Here's How to Implement a Digital Time Tracking System

1. What constitutes digital time recording?
2. These are the advantages of digital time recording
3. This is how you implement digital time recording with Crewmeister
4. Tik-Tak per Tap Tap

Currently, many companies are looking for a suitable time recording option. This is not least due to the ruling of the Federal Labor Court in Erfurt in September 2022 regarding the recording of working hours.

You have a wide range of solutions to choose from to record your working time. The old school solution is time clocks, punch clocks or manually completed timesheets. However, there are also terminal solutions that allow you to make time bookings using a chip or an access card. And then there is the modern, digital time recording via smartphone apps.

In this article we focus on the latter type of time recording, as the old-fashioned solutions can cause you many disadvantages and the mentioned terminal solutions are not an option for most companies due to the high initial hardware costs. First, you will learn what constitutes digital time recording and what advantages it offers you. Afterwards we will show you using the example of the digital time recording by Crewmeister, how to implement digital time recording step by step in your company.

What constitutes digital time recording?

The documentation of your colleagues' working hours is called labor time recording. Your company can use this to create various evaluations regarding productivity and operational success and to comply with legal regulations, for example regarding the observance of rest and break times. The digital time recording captures the start and end time as well as breaks via the app or online booking, which you quickly, conveniently and reliably record, for example, via your company smartphone. From the documented times, minus the break times to be observed, the actual working time at the end of the day results.

These are the advantages of digital time recording

Recording your working time via app or online application offers you various solutions compared to timesheets and terminals. On the one hand, it saves you the effort of manually transferring your hours to your payroll program, as the data can be transferred in real time. On the other hand, if you work project-related, you can compare your actually needed time with your planning and optimize it continuously. In addition, your colleagues from accounting and personnel departments always have an overview of hours worked, vacation days taken and absences of all employees. This also applies to all other colleagues who can better plan their working and absence times due to the increasing transparency. This is possible because the target and actual hours are documented to the minute thanks to the intuitive and uncomplicated recording. By linking to your accounting program, you link the performance of your colleagues with existing customer orders, making your billing more accurate and transparent. Furthermore, digital time tracking provides flexibility for employees who work on assignments at home or at your clients' premises. Compared to time recording terminals, this advantage is one of the most important of cloud-based time recordings.

This is how you implement digital time recording with Crewmeister

With suitable software, you can implement digital time recording flexibly. In our Zeiterfassung auf OMR Reviews category, you will find over 20 tools that support you in exactly this.

One time recording software is Crewmeister, on the basis of which we will now show you in more detail how to implement digital time recording in seven steps:

1. Step of digital time recording with Crewmeister:

If you are convinced of the advantages of digital time recording, start your search for suitable providers. These must fulfill the legal requirements of the GDPR and the Working Hours Act among others. To compare them, you should first determine what functions the software must offer, how much money you can spend, and which additional modules could be useful in your daily work before requesting a quote. For example, Crewmeister is a SaaS provider that digitally documents your daily working hours in the simplest possible way. In addition, the tool has an integrated vacation and shift planner.

2. Step of digital time recording with Crewmeister:

When the software is ready, you can add your colleagues to your new digital time recording system. In the case of Crewmeister, you can add new users in a straightforward and simple way with just two clicks or invite all employees via their company email address.

3. Step of digital time recording with Crewmeister:

Before you can get started, you need to record the target hours, i.e., the daily working hours to be performed in Crewmeister, so that overtime can be properly documented. This can be set uniformly for the entire staff or individually per employee. This allows your colleagues to work six hours on Monday and eight hours on Tuesday, for example, even if it is the other way around for other colleagues. This way, you can respond specifically to the individual needs of your staff.

4. Step of digital time recording with Crewmeister:

Next, you can capture your customers and projects in Crewmeister. This way, your colleagues can select the projects they are working on and record the required time for individual project steps down to the minute. This way, you know exactly how many working hours you need for certain projects. By the way, in Crewmeister you don't need to pass on your data via an interface to a payroll accounting program, but can implement it directly in the tool.

5. Step of digital time recording with Crewmeister:

Optionally, you can now set up a digital time recording terminal. Because in the case of Crewmeister, you can not only carry out time recording via the associated app or computer, but also via a so-called time recording terminal on the tablet. Especially for stationary working companies, this kind of time recording might be useful, as only one device is needed, where all employees can clock in and out in the morning and evening. To use this option, you need a tablet of your choice, on which you keep the Crewmeister app or browser login.

6. Step of digital time recording with Crewmeister:

Now that you have completed all the technical steps, it is time to get your colleagues on board. Inform them thoroughly and empathetically about the introduction of your time recording software. After all, sudden use of such documentation tools is often associated with surveillance fears. Therefore, present your company goals, rules of use, and the advantages associated with software use transparently to take these fears away from your colleagues. Be sure to mention a contact person to whom they can turn with questions about your time recording software. This creates confidence and counteracts resistance. After this, you only need to communicate the access to the Crewmeister app or browser application and the respective access data – then you can get started.

7. Step of digital time recording with Crewmeister:

If you have questions during the introduction or realize that you need additional specific functions, contact your time recording provider. Crewmeister's customer support is available to you free of charge at all times for questions or an introduction consultation.

Tik-Tak per Tap Tap

There will certainly be a requirement to record your working time in the future. Therefore, you should think early about what kind of time recording you want to use, which provider is the right one for your company, and how much you want to spend on a time recording software. Using digital time recording and the flexibility and transparency that come with it will have a positive effect on the workflows and productivity in your company. And in the future, this will be easy – with just two taps on your smartphone.