Monitor project workload with Beebole and Excel: HungaroTrial’s resource planning integration

We all know that there is power in data, but what does that mean, really? The answer depends on your daily operations, strategy, and business goals. Here we look at how HungaroTrial went from having a rough idea of employees' hours worked to implementing a well-oiled, precise project time tracking system. With this system, they can see exact working hours and gain enough insight to plan each of their projects at least six months in advance, if not longer.

#Any similarities with your organization? About HungaroTrial

HungaroTrial is a contract research organization that helps healthcare organizations worldwide with clinical trial management, consulting, and recruitment. Founded in Hungary in 1999, they have since expanded throughout the rest of Europe and opened offices in the United States and South Korea.

Operationally, HungaroTrial chose not to work with freelancers; their team comprises more than 100 employees worldwide. They are currently working on more than 50 ongoing projects, including conducting clinical trials, managing trial sites, enrolling patients for studies, performing audits, and supporting regulatory inspections.

Their projects can last anywhere from six months to several years, and they often involve numerous moving parts. Depending on project size and type, project managers take on between three and five projects simultaneously. This could involve anything from obtaining regulatory and ethics committee approvals to setting up the project, as well as site visits, assisting sites with recruiting, training, monitoring, and more.

HungaroTrial has experienced steady growth over the years, expanding its team from 70 to more than 100 employees in the past five years. Having used Beebole's project time tracking for over a decade, the company has continued to refine how it supports project and employee time management. As their team has grown, they have increasingly relied on the system's precise data to keep their resource allocation tracking spreadsheet accurate and reliable.

#Goal: Removing the guesswork from project time tracking and planning

Before finding and implementing Beebole, HungaroTrial had a less precise setup: Project managers tracked their employees’ hours based on regular feedback. That feedback was then translated into a spreadsheet with shades of gray. The darker the gray, the more overloaded the employee was, and the less capacity they had for more work.

Matyas Petho has been with HungaroTrial since well before they implemented Beebole. Beyond wanting a more accurate way to track time, HungaroTrial was also drawn to Beebole's cloud-based system, which is ideal for employees frequently traveling to hospitals and trial sites.

When Petho worked solely based on employee feedback, this spreadsheet, with its shades of gray, painted a picture that did not reflect reality. 

#How Beebole changed HungaroTrial's resource planning process—and how your team could benefit too

Using our project time tracking software changed how HungaroTrial's employees tracked time, their project managers understood current workloads, and how they forecasted for future projects.

Each day, employees track the number of hours they’ve worked. With this daily process, there is less opportunity for misleading or subjective data, and less confusion or doubt about the total worked time.

Project managers are expected to plan each employee's working hours down to the hour on a monthly basis. This should be done at least six months in advance, but ideally, hours are planned through a project’s end date. 

Employees submit their hours on Beebole at the end of each week, allowing project managers to approve them at the beginning of the following week. Beebole offers a straightforward, built-in timesheet approval system, complete with permissions, notifications, and bulk review and approval capabilities.

Thanks to a handy Macro in Excel, approved hours are sent to a spreadsheet with the simple click of a button. This seamless setup gives project managers a detailed view of planned versus worked hours, which they can then use to adjust for the remainder of the project.

This clear breakdown between planned and worked hours sheds light on actual employee workloads, providing project managers with the data they need to either give employees more work or scale back. And the insight doesn’t stop there. According to Petho, this data makes it very clear when they can take on more projects and even when it is the right time to hire more employees.

#Custom project time tracking integrations with an API

The integration used by HungaroTrial was easily set up internally via Beebole’s API and Microsoft Excel. For spreadsheet pros, it’s as simple as setting up a Macro.

Project time tracking integrations are one of the best ways to fully utilize your time tracking data. In the case of HungaroTrial, this simple integration gives them an accurate and reliable view of projected hours versus hours worked. This has altered the way they understand how their team works and how they plan for future projects.

#The importance of accurate time tracking

You might think project time tracking is superfluous or doesn’t add value to your operations, but take it from HungaroTrial: It couldn’t be more critical. Their project time tracking data has helped pinpoint inefficiencies, underutilized employees who can take on more work, and even the right moment to expand their team.

Beebole is now an integral part of their daily operations. According to Petho, new employees receive Beebole training from day one!