How much onboarding and training will we need?
Every firm approaches moving to a new system differently.
Some Abtrac users are small teams that can get up and running quickly with two to three sessions, while larger organisations may require a more structured onboarding process and staged rollout.
Requirements also vary depending on whether you’re migrating data from another system or starting fresh.
Our sales and onboarding team will help assess the most suitable level of training and implementation support based on your existing systems, data preparation, and the resources available within your team. At a minimum, firms should plan for Sessions One and Three. Firms migrating data from another system will also require Session Zero as part of the onboarding process.
All online training sessions are recorded, and you’ll receive a copy after each session for future reference, along with guidance on recommended next steps.
This article and the video below include a typical overview of the Abtrac onboarding process.
Video: Onboarding and Training when you switch to Abtrac
Session Zero: Project Management
Duration: Approximately 1 hour
Who should attend: Decision makers, managers, directors, and administrators responsible for setting up Abtrac and determining how it will be used within your business.
This session covers: Reviewing migrated data, checking mapping from your legacy system and noting adjustments.
Or, talking through the options for you to self set-up data – either by importing, or keying in information directly.
Plus, making a plan for how staff, projects and invoicing will be managed using Abtrac in your office. Talking through the timeline for launching Abtrac to all the team once set up is completed.
Session One: Abtrac set-up. Plus Employees, Jobs and Timesheets
Duration: Approximately 2 to 2.5 hours
Who should attend: Decision makers, managers, directors, and administrators responsible for setting up Abtrac and determining how it will be used within your business.
This session covers: Configuring Abtrac to suit the way your business works and existing internal processes, including setting the system up to look and feel similar to your previous system where applicable.
We begin with a walkthrough of the administration menu and default system settings, before covering the basics of managing staff, entering time and disbursements, and configuring user settings.
The session also includes an overview of clients and jobs, including how to add new records, enter tasks and set project budgets.
Once the system has been configured, staff can begin entering timesheets in Abtrac.
In most cases, firms will then train their own staff internally on day-to-day time entry processes. Alternatively, the final 20 minutes of this session can be used as an introductory staff training session covering how to log time and enter timesheets in Abtrac.
Session Two: Clients and Jobs – Extended Session (optional)
Duration: Approximately 1 to 2 hours
Who should attend: Managers, project leads, administrators, and staff responsible for quoting, creating, managing, scheduling, or invoicing projects within Abtrac.
This session covers: Project Management in greater detail. The first introductory session on clients, jobs, and timesheets covers a large amount of information in a relatively short period of time.
For this reason, some firms choose to schedule a follow-up session to revisit key areas in more detail after having some time to use Abtrac and identify questions or areas requiring further configuration.
The second session will often focus more specifically on jobs and tasks within Abtrac, including areas such as proposal management, detailed job budgets and rates, forward planning, scheduling, job notifications, and reporting.
Depending on your rollout approach, this session may take place shortly after the initial setup or later once staff have become more familiar with the system.
Session Three: Set-Up for Invoicing, and Prebilling Reports (Managing WIP)
Duration: Approximately 2 to 2.5 hours
Who should attend: Directors, administrators, and staff responsible for reviewing work in progress, managing project billing, and preparing and sending invoices to clients.
This session covers: Configuring invoicing settings within Abtrac, including the administration menu, default invoicing settings, and email settings. We also cover the basics of managing work in progress (WIP), reviewing what should be billed each month, and generating simple invoices.
The session includes an overview of the different invoice generation methods available in Abtrac, including cloning invoices and using the available automatic invoice options.
Before this training session takes place, your invoice template will need to be confirmed and configured.
Session Four: Advanced Invoicing, FAQs and Debtor Management (optional)
Duration: Approximately 2 to 2.5 hours
Who should attend: Directors, administrators, and staff responsible for preparing and sending invoices to clients, and managing your accounts receivable process.
This session covers: Invoice management in greater detail. Like the project management onboarding sessions, some firms prefer to revisit invoicing after having time to use Abtrac in day-to-day practice. This optional session allows for more detailed training, additional questions, and further refinement of invoicing processes.
Topics can include more advanced use of the automatic invoice generation options, including progress claim invoicing, task-based invoice reporting, and managing write-offs. The session can also cover the Debtors module, invoice payments, and Stripe integration and setup.
For some firms, this session forms part of the initial onboarding process. But others choose to schedule it later as a second-stage implementation once staff are more familiar with the system.
Session Five: Connecting to your Accounting Software – MYOB, Xero (optional)
Duration: Approximately 30 minutes to 1 hour
Who should attend: Administrators and staff responsible for sending invoices to clients, and keeping your accounts up to date.
This session covers: The optional link between Abtrac and your accounting software (MYOB or Xero).
Once you have invoices in Abtrac that are ready to be shared with your accounting software, we will help configure the integration and explain how the invoice synchronisation process works.
We also provide an overview of the invoice payment synchronisation process, including how payments entered in your accounting system are reflected back into Abtrac.
Depending on the complexity of your accounting setup and how much information you need to share between systems, this session can take anywhere from 20 minutes to one hour.
Ongoing Training options
All Abtrac users have access to free telephone and email support during New Zealand business hours for day-to-day questions and assistance. Unscheduled support calls are generally limited to 15 minutes and are intended for quick questions, troubleshooting, or guidance.
Where more in-depth reviews, assistance, refresher training, or extended implementation support is required, additional scheduled training sessions can be arranged separately.
Many firms find it useful to schedule additional follow-up training sessions once onboarding is complete and staff have some experience using Abtrac. These sessions are often used to answer new questions, review existing processes, or introduce features that were not required during the initial implementation process.
Dedicated management reporting sessions (optional)
Some firms also choose to schedule a dedicated reporting session once staff are more familiar with Abtrac and have established their day-to-day processes.
These sessions focus specifically on reporting, including project performance reporting, work in progress analysis, budgeting, staff utilisation, invoicing reports, and management reporting tools. Depending on your requirements, reporting sessions can also include assistance with data set up, and reviewing the most useful reports for different roles within your business.
For many firms, reporting training is most effective after several months of using Abtrac, once meaningful project and invoicing data has been established.
Annual Abtrac Health Check Sessions
As part of our onboarding process, we offer a complimentary one-hour health check session around your one-year anniversary with Abtrac.
This session provides an opportunity to review how the system is being used across your business, identify areas for improvement, and discuss features or workflows that may help your team work more efficiently.
Abtrac KB# 224/AV# 00429