How Suarez-Kuehne Saved Four Hours of Bookkeeping and Administration Overhead Every Month

Suarez-Kuehne Architecture needed an easy-to-use time tracking system that would be conducive to diligent time entry, yet sophisticated enough to provide essential application integration.

About the Client

Suarez-Kuehne Architecture—an acclaimed architectural design firm in San Francisco—brings together a complementary team of design professionals, dedicated to providing the highest level of personal service and design excellence. The partners at Suarez-Kuehne Architecture have earned design awards and, collectively, they represent more than 38 years of design expertise.

The Challenge

Suarez-Kuehne needed an easy-to-use time tracking system that would be conducive to diligent time entry, yet sophisticated enough to provide the reporting and application integration that were essential to its business. The architecture firm serves a variety of clients, from commercial and institutional-sized organizations like Humboldt State University to a variety of private residential projects. Scott Kuehne, Principal Architect, recalls, “We noticed a growing need for more granularity in our data. We were seeing more requests from private clients—many of whom have backgrounds in Professional Services—for the level of data they were used to in their line of work.” Further complicating the issue was the lack of an upgrade path for their existing QuickBooks integration solution. “We were left without a viable solution,” said Kuehne. “Luckily, we found an application that could integrate with QuickBooks and meet our time tracking needs in ClickTime.”

The Solution

When Kuehne signed up for ClickTime, he was impressed with the level of support and attention he received. Through an in-depth review of their business rules and industry practices, Suarez-Kuehne was set up with an account that was customized to fit the way their architecture firm did business. “We were up and running within hours, thanks to ClickTime’s experienced support staff. Honestly, I had never had such a good experience getting started with a service,” said Kuehne. Through ClickTime, Kuehne found the QuickBooks-integration solution that he had been shopping for. “When QuickBooks Time Tracker discontinued their time tracking product, we needed to find a solution. We tried a few different options, but ClickTime appeared to be the best fit for our business model, providing us with the granularity our clients needed, yet easily integrating with our existing QuickBooks accounting and payroll software,” said Kuehne. “Our staff was able to get started with ClickTime very quickly because of the intuitive time entry interface. With the sophisticated reports, we could immediately get an overview of the billable time entered into the system. The data we received was easy to act on, and we could tell at a glance whether there were any mistakes that could be immediately corrected.”

The Results

With ClickTime, Suarez-Kuehne was able to save 3-4 hours of bookkeeping and administration time every month. They were also able to save thousands of dollars in implementation and upkeep costs had they set out to build their own solution. “We knew from the start that we would have an advantage over other firms if we could leverage the power of outsourcing this system. We would have spent thousands to create and maintain a timesheet system of our own.” “We love that ClickTime is everywhere. We were glad to see that ClickTime just works—on all of our operating systems, browsers and smartphones.” “We’ve been with ClickTime since 2011 and we’re still as pleased as day one. Whenever we have any questions, we just call and ClickTime helps us reach an answer in minutes. Solid support is worth a lot and is something we’re glad to pay for.”

Want to learn more?

Check out how architects can better track time and manage projects.