Timesheet submission and entry plays an important role in the IT staffing business and every company must consider automating the process vigorously. It has all the potential to make the business more profitable, less cumbersome to manage and easier to retain customers.

We emphasize timesheet as the focal point for automation because it is the pivotal point around which cash flow depends. Timesheets are mostly remotely delivered documents by consultants and subcontractors, and is also the starting point for the invoicing process. If the timesheet is delayed, invoicing too will get delayed and so will invoice submission and payment receipts.

IT staffing companies are increasingly going for timesheet automation to come around the delinquency problem in the timesheet submission process. Building an independent computer application is not a practical solution for midsize companies to solve delinquency in the timesheet submission process; an easier and more robust way of achieving harmony in this process is to go for a mass-appeal application that IT staffing companies can procure and integrate with their existing QuickBooks.

CONSULT is a tried and tested cloud-based application offered as a special SaaS for QuickBooks-user IT staffing companies. It can be instantly integrated with QuickBooks and made operational in almost no time.

The 3 Steps of Timesheet Automation

• Decide what you want in the timesheet. Make it as dynamic as follows but it is easy for the consultants to fill and return effortlessly. It should, as a rule, be friendly to use in a handheld device so that the user can use the mobile for making entries directly into your CONSULT software. CONSULT is platform-independent software and allows for remote data entry.
  The timesheet format should be clear and contain all the essential information required for generating invoices. Though you might decide on what to include or not to include, there are a few that are inevitable; examples include: name, place of operation, billing address, customer’s details, hourly rate, discounts, performance incentives…etc. These are essential because the details you provide here will be used by CONSULT along with QuickBooks data in generating invoices.
  
• Make the submission process as simple as possible and consultant friendly. Most of the time your consultants will be using a Smartphone for making entries and therefore it should be compatible and easy to view, and intuitive too. Most of the time, your customers will prefer to be billed on a monthly basis but that should not stop you from receiving timesheet details on a weekly or even daily basis. Your consultants will definitely be interested in a format that will allow them to choose from daily entry or consolidated monthly entry.
  
• Give your consultants access to timesheet entries that they have submitted and you have consolidated. Timesheet submission should be as versatile as possible and you should give the consultant access rights to ensure that their submissions have been properly validated by the administrative accountant. This is important to you lest it leads to conflict with your consultants and subcontractors.

CONSULT is an essential add-on for QuickBooks for processing timesheet submissions. It is essential software for achieving total automation of the accounting process with IT staffing essentials.