
Time recording and billing with Microsoft Excel and billing software
Partners and managing directors of Infocient Consulting GmbH are Jochen Weintz and Dr. Armin Elbert. “In the early days, Microsoft Excel was sufficient to create the appropriate activity records of the project work carried out; standard invoicing software was used to write the invoice. The customer then received the invoice plus the printed Excel list as proof of activity,” says Mr. Weintz, recalling the beginnings of the company. “With just a few customer projects per month, the effort was limited.”
However, as the company continued to expand in subsequent years, this approach reached its limits. Jochen Weintz explains:
“The previous largely manual workflow for time recording and billing proved to be no longer feasible against the backdrop of an ever larger volume of projects and an ever larger number of employees. It soon took us' felt 'an entire day just to collect the documents required for the settlement. ”
Jochen Weintz
Partner and managing director
For this reason, it quickly became clear: A “reasonable solution” must be found!
Integration of time recording and travel expense accounting
From his previous professional past, Jochen Weintz was familiar with various solutions for time recording, but in his opinion, these had a central disadvantage. A separate software solution had to be used to record travel expenses. “Two different systems mean recording data twice and therefore inevitably leads to more effort and higher risk of errors,” says the Infocient Consulting managing director, summing up the dilemma. For this reason, the first central point in the requirement profile was: Integration of time recording and recording travel expenses in one system must be ensured.
A second central point in the requirement profile for the new application was the operating model. Jochen Weintz explains:
“Most of our work takes place on site with our customers. Nobody wants to have to travel to the office just to record their project times and travel expenses.”
Jochen Weintz
Partner and managing director
Web-based access to the solution regardless of location and time was therefore an absolute “must”, especially since our employees on site are equipped with notebooks and WiFi tickets to record their project times promptly. “Through a targeted search for a solution that met the above requirements and a tip from a friendly company, Infocient Consulting finally came across the ZEP solution from provantis IT Solutions. ZEP stands for time recording for projects. The web-based solution has been on the market since 2000 and offers project-oriented companies a complete solution for time recording and reporting, travel expenses, project management and controlling, and invoicing.
Billing makes things “round”
In addition to the integration of time recording and travel expenses specified in the requirement profile, ZEP offers an integrated billing module. Based on the project times recorded in the system and the stored hourly and daily rates, the module enables invoices to be created automatically from ZEP. Using a special notification function, the system reminds the user when he should issue an invoice or whether expenses have been incurred for which no billing has yet been planned. Other features include an integrated sales forecast and a control function for incoming payments. Jochen Weintz confirms:
“The billing module makes things work out for us, because we can transfer the data collected in time recording directly into invoicing. The proof of activity for our customers is then automatically attached to the invoice without the need for additional manual work. ”
Jochen Weintz
Partner and managing director
Infocient Consulting is also very satisfied with the daily use of ZEP. Jochen Weintz explains:
“ZEP makes our work a lot easier.”
Jochen Weintz
Partner and managing director
At Infocient Consulting, thanks in part to ZEP, they see themselves well prepared for further company growth.