One thing that I have dreaded the most over the past years I have been working, are Monday Mornings. Why? Because it’s time to fill my timesheet for work performed last week. Most of the time, I would not remember what I did, which meant I had to go through several emails, meeting notes, comments, chats, etc. All of these took a good hour or two and involved a lot of searching. I tried to keep track of it on a daily basis, but between projects, meetings, and other work, it was not easy. Later I found out that it wasn’t just me, but many of my co-workers faced the same problem. Wouldn’t it be nice that your timesheet is ready on Monday morning and you don’t have to do anything? Well, your wish is granted!
At KTL Solutions, we wrote an integration to create a Microsoft Dynamics GP PTE timesheet automatically when work logs are entered in OnTime. OnTime is a project management tracking system that we use at KTL Solutions to manage customer incidents, projects, and tasks within different departments. OnTime allows everyone with KTL Solutions to enter work logs against your specific incident, project, or task for the time spent working on it. Previously, it was a nightmare for the managers to match the time entered by employees in Ontime and tally it with the timesheet entries in GP: someone would always forget an important detail, not match up to the correct project, or before the integration, we wouldn’t get our timesheets in at a timely manner and slow down invoicing.
We were in need of a system that was not only automated, but also guaranteed accuracy of time entered in two different systems. As a solution, we created a real time integration using SQL triggers, Scribe, and eConnect-like stored procedures. Every time a new work log is entered or updated in OnTime, it gets queued for integration with GP. Scribe provides the data integration between two systems by calling back to the eConnect-like stored procedures. I use ‘eConnect-like stored procedures’ because there is no eConnect stored procedures for PTETimesheet, so we ended up writing our own stored procedures that are based off original eConnect stored procedures for timesheets. All the failed work logs get queued for reprocessing with proper error messages. We also created ASP.NET MVC application for the admin to look at the errored log and mark them for re-processing after editing the missing information. Once work logs get integrated into Dynamics GP, they cannot be modified in GP, the only way to modify them is by making changes in OnTime. This ensures data integrity in both the systems.
We have now successfully integrated our Dynamics GP solution with our Project Management solution, Ontime, and it has helped speed up our timesheet entry and approval process tremendously. Although our integration was specific to OnTime, KTL Solutions can develop any integration system to feed necessary data into GP. I am just happy my Monday mornings now start with a hot cup of tea and a smile to go along with it instead of the debacle it once was.
Interested in learning more about integrations of timesheets into your business solution? Contact KTL Solutions at info@ktlsolutions.com or call 301.360.0001 and talk to one of our Account Managers today!
[avatar user=”mwad” size=”thumbnail” align=”left” /]MINAL WAD | .Net Developer
Ever since Minal joined KTL Solutions in March 2008, she has been diligently working as a Business Solutions Developer, providing customized software that integrates with Dynamics GP. She has a passion for using technology to solve real world problems, and it is this passion that enables her to deliver projects with exceptional quality, in time and within budget. Her role as a business analyst is a new found skill, and she has been able to successfully demonstrate it in some of her recent projects. She is proficient in C#, ASP.Net, SQL Server, SharePoint, WPF, Entity Framework, MVVM and Database Design. Minal has over 10 years of experience as a developer. Prior to KTL, she worked with Microsoft in Fargo, ND, where she was a part of Dynamics Axapta team. She holds a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from Oklahoma State University. She involves herself in training and certifications that keeps her abreast with new technologies.
