How Rebuilding Together Saratoga County Saved Four Hours Per Week in Administrative Overhead
By the numbers
16
Hours per month saved in manual data entry
2
Days per month gained back by the team
Challenges: Project Management Inefficiencies
When Rebuilding Together Saratoga County (RTSC) started looking for a time tracking solution, they had already fully adopted Salesforce, but still needed to track project work hours to meet regulatory and compliance requirements.
Without the right tool Grant Administrator, Mary Lawrence, was spending hours each month adding project details to timesheets, even though the data already existed in Salesforce.
Lawrence comments, “When you know you’re entering information into one platform, and then you have to turn around and put it somewhere else, it feels like a waste of time.”
In addition, the task of logging project hours wasn’t always straightforward. RTSC workers needed to log project hours in real time against specific homeowner initiatives. And to stay grant compliant, they need to allocate their time to that project’s funding source to create a clear paper trail.
But because Salesforce and RTSC’s timekeeping records weren’t connected, confusion ran rampant. It wasn’t uncommon for Lawrence to start her day with a mountain of emails asking her to manually open new project timesheets.
Lawrence says, “I would come in during the mornings and the time tracking requests were already waiting for me.”
To help mitigate overhead costs, Lawrence initially tried paper timesheets, moved on to Excel spreadsheets, and finally to Google Forms. All options proved subpar in reducing the burden of duplicate data entry.
Lawrence says, “We are a nonprofit. Obviously we want our resources to go to homeowner projects, so we first tried to do the DIY version of timekeeping. But honestly, when you have the right tool, it makes your life a lot easier. None of those tools were quite working for us.”
At that point, Lawrence understood that she needed to find a tool with powerful automation capabilities that could sync with Salesforce if she was ever going to gain back data entry hours. Her goals were clear for the ideal platform. One that would:
- Eliminate time entry duplication with Salesforce.
- Maintain clean timekeeping records for auditing and regulatory purposes.
- Document project spend in relation to grant funding and grant sourcing.
- Facilitate project completion by streamlining logistics.
“When I realized that upon entry of a client into Salesforce, that information could be automatically synced with ClickTime, I understood that our efforts would be greatly reduced while our efficiency levels would be increased.”
And after just a few meetings with ClickTime’s talented Professional Services Team, Lawrence was wowed by exactly how powerful a clean time tracking integration with Salesforce could be.
She says, “When I realized that upon entry of a client into Salesforce, that information could be automatically synced with ClickTime, I understood that our efforts would be greatly reduced while our efficiency levels would be increased.”
Solution: A Seamless Salesforce Integration
RTSC chose ClickTime because of their out-of-the-box integration with Salesforce along with their deep knowledge of the product. The implementation proved to be successful, resulting in dramatic time savings.
Lawrence says, “After the integration of ClickTime and Salesforce, I can easily say it saved myself two hours a week of manual data entry time.”
Moreover, by having ClickTime talk to Salesforce and vice versa, employees could track time to homeowner projects the instant they showed up in Salesforce.
Lawrence comments, “When a new application is entered into Salesforce, the platform immediately talks to ClickTime and that information is mapped over. That way, when our staff is ready to start a project, they can go into ClickTime and already see the homeowner’s name in the system.”
The integration with ClickTime also provided recordkeeping capabilities so Lawrence and her team could access past projects and prove their regulatory compliance by accessing accurate and complete paper trails.
Furthermore, Lawrence was astonished by how smooth the implementation and adoption process went because it wasn’t just a simple data sync. She says the ClickTime team worked as both system integrators and as business consultants to meet her unique needs.
Lawrence comments, “The team made it really easy. They were super responsive to my questions and were so accommodating. They really listened to us.”
Lawrence credits ClickTime’s outstanding Professional Services Team for being so well versed in the automations that work best for the accounting world. The team has even continued to work closely with Lawrence as new challenges present themselves.
Lawrence says, “And even since the integration went live, I’ve touched base with the team and they’ve made custom tweaks for us quickly. The efficiency of this integration can’t be overstated. It really is phenomenal.”
She says throughout the integration the ClickTime team was always only an email away, and knowing they had things under control took all the stress out of the experience.
“After the integration of ClickTime and Salesforce, I can easily say it saved myself two hours a week of manual data entry time.”
Results: Team Saves Four Hours Per Week in Overhead
With the integration connecting ClickTIme to Salesforce, the team at RTSC has seen incredible efficiencies. Between manual entry and staff communication, they’ve gained back two days per month in time previously spent duplicating data or fielding logistical questions.
The automation has made it easy for staff to accurately track time to specific funding sources, bill that time to homeowner projects, and provide details on the tasks.
Lawrence says, “We don’t have to think about it too much. We’re using Salesforce to manage our day-to-day activities, but by using ClickTime we can rest assured that the timekeeping information is being transferred. It’s very little work on our end.”
And once that data has been entered, ClickTime’s compliance capabilities preserve those timekeeping records, ensuring RTSC is prepared for any audit process down the road.
In addition, the efficiencies of the integration freed Lawrence and her team up to take on more homeowner projects for the community.
“Life without ClickTime and the integration of Salesforce was inefficient and frustrating. Not anymore.”
She says, “The more clients we take on, the more project data we need to keep track of. And before the integration, that resulted in a lot of manual work.”
She has high praise for the entire process, calling it seamless, simple, and an incredible time savings.
Lawrence says, “Life without ClickTime and the integration of Salesforce was inefficient and frustrating. Not anymore.”
