Blog

Since January 2018, we at TBOS have upgraded all of our recruitment agency clients to an online timesheet portal in order to improve the security and efficiency of the service we provide.  TBOS has engaged the services of Anfold Software Ltd to roll out our Timesheet Portal as a replacement for our current pay-and-bill system which is server based and requires a lot of manual data entry.

Although we already work with a number of online timesheet providers for some of our recruitment clients, these have been created for the agency on an individual basis but managed by TBOS internally. It has often been the case that the price associated with the system meant that it was not cost effective to include this as part of our in-house solution.  This therefore meant that a large number of our agencies were relying on signed paper timesheets, email confirmations or working with their clients’ online systems.

Following a review of the online timesheet systems currently available on the market, it was decided to move all agencies to the Anfold Software Timesheet Portal. This system not only provides online timesheets, but also the capability to raise invoices in a variety of currencies, export to Sage Accounts and Sage Payroll and the ability to produce bespoke reporting to aid the production of company accounts.

Stewart Roberts, our Commercial Director, says “Providing an online timesheet system for our agencies has always been something that TBOS has wanted to do for our agencies, but the systems we looked at were either too expensive to include as part of our existing fee structure or could not cope with our specific requirements, such as the ability to easily administer international placements.  Following our meeting with Michael, Joe and the team at Anfold Software it was an easy decision to make as we felt that this system could provide the missing link for our agencies to improve efficiency, security and reporting – importantly at a cost that TBOS could absorb into its existing fee structure.  TBOS is looking forward to working with Anfold to continue to evolve and expand the system over the coming years.”

TBOS has been working closely with each recruitment agency client to ensure that we are providing a like-for-like service to each agency and maintain minimal disruption to the contractors/ clients before moving as many placements as possible to the online timesheet system.  Should an agency, client or candidate wish to continue using the signed paper timesheet, or if the client has their own timesheet portal then this can be catered for, but the large majority have embraced the technology and moved to this new process.

A major advantage of the service that TBOS offers is anonymity – the agencies clients are not aware of TBOS’ involvement in this process as we ensure that our email addresses, all branding and even the way we answer the phone is geared towards us becoming an extension of the agency itself. Our new portal allows us to continue with this process as each portal is set up and customized to include the logo, colour scheme and email addresses specific to the agency so the clients and candidates using the system continue to be unaware of TBOS’s involvement as the back-office provider.

The agencies whose candidates are using the online timesheet portal for their placements are noticing fewer queries on candidate hours, fewer credit notes raised, additional security with the signature of timesheets and quicker invoicing processes.  The agencies have a portal log in too, meaning they can easily monitor missing timesheets using real-time information instead of waiting for manual based reports to be provided.

Michael Gois from Anfold Software says “We are thrilled to have been chosen to partner with TBOS and are looking forward to a long relationship helping their clients reduce time spent on pay and bill. We're also looking forward to feedback from both TBOS and their clients to help shape future development of the product and provide an even better system with more efficiencies.”

TBOS has additional plans for 2018 to further improve the technology and software that we offer to make the services and reporting more efficient and available in real-time.  The next system launch is an online agency portal, allowing our clients to upload their placement data to produce profit projection reports and allowing directors to monitor figures such as the billings of each consultant.  This service should be available within the next few months and further additions will be launched over the next 12-18 months.

Total Back Office Solutions Limited provides comprehensive back office, finance and accountancy solutions for recruitment agencies using our TBOS Complete and TBOS Freedom models.

For more information on how we can manage your recruitment agency back office, finance and accountancy then please contact our office.