Author: FinClock LLC

Summary

Finclock is a project management system for field service workforce. Features to help you manage field work projects include:

1. It facilitates scheduling, tracking, and dispatching projects. is a web-based system.
2. has a calendar that shows completed projects and tasks along with all future projects and tasks.
3. lets you track all resources and technicians. You can see their availability, skills, and cost of transport.
4. lets you track all projects, and shows the work in progress, cost and revenue.
5. lets you see all projects, work in progress, resources and technicians, their availability and skills.
6. lets you track all projects, including expenses, due dates and revenues

Supported industries

Finclock is a web-based project management system designed specifically for field service companies. This web-based tool allows field service companies to efficiently manage and track their field service workforce. Finclock offers support for field service companies of all types and sizes including:

1. Hardware/Software installers
2. Building contractors and trades
3. Electrical
4. HVAC/R
5. Home improvement
6. Plumbing
7. Solar
8. Telecommunications
9. Telecommunications service providers
10. Transportation and trucking
11. All other types of field service

Key Features

1. Easy-to-use interface
2. Powerful reporting
3. Unlimited users
4. Unlimited projects
5. Unlimited jobs
6. Unlimited notes
7. Easy deployment
8. Unlimited number of projects, jobs, notes, and users

Teams of people working in the field need a way to keep track of what needs to be done, when they will do it, and what they will be doing. Without a system like this, any deadline you set is just noise. A way that works well when everyone is in the same place may not be appropriate in the field. The team members on the road may not have reliable Internet access, or may be running a low-bandwidth connection. The road can be a dangerous place, and team members may be in vehicles that lack common features, such as alarm systems and GPS. Another problem with field systems is that team members often have no idea who is in charge of what. They don't know who will be in charge of getting directions or supplies, or setting up the equipment. The field manager may be too busy to give directions or develop schedules, or may simply not be there. Finclock project management system for field service workers addresses these problems by using a combination of technologies. The team members use smartphones running iOS  and android apps to collect and organize information, and the information is synchronized between devices automatically. The information is shared with managers using a cloud-based platform, which has very secure architecture.

Field service companies use a variety of tools to manage work. They need to track crew assignments, make estimates and invoices, track open work orders, and manage their crews. But these are old tools, and the improvements that companies need to make involve much more than software. One of the problems is time. Field service companies make estimates based more on who is available than on how much time it will take to do the work. An employee's availability is most of the time determined by what is convenient for them. The time they spend working is unpredictable. When something goes wrong, they have to fix it. Field service companies need new tools. They need a system they can implement quickly, that gives everyone instant access to the information they need, that automates and facilitates frequent status updates, and that gives them the flexibility to adjust to changing circumstances. Finclock is such a project management system for field service companies. It lets companies manage their crews, schedule their work, turn estimates into invoices, and keep track of open work orders in a flexible, reliable way. And as part of the system, Finclock provides timely, accurate information for everyone, wherever they are, so they can manage their own work.

Field service companies use Online project management system

The time has come to move beyond our obsession with spreadsheets and Gantt charts (and many do, and it's working). We need to focus on how to organize our field service teams. Finclock automates many of the things field service managers do manually. And it does this without requiring them to learn a new software system. Finclock is a project management system for people and that is what businesses need this year.

The traditional way to manage field service jobs was to keep an excel spreadsheet for each job. The spreadsheet listed everything that needed to be ordered, the costs, and the deadlines. This was fine for simple jobs, like replacing a light bulb. But if a job had 20 steps or involved several suppliers, it quickly became an unmanageable mess. For large jobs, it was worse. If a job took 3 months, the excel spreadsheet would be 100 pages long. If there were 100 steps, someone would have to document every step in excruciating detail, which meant they would always be looking over their shoulders to make sure they weren't missing anything. And there was no way to verify that the data in the spreadsheet was accurate, or that all the costs were laid out. Field service management needed a better way.

