How to convince the team to follow process?

During my career, I got an opportunity to work on timesheet management-related activities.

What is traditionally followed in all the companies with respect to timesheet submission?

Fill the timesheet either at the end of the week or month right?

One of the experienced Finance Managers proposed a process after finding out a lot of gaps in this method.

1. People go on vacation and miss submitting hours.
2. People make incorrect entries
3. New joiners will not get access at the right time and miss updating.
4. Missed hours in the current month have to be submitted in the subsequent month.
5. Actuals are being late and not giving the right picture.
6. Every month provide the commentary for the variance.
7. This leads to additional time and not being able to know the realistic prediction of the forecast.

I found the process proposed by him to be worth posting it here.

It is very simple and effective as well. 

The process is to submit the time entries for the entire month in the first week itself.

I know, now you might have a lot of questions like

1. How to make changes in the time in case of working on multiple projects?
2. How to accommodate the personal leaves and holidays?

I was asked to draft a mail on the new time entry process and I came up with the below email.

This is how I started after putting on my thinking cap.

New time Entry Process Email:

Dear All,

As we strive to improve the time entry process ad attain 100% compliance, we have come up with a new process suggested by a few of the team members.

What is this New Time Entry Process?

✅ All the time entries should be entered and submitted in the first week of the period.

✅ First reminder – Non-booking hours follow-up will be sent in the second week of the period.

✅ Final reminder will be sent three days prior to the month-end closure.

✅ Any changes if required can be made three days before the period closure date.

✅ The manager will review and approve the time on the last two days of the month.

When this new process is effective?

The best time to start anything was yesterday. The 2nd best time is to do it, TODAY.

As we are in the first week of the month, this new process is effective immediately for our teams only.

How to account for Holidays and Leaves?

Based on the Holidays for the particular month, you can fill public holidays in the first week itself.

📍 For example, 2nd April 2021 is the holiday for Good Friday. This helps you to proactive plan your holidays and also not to miss the time entries.

📍 For the leaves taken during the month, you can make changes in the last two days prior to the month-end.

How this is better than the current process?

Sometimes less is always more. We have been missing time entries every month due to leaves, key deliverables, incorrect entries, non-approvals, non-approvals, etc.

This new process will help in better planning and 100% compliance.

✅ It is a one-time entry in the tool for the whole period.

✅ You will have sufficient time to make changes & corrections.

✅ This process will give sufficient time to validate & approve for the managers.

What is expected from us immediately?

Request to submit the timesheet for the full period from 1st April to 30th April by EOD 5th April.

Appreciate all your support and effort.

Regards.

What is different in this mail?

It is how you have put forth the new process activities, its benefits, comparison & pitfalls of the old process, and expectations in the CONVERSATION FORMAT.

This type of writing process will help as it addresses all the questions one will have in the mind in terms of the new process.

This concept can be followed for rolling out any process in your team as it will have less resistance.

Hope you have benefitted from this quick snack tip. Happy to share.