships for every part of the business pipeline. Smart goals help project managers achieve all of this efficiently.

Smart project management goals also provide direction with a roadmap stating what needs to be achieved and when. They’re an excellent tool for adhering to organizational strategy and ensuring every project is aligned with the broader business goals.

The Smart approach can significantly boost employee engagement and productivity. When goals are achievable, employees are challenged and motivated to achieve them. In contrast, unattainable goals demotivate team members and create a sense of frustration and futility with the work.

Delving deeper, let’s look at each step of the Smart criteria in detail.

Specific

The goal should target a specific area of improvement or answer a specific need. Because it’s the first step in the Smart goal process, it’s important to be as clear as possible. For example, note the difference between “I will make lunch” and “I will use wheat toast, peanut butter, and strawberry jam to create a tasty sandwich for myself to eat”. See how specific it is? This example also illustrates the importance of word choice. Not only are you noting which ingredients or tools will be used to achieve the final goal, but you’re also articulating who benefits. Details like these color your goal description, making it easier for collaborators to visualize and align intentions with your project.

Measurable

The goal must be quantifiable, or at least allow for measurable progress. In this step, you’ll choose what your progress markers or project KPIs are and how you’ll measure them. This might mean adopting the right tools or restructuring your KPI’s to something that you can easily monitor. You’ll also need to define who is in charge of measuring your progress, when these measurements will take place, and where the information will be shared.

Attainable

The goal should be realistic and based on available resources and existing constraints. Typical project constraints include team bandwidth, budgets, and timelines. Project managers should look to data from similar past projects for insight into what’s achievable this time around.

Relevant

The goal should align with other business objectives to be considered worthwhile. You can also break your project goal down into smaller, equally relevant goals that will keep the whole team focused. Be diligent about eliminating irrelevant goals and subgoals to save significant time.

Time-bound

The goal must have a deadline or a defined end. This can be measured in hours and minutes, business days, or years depending on the project scope. To set your project timelines, get feedback from major stakeholders about their deadline expectations, and compare it to team members’ inputs.

You can write down your Smart goals and share them with your team using a shared document or an OKR template. An OKR template allows you to identify, build, discuss, track, and rate goals for both teams and individuals on any given project.

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Where did the idea of Smart goals come from?

Although the term Smart started to spread in the 1980s after Doran’s article in Management Review, Smart goals were born from a 1960s psychological theory where researchers began testing the relationship between conscious decision-making and output. In Dr. Edwin Locke’s often-quoted paper on the subject, he notes that “an individual’s conscious ideas regulate his actions” and have a direct relationship to goal execution.

His study also finds that it isn’t money, results, or external pressures that motivate high performance. It’s simply the act of breaking down a hard goal into a conscious purpose that others willingly share. Although you can’t force someone to be excited about a project, you can set them up for success with highly structured objectives using the Smart goal method.

Examples of Smart goals for project managers

As you’ll see from the below examples, Smart goals can be applied to all aspects of project management. Simplifying your Smart goal into one simple sentence is a powerful tool for aligning your whole team around a shared intention.

• Adopt a work management tool (specific) that organizes at least 50 (measurable) incoming work requests per week (attainable) so that our team can streamline task assignment (relevant) within 30 days of receipt (time-bound).
• Create a social media marketing campaign template (specific) that plans out one daily tweet for the next 30 days (measurable and attainable) to increase existing audience engagement (relevant) before our launch on the first of the upcoming month (time-bound).
• Realign the current project deliverables schedule (specific) by assigning new due dates to all three small tasks (measurable) over the next seven days (attainable) so that the original deadline remains the same (relevant) and clients can review the tasks by Friday (time-bound).

Smart goals vs. Smart objectives

Though the terms Smart goals and Smart objectives are often used interchangeably, they represent different concepts. Let’s first define goals and objectives.

A goal is a broad primary outcome, a destination you and your team are working toward. It’s the bigger picture of what you want to achieve, often long-term. Goals represent the result you aspire to achieve — for example, to enhance brand recognition.

