The Timesheet Blog

In Web TimeSheet, you manage several types of confidential data including project pricing, client information, and payroll records. You need to control who sees this private information. Fortunately, our Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) products are specifically designed to keep your data secure. It will be safe from prying eyes while giving the appropriate amount of access to the users you select.

Here’s how it works:

Secure Browser Connections
The Web TimeSheet host server features Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocols. That means all the information sent between your computers and our host server will be encrypted. This keeps your confidential data safe from external parties.

Customizable Permissions
Every action a user can take in the Web TimeSheet system requires permission. This includes viewing or modifying data, running reports, entering time worked, creating a project, etc. You get to decide who can do what. Use our standard role-based permissions profiles to quickly assign access to each user in your organization. You can fine tune these profiles to restrict or add more capabilities if necessary.

Hierarchy Filtering
Hierarchy filtering prevents users from viewing or editing data outside their own department. A single mouse click allows you to activate this option and ensure confidential information is only accessed on a “need to know” basis.

Password Restrictions
Your overall data security is increased when you use complex passwords and change them regularly. Web TimeSheet helps you follow best practices in this area. You can decide how complex user passwords must be and when they will expire.

Idle User Session Timeout
Use our automatic timeout feature to choose how long Web TimeSheet can be left idle before the system automatically logs the user off. If a user forgets to sign out before leaving their workstation at the end of a session, the amount of time their private data is accessible to unauthorized users will be limited.

Do you have questions about additional steps you can take to increase your level of security? Ask us in the comments section. Also, remember to connect with us on Twitter and LinkedIn to keep up with our latest announcements.

Are you handling several projects with different milestones, deadlines and budgets?  Trying to manage all this information is confusing.   Sometimes, you may not even be completely sure how many projects are in the works concurrently (and who is supposed to be working on what).

You are probably frustrated with trying to keep track of all the details.  Without good visibility into your projects, you don’t know which ones are on schedule and which projects are woefully behind.  Even more troubling in today’s cash strapped economy, you can’t identify those projects that are creeping up on the dreaded “over budget” line.

You need a solution that dramatically increases the ease, efficiency, and accuracy of managing multiple projects.

Get Instant Relief with Project Status Reports

With the Project & Billing edition of Web TimeSheet, you have access to tools that help you manage every aspect of your company’s projects in real-time.  You are able to see at a glance where each project stands and how many estimated hours you have remaining.  You can identify and address projects and tasks that are lagging behind as well as those that need to be immediately re-evaluated to control costs.

Get everyone involved in Actuals and Estimates

Getting your team involved in acheiving on-time, on-budget project delivery is key to your success.  You can easily set-up multiple projects with estimates on timeline and cost.  As a project manager, you can assign projects and tasks to team members and start collecting actual time spent and time remaining.  Individual timesheet screens have a project progress bar to provide immediate feedback on where the project stands.  This helps team members see which projects need attention.

Everyone Benefits from Project Visibility

Keep project managers or your whole team up to speed with automated emailing of any report you select (or configure build) in Web TimeSheet.  Depending on how fast your projects are moving, you can set up this automatic distribution to occur once a month, once a week – or even every day.

Do you want to start managing your projects for success? Watch a video or take our project time tracking software for a test drive with a free trial (no downloads, immediate access).

Want to share your advice on managing projects for success? Do you have questions about how to use Web TimeSheet to keep your projects on track and under budget? Share your thoughts or ask us for advice in the comments section. And, don’t forget to stay in touch with us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Software as a Service (SaaS) has been getting a lot of attention lately as the new and improved way for software vendors to serve their clients.  Is this just hype, or are you really losing out by not switching to this type of application?  Here’s what you need to know to make a smart decision.

Traditional Software Delivery

Before the advent of SaaS, companies had to:

1. Buy software from a vendor
2. Install it on their hardware
3. Maintain, upgrade, and support the software
4. Ensure the security, reliability and availability of each application

This traditional method results in a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) many times the actual price of the initial purchase.

