Anjana Desai, Author at Juntrax

PSA Software: A Complete Guide For Understanding, Evaluating And Implementing Professional Services Automation Software

Professional services automation is a platform that improves business operations through the seamless automation of multiple business activities.

Tracing it back to its origin, professional services automation originally surfaced as a small piece of project accounting software. From there, PSA has become a fundamental fragment of project-based engineering and other professional services.

Although businesses today are already well-acquainted with other software categories such as customer relationship management and financial management, professional services automation is comparatively new and unfamiliar, but imperative.

This article will introduce you to features of PSA and how you can approach its enablement for your business.

Features of PSA Software

Professional services automation is a platform that improves business operations through the seamless automation of multiple business activities. It is essentially a predominant alternative for your multi-vendor solutions for project management, employee management, time tracking, billing, etc.

It is obvious that the PSA tool works on the efficient idea of having a single, strong, and valuable foundation (read: aspects automation) instead of multiple disoriented systems.

PSA software is specifically beneficial for organizations that deliver managed or billable services such as engineering services companies. Simply put, the primary customer of PSA is an organization that provides chargeable assignments as their principal source of income.

Considering this, let’s analyze the key features that PSA can offer to a managed or billable services organization.

Project Management

PSA contains a bracket of modules for advanced project lifecycle management. Here’s how you can realize project margins and cost with PSA:

Proposals during the sales cycle for reduced errors improved project plan and decreased probability of any delay.
Configuration of contract terms to ensure adherence to policies. This includes systematic adherence to purchase order policy, experience reimbursement, and other rules related to client approvals.
Efficient project governance for risk tracking and early mitigation of issues
Management and tracking of changed orders after analyzing the comprehensive impact of financials and timelines

Employee Management

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PSA tools are equipped to match the project demands with the right available resources. With PSA by your side, you can achieve the following:

Allocation of resources based on skill-set
Allocation of resources after considering cross-project requirements
User-based permissions

It helps in proactive planning – leaving no room for last-minute challenges.

Expense Management

If you wish to track assigned tasks, analyze performance forecasts, and record recurring expenses, PSA is your destination. Most of the PSA tools support on-site or online data entry for regular entry of expenses. This helps in the predictive forecast of expenses on a category basis.

The categorization further empowers approvals for expense claims, which are immediately updated for the approver and submitter without delay.

Client Billables Management

The PSA application is frequently integrated with the core accounting software of the organization, and as a result, it offers specific features such as profitability analysis and billing. Additionally, PSA efficiently tracks invoices of customers to mitigate revenue leakage.

These invoices are often created through a batch automated process and dispatched to the client with relevant information. Of course, the user has the power to configure invoice formats such as local tax policies, language-specific changes, etc.

Project Cash Flow Management

As discussed above, due to PSA’s in-built capabilities of automating bills and invoicing, cash flow automatically improves. Factors that contribute to this are:

Timely invoicing and billing
Reduced customer disputes
Improved accuracy of billing

Together these factors contribute to the cash flow of the organization.

Reporting and Analysis

When you are dealing with services, it is not possible to quantify the service units sold. You can’t put a number to this statistic. Hence, performance management becomes complicated.

This is why the PSA software is pre-equipped with reporting potentials. Utilizing industry-specific KPIs and metrics, it is possible to gauge the performance of the business.

Conclusion

Since you have gained significant knowledge of the professional services automation features, it is the right time to start implementation. We at Juntrax can help you in your PSA implementation journey by understanding the basic requirements of your SME or startup and then move forward. From there, we can help you deploy and utilize the PSA software. Schedule a demo right away.

Can You Seamlessly Manage Employees On The Client Site?

If you are a staffing company or a global outsourcing firm, you need a solution in place that keeps your team connected, and coordinate with them while employed at client sites.

Advanced Technology and globalization has brought more and more businesses to work together across the globe. In order to meet their workforce requirement, often organizations partner with staffing or outsourcing companies to hire contract employees at their workplace. This allows the client to employ high-quality talent without a full-time employee on their payroll. On the other side, the staffing companies can send their skilled workforce to various client sites at multiple locations.