In the 1970's, when field service jobs were growing at 20% a year, the lumber company I worked for decided that we needed something better. We decided to create our own software: a desktop computer installed on each job site, connected to a server at the head office. The jobs would be entered electronically, and the computer would automatically download the costs, due dates, and product codes. The software also allowed technicians to enter their own notes. They could log what they needed to do, and when, so that nobody was running around chasing down parts. The system was far from perfect. But it worked.

How it works

Finclock lets companies manage their crews, schedule their work, turn estimates into invoices, and keep track of open work orders in a flexible, reliable way. And as part of the system, Finclock provides timely, accurate information for everyone, wherever they are, so they can manage their own work. Finclock can be used by companies of any size. It is also free for small teams. Finclock project management system pricing is based on number of users, and in April, 2011, Finclock will be free for teams of one to four users. Finclock is available

Project management is a complicated and time consuming process. If you don’t enjoy this kind of work, it’s advisable to delegate it to an expert. But in some cases, even the experts fail to solve some tasks properly.

1. First of all, do all tasks in the project have the same priority? If tasks have different levels of importance, assign them priority numbers.
2. Second, assign tasks to responsible people. It’s essential to define who is responsible what.
3. Third, define tasks in detail. If you can’t complete a project without detailed instructions, carefully plan each step.
4. Fourth, define deadlines for each task. It’s essential to make a schedule for the whole project using project management system for businesses.
5. Fifth, make sure you and your team understand all the tasks. Ask each other questions, clarify doubts, and make all team members aware of each task.
6. Sixth, assign tasks to people depending on their skills. It’s essential to assign tasks to people who have the required skills.
7. Seventh, communicate between team members. It’s essential to share important information between team members.
8. Eighth, regularly monitor progress. Check whether each team member is doing his or her job properly.
9. Ninth, make your team trust each other. Team members should trust each other, otherwise, they won’t be able to work together efficiently.
10. Tenth, reward team members who do a good job.
11. Finally, keep in mind that managing a project is not managing just one project. It’s a process affects your business in the long term.

Project Management Ideas: What really works now?

A manager's job is to organize work. That often means assigning people tasks; but it also means deciding when tasks should be done. But most people don't pay much attention to deadlines. They worry about getting work done, not about getting it finished. When things are urgent, they push the deadline back, and when it is far away, they ignore it. They don't think about the deadlines, they just react to them. The problem is, deadlines are deadlines. You can't shift them later or they'll still be there. And there's no point working long hours if you know the deadline will be met. Deadlines are fundamental to organizing work. They decide who will work on what, and when. For example, if a project has a team, everyone involved needs to know the deadlines set by the rest of the team. If one person is way behind, it affects everyone. Deadlines also inform planning. If a deadline is going to be met, the plan has to change, so the team can finish on time. Deadlines are important, but they aren't the most important thing. The most important part is deciding what work needs to be done.

If you want to know how to do something, ask an expert. If an expert can't help you, ask an expert. If an expert can't help you, ask an expert. That approach works about as well as you might expect. For many of the things I want to know, I can ask an expert. But for many I frankly can't, and I don't have a good alternative. And I don't have a good alternative because a lot of people are trying to figure it out, and the best information is usually out of date by the time they publish it. So instead I spend a lot of time on my own. I waste time, I make mistakes, I waste a lot of time. But overall I get better information than if I trusted other people. So my strategy is to get better at asking questions. And the best way to get better at asking questions is by writing them down, making marginal notes, and trying them out in practice.

Resolve the paradox of project management

There is a paradox in project management: the best project managers are the ones you don't hear about. After all, if you hear how a project is going, it is going badly. That's why project managers usually work in the shadows, not the limelight. But project management is one of those fields where having good people is not enough. You need good techniques. The paradox is that good techniques don't help at all unless the people using the techniques know what they're doing. And the techniques don't help unless people know how to use them.

The paradox is that nobody in the project management profession seems interested in helping. The techniques they teach are merely exercises in doing a project wrong. The techniques that are successful are the ones most practitioners ignore. They are the techniques you read about in the Harvard Business Review, the Project Management Institute's manual for project managers, and books written by successful project managers.

