Rail Safety & Standards Board (RSSB) chooses TimeTell as their project management software tool.
Description of the organization
Rail Safety and Standards Board builds industry-wide consensus and facilitates the resolution of difficult cross-industry issues. We provide knowledge, analysis, a substantial level of technical expertise, powerful information and risk management tools. This delivers a unique mix to the industry across a whole range of subject areas.
The principle activity of the company is working with industry partners to:
- continuously improve the level of safety in the rail industry
- drive out unnecessary cost
- improve business performance
RSSB does this at the same time as seeking to continuously drive down its own costs whilst striving to deliver better value for money to its members.
RSSB is committed to making information available to their stakeholders.
Why time logging?
RSSB is funded in two ways, by Members subscriptions and by the Government.
RSSB has 75 members, of which 36 are railway companies. These companies fund the corporate activity of RSSB.
The Government funds RSSB's Research & Development. The R & D team look after the various projects RSSB has running at any time. At the time of writing RSSB had some 500 projects being managed by their team.
Between both the Corporate division and the Research & Development division there is a need for inter company invoicing and payment to take place.
The primary driver for implementing a time and project management solution was the need to report on the time and money spent fulfilling their projects on behalf of RSSB's members. With this solution RSSB is able to justify to their Members how their investment in RSSB is being spent.
Selection process
RSSB was assisted by their outsourced IT provider to find the most suitable supplier for this solution.
Some considerable time was spent in internal discussions and a questionnaire/specification document was devised with which to go to the market. Initially research was conducted using the internet. Selected providers were given the questionnaire to complete, which was used as an initial assessment tool. Based on the information provided in the request for information (RFI), both qualitative and quantitative, a short list was drawn up. Of these, three companies were invited to give a presentation and demonstration to RSSB of their product.
RSSB chose TimeTell to provide the solution for them. The Head of Finance & Commerce at RSSB gave a number of factors as to why TimeTell came out ahead:
- TimeTell fits their corporate requirements
- fulfills all their requirements for both a simple solution and a complex solution
- RSSB committee voted overwhelmingly for the TimeTell solution
- Tried & tested solution
Another important factor was that the TimeTell team specifically addressed RSSB's major issues, aims and concerns throughout the process and as such RSSB felt confident that TimeTell was the right solution and TimeTell Corporation the right company for them to choose.
The way it is used
All employees log their time via their own pc's; they indicate which tasks they have done for which project or client. RSSB have also discovered the benefits of the 'Offline' module which is allowing their home based employees and those employees who travel to Europe frequently to use TimeTell too. This helps RSSB support their flexible working practices.
TimeTell has also been linked in with their existing accounts systems.
Reporting is proving to be easy to integrate. TimeTell has an embedded report writer. TimeTell Corporation can deliver a Business Objects environment (market leader for Business Intelligence tools). Last year Business Objects bought Crystal Reports; it has now been integrated into one product: Business Objects version XI. TimeTell supports SQL and Crystal Reports and RSSB has their own expertise in these areas.
TimeTell is also enabling RSSB to carry out their own internal analysis of times taken for jobs and costs incurred for time spent on projects.
The Future
RSSB and their employees immediately bought into the TimeTell implementation, TimeTell has been quickly accepted into their daily routine and working practices.
Thanks to TimeTell, RSSB employees are now in a position to show exactly which projects they are working on and the costs associated with that.
Staff cost is a significant proportion of the RSSB and they need to report back to their members how this is spent. With TimeTell RSSB is able to do this. Members can feel comfortable and confident with how their money is being spent. Looking to the future, RSSB envisage being able to provide their members with further analysis of what their funding is being used for.
In addition RSSB will be looking to use TimeTell to fully plan and manage their projects into the future. Annual leave and sickness will also be handled by the TimeTell solution.
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