If you are within a mobile coverage area, or on Wifi, you can access and use AbtracOnline on your mobile device, IPad, tablet or laptop.
This is useful for managing timesheets, looking up contact details and addresses in particular while away from your desk.
Continue readingWhen using Abtrac two factor authentication, a code will be sent to the user’s email address which is required to be entered before gaining access to Abtrac. This will confirm the device they are working on is a trusted device.
Each user can opt to remember this device for 30 days or they can get a new code every time they login in.
Continue readingOnce you have started using Tasks for your jobs/projects and timesheets, you can learn from them over time.
Tasks (also known as Stages, Phases or Matters) can be used to see how good staff are in getting through work allotted to them, as well as how good you are in your estimates.
You can analyse data entered against tasks either as hours worked or a budget amount.
Even if you don’t have a budget or estimate for a task (be it a variation, or something that you are charging at an hourly rate) it is a good idea to assign the item of work as a task to your job/project. You can leave the hours and fee value equal to zero.
Later on you can look at the actual time and cost assigned to the task and get a better idea of budgeting for the next job of the same type. Or you can use the tasks to simply know approximately how much time these variations to jobs typically take (and how they can affect staffing and scheduling of other jobs).
After using Abtrac for about 18 months, one of our clients, told us “I work out the budget very scientifically and then I add on 30%”.
He had learnt after using Abtrac for that period of time that he was under-quoting and thus writing off to that extent on nearly every job/project.
We would recommend reading this article about Actual vs Budget reports in conjunction with our Creating and Managing Tasks article, and also this one here which includes a glossary of the data within the Actual vs Budget reports.
A Job/Project Task is the bit of the job you are working on – and can budget against. (Sometimes they are called Stages or Phases)
Tasks are the most efficient and effective way to measure and manage your jobs.
Generally, your job tasks will match those items detailed on your original fee proposal letter.
If you’re not sure whether you should be using tasks or activities, then this article is a good place to start.
There are quite a few key details to get your tasks set up and working the way you need them.
If you are new to tasks and budgeting in Abtrac, then it’s a good idea to read through this article from start to finish, but we have also summarised the key components below for quick reference:
Where to enter job/project budgets, as fee estimates, percentages or building the scope with detailed estimates by employee
How to set up templates and clone frequently used tasks when creating new jobs/projects
Configuring the layout of the Tasks screen
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Making Tasks Mandatory in Timesheets
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Renaming Tasks to Stages – Phases – or something else
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Scope Creep Notifications. How to enable a warning on timesheets when task budgets are exceeded
For job/project management and billing estimates
And reporting on variations by using the Actual vs Budget by Job/Project, Task and Additional Values report
Click on the links above, or read on for details
Continue readingSimple, fewer pieces of information to load means you will have a faster system.
Screens such as the searches, timesheet entries, invoices, and some reports all load with the current data that is available in the system, so it’s pretty straightforward to think that making items non-current will give you a quicker response for all these pages.
Employee Charge Rates in Abtrac can be as simple or as flexible as required.
It is possible to enter unique charge rates for specific clients, jobs, projects, tasks, stages or activities. These unique rates will override the default charge rate for the specified employees (or in the case of activities, the rates will apply for all employees)
Here’s how to ensure you have the right charge rates in the right location for your billing requirements.
There’s a bit of a hierarchy as to which rate is applied when, read on for details.
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