The Cost of Ignoring Project Context in Time Tracking

Published {$created} by Carsten Blum

A few months ago, we encountered a significant data reconciliation issue with a client managing a diverse portfolio of construction projects. They were utilizing a legacy system that lacked granular project-level time allocation, and their attempts to manually consolidate data from disparate spreadsheets resulted in substantial inaccuracies. These inaccuracies cascaded into incorrect billing, project budget overruns, and strained client relationships. The root cause? A failure to comprehensively support time tracking for multiple projects within their system.

The existing solution allowed for basic registration via stopwatch or calendar (https://nureti.com/blog/simpel-tidsregistrering-stopwatch/), but lacked the ability to easily attribute time to specific projects and tasks. While Nureti offers quick registration (https://nureti.com/features/) and calendar views (https://nureti.com/blog/simpel-tidsregistrering-kalender/), the initial implementation focused heavily on individual task tracking, neglecting the critical context of project assignment. Essentially, time was being logged but not understood within the broader project scope.

The Fix: Project-Centric Time Allocation

The remedy involved a multi-faceted approach. First, we enhanced Nureti’s project and task hierarchy, allowing for nested project structures and detailed task breakdowns. This mirrored the client's actual project organization. Second, we enforced mandatory project assignment during registration. Users could no longer register time without selecting a project and associated task. This ensured every logged hour was directly attributable. Further enhanced reporting capabilities provided a clear and consistent view of project-level time allocation and costs. The statistics widget dashboard (https://nureti.com/blog/quick-time-tracking-reports-dashboard/) now highlights project-specific metrics.

Lessons Learned and Ongoing Improvements

This incident highlighted the importance of understanding a client’s operational workflow before implementing a time tracking solution. A flexible system allows businesses to adapt to changing needs, and Nureti offers unlimited projects and tasks (https://nureti.com/features/) precisely for that reason. We've since incorporated this lesson into our onboarding process, actively probing for project structures and workflows. Furthermore, we are evaluating features to automatically suggest projects based on user roles or recent activity. We are also developing more sophisticated reporting options, including those related to EU working time directive compliance (https://nureti.com/eu-working-time-directive/), to provide even greater insight into time allocation and regulatory adherence.