The most successful techniques are the simplest: just do the things you would expect a good manager to do. And the simplest techniques are the ones most practitioners ignore. In fields like project management, simplicity has many advantages. Simplicity is at the root of the project management paradox. The best project managers are usually not the ones on the business pages. But good project managers do get noticed, because good projects make headlines. So people who succeed at project management get noticed, and their reputations help bring in more good projects. But those of us who are project managers, or who aspire to be, don't get the publicity. We don't make headlines. But we do get noticed. And our projects do get noticed. So as project managers, we get noticed, and our projects get noticed, and our reputations help bring in more good projects.

Manage social issue in your team?

The last time I monitored a project using project management system, its project plan looked like a moving target, it had no estimates, and it had no clear deliverables. It was not a good plan. Projects are complex, and people who manage them tend to want to simplify things, which leads to problems. People who run projects tend to think of project management as managing the project, not the project plan. But the project plan is a critically important piece of the project. If managers are going to manage projects at all, they are going to have to learn something about project planning, and that begins with understanding the problem. Project planning is the process of creating the project plan. There are two main kinds of problems: there are the technical problems, and there are the social ones. The technical problems are how to get the work done. This is usually relatively easy. You just need people, computers, and raw materials. The social problems are more difficult. And the social ones are what cause most of the trouble.

Social problems have to do with how to achieve consensus, how to make sure that everyone understands the project, how to make sure that everyone does what they agree to do, how to make sure that everyone has the same priorities, and so on. The job of project managers is to solve social problems. Project planning is very hard. It is much easier to see a problem than to solve it, and most people don't have a good sense of what the problems really are.

Most projects fail for social reasons. They fail because the social problem was not solved properly, or because no one understood it, or because no one was willing to work on it. For a project to succeed, the people who are working on the project have to be willing to do the planning. And the project leaders have to be willing to do the planning.

Finclock is the best online project management system in USA, Finclock offers various project features and services, including the different task and roles management, the invoices generation, and the file sharings management, all features will be very useful for your small business team. Finclock is a company headquartered in Dover, DE. It was founded in 2010 and specializes in project management system. The company's software is used by many businesses across the US and internationally.

Using Finclock will help you to manage your time more efficiently. And using Finclock will help you to manage your time more efficiently. Finclock is a web-based project management tool with all the features you need: to-do lists, files, tasks, time tracking, expense tracking, and much more. With Finclock you can create online project management team, set tasks, track time spent on tasks, view time reports, send private messages, share calendars, and much more. Using Finclock will help you to manage your work efficiently.

Why choose Online project management system for businesses in USA

1. The best project management software for small business is FinClock. This cloud-based software is ideal for teams that need to keep track of multiple projects.
2. With FinClock, you can create projects, tasks, and checklists. You can invite team members to collaborate on your projects and tasks. And you can attach files to your FinClock cards.
3. FinClock makes it easy to prioritize your ongoing projects. FinClock automatically sorts your cards according to due date, importance, and status.
4. If you want to keep track of multiple projects, FinClock offers the option to create multiple boards. You can move cards between boards.
5. This project management system lets you assign team members to boards. Team members can update cards, comment on cards, and attach files. When team members update cards, FinClock notifies you.
6. FinClock's calendar view allows you to view your upcoming assignments. The calendar view also lets you filter your upcoming tasks by status, due date, or team member. The calendar view allows you to quickly view your upcoming tasks.
7. The search feature in FinClock helps you quickly find cards. You can filter your search by status, due date, importance, and team member.
8. This project management software provides several features to support effective collaboration.
9. You can attach files to FinClock cards. Team members can comment on FinClock cards. And team members can attach files to comments on FinClock cards.
10. FinClock's search feature makes it easy to find team members. You can search for team members by name, nickname, or email address.

Which is the better option?

