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When we designed the TimePilot system, it was intended to keep track of the number of hours employees worked. They arrive for work, the clock starts. They leave work, the clock stops. The software calculates the difference, and that’s the number of hours they’re paid.
Simple, right? (Actually, our software programmers would disagree!)
But that’s not all the system can do.
Your TimePilot system can also be used for keeping track of the time taken by particular jobs. Commonly known as “job costing,” this feature can be used to determine the amount of time an individual project takes during the workday or how long an employee takes to complete a particular project. All you need to start “job costing” is iButtons in different colors.
They’re available in 11 colors at our web site.
Let’s say you run a remodeling company and use TimePilot Extreme. In a single shift, your employees might be doing framing, then putting up drywall, then painting—and one employee might be doing some plumbing, too. TimePilot’s job costing feature allows you to see how each employee spent his or her day and also to determine how much time all employees spent framing, drywalling, painting and plumbing.
To do this, each employee will carry a black iButton and several colored ones. The black iButton will be used to clock in and out at the start and the end of the day for payroll purposes; the colored iButtons will be used to record the start time and end time of particular jobs or tasks. For instance, when an employee starts framing, he or she would tap their yellow iButton to the “in” probe. When finished, they would tap the yellow iButton to the “Out” probe, then tap their red iButton to the “In” probe to indicate they are starting drywalling.
Using the remodeling company as an example, we’ve put together a report on how to use your system for job costing. It’s a free PDF and available here. It’s also available at our web site’s Support Center, along with lots of other helpful information.