Time tracking
Working time and project time answer different questions
Eight recorded hours do not yet tell you which job needed that time. Staff planning looks at a person’s working day. Job costing asks where that work went. These views should reconcile, but they should not be treated as interchangeable.
Not every hour belongs to a customer site
Tool maintenance, internal meetings and loading the van still happen even without a customer job. Create a few clear internal categories. Otherwise the nearest available project becomes a dumping ground and appears more expensive than it was. An internal category is not a bin for unexplained time either: the entry still needs a recognisable purpose.
One day, two sites
A field worker spends three morning hours at Müller and four afternoon hours at Brandt. Another hour is spent in the workshop. The job reports should therefore show three and four hours, while the day view shows eight working hours excluding breaks. If both jobs receive eight hours, attendance and allocation have been counted twice.
Explain gaps rather than hiding them
At the weekly review, compare total working time with allocated time, including internal activities. A gap may reveal a missed project change. Discuss it with the worker instead of spreading it across jobs automatically. Correct the entry once the cause is understood. This makes later cost comparisons more useful and avoids blaming a site for recording errors.
Your business checklist
- Review working-time totals and project reports separately.
- Use a few clearly named internal activities.
- Record project changes during the day.
- Resolve unallocated time together rather than distributing it arbitrarily.