Using hourbooking, or not?

In ControlOffice, creating an hourbooking is simple and can be done directly from a workorder. The technician is already recording what has been done, so adding an hourbooking only takes a few extra seconds.

An hourbooking can be linked to costs using the employee’s hourly rate, but that’s optional. Even just booking the hours to gain insight into how much time a workorder actually takes – and how much time per period is spent on a specific object – already provides a wealth of information.

Why record time bookings?

• Insight into costs
  You can see exactly how many hours are spent per work order, object, or location.
  Internal labor costs and any chargeable costs can be substantiated much more accurately.

• Better capacity planning
  Knowing how long maintenance tasks really take allows you to plan more realistically.
  You can see whether the maintenance department is over- or under-staffed.

• Transparency and accountability
  Operators, production, and management gain a clear picture of where the maintenance department’s time is spent.
  You can demonstrate, for example, that many hours go into handling breakdowns, or instead into preventive maintenance.

• Identifying improvement opportunities
  If certain breakdowns take up a disproportionate amount of time, this can be a reason to implement structural improvements.
  Inefficiencies such as excessive travel time or waiting time also become visible.

• Supporting investment decisions
  Reliable data on time spent makes it easier to justify why more staff may be needed, or why investing in new machines or preventive maintenance pays off.

How to address concerns around time bookings

Some employees fear that time bookings will be used against them:
“You didn’t book enough hours today,” or “Why did you spend three hours on this task, shouldn’t it only take one hour?” These are common objections that make people hesitant to log their hours.

The key is to emphasize that time booking is not a control tool, but an improvement tool.

• It’s not about speed – The goal is to understand how long work orders actually take. With that knowledge, you can improve planning and manage breakdowns and workload better.

• It’s not meant to be used against anyone – A work order takes as long as it takes, and that information is valuable. Spending more time on a task doesn’t necessarily mean someone is slow – it might mean they are being thorough, resulting in smoother-running machines.

• Show what’s in it for the team
  - Fewer unrealistic planning expectations (“this must be done in one hour”), leading to less stress.
  - Better justification when requesting extra staff or resources.
  - Greater understanding from the wider organization of what the maintenance department’s work really involves.

• Use data at the team level, not the individual level – Report, for example, how much time in total is spent on breakdowns versus preventive maintenance. This shifts the focus from individual performance to collective results. Seeing that fewer hours go into fixing breakdowns and more into planned preventive work is motivating for both maintenance and production.

• Communicate openly about the goal – Explain upfront: “We ask you to book your hours so we can plan better together and reduce pressure, not to monitor your personal performance.” This explanation makes a big difference in how hour registration is perceived.

In short, it’s all about trust and communication: if time bookings are positioned as a tool to help the entire maintenance department, employees will also see the benefits.