5 things Architects need in a project report

No matter what system you have for managing the projects and timesheets for your architecture practice. The important thing is you can generate reports that give you insight into your performance. If you can’t do this, why are you bothering to capture the data in the first place? In this article we’ll highlight the 5 things you should have in your architecture project reporting.

1. By Date – It may sound simple but not all systems will give you this. You have to be able to define a date range for your project reporting. How did you perform this month compared to last month? How did we perform before the summer holidays versus just afterwards? You should be able to answer these questions.

2. Including Costs – When you produce a report with your employees hours listed for your specific search parameters, can you see how much each employee is costing you? If you are a medium to large sized architecture practice you will most likely have various employees on different pay rates. You need to see what this impact has on your project cost performance.

3. Including Charge Rate – Similar to the above point 2, you may have various architects being charged out at different rates. This may affect which employee you allocate to projects and how much time you want them to spend on the project. So to be in a position to make these decision you need to know the rate you are charging your customers in your project report.

4. Including Timesheet Notes – There is nothing more frustrating than looking at a report and wondering why there is a discrepancy in the hours or if something is more or less than you were anticipating. This is the reason you want any timesheet notes that are entered by your architects to be listed directly in the report, so at a glance you can understand what a timesheet entry relates to.

5. Sub-Total Stages / Variations – If you want to ensure you are performing to your anticipated budget or plan you will need to be able to filter the data by project stage or variation and you want to be able to sub-total the time, cost and charge out for each stage and variation. If you can do this you will be able to more accurately budget for future similar projects based on your track record.

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