For three generations now, the roofing company from Brilon in the German Sauerland region has been engaged in the handcrafted covering of slate roofs. From an originally regionally active small craft enterprise, the company has developed since its founding in 1920 to a nationally sought-after partner and now employs 35 people. In addition, since 2000, Prange GmbH’s plumbing department has been the ideal complement to solve difficult details in metal, as well as the roofing of metal roofs and church towers. While the main focus of the company’s sales is the re-roofing of slate-covered buildings (75%), the remaining 25% is accounted for by the roofing of metal roofs.
Eliminate timesheets
The roofing company decided to use 123onsites’ project and time recording software in order to eliminate handwritten records. Previously, employees recorded their working time manually on timesheets and passed them on to the payroll department for further processing. An extremely time-consuming and labor-intensive process, which is why Prange switched to digital, mobile time tracking. The recorded hours can then be used for both payroll and recalculation.
Successful implementation: step by step
During the first six weeks in 2021, master roofer and managing director Benedikt Egert tested the software together with six selected employees. After a successful completion, they planned to provide all employees with smartphones on which the app would be installed. Egert says: ” Yet all of our colleagues already had a smartphone and didn’t want a second one. Therefore, the 123onsites app now runs on their private phones and we share the costs. Everyone is extremely happy with that.”
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More InformationAfter the test phase, the implementation concept called for a two-track approach. All commercial employees both entered hours into the 123onsite app while continuing to record them manually on timesheets. By comparing the two approaches, operating errors and ambiguities could be identified and corrected quickly, allowing the handwritten data entry to be dispensed with as of May.
Record times digitally
In the morning, the roofers log into 123onsite as soon as they start their work, regardless of whether they are working on a construction site near the company’s headquarters or on an assembly site. They log in at the construction site and book their attendance time. The system then assigns the times to the corresponding construction site. The recording of coming, going, break and activity changes are optimized in a convenient way so that a few clicks are sufficient in each case. The software automatically adds time stamps and GPS coordinates to the time entries. The resulting results are transmitted by 123onsite to the payroll department via radio. If there is a dead spot on the construction site, the user can record the data offline. These remain stored and as soon as the smartphone has reception again, the app automatically transfers the captured data to the server.
Deployment planning quickly and easily done
Managing Director Egert handles the scheduling from the office. For assignment purposes, he simply uses drag-and-drop to move the corresponding employee to the respective construction site. The system also takes vacation times, further training and special regulations on working hours into account – for example, the employees on the assembly site work from Monday to Thursday until 7 p.m. while a five-day week is stored for the others. This allows Benedikt Egert to keep an overview at all times, because he can see at a glance how the employees are scheduled on the construction sites. And the roofer can see on his smartphone when he is scheduled where.
Uncomplicated communication thanks to construction site chat
Whereas Egert used to contact colleagues by phone or WhatsApp, this time-consuming endeavor is no longer necessary today. Because now Prange uses the free construction site chat feature in 123onsite to exchange information with colleagues informally and quickly without any legal concerns. When you create a construction site in 123onsite, the system automatically creates a chat group for the site. Every employee assigned to this construction site has access to it. The chat histories are then immediately available to Benedikt Egert far away from the respective construction site, even if the construction project has already been completed.
Digitization of the time tracking process
For Prange, the advantages of 123onsite result from the digitalization of the time tracking process. Benedikt Egert explains: “Every colleague sees which construction site he is assigned to and which colleagues he will be working with.”
Benedikt Egert
Managing director and master roofer
Using 123onsite means a better overview for us as well as significant time savings. Furthermore, we gain knowledge for the calculation of new projects.
Benedikt Egert
Managing director and master roofer
Prange GmbH
Roofing company
The payroll department no longer has to collect handwritten slips and laboriously enter data manually. The effort required for checks is a thing of the past, as are incorrect data entries. The data is available in the control center as soon as the employee has entered his times on the construction site. For the foreman, but also for the managing director Benedikt Egert, it is clear who is registered on which construction site, what activities the employee is performing there, which trainee has vocational school when and therefore cannot be scheduled on the construction site.
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Image credits: 123onsite/Timo Lutz Advertising Photography.
