[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” class=”sidebar” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”padding-4-percent” column_padding_position=”right” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”3/4″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default”][vc_column_text]Time and billing are two of the most challenging aspects of running a tight ship in the finance department. On the one hand, you want to be fair to your employees and clients; on the other hand, you simply can’t be too lackadaisical about parting with company funds. Enterprise Resource Planning, or ERP, is key to controlling time and billing so that you can maintain a tight ship without slipping on your obligations to any of your stakeholders. Here’s what a modern ERP software system is capable of doing.

Establish and automate rules for time and expenses

One of the surest ways to land in hot water is to approve an expense for one employee and not another, or worse, approve an expense this quarter that you decline the next. It’s important to establish company-wide rules for time and expense reimbursements and to be able to adhere to these rules equally across the board. ERP software lets you establish and enforce billing rules across the company or per client. You can apply those rules to clients, projects, or tasks, depending on the circumstances.

You can set up and manage client profiles and define rules on reimbursable expenses, minimum and maximum time allotment, preferred vendors for costs like travel and lodging, and more. A Web-based interface makes it easy to keep the system updated from anywhere. Your ERP system should allow for time and expense approvals based on documents or by line items, based on company or client rules.

Bill by effort, not just by time spent

The effort expended for a client, project, or task is not always measured based on time spent. There are times when you need to be able to capture effort based on different requirements, like how many pages were translated, how many reports were processed, or how many units were established with or without the number of hours it took to complete. The right ERP solution will give you the ability to enforce a set of one or multiple units of measure for each project or related task when creating timesheets.

ERP software helps capture time and expense data at any level of detail

When it comes to capturing billable and non-billable hours and expenses, you need to be able to do so based on client, based on the project, or based on the task. ERP should also be able to increase the accuracy and the level of detail related to various time and expense transactions by collecting the data relative to each item. For instance, if you’re entering an expense item such as an airline ticket, the ERP should know to ask for specific information such as the flight number, the flight origin, and the destination. You can specify what data you need for which type of expense. There should also be a field open for inserting notes on specific tasks to explain the work in detail.

Don’t invest in an ERP solution until you know what yours should be capable of. Download the NexTec Corporate Overview Brochure to learn how the NexTec Group can guide you into the perfect ERP solution for your business. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ el_class=”sidebar formTop” width=”1/4″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1479780699810{padding-top: 20px !important;padding-right: 15px !important;padding-bottom: 20px !important;padding-left: 15px !important;background-color: #003e51 !important;}”]

Schedule a demo of time and billing software with us today

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• The benefits of planning, budgeting and forecasting
• Project accounting software
• 7 signs its time to change your ERP system

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