If you are a staffing company or a global outsourcing firm, you need a solution in place that keeps your team connected, and coordinate with them while employed at client sites. Similarly, your Client requires an efficient system to handle tasks related to the employees on his site. Reviewing timesheets and sending approvals, issuing entry badges and security access, and extending or disapproving contracts should all be done in a seamless manner so that there is no communication loss between you, your client and the employees.

5 Ways To Overcome Challenges Of Remote Work

Lets look at the common pain-points in this situation and how you can resolve them:

Lack of transparency/incorrect billing – For a healthy work environment it is critical that the Client is billed correctly and employees are paid on time. A centralized office management system will give access to both parties to log in and enter the information in a timely manner. But in most cases, an important communication, related to extra hours or reimbursements submitted by the employee, is missed out leading to incorrect billing. It not only makes the employees dissatisfied but also doubles the time for correcting the errors in payroll processing. The solution is a centralized system that is accessible at both ends where the Client is able to verify employee timesheets well in advance of the payroll cycle.

On-time approvals and extensions – Keeping everything on an email, especially contract approvals, is not an efficient way of handling workforce. A proper employee management system will help you keep track of all Client communication. With dual access system, the Client will be able to provide approvals in a timely manner and you can keep your records updated simultaneously.

Continue reading “Can You Seamlessly Manage Employees On The Client Site?”

Reasons why your organization must have a Mobile ERP

Mobile ERP can be viewed as one of the basic necessities for an organization to function.

Keeping the current Covid 19 situation in mind It becomes even more essential to have a mobile ERP.

There are numerous business ventures which have faced a backlash due to the current pandemic. This scenario has increased the demand for a solution that could help sustain businesses and get them back on track. Making significant and quick business decisions is the need of the hour.

Regardless of your presence at office premises or away from it, there are processes which need to be constantly worked upon. Sacrificing work as a result of distance or lack of company information can evidently cause the downfall of an enterprise. But with the current technological advances, the world is growing so fast that it has removed the factor of distances and replaced it with ease and accessibility.

Mobile ERP is one of the most prominent ways through which people are working remotely and carrying forward the success, future and sustainability of their company.

There was a time when business deals were finalized only at offices while tracking the records on company computers. But then the technology migrated us toward the laptops that could be held anywhere. Currently, we have mobile devices that are changing our working style and have almost changed the business landscape through mobile ERP software.

This software allows the admin and the employees to access company data remotely. It also allows flexible access and comes with compatibility to all system interfaces like Widows, iOS, apple and android.

What is Mobile ERP?

Mobile ERP is an Enterprise Resource Planning system that can be accessed over mobile devices like phones and tablets. This system can be accessed remotely outside office premises. In the current Covid affected times, mobile ERP is one of the most convenient and feasible mediums to manage and plan office resources.

It allows a flexible work environment with transparency in accessing data and using it as per the requirement of the employees. It also provides an easy outlook for managing employee data, their work status, and other aspects related to their management.

Mobile ERP has empowered businesses to continue their work from the comforts of their home. It comes with numerous features and tools to assist the admin and the employees in extracting data, uploading files and managing their work.

Mobile ERP for Small Businesses

People often associate ERP software only with large enterprises. They also have many misconceptions regarding ERP. One of the most common misinterpretations is that people believe large-scale organizations are the main focus of an ERP.. But that is not the actual scenario.

The benefits of ERP in small businesses are as important and consequential as in the case of large companies. The modern software is offering features to small businesses where they can access data and manage inventory. This reduces the maintenance cost of preserving a complicated IT infrastructure.

An ideal solution for small businesses is introducing Cloud-based ERP. A cloud-based ERP simplifies the process of collaboration and builds a smooth flow throughout the supply chain.

Mobile devices, aside from conveying real-time information, can also actively contribute to all business aspects.

Why do Small and Medium Enterprises Need Automated Solutions?

Reasons why Small and Medium Enterprises should be using Mobile ERP in their businesses:

Spot on Reporting

Mobile ERP makes reporting more customizable. It also brings in the aspect of accuracy to data storage and calculations. It helps the employees exercise real-time data entry. An ERP also updates information and processes it as soon as the employees collect it from the field. Timely and accurate data entry empowers administrators to make informed decisions that drive the company’s growth. It also enables the manager to find potential threats before time and work them subsequently. Employee Management can see the updated information of employees on the Mobile ERP app even when they are not present at the office location.

