About The iFish Group
The iFish Group (IFG) is a technology-solution service company committed to helping make state and local government digital services more efficient for their departments and more elective for their citizens. The State of California is IFG’s top client, and IFG provides Information Technology strategy and consulting services to drive and expedite successful business outcomes.
The Overview:
Industry: IT Services & Business Management
Located in Sacramento, CA
50+ Users
The Challenge
“Anytime we wanted to update our self-built time tracking system, I’d spend $5-10k worth of billable time on our own internal process. Finally, we agreed it was time to search for a professional time tracking system that could be customized to our needs,” Scott Schriber
Director of Operations.
As Information Technology professionals, IFG wrote and used their own custom-built time tracking system for nearly 5 years. Throughout that time, Scott Schriber, Director of Operations, says that IFG logged approximately $100,000 of billable time to develop their homegrown solution.
Knowing that this system was not sustainable for the company’s growth and additional tracking needs, IFG began its search with three specific needs in mind:
Flexibility of Project Structure
Specific project structures initially drove IFG to build their own system, so in the new solution, they wanted the ability to completely customize projects to their billing needs.
Integrates to Accounting
Making the switch to QuickBooks Online at the same time as they were looking for a new time and billing solution, the firm required that the two systems needed to work together for effortless financial tracking.
Project-level Reporting
Although company-wide financials were tracked in their accounting software, IFG had no way to view project-level reporting. Knowing this would be a huge benefit to managing their firm’s health, they wanted a solution with more granular reporting for project and staff utilization insights.
The Solution
After evaluating several solutions, IFG knew that software that was designed for project management would not suit their needs. Custom project structures were a priority during their search for the purpose of accurate time tracking and billing, not day-to-day task management.
Finally, IFG landed with BigTime, the platform that offers all of the important features that they need.
- All project fields were completely structured to mirror the language that IFG already had in place, so that each line item on their invoices matched their work contracts.
- BigTime Support team managed the integration to IFG’s QuickBooks Online set up and ensured that everything seamlessly synced.
- Custom reports were built to uncover a new level of data for the firm. For the first time, they were able to see utilization rates and track project budgets and profitability in real-time.
The Results
“During our two years with BigTime, there have been many improvements and the platform is getting better all the time. I appreciate that their support team is always readily available for customers and that they’re very open to suggestions for new features. It gives me confidence that this will be a lasting partnership,” Schriber said.
Before BigTime, The iFish Group’s monthly time and materials invoices for the previous month would go out as late as the 17th. Now, with the improved automation and efficiency, every invoice is out on the first of the month.
In addition to their initial feature wish-list, IFG has dramatically improved the way their invoices are built, stored, and previewed. Internal cross-checks before an invoice is sent are now easier for the management team, with every item laid out clearly.
Time entry reviews have been another seamless perk. Their previous system would only allow for timecards to be submitted at the end of the week. In BigTime, if the end of the month is on a Wednesday, a staff member can submit their timesheet on Wednesday to speed up the payment process.
In terms of making switching over as a whole? Schriber said it plain and simple, “The whole process was very easy, there were no problems making the transition.”
Looking to power up your professional services organization and see how you can start getting paid faster? Request a personalized demo here or feel free to take a virtual tour for more insight into BigTime.
