Category Archives: Status Reports

May 09

Are we soldiers? Yes, on the Cubicle front!

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This is an excerpt from one of our clients of BizMerlin, he is not only a client now but a good friend and mentor also. And most of the contents are his words which I had noted down and put them in some sequence. Thanks Andrew!

Not sure, how many times have I dreamt of my bosses and my team leads asking about my status reports or my goals; not sure how many times I have woken up with beads of sweat rolling down my forehead and my throat choking with unquenchable thirst; not sure how many times I have made resolutions to be more systematic than previous years and to keep a documentation of all my status reports after which I will always be equipped to answer my boss’ question, “Andrew, what did you do last week or two weeks earlier?”

We are soldiers, on the cubicle front where every day we are bombarded with numerous queries regarding the leads we closed or lost or negotiated and we are always expected to be well equipped with our performance reports, our achievements, our goals, our targets etc. Status reports usually solve lots of these issues and problems. It also gives lots of confidence to the employees as well as to their team leads or project managers. While filling the status reports, employees spend some time thinking what they did in the current week. They can go through their calendars, sales leads/opportunities and the activities they logged for each opportunity, tasks they completed etc. to support their status reports. BizMerlin Analytics can also provide graphs and charts to cut short the story and introduce quick analysis. Managers and Team leads also get a chance to be little happy and relaxed because if each member in the team uses BizMerlin and submit their status reports then Team leads have the exact number of performance points almost ready to be delivered.

Slaes Management Module

BizMerlin does all of this and much more. It is little ahead of just “status reports”. So instead of sharing the status reports weekly, activities on important opportunities and leads can be shared real time. For example, I am already negotiating a deal with the client and I know that team lead is very keen on this deal to go through, then as soon as i login the details of the meeting with the opportunity, I also to notify the team lead and get his adrenaline rushing faster to close that deal!! It can bring so much excitement and enthusiasm in team!

BizMerlin’s sales management module is so easy, simple and yet comprehensive. The flow is intuitive and easy-going with lots of functionality that makes the work a heck of a lot easier. I can also set reminders for my leads that I want to follow and can archive the leads that I want to catch up later.

I am in fourth age of my life – adulthood , preceded by infancy, adolescent and youth – where I am expected to be a soldier and a warrior! My values and performance, tested by bosses and the workplace … start to reflect who I am. And I ready to fight for what is right and just. I will not let anyone stamp upon my dreams to excel in my work life and move ahead of me. I have my mightiest sword, shining and sharpened, BizMerlin to always assist me in the times I need most and to allow me to sleep peacefully. As, no longer, I wake up dreaming about my boss asking about my status report. It is always in his inbox!

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Apr 14

Our promise to Stacy and to you!!

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Stacy had come to us with a unique problem. With her permission, of course, I am sharing this with all of you.

She was up before anyone in the house. By the time the she reached office in the morning at 8o’clock, she had been to the gym, seen the kids off to the school, attended one offshore conference call in the car, responded to emails on her blackberry and started three projects with very high probability that they will go unfinished for that day and will be carried over to next couple of days or weeks. Eventually other tasks will pop up and these ones will get lost under the pile of emails. It’s how she rolled.

Do you ever feel like days or weeks go by without getting anything done?

We introduced her to online time sheet management software – BizMerlin.

She tried it herself for few days and then she introduced TimeMerlin to one of her remote teams comprising of ten team members. From just second day, she could see the difference. She had about twenty lesser emails to read and keep track of. She just had to login to a website with a certified SSL and see the status report from each team member. What motivated her more towards TimeMerlin were the various analytical reports. Earlier she was gathering the data and putting it in excel. Now, her life was simpler, she could just with a click get the beautifully colored graphs and put them together for a nice presentation.

Now she had more time to plan and her productivity shot up. She could also delegate the tasks well as she could see who was working on what and the expected timeline on that! Delegation is art. It’s smart art and you need to learn how to do it (and now). It also helped her to reward and mentor the team members at the right time, never late.

She had often told herself, “When you find the people in your organization that do well and keep you sane, reward them. Praise them. Show your gratitude.” But she could never actually do it on time. She would come to know of the achievements later in the meetings. But with TimeMerlin’s instant status reports and analytical reports she could also help them become even better. She was actually with them when they were stuck at something, she could see the thought process and thus guide the team member accordingly. She now proudly tells us that, “Never take the people who make your life easier for granted. Just do everything you can so that they grow with you and one day, it’ll feel good when they assume even more responsibility…or you’ve helped them to become who they wanted professionally and they strike out on a new path. Contributing to something like that is incredible.” We silently nod and agree to what she says but we are on cloud nine when she says,”The realization was one thing but getting into practice was other. And it could not have been without TimeMerlin.”

What can we say? We feel proud. But this moment has also endowed lots of responsibility on our shoulders. We have to get better everyday and every moment. We promise you Stacy that we will never let you down.

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Mar 29

Status reports motivate the employees.

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In a typical organization, employees juggle various projects at one time. To handle the various projects and to understand their challenges well “scrum meetings” or “5-minute meetings” keep everyone on the tab; but what happens if the team is scattered or traveling most of the time? Team leads or project managers are not aware of what exactly is going on with a particular employee or even at team level the deliverable are sometimes vague. This leads to delay in project schedules, lack of communication, distrust, unrealistic expectations and undue stress on the employees.
But if everyone  logs onto the same platform and application to enter the timecards and status reports, the transparency flows freely across the teams and breaks all the barriers of the boundaries. No matter where you are or where your team is, you keep track of the deliverable, tasks and resource allocation.The indirect benefit that that one of our clients has received by using TimeMerlin is that the employee engagement has tremendously increased and employees stay motivated. We were not at all expecting this as a testimonial when we contacted them last week.
Bruce Rollingstone says “I open the status reports of the team members and get detailed description of the direction my project is going. I know what they did yesterday so I can congratulate them on their achievement or alternatively discuss the issues they had faced. My team is now so involved in the project because that nagging of asking again and again about the deliverable is gone. They feel proud to list their achievements and feel encouraged when issues are discussed. There is simply no waiting time, everything happens in the real-time.”

Detailed project analysis for enhance productivity and efficiency.

We were convinced from the very beginning that status reports and daily time cards will improve productivity and efficiency but were not aware that it will also result in enhanced employee engagement and motivation.

Most entrepreneurs will agree that setting up a business is tough.  And it is tougher to get good talent to run the business but what is tougher than that. – to retain the talent you have already hired. Employee surveys have shown that the employees stick longer to the organization if they feel associated and valued. Employee engagement and association levels depend upon the daily interaction of the team. More the team interacts about their goals, targets, deliverable and challenges, more they bond and feel associated. Similarly when employees get prompt appreciation of their achievement they feel valued and are motivated further to increase their value input. Status reports by TimeMerlin provides that unique competitive edge that most businesses are looking for.

So if you have already spent a fortune in setting up a business and keep it going, why not spend a small percentage of that to ensure that what is valuable to you, stays with you – your employees. Our TimeMerlin suite offers timecards, status reports, project tracking, employee appraisal, expense management and asset management – all together. You can signup and try it free for 45 days.

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