Planning and scheduling resources for  shift-based work isn’t easy. The challenge arises when the managers need to keep a tab on how much time is being spent by the employees on productive tasks. The team leaders and project managers need to ensure that their teams utilize their time on  value-adding tasks and reduce or eliminate non-productive ones. So, the question is how can you do that? How can you reclaim some extra productive time each week? The solution is to conduct a time audit in a few simple steps. Implementing a top time tracking software will make this task even quicker and easier. Wondering how? Read on to find out more. 

What is a Time Audit?

A time audit is an effective and yet very simple method of managing your time in a day. You need to track all the activities you do every day for a week or more. This will help you find  areas where you may be wasting your time or identify some redundant activities that can be avoided.

Thus, a time audit helps you make amendments to your routine. To do this, you need to see what all is working well in your schedule currently. For example, the days on which there are fewer or no meetings enable you to focus more on strategic or bigger tasks. Next, you need to identify what all is creating obstacles in your schedule or not working well and how that can be improved.

Steps to Perform a Time Audit

1. Plan your categories or tasks

The first step is to create various categories, tasks, and sub-tasks that make up your workday. For example, creating project plans, resource plans, sending emails, client calls, internal meetings, lunch, etc. You can start jotting down the categories that would take most of your time. Doing this activity will help you track your time as you categorize it in various buckets. 

2. Track your and your team’s time accurately

What’s the first thing that comes to mind if you want to get a record of how you and your team are spending their time? Spreadsheets? Yes, you can do that, but spreadsheets are prone to manual error and can become very cumbersome to save, manage, and do all the calculations. If you need reliable data, then your time audit should be accurate. This means that whoever tracks and fills in their data should do it with precision. Using a top time tracking software can ease this activity for you. All  employees can login to such a tool and enter their time spent on various activities on a daily basis. A cloud-based time tracking software will consolidate such data, do analysis, provide foresights, dashboards, and a lot more.

3. Analyse the data to find how the time is being spent

When you track your team’s time with a top time tracking software, the time auditing is done in real-time. The managers can analyse how their team is spending their time between various productive and non-productive activities. Redundant and time-wasting activities could be browsing the internet, attending unnecessary meetings, or chatting on the phone. Managers need to analyse the time  spent on high-priority and strategic tasks that are important to the organizational success. For example, project-related tasks, client and team meetings, or research. This analysis further helps in taking the necessary steps to enhance your productivity and utilization.

4. Use a top time tracking software

If you want to be more efficient in doing your time audits, choose a top time tracking software like eResource Scheduler. All your team members can login to the tool and fill in their time entries. These people could be based out of any location globally and can easily log into the tool and fill in their data. The tool helps to pull out reports on a weekly, monthly, quarterly or annual basis for analysis. Once you gain a clear insight into where your team is spending their time, you can find ways to optimize resource utilization. 

5. Plan better by prioritizing

After finding out how and where the time is being used, you can make more efficient plans and prioritize the most critical tasks. For this, you also need to reduce or eliminate non-productive tasks. You can use a top time tracking software to prioritize your tasks based on urgency and use your time more effectively. 

How can eResource Scheduler help in Time Tracking and Time Audits?

If you are seeking to optimize your resources and get a higher utilization, try implementing the top-rated resource management software, eResource Scheduler. This top time tracking software will provide real-time visibility into your entire resource pool.

The software also works as a central repository of the company’s resources, current projects, resource utilization and productivity, and profitability. What’s more? It also helps raise employee satisfaction as your staff is aligned with projects that match their interests and skill sets. The tool is also very helpful in managing and tracking the time of remote teams.

An award-winning time tracking software such as eResource Scheduler can be easily integrated with any of your existing software. Want to know more? Book a free trial and understand how eResource Scheduler changes your time, resource, and project management processes.