mJobTime Users Don’t Need To Be Tech Savvy
Multi-state electrical contractor overcomes user resistance to save
time and money before, during and after accounting system change
Marathon Electrical works in a wide variety of job site conditions, from four-man to 100-man crews. Some jobs are a day long or less, while other projects last as long as three years. Sometimes there is a fully outfitted job site trailer office — sometimes the office is the foreman’s truck.
This Birmingham, Alabama-based electrical contractor works on commercial and industrial projects of all sizes, including health care facilities and schools.
Until recently, foremen tracked worker hours on paper time sheets and faxed them to the payroll office when a fax machine and line were available. It was a constant struggle to collect complete and accurate employee data and meet payroll deadlines.
The company needed a time tracking system that was versatile enough to meet the constantly changing working conditions. James Boullemet, director of safety and loss control, served on the committee responsible for finding a cost-effective system with plenty of flexibility.
“We looked at several time tracking products and selected mJobTime because it offered the versatility we needed and because the technology is simple to use,” said Boullemet. “We needed a system that would also interface with Timberline.”
With jobs located in several states; the mJobTime implementation was carried out on a crew-by-crew basis.
“Marathon’s foremen are seasoned workers but many of them aren’t computer savvy. They were worried about being able to use mJobTime,’ said Boullemet. “We use mostly PDAs and a few desktops and laptops as input devices. We made certain that foremen had access to tech support from mJobTime and from company technology champions who understood the system thoroughly. It took about two weeks to make believers out of the resisters.”
Boullemet says that the mJobTime system has made fans in all parts of the company. Manual time input has been eliminated for crews using the system so the company saves one full day of a payroll coordinator’s time and that employee is now free to tackle other work assignments.
“mJobTime gives us the ability to generate reports that support operations functions. It’s easy for us to monitor man hours, job hours, overtime and more, so we always have the most current performance information.” Boullemet said.
“Minimizing loss is a huge issue in construction and using a system like mJobTime is well worth the effort and the investment.”
