Troubleshooting Common Issues in Timesheets MTS

Top 10 Tips for Using Timesheets MTS EfficientlyTimesheets MTS is a flexible time tracking and timesheet management system used by small-to-medium businesses, consultants, and project teams. When used well, it saves payroll time, improves accuracy, and provides clear reporting for projects and budgets. The following practical tips will help you get the most out of Timesheets MTS — from initial setup and daily use to reporting and long-term maintenance.

1. Start with a clean, well-organized setup

A good foundation prevents confusion later.

• Standardize naming conventions for employees, clients, projects, and tasks (for example: “ClientName — ProjectCode — TaskName”).
• Create a consistent set of job codes and categories so reports aggregate correctly.
• Import existing employee and project data if possible to avoid manual entry errors.

2. Configure company settings to match your payroll and legal requirements

Timesheets MTS includes many configuration options; align them to your rules.

• Set your work week, pay period, and overtime rules in the system preferences.
• Configure rounding rules and minimum increment settings (e.g., 6-minute or 15-minute increments) to match payroll policies.
• Enable audit controls and change tracking if your industry needs stricter oversight.

3. Train users with role-specific guidance

Different users need different levels of access and instruction.

• Provide brief role-focused walkthroughs: employees (entering time), supervisors (approving timesheets), admins (reports, configuration).
• Use short how-to documents or short screen-share sessions for common tasks like clocking in/out, editing entries, and submitting for approval.
• Encourage the use of notes on entries to explain nonstandard work or adjustments.

4. Use timesheet approval workflows consistently

Approval workflows reduce errors and improve accountability.

• Set up a clear approval chain (team lead → manager → payroll) and enforce it.
• Require comments for any edits after approval to maintain an audit trail.
• Schedule regular approval deadlines aligned with payroll runs to avoid late approvals.

5. Leverage auto-fill, templates, and recurring entries

Save time on repetitive data entry.

• Use job templates or recurring timesheet entries for employees who work the same schedule each period.
• Enable auto-fill for common time blocks where appropriate.
• Pre-assign typical tasks to projects so employees only pick a project instead of creating entries from scratch.

6. Keep project budgets and estimates up to date

Track forecasts vs. actuals to control costs.

• Enter project budgets and estimated hours into Timesheets MTS so the system can signal overruns.
• Regularly review “hours remaining” and communicate with project managers when burn rate rises.
• Use alerts for when projects hit a percentage of budget consumed (e.g., 75% or 90%).

7. Create and schedule meaningful reports

Reports turn time entries into actionable data.

• Identify top reports you need (timesheet summaries, project labor costs, overtime reports, client billing summaries) and save them as favorites.
• Schedule automated report distribution to stakeholders (weekly project manager reports, payroll-ready exports before pay runs).
• Use filtering and grouping (by client, project, employee, date range) to create concise, relevant reports.

8. Integrate with payroll and accounting systems

Avoid double entry and reconciliation headaches.

• Use the built-in export formats or API integrations to push approved timesheet data directly to payroll or accounting systems.
• Map pay codes and project codes consistently between systems to prevent reconciliation errors.
• Test integrations on parallel or sandbox data before going live.

9. Monitor and control overtime proactively

Overtime surprises hit budgets and morale.

• Set up alerts or flags for employees approaching overtime thresholds.
• Use standard schedules in the system so deviations are visible and can be corrected early.
• Review overtime reports monthly to identify recurring causes (staffing gaps, scheduling issues, misclassification).

10. Maintain data hygiene and perform regular audits

Good maintenance prevents slowdowns and bad data.

• Remove or archive old projects and inactive employees to keep lists manageable.
• Run periodic data audits: check for duplicate entries, missing project codes, or entries without approval.
• Back up configuration and data regularly and test restores if your deployment supports it.

Final checklist (quick reference)

• Standardize names and job codes.
• Align system settings with payroll/overtime rules.
• Train users according to roles.
• Enforce approval workflows and require edit notes.
• Use templates/recurring entries for repetitive work.
• Track project budgets and set alerts.
• Save, schedule, and distribute key reports.
• Integrate cleanly with payroll/accounting.
• Monitor overtime and set proactive alerts.
• Archive inactive records and run audits.

Applying these ten tips will help you reduce administrative overhead, improve payroll accuracy, and get clearer insights into project costs and employee time utilization using Timesheets MTS.