Enhance Productivity

Many people have shown a preference for working outside the office. Mobile ERP can help employees to utilize their time in a more productive manner. With Mobile ERP Application, employees can produce better results and perform certain actions even from the home or somewhere else. For example, an employee can submit his/her expense report or contact the Manager regarding a project while he is away from the office at that moment.

Competitive Advantage

Competitive advantage is another great aspect of it because Mobile ERP apps have an approach to real-time business information which can absolutely help the organizations to ameliorate their competitive edge. It is very simple to understand when all the mobile devices have access to ERP applications, it would be easy for decision-makers to make instant decisions and better control business operations. As a result, it enhances productivity and reduces turnaround time.

Faster Decision Making

The business world significantly relies on faster decision making. Mobile ERP increases your productivity and speeds up your thoughts and ability to make instant decisions. So, it improves your decision-making abilities and helps you to keep your business flow maintained. The better you manage the business data, the closer to success.

Conclusion

A Mobile ERP software comes with unlimited features that facilitate an organization with its exceptional benefits. It is especially helpful for small and medium businesses as it gives them a user-friendly and sophisticated frame to store and manage their data.

In short, a Mobile ERP app helps employees to access data any time from anywhere. It also centralizes information and is entirely inexpensive. It also provides a real-time platform to share and access the information with proper security credentials.

Crafted By: Aditi Srivastava

5 Ways To Overcome Challenges Of Remote Work

Remote work is not easy and managing employees remotely is even more difficult. But following 5 key measures, one may ensure productive remote work among employees.

Introduction

Remote work has become the need of the hour during the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 being a global health hazard has far-reaching effects even on the economy. To implement social distancing, companies are following three types of work modes viz., total shutdown, remote working, and employees of essential services working on-site with extreme care. Most companies and businesses to continue their operations have given their employees the option to work from home.

Remote work has become an essential part of the business continuity plan for companies globally. This has also emerged as a challenge for companies having a lack of remote work policies or protocols in managing their employees.

Challenges of Remote Work

Often people complain regarding remote work because it results in sub-standard work. Let’s take a look at the primary hurdles for this:

Lack of supervision: Most managers complain that due to lack of proper supervision often there is a loss of work. Without supervision, even employees struggle in maintaining the quality of work without guidance. Even tracking working hours is a challenge among teams.
Lack of information: Employees often complain about a lack of information regarding a project from their manager. This causes a lot of time to be wasted in to and fro communication to get the necessary information
Lack of attention: While working at home the attention is naturally divided among household activities unlike the focussed environment at the office. This is always challenging to ensure the quality of work

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How to manage remote employees easily?
Remote work is not easy and managing employees remotely is even more difficult. But following 5 key measures, one may ensure productive remote work among employees.

Daily check-ins: Companies may use office management systems to have remote clock-in. Also, teams should do a daily stand-up for the task assigned and completion. This will ensure the focus of employees towards the measurable goals assigned.
Better communication tools to manage remote work: Organizations should have decent tools for written as well as video communication among teams for the smooth functioning of operations.
Better project management tools: To ensure zero redundancy in the work project management tool is of utmost importance in the remote work. This gives a clear picture of the task assigned, the status of it and billables to a client.
Transparent work-flow: This is key for any organization for smooth operations that all policies, payroll, etc are openly shared across the teams.
Build a happy work environment: The team must regularly talk apart from work as well to build a rapport and function like a family. Birthday celebrations and Work anniversaries should be a group celebration to involve everyone socially.

What you should do?

Employees must not feel neglected while working from home. Invest in the correct automation solution to derive maximum employee engagement on business avenues. Juntrax’s cloud-based platform facilitates managing and engaging remote employees working in multiple offices across the world. Use Juntrax to remove the pain away from employee management, timesheets, leaves, and payroll processing. Let us help you find more time for your core business activities by taking care of tasks that can be automated through our secured platform.

Visit our Features section for more information or contact us to book a demo today.

Crafted by Salman Shaikh