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LGA Consortium MeetingSacramento, CA
Web-Based Time Survey Solution
Presented by Dan GardnerJuly 8, 2010
Time Study Buddy
Bad NewsRemember the time survey month? One month per year. That was relatively easy. Then the economy collapsed, Obama was elected, and the federal auditors got serious.
Now County LGAs will need to do time surveys more frequently, many continuously.
And this added administrative burden comes during a time of hiring freezes and spending cuts. What to do?
Use the Web!
✓More efficient
✓More revenue
Easy = more participation = more revenue
Levels of automation:
0. Manual
1. Spreadsheet
2. Database
3. Application
4. Web - Based
Good News
•The Buddy is two years in development - over 25,000 lines of programming code
•November 2009 - first pilot
•May 2010 - go live
•Multiple browsers: IE-6, IE-7 and Firefox
Key Features• Easy setup
•One click to start new quarter
•Worker list shows status of each worker
• View, edit & print individual time surveys
• Automatic reports - no need to re-key data
• Complete audit trail in Excel
Bad NewsThe Buddy was specifically
designed for County Social Services
but ...They are very similar!
Err*rrr#hhh!!!
Comparison
MAA/TCM Social Svcs.
Codes 12 250Plan Formal InformalActivities Yes Part of CodeQuarterly Inv.
Yes Yes
Invoice Name
Invoice Claim
Payroll Mostly 2 weeks
Mostly 2 weeks
Time Surveys & Studies
MAA/TCM Social Svcs.
Name Time Survey Time Study
1-Mo/Qtr Yes - random
Yes - middle
4-Wks/Qtr Yes - random
Yes - middle
2-Wks/Qtr Yes - random
No
Continuous Yes YesRandom Mom.
Yes Yes
Implementation
MAA/TCM Social Svcs.
Pilot 2010 Nov. 2009
1-Mo/Qtr 2011 Feb. 2010
4-Wks/Qtr 2011 May 2010
2-Wks/Qtr 2011
Continuous 2011 Oct. 2010Random Mom.
2012 2012
Admin Features•Easy setup
•One click to start new quarter
•Worker list shows status of each worker
•View, edit & print individual time surveys
•Automatic reports - no need to re-key data
•Complete audit trail in Excel
Easy setup - about 2 minutes per worker
One click to start a new quarter
List shows the status for each worker
View, edit & print individual time surveys
Excel reports - no need to re-key data
Complete audit trail - in Excel
The Buddy only does Time Studies
& Surveys•No MAA/TCM Plan
•No Invoicing
•No Consulting
• Just Time Studies & Surveys
• And we do our best to do them well!
Time and technology permitting let’s go online ...
Thank you
AppendixAdministrative Processes
Step 1 - Send out blank time studies
Currently BuddyMost counties use Excel to customize the time study template for each worker, including header information and some of the most commonly used codes. This information is updated and the time study is printed and routed to the worker using intra-office mail.
Just click on “begin new time study month” and an email is sent to each worker. Their time study is ready.
Step 2 - Worker receives a blank time study
Currently BuddyThe worker receives their blank time study in the intra-office mail. Because of the time needed to process and send them out, they are often received late, after the time study month has already begun.
The worker receives a “Welcome Back” email. Clicking on a link in the email takes them directly to their new time study at www.timestudybuddy.com.
Step 3 - Wait until the end of the month
Currently BuddyWait .... There’s a lot going on
here. Because the admin is able to easily view the completion status for each worker, reminder emails are sent out as needed. Also, preliminary reports are available that when used along with a mock claim tool, allow you to see where things are heading.
Step 4 - Collect signed time studies
Currently BuddyThis is usually the beginning of a long and frustrating process. You probably wait two or three weeks and then begin tracking down all of the missing time studies. They begin to trickle in but those still outstanding become a problem and hold up the entire claim.
Because you’ve been tracking them all along, there’s only a few “delinquents” to deal with. When finished, the workers print their time study from the Buddy and sign them. They are then sent to their supervisor who reviews, signs, and forwards to you.
Step 5 - Quality review
Currently BuddyNow that you have the signed time study in hand you begin to check the math (does everything add up!) and check the hours to the payroll time sheets. There’s usually lots of problems that need to be corrected and sent back for signing.
There’s no need to check the math, and the quality review built into the Buddy helps ensure their hours match their payroll time sheets.
Step 6 - Summarize time study data
Currently BuddyEach time study is now “keyed” into either a spreadsheet of database for summarization. Not only is this very time consuming, but there’s many opportunities to make an error.
Automatic
Step 7 - Make sure all time studies are in
Currently BuddyTypically a list is maintained for all time studies sent out, and then tracked to see those outstanding. With all that’s going on, it’s easy to get things mixed up a bit.
The Buddy provides an easy to work with list of each time study, including their current status: such as percent complete, completed and printed, and signed and received.
Step 8 - Prepare supervisor pro-rata calculations
Currently Buddy
This is typically preformed using Excel or in a database in which the time study data has been re-keyed.
Automatic, including detailed audit trail reports in Excel format.
Step 9 - Prepare DFA 55 time study hours input report
Currently BuddyThis is typically preformed using Excel or in a database in which the time study data has been re-keyed. Often data from more that one source needs to be combined.
Automatic, including detailed audit trail reports in Excel format.
Step 10 - Prepare DFA 403 FTE input report
Currently Buddy
This is preformed in a variety of ways, some using payroll reports and others calculating the FTEs from the time study hours.
Automatic, including detailed audit trail reports in Excel format.
Step 11 - Draft claim #1 - “Houston, we have a problem!”
Currently BuddyThis is usually where management realizes that the spending to allocations derived from the time studies fails to provide enough revenue. Thus begins the time consuming and ethically uncomfortable process of changing time studies. And with each time study changed, steps 4 - 10 are repeated.
The Buddy allows you to manage the use of time study codes pro-actively, rather than retro-actively.
Step 12 - Repeat steps 4 - 10 for each “draft” claim
Currently Buddy
Things get really busy during the month the claim is due.
Much easier
Step 13 - The claim is completed and filed
Currently BuddyGather and file all of the signed time studies. Gather and file all the reports needed to prepare the claim and to provide an audit trail.
Gather and file all of the signed time studies, same as currently. However all of the reports and audit trails are in one place. They can either be printed in Excel, or saved, or both.
Step 14 - Adjusted claims - 9 month later
Currently BuddyYet another chance to change time studies to gain more revenue. The entire process is repeated again.
By using the Buddy’s pro-active tools, hopefully this will not be needed. However, tools are provided to easily amend time studies and automatically process the necessary reports.
Thank you