Objectives, on the other hand, are the concrete steps that move you toward your goal. They are more specific actions to achieve a goal. Objectives are usually shorter-term. For example, for your goal to enhance brand recognition, you may have an objective to increase your social media marketing efforts to gain 1,000 new followers on Instagram in the next two months.

It’s similar with Smart goals and Smart objectives. Smart goals clarify the outcomes you’re working toward from a big-picture perspective adhering to the five Smart criteria. Smart objectives are more specific and thorough. They’re smaller milestones and actionable steps you can take toward achieving the Smart goals, also adhering to the five Smart criteria.

Crucial differences between Smart goals and Smart objectives include:

• Specificity: Smart goals must be specific enough to guide action and decision making. Smart objectives must be specific enough to drive action.
• Measurability: Both Smart goals and Smart objectives need to be quantifiable. However, the metrics for Smart objectives might be more detailed and process-oriented, e.g., the number of sales calls made in a day or marketing campaigns launched within a quarter. In contrast, the metrics for Smart goals are usually outcome-oriented, e.g., to increase overall sales over a period.
• Attainability: The level of detail and FOCUS is much higher in Smart objectives than in Smart goals. You can say goals are aspirational, while objectives are operational.
• Relevance: Since Smart objectives are the actionable steps towards accomplishing an overarching Smart goal, you may have several Smart objectives associated with completing one Smart goal. In such cases, achieving the objectives can serve as a method of tracking progress toward the end goal.
• Timelines: While both Smart goals and objectives are time-bound, Smart goals may often lack a precise timeline or span a longer timeframe. Smart objectives are bound by a closely managed schedule tied to projects that are either currently active or coming up in a strategically aligned program.

Let’s look at an example of a Smart goal and its objectives from our list of examples above: Smart goal: Create a social media marketing campaign template (specific) that plans out one daily tweet for the next 30 days (measurable and attainable) to increase existing audience engagement (relevant) before our launch on the first of the upcoming month (time-bound).

To achieve this Smart goal, we can break it into the following Smart objectives:

• Identify popular content themes (within three days): Review previous successful tweets and audience engagement data to identify popular content themes and topics that resonate with our audience.
• Create a content calendar (by the end of week 1): Develop a content calendar outlining the topic or theme for each of the 30 daily tweets. Ensure the content is relevant and likely to drive engagement.
• Draft tweets (by the end of week 2): Write the copy for each tweet based on the defined topics in the content calendar. Make sure each tweet is engaging and aligns with the overall campaign objective.
• Design visual elements (by the end of week 3): Design or source relevant visuals (images, infographics, short videos) to accompany each tweet. These should complement the copy and enhance the message.
• Schedule tweets (three days before the launch): Using a social media management tool, schedule all tweets to be automatically posted each day for the next 30 days.
• Monitor and adjust (ongoing, starting on the launch day): Regularly monitor the performance and engagement of each tweet. Be prepared to make adjustments to future tweets based on this feedback if necessary.
• Conduct a post-campaign review (after the 30-day campaign period): Review and analyze the success of the campaign in terms of audience engagement. Use this information for future campaign planning.

Wrike can help you reach your business goals

Aligning your team’s goals with organizational objectives and project initiatives can seem daunting, but Smart goals take the mystery out of goal setting to provide clear, actionable steps toward achieving your project, team, and organizational visions.

Wrike’s PMO solution is a powerful tool for achieving Smart business goals and objectives. It helps company executives and project managers transform goals into reality with effective project planning at the strategic and operational levels. The business goals template and project action plan help teams align strategy with execution, creating a reliable system for consistent success.

With real-time status updates, you can track the progress of your projects and ensure they’re on track and progressing hitch-free. Project managers can coordinate teams and projects using the project resource planning tool to ensure the most efficient use of organizational resources.

Whether you’re looking to improve productivity, provide direction, or enhance accountability, setting Smart goals can help you achieve them. Are you a company executive or project manager looking to set better goals and achieve desired outcomes competently? Look no further than Wrike.