A recent survey of IT professionals found that about 1/3 are using web-based project management software and 1/3 using desktop software. (The remaining 1/3 are using both.) This surprised me. I had assumed that web-based software was pretty much the state-of-the-art, and that web-based project management software is basically the same as desktop software. But clearly I was wrong. The differences are subtle, but significant. The user interface of web-based software tends to be more abstract and less cluttered. This is probably mainly because using a web-based software requires less clicking. But it also has the effect of making web-based software easier to use. However, the user interface of desktop software tends to be more cluttered and harder to use. This is probably partly because the user interface is not constrained by the limitations of the mouse. But it also has the effect of making desktop software harder to use. Some people argue that web-based software will be superior in the long run. But people don't switch to web-based software unless they have a good reason. And the only reasons they have to do that are if web-based software is better and cheaper. They don't switch just because it's easier. And in the long run, web-based software may be superior. But some kinds of software will be superior in some areas and inferior in others. For example, desktop software will probably be superior for programming, and web-based software will probably be superior for document assembly. My suggestion is that especially in small businesses, web-based software may initially be easier to use, but that in the long run, desktop software will be more efficient.

Advantages of Online project management system

Project management system is a really important technology for the modern age. But it's far from obvious how it works. The most common way people think about project management software is what you might expect: you open the program, and it gives you a list of tasks. You pick one, and it gives you a list of resources to assign to it. You pick one of them, and it gives you information on how long it will take. You pick one, and it gives you deadlines. You pick one, and it gives you the list of things to think about. You pick one, and it gives you a list of things to do to make it happen. You pick one, and it gives you a list of things to do if anything goes wrong. This is the way project management software is usually described. It sounds so logical, and so convenient, that it's easy to think that everyone must be doing it this way. But it doesn't work that way. The alternative approach, which makes more sense, is to think of project management software as a data store. Think of project management software as a place where you record information about a project. You record what things need to be done, and who needs to do them. You record which resources you have available, and when you have them available. You record which things could go wrong, and when. You record the deadlines, and any constraints. You record any commitments you have made to other people. So rather than do all the things that project management software usually does, you work simply with a list of tasks. You add tasks one at a time, and record who is responsible for each one. You check off completed tasks, and record when the next deadline is. Your list of tasks is not a list of things to do, but a list of things to do, and a list of things that could happen. Instead of worrying about how to get things done, you worry about what things need to be done

Why move to the cloud based options?

One of the reasons we evolved large brains was to control our behavior. And one of the ways we can do that is with rules. The most obvious and best-known rules are the ones for social interactions. But social rules also control our investments in various enterprises. And these rules, in turn, affect our behavior. The best-known rules are the ones about cooperation and competition. We are all born with a suite of instincts that give us the basic instincts for cooperation, and that control our investments. These instincts are passed on from our parents, and the traits of our parents determine our rules. Because these rules are innate, they may seem beyond our control. But in fact they are largely under our control. We can modify them, and to some extent we can change them. Our basic instincts for cooperation are the easiest to change. Consider, for example, the instinct that makes us prefer to be with babies. We are born with this instinct, and when babies are around we are generally happy. But as we grow up, we gradually lose this instinct, and our preference for babies declines. It may even go so far as to make us impatient with babies; if I hold a baby for too long, I will sometimes angrily ask it to stop crying.

Summary

1. Increased productivity
2. Scalability
3. Lower maintenance
4. Cost reduction
5. Security
6. Privacy
7. Accessibility
8. Flexibility

Cloud-based project management systems (PMSs) offer a number of benefits over traditional project management systems (PMSs). The cloud offers many benefits, including:

Flexibility

Cloud-based project management system enable users to work from any location, at any time. Users log in to their PMS through a web browser, and can work on their projects from wherever they are.

Accessibility

Cloud-based project management systems offer users accessibility from anywhere in the world, with an Internet connection. Traditional PMSs require users to have physical access to the server where the PMS is installed.

Privacy

Cloud-based project management systems allow companies to store data in the cloud, which means they do not have to store it on personal servers.

Security

Cloud-based project management systems are hosted on multiple servers, which increases the company's security. In addition, cloud-based project management systems are regularly backed up, which helps protect a company's data.

Cost reduction

If a company grows and needs more capacity than a traditional PMS can handle, it can adopt a cloud-based PMS. Because cloud PMSs are scalable, a company's investment in the PMS will grow as it grows.

