Planning jobs
The first step after receiving a job is planning. Careful preparation and coordination are needed to make sure the job is completed efficiently and successfully. The scope and time frame of the project have to be calculated and planned, resources have to be organised and the job has to be passed on to the employees responsible.
To be able to set the scope and the time frame, you need data from past projects. The same goes for resource planning. Here too it is hard to work without data from past, similar projects.
With clockin you can call up past projects online and, thanks to integrated digital time tracking, see an overview of the hours your employees worked on that project. On top of that, you can also see the period in which the project was worked on, and in the project file why there may have been delays at one point or another.
So instead of rummaging through disorganised ring binders or digging out old Excel spreadsheets, you have an overview in a few clicks and can plan your jobs more realistically.
Recording job information
The next step is to record the job information in such a way that employees on site have all the important details to hand. Whether it is the address and phone number, the contact people or project information, all of this has to be available to employees at any time.
With the clockin app that also works offline on a smartphone. All the important information is recorded in the project file and is always ready for the employee to call up. Through the app they can start navigation to the job location, call contact people or call up subprojects and subtasks.
That means the annoying ring binder in the van disappears. Your employees no longer lose valuable time searching for the relevant information; instead they have all the important data on their smartphone with one tap. Nothing can get lost or slip through the cracks.
Accommodation and travel
The next step is the installation work itself. Depending on where it takes place, that means accommodation for your employees as well as travel costs. Quite high costs can add up here. Not every employee is willing or even able to pay these out of their own pocket up front. On top of that, you depend on them keeping receipts and invoices carefully and sticking to the budget you gave them. Since this is the company's money, it only makes sense for you to introduce processes that are easier to control.
That is why Pleo gives you the option of letting the money side of installation work run automatically without any hassle. With Pleo your employees get company credit cards that can be customised. Customised here means that you can assign individual spending limits to each card. That way you can make sure budgets are respected. The app also lets receipts be captured digitally and assigned as soon as your employees pay for something. You get an up-to-date real-time overview of travel costs and hotel prices, per diem allowances and much more, whether you are on the road, in the office or at home.
Keeping an overview as the project planner
As the boss you should of course also stay informed about the progress and current status of your projects. In many cases that happens through regular phone calls. But that costs time and keeps you and your employees from their actual work.
clockin lets you automate this process. Instead of trying again and again to get a picture of the situation on site over the phone, you can always see through the project file what your employees are currently working on. The project status gives you a quick real-time analysis of your projects. Data and key figures are presented here in clear charts and graphics. The project file lets your employees create photos, sketches and notes and upload them straight into the project file. That way your employees can illustrate certain work steps, provide reference material or simply document the project visually.
Important documents relating to the project, such as contracts, presentations, reports and other paperwork, can also be stored in the project file. That keeps you and your employees up to date.
But the hours worked also have to be recorded on installation jobs. With clockin your employees not only record their working hours digitally through the app with a single tap, they can also record hours separately for particular projects and the corresponding subprojects. That gives you not only an overview of the total hours worked on your projects, but also of how much time went into individual tasks.
The data collected can always be viewed for subsequent projects and will make planning considerably easier for you.
Staying calm when you have to recalculate
Not every project can be planned perfectly in advance. Here and there a pot of paint, an extra pair of hands or a different screw size turns out to be missing. On an installation job that sometimes means a forced trip to the nearest wholesaler or DIY store, or sending out another skilled worker.
With the project file from clockin you will in any case always have a good overview of how far the schedule can be kept on site, where your employees may be taking longer and how many working hours have already gone into the project. If the actual time and the planned time do not match, you can spot that early and send out extra employees if necessary.
Making it easier to buy what is missing
And if it is not just an extra pair of hands but a pot of paint that is missing, Pleo gets you out of trouble. Pleo is the perfect tool for making sure that buying supplies on site works simply and without red tape for your employees. Pleo makes it easier for your employees to buy these materials themselves. With Pleo every employee gets their own company credit card with an individual spending limit. So as the boss you can set from your desk how much company money your employees have available on the installation job. With the smartphone app, receipts are captured digitally straight away and assigned to the expenses automatically. Chasing after invoice receipts and assigning them is done away with entirely.
Meals for employees
Another big topic is meals for employees. While travel costs and accommodation are easier to calculate in advance and can in part even be paid in advance, meals are a considerably more complex and more flexible topic. Flexible, because these are not fixed costs like accommodation. And complex, because they involve many small invoices which, especially on large projects, become very hard to keep track of in total. With a large number of employees working on installation jobs over a longer period, it is almost impossible to make sure that all receipts are available afterwards. On top of that, you unfortunately only find out much later what was actually spent.
With Pleo you not only have a live overview of your employees' spending, the spending limit also makes sure they stick to their budget. Expenses are pre-coded automatically and assigned to the relevant project.. So you do not have to work out by hand which expenses were for meals and which, for example, were fuel costs. Pleo also calculates per diem and mileage allowances for you automatically. Your employees can therefore easily follow in the app how much they are still allowed to spend.
Would you like to learn more about Pleo?
This way to Pleo
Would you like to learn more about clockin?
This way to clockin