The SaaS Difference

SaaS is a new approach to delivering software.  As a customer, you get access to everything you need over the Internet – as a service.  Instead of installing and maintaining software, you simply log on to an application online whenever you like.  This eliminates the need for complex software and hardware management on your end.  If you have an internet connection, you can use this type of service.

Here are 6 benefits you receive when you switch to Software as a Service:

Minimal Up-Front Investment

SaaS applications are subscription based.  That means you don’t pay costly license fees.  You also avoid the large initial investment in IT infrastructure and the day-to-day maintenance hassles.  The provider takes care of all of this for you as part of their all-inclusive service.  This approach is cost effective and makes your expenses predictable.

You Aren’t Locked In

Most of today’s SaaS vendors offer pay-as-you-go pricing with no long term contract or commitment.  This includes Replicon’s full suite of time tracking products.  Since you are in control of how long you use the service, providers are more accountable for providing a high level of customer satisfaction.

Upgrade = Painless Process

The SaaS provider manages and administers all updates/upgrades seamlessly behind the scenes.  You don’t have to deal with the headache of deploying new patches and upgrades.  You will always be running the latest version of each application.

Adoption Rates Are High

Your Software as a Service accounts can be accessed from any computer terminal or device.  That means you can use the service anytime, anywhere, with just an internet browser.  Most people are already familiar with the Internet browser interface.  This means SaaS applications tend to have high adoption rates since users already understand the basics.

Your TCO Is Low

SaaS significantly lowers your Total Cost of Ownership.  There is only a predictable subscription fee – no upfront expense or ongoing, uncontrollable operating costs.  Your provider is responsible for managing availability, security, backup, and server maintenance.  There’s no need for you to add hardware, software, bandwidth, or IT staff as the user base grows.  You are only responsible for maintaining continuous access to the Internet.

Outdated Solutions Are Out of the Picture

These applications are evolving at a rapid rate.  Developers focus on what’s next rather than wasting time maintaining multiple versions of old code.  SaaS vendors use the same type of technology platforms as top web providers like eBay, Yahoo!, and Google.  This enables Software as a Service to achieve a similar level of continuous innovation.

With all these benefits to offer, it isn’t surprising that the SaaS model has flourished in recent years.
 

Do you have questions/comments about SaaS or a success story to share? Let us know in the comments. Connect with us on LinkedIn and keep up with the latest innovations via our Twitter feed.

It’s hard to keep up with techno speak in almost any area, and Software as a Service, or SaaS is certainly no exception. One can find all of these on the web, but what’s the difference between SaaS, IaaS  (Infrastructure), Cloud Computing, ASP (Application Service Provider), the great sounding oxymoron-HaaS (Hardware), CaaS (Communication), PaaS (Platform) and the ubiquitous EaaS (Everything). Here at Replicon we have tried to standardize on SaaS, which seems to be the most common name for how we deliver to our customers the functionality of our software. For example, we refer to our timesheet software delivered over SaaS as SaaS Timesheet.

More SaaS lingo-is it SAS 70 or SaaS 70? For the time being it’s SAS 70, which sounds the same as SaaS 70 and I’ve seen both written, but for the time being, there is only one accepted standard and it’s SAS 70. Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 70, Service Organizations, is a widely recognized auditing standard developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). SAS 70 is widely recognized because it represents that a service organization has been through an in-depth audit of its control objectives and control activities, which often include controls over information technology and related processes. The merits of SAS 70 for a SaaS provider are beyond the scope of this blog, but I can say with certainty that Replicon has regular SAS 70 Type II audits performed and passed.

Much has been written on the benefits of SaaS. One benefit, sticking with industry speak and which I believe in, is the reduction of “shelfware”. The shelfware I’m speaking about is unused software, either wholly unused due to installation challenges or purchasing mistakes, or possibly more insidiously shelfware through unused seats. Near and dear to a CFO’s heart, SaaS makes it conveniently possible for a customer to only be billed and pay for software actually used. This is done through invoicing taking place at the end of a billing period, based on actual usage during that period as determined by the SaaS providers’ software management system.

What is your take on techie terminology? Post your comments, connect with us at LinkedIn, or send them to @Replicon on Twitter.