Lower maintenance

Because a cloud-based PMS is hosted in the cloud, it does not require a great deal of maintenance. Traditional PMSs require companies to install them on servers, which can be costly. In addition, companies must regularly back up their data if the company's PMS crashes or becomes damaged.

Scalability

Cloud-based project management system scale with the growth of a company. A company can start off with a small, basic PMS, and then increase its size as it grows.

Increased productivity

Project management (PM) is a management process that is used to efficiently coordinate and plan the activities required to deliver projects, often within an organization. PM is a strategic function that involves leading and managing resources, people, and processes, to deliver projects effectively and efficiently. A project manager is accountable for the successful delivery (project objectives, schedule, and budget) of projects. The project manager must be effective at managing multiple projects and coordinating various teams.

More benefits

Cloud computing is revolutionizing software development. Before cloud computing, software had to be installed on users' computers. Cloud-based software, by contrast, runs in the cloud, so users don't have to install anything. The cloud approach brings some obvious benefits. Cloud-based software can be updated automatically, so users always have the latest version. But the biggest benefit of cloud computing is that it can let programmers make software the way they want. A cloud software company can use many different programming languages at the same time. The programmers can collaborate on their software, working together in real time. Cloud computing also lets companies build software quickly, and in a cost-effective way. Instead of building the software and then waiting for customers to buy it, they can simply release the software into the cloud, where users can download it for free. But cloud computing has some drawbacks. For one thing, it is not very secure. If a hacker gets into the database, he can steal information. For another, the cloud approach means things go wrong. If users don't download the latest version, the software starts to work badly. The software's creators usually try to fix the problem, but it can take a lot of time. The cloud approach is not right for all situations. Some kinds of software, like games, work better on computers rather than in the cloud. But cloud computing remains the future of software development.

The cloud puts new software in the hands of more people. This is one reason it's so exciting. Software developers (and not just software engineers) are finding that they can build better software faster by making more use of feedback. Ten or twenty years ago, building new software was expensive and time-consuming. If you wanted to add something to the software you were using, you had to write it from scratch. You had to study the problem, understand the software, write the code, test it, make it run, and document it. Today, your software provider puts new code in a central place, and you download it automatically. That's a big change. But there's more to it than that. For one thing, it gives you instant access to everyone else's software. For example, with Google Docs, you can open a document that someone else just worked on, make changes, and save them as your own. And the more software providers there are, the more chance you have of finding something you like. One of the ironies of software is that people don't tend to use the same software as each other. Take programming languages. Most programmers use at least one. But often, different programmers use different ones. But cloud computing changes all that. Now, instead of everyone using their own different software, everyone uses the same software. "But that's what Google Docs is," you say. Yes, but Google Docs is just one piece of software. The more software providers there are, the more chance there is that some of them will be good. Social networking software also puts its code in the cloud, to be downloaded automatically. But unlike software providers, social networks are run by other people. Because of that, they frequently have clever features, like the ability to automatically update all your friends' Facebook pages with one message

Finclock Project Management system for businesses

FinClock is a powerful project management system for business people. You need a project management system that’s powerful, customizable, and simple. That’s FinClock. It’s the leading project management system for professionals looking to streamline their workflow and get things done. You can access it from anywhere, so you always know exactly where your next meeting is located. FinClock is based on years of proven methods and guidelines from the PMI organization. It utilizes methodology, best practices methodology, and a very mature community of users around the world.

FinClock is a web-based application that helps you to keep track of your team’s workload. It can help you make informed decisions about your business on the go. The system offers a comprehensive perspective on your business, its projects, and their interrelationships. It makes it easy to track performance and identify potential problems early. It’s flexible enough for everyone in your company to use.  And that is why  Finclock project management system is used by project managers and business people to plan and manage their projects.

