My friend is going to start consultancy. He is planning to hire consultants which will work for his clients.
Now, the question is , their duty hours may differ on each day.. some day consultant may work for 2 hours while other day he may work for 4 hours.
Consultant mostly works at client's place.
My friend wants to charge client based on total number of hours consultant dedicated to his work.
But, he is not getting any solution as to how to keep track of total no. of hours consultant worked?
Any suggestions?
Any tools/softwares? Also, will client have to approve the working hours daily in this method?

From India, Thana
Hi
This is an interesting requirement, you can look for time sheet applications, or you can generate an excel sheet with weekly time sheet report. A standard day is 8.5 hours, week is 42.5 hours, you can allot one time sheet per consultant per client and evaluate the hours as per weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis for billing to the client.
You can generate an excel report with such information such as :
Time Sheet No: Submission Date:
Consultant Name : Consultant ID :
From Date - - To Date
Client Name : Location:
Project Title :
Weekly Time Schedule :
DD-MM Mon / DD-MM Tue / DD-MM Wed / DD-MM Thu / DD-MM Fri / DD-MM Sat / DD-MM Sun : Totals Hours
Comments and Remarks
Consultant Signature Manager Signature Client Signature Accounts Signature

From Kuwait, Salmiya
Thanks Hussain first of all.
Let me tell what I understood from your post.
1. Each consultant will have paper based time sheet.
2. Daily he will enter his working hours on his own.
3. He will present the time sheet for approval to client.
4.Once he gets approval from client, consultant will have to take approval of his manager.
5. Once manager & client approves, he will get paid.
Why should accounts person be involved in this? Not involving him creates problem in later stage?

From India, Thana
Hi Closeguy

Yes you have undertood correctly the process as per your company process. however the approval sequence depends on your company process.

Once the consultant completes the time sheet, it shall be submitted to the manager for review to see if hours charged are appropriate or not (there has to be a policy on chargeable and non chargeable hours).

After manager's review, the time sheet can forwarded to client for approval, and then accounts comes in the picture due to maintaining account recievables records, this depends on your payment terms and conditions with the client. so account department recieves the final and approved time sheet for billing or invoicing to the client.

this process seems like lot of paper work and passing around time sheets, consuming time etc. so you can automate this process, one can get time sheet applications in the market, and then you can forward the soft copies between the concerned parties for e-approvals, also you can manage the records and database of present and past time sheet to refer for projects completed and quote pricing for future projects.

your query has a very exhaustive answer, lot of things has to be considered in this regard

Set clear policy on chargeable and non chargeable hours

Determine daily and weekly standard hours, over time hours, and percentage of billing respectively.

Accurate and timely submission of time sheets on approved dates to all parties.

Strong coordination required between consultant-manager-client to approve time sheets and sent for collections.

Recording, filing and retrieval of time sheet data for present and future references.

Hope this was helpful

From Kuwait, Salmiya
Thank you very much Hussain for giving your valuable time.
Your answer is precise and informative.
I have to agree with you , Policies related to salary , overtime, leave etc.should be made first & time sheet should be web based.
@manibihar,
Your product seems to be interesting enough. I will surely tell my friend. He has not yet started consultancy..but he may opt for your service once he starts one. Thanks .

From India, Thana
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