The Impact of Time Tracking on Projects

Think about any project planning process you’ve been involved in. What does that process typically look like? Which topics are at the forefront? And what contributes to making the planning process easy and streamlined?

Regardless of the specific type of project, the typical planning process incorporates determining the project scope, identifying key deliverables, and estimating how long the work will take to complete. Depending on available resources and past insights, the planning process can be a breeze… or it can be a total guessing game if there is no data to back up the estimates. While several major elements contribute to informed and confident project planning, this post explores one area in particular: time tracking and its impact on the process.

Ultimately, project planning is all about making estimates as accurate as possible. An underlying question that drives many planning activities and project plans is often “How long will it take to complete the work?” While this question might have an easy answer for some initiatives, others might be a complete shot in the dark.

So, how do you establish confidence and make informed decisions when structuring project plans?

Having data to back up project planning decisions is vital. Previous time tracking data can be used for reference when estimating how long the work might take to complete. Combined with TaskRay’s ability to manage repeatable processes using templates, this also paves the way to analyze trends across multiple projects sharing the same structure.

Regarding time tracking data, a common approach is to compare set time estimates against actual time logged by team members who manage work within projects. As more instances of projects are created from the template, it becomes possible to identify whether initially set estimates align with how long it takes to complete work on average. This allows process managers to make informed adjustments to the project plan by reducing or increasing estimated time on applicable tasks.

That being said, how do you ensure that your organization has enough data to make informed decisions? Besides consistently setting time estimates on project plans, having actual time data (tracked by team members on their assignments) is key. If team members are diligent about tracking time as they manage work in TaskRay, it will provide a valuable source of information that can drive such insights. To help your team succeed with this initiative, TaskRay has developed an interactive guide summarizing best practices and main ways to track time in TaskRay. If you want to make time tracking an integral part of your work management process, check out this guide and share it with your team.

Once you have the data, you can leverage Salesforce reports to identify any areas for improvement on project plans. As a starting point, you can refer to some of the reports that come with the TaskRay package. More specifically, TaskRay provides reports focused on time-tracking data that you can use as starting points as you work on identifying trends relevant to your organization. As you think through the criteria for your organization’s reports for this purpose, it is also encouraged to check out other resources that summarize tips and tricks for measuring project performance.

By making time tracking an integral part of your team’s workflow and by establishing reports that align with your organizational goals, you will have confidence in future project planning and setting estimates that accurately reflect the scope of work. If you ever need additional assistance with this matter, you can reach out to TaskRay for support.