Finclock Vs. MS Project

Microsoft Project works well, but it's complicated to work with. The interface is confusing. Project plans can get lost. You end up spending more time figuring out where things are than actually working with them. Finclock is simpler, more intuitive, and easier to use. But in addition to being simpler, it also does more things. You can manage projects using Finclock, but you can also use it to track time, create to-do lists, manage meetings, create budget spreadsheets, and so on. Finclock also has a handy feature called flowcharts, which help you visualize processes, and which I don't think Microsoft Project has. Finclock is also more extensible. Microsoft Project's plug-in architecture makes it relatively easy to add more functionality, but if you want to add extra fields to the Gantt chart, you need to write a custom stuff

A problem with most project management systems is that they aren't designed for business. Finclock is business software, and part of what makes it business software is the way it integrates project management with business process management. Workflow is what happens inside a business process. Finance is a process of moving money from one place to another. Finclock's workflow is, "From user requester to financial officer," and "From project officer to financial controller." Finclock keeps track of how work gets done, and (because Finclock is business software) how it gets done most cheaply. Finclock's project manager dashboard enables you to view into every workflow in the system. He can see which actions are being requested, by whom, and when. He can monitor the progress of each action. And he can make decisions and take actions. Finclock's financial controller has a view only into the financial side of the workflow. He can see how much cash is on hand and which operations have overrun. He can monitor the progress of the financial officer's actions. Finclock's project officer and operations managers both have access to Finclock's task list. Finclock's task list shows the list of tasks Finclock needs to do. Each task has a status, such as "in progress," "in progress with financial controller," or "in progress with financial officer."

Finclock Vs. Trello

Trello is a project management web application with Kanban and Scrum features. The problem with Trello is that is doesn't allow for showing of multiple projects. Why? Trello has an option to show multiple projects.  But it does not allow you to show more than one folder per project. This forces users to use different boards to show multiple projects.  Let's consider a hypothetical project where a customer wants to track multiple projects.

Many people don't like to spend a lot of time doing things that don't contribute directly to their paycheck. Finclock is an attempt to make business projects as painless and automatic as possible. Finclock is a project management system for business. A project consists of a specification, a plan, and a budget. The specification is what the client wants. The plan describes how the project will be done. The budget is how much money the client has available, and how much of that budget will be allocated to this project and how long it will last. Finclock lets you specify, plan, and budget a project without leaving your desk. The specification is put into a word processor, a plan is put into a spreadsheet, and a budget is put into a database. When you work on something in one of these programs, Finclock keeps track of what you do, and when. That way, when it's time to go talk to the client, you know what you've done.

In an economy where no one knows what the other is going to do, all you can do is make as many bets as you can and hope they pay off. Finclock is an online project management system. The idea is to use a database to organize your projects, making everything easier. You put your projects in the database, and the database tells you what to do next. After you start the project, you do things step by step. At some point, you have to decide whether this project is worth finishing. If it is, you add new tasks to your to-do list. If it is time for another decision, you throw it away and start over. Here's how it works. First, you gather information about your projects. How much time and money do you need? How long do you expect the project to take? Who is working on the project? What does he or she need? What is likely to happen? Then you make assumptions. For instance, how much time will you spend each day doing other things? How many hours a day will you spend on the project? How much work will someone else do? How much will it cost? How likely are you to win? After you make those assumptions, you make bets. You either bet that you have enough time and money to finish the project, or if you don't have enough, you bet that you will save enough money to fund the missing part. You do the analysis, which tells you the chances you have of winning.

A finclock project is like a clockwork model of your business. It describes all the steps you need to follow to get a particular job done. Like the clockwork model, a finclock project identifies the right jobs to be done, and shows how people in the company should work together. Typically, the different parts of the project are still carried out by different people. But the finclock model has a key difference from a regular clockwork model: the finclock model shows the very next thing that needs to be done. It specifies how the project will unfold. It works like this:  lwho will do it ("dobox"), and the task ("taskbox"). The finclock model then shows other parts of the project as a chain, with the next job to be done as a link. The finclock model measures how fast a project is progressing by counting the number of boxes in the chain. A finclock project is not the same as a Gantt chart. A Gantt chart lists tasks with dates and durations, but does not show how they fit together. A finclock model shows both. A Gantt chart only shows which jobs need to be done when. A finclock project shows which jobs need to be done to build the project, and when. A Gantt chart shows the work that needs to be done; a finclock model shows the jobs to be done. A finclock model gives you a picture, not just of what needs to be done, but of the order in which the job