Topic

Messages

Time to close jobs

03:04pm May 27, 2003 PST

Time to closed jobs

Hi everyone,

I wondered if anyone had any ideas/thoughts on how they ensure staff aren't loading time to closed jobs. I know it comes up with error messages and won't let them tab through but if they use their mouse they can get past it and load it on anyway. So unfortunately even though staff know they shouldn't be doing this it still happens and then their are extra costs on the job after we've closed it that haven't been reviewed. Any ideas anyone on report to check so you know this isn't happening?

Any suggestions appreciated.

Regards,

Kris

Kristy Oxenham
Financial Controller
Robbins Brandt Richter Ltd

Kris,

I don't know of any report that would accomplish what you're after. If C&P says one doesn't exist you might look into having a custom one created from one of the consultants. There are a few ways our company makes sure time doesn't get posted to closed jobs. We make it very clear to our creatives that once a job gets closed it's never looked at again and they'll get in big trouble if they put any time to one. They're also motivated not to do that since we offer profit sharing and time logged but not billed is lost profit. Finally, we make sure people are entering their time on projects in a timely manner and this way their time is always on a job ticket before it gets its last billing and is closed. Hope that helps!

Lucia Mumm
Operations Manager
Full Circle Creative

RE: Time to closed jobs

Kris: Go to Setup > Users, Access & Passwords > "User Name" > Access Priveleges > Costs, then choose the box next to the option "Can't add time to closed job tickets."

Mike Bratton
Financial Manager
Brokaw Inc.

We are set up so that you can only enter time for the last 7 days; it won't accept it any further back. Also, you can set your people up to enter a mandatory 40 hours a week, and then pull the missing time report through Snapshots>Productivity>Missing Time. That will tell you who the offenders are before you go to bill.

Training your billing person in the production steps so that they know what types of charges should be on a job and checking back the time and tasks against the schedule also helps.

Alex Luken
Traffic Manager

Kris --

Seems to me like a human resource problem more that a technical issue. I don't know a lot about your system. But it seems as though one of two things are happening.

1) Jobs are being closed prematurely. It's difficult to use job closure as a way to get creatives to stop working on a job. They are naturally going to work it until it is finished. And their first inclination will be to put their time to that job if possible. If you want them to bring jobs to a close quicker, that direction should come from your Creative Director or ACD. Keep the jobs open until they are finished.

2) They are working on other pet projects (or reading magazines and folding paper airplanes) and want to hide their hours in large jobs. If this is the case, it's a matter of dishonesty on their part. One solution would be lower the penalty for putting time to where it goes. If you don't have work and you log time against the unbillable agency administration job number, that's fine. (At least now you can get an accurate picture of what's happening and can effect solutions to keep creatives appropriately busier.) With a big penalty for logging "administrative" hours, they will naturally try to hide their hours in other places.

If you lower the penalty barriers for being honest and they still choose to be dishonest and "hide" time, they're probably stealing from you in many other ways as well. Give some other competitor the benefit of hiring them. Pronto.

Good luck

Steve Deiters

Run an Unbilled Cost Report just for the production status code that you use for closed jobs.

Snapshots Work in Progress Unbilled Costs

Jenny Hartman

Kris, At the end of each month we run a job report on jobs with a 90 status(reopened jobs). We can than check into each of these jobs and see who has done what after the job was closed. Works very well for us.

Roberta Waldron

Re: Time to closed jobs

We use Status Code #3 on all our Closed Jobs.  Status Codes > Click Description > Add/Edit Status Codes > Stop Users Immediately and Show This Warning.  Also, edit their User Access Privileges to Cant Add Time to Closed Job Tickets.  This will bring the staff to you with Job Number questions and allow you to decide if you want costs to enter on a Closed Job.  

Karen Cupp
Controller

All time should be reconciled at the time the invoice is created.....So, any time entered after the billing date is a clear indication that time is being loaded into closed jobs. I would make sure that everyone understands that it is against policy to put time into loaded jobs...explain that the jobs are reconciled and that any time entered after that is a no-no without direct consent from the Production Manager or whomever. when you see this happening after the notice, you will need to confront the issue directly with that person or persons...

Hope that helps

Caitilin
Administrator
Ashley & Associates

Mike,

Unfortunately, that doesn't work. They can still get around it.

Barry J. Owens
Controller
MAI Sports, Inc.

We had the same problem for a while. It would probably be a good idea to have your traffic manager or production manager make sure all time and expenses had been posted to each job ticket before it has been billed and closed.

Terry L. Jones, Jr.

We check reopened jobs DAILY! It takes one minute and is a good internal control.

Barry J. Owens
Controller
MAI Sports, Inc.

It's probably more likely that they are not entering their time every day and cannot remember what they were working on, and how much time it took, and are trying to recreate the days' activities after the fact. (Been there, done that.) That never works.

Alex Luken
Traffic Manager

Everyone on our staff has a day planner open at their desk so they can jot down what they are working on that day. That way, when they don't get their time entered in daily they can glance back and know when and what they worked on on any given day. Liz

Liz Clapham

I review staff time weekly. Since I am only here a couple days a week, it keeps me in the loop to track vacation and sick days as well as stay on top of job time. We do have restrictions set up in C&P of not entering time to closed jobs and only entering within the last 7 days. We also have a policy that time get entered daily, which doesn't always work very well with designers. Our jobs are reviewed with the designers weekly also, for billing purposes and our production manager drills in budgets to them at that time. (This is every Monday after time is reviewed.) I can't imagine any one of our staff intentionally entering time to the wrong job, but just in case an error occurs, the weekly review of their time will catch any problems that can be fixed in a timely manner.

Robin Scully
"Cash Flo" Design & Image Communications, Inc.