There are many benefits to be had for companies engaged in projects if they can update their projects with the latest labour charges at the same time as their payroll manager prepares the company's pay-run.

Project Timesheets

A One-Pass Payroll Solution will have project timesheets designed to ensure all required data is input once without the need for additional keying or reprocessing by the payroll manager. As part of the design, the computerised employee timesheets would superimpose their matching project scheduling calendar that would clearly show the non-working days, approved Rostered Days Off (RDOs) and public holidays.

Project timesheets should make use of pre-filled data such as the details of the projects being worked on and the Pay Sequences covering allowances and other entitlements for the employee.

The provision of the correct calendars and pre-filling will assist in reducing data entry errors.

A project orientated employee timesheet is more likely to be completed on-site where posting to the cost allocation codes will be the most accurate. This also minimises any delay in preparing the progress claims for labour, supervision or professional services.

Labour Cost Forecasting

Another by-product of a One-Pass Payroll Solution is the assistance it provides to the process of Labour Cost Forecasting. As employee timesheets are processed in a project payroll system they can be forced to be matched with labour orders that relate to the cost allocation codes.

These payroll solutions would then be able to track the hours and cost; and so calculate an achieved rate per hour. The software is then in a position to forecast hours and the implied rate to arrive at a final forecast cost. This enables project managers to look at both the elements that make up the total cost – resulting in more predicable outcomes for the projects.

Payroll Accounting

The Payroll Solutions employed by a company provide a conduit for key information to flow - not just for the results of the pay-run calculations to generate direct deposits for the staff.

Payroll Accounting should provide a holistic solution. The information flowing from the timesheets should update the cost obligations for leave, superannuation payments and long service leave within the corporate accounts in addition to updating project costs and pay calculations.

This will help companies make realistic provisions and survive future demands on cash reserves.

Construction Payroll Software

Construction companies' payrolls would particularly benefit from a One-Pass Payroll Solution to ensure that their projects are being charged a fully loaded rate for the people working on them. The Payroll Solutions they use need an appropriate mechanism to calculate their labour charge out rates otherwise management will be forced to rely upon estimates revised periodically on a spreadsheet. Such averages do not provide the required accuracy. Consider the following scenario:

A construction company has two projects, one in the city, the other at a suburban location. Employees at the major city project, working longer hours, are being compared with the suburban project where they work normal hours. The cost per hour for the city project can be almost double the suburban project - but the difference is not obvious unless you do the analysis.

The approach should be to ensure every individual is being charged at a real cost per hour which includes the on-cost provisions. We believe that this method produces the most accurate results for costing a project – especially a construction project.

Payroll solutions should also have a mechanism to ensure that construction projects that consume all the company's labour do not distort the overall average cost per hour for other projects. For example, if all the company's labour resources were used over a weekend on a single project then there should be a loading factor in employee timesheet entry to grossly load up the cost per hour for that particular weekend project. It should not be allowed to be applied as an average increase in cost over all the work that the individuals are doing.

All of these examples highlight the benefits of using a Payroll Solution that is integrated with the project accounting software so that Payroll and Job Costs are updated in the one-pass.