Kissimmee Utility Authority

Streamlined Time Tracking Solution Enhances Efficiency and Accounting for the Kissimmee Utility Authority

About Kissimmee Utility Authority (KUA)

Industry: Utilities
Product: Journyx Project Time Tracking integrated with KUA’s financial system
Partner: Cogsdale

Kissimmee Utility Authority owns, operates, and manages the municipal electric system established by the city of Kissimmee in 1901. KUA is the sixth largest utility in Florida. KUA’s employees serve approximately 90,000 customers in Kissimmee and surrounding areas.

Problem

Kissimmee Utility Authority (KUA) faced some challenges with its existing time-tracking system and how it integrated with its financials.  “We needed something with more features that also worked with project accounting and would integrate seamlessly with our financial system. Something with real-time accruals, approvals on the go, specific customizations, and an app. Our previous system only showed accruals every two weeks, and we needed that to be in real-time,” said Shannon Bair, a Systems Analyst for KUA.

“We needed something with more features that also worked with project accounting and would integrate seamlessly with our financial system. Something with real-time accruals, approvals on the go, specific customizations, and an app.”
– Shannon Bair, Systems Analyst, Kissimmee Utility Authority

“Our previous system only showed accruals every two weeks, and we needed that to be in real-time,” Shannon continued.

Solution

Cogsdale, a leading software provider for utilities and local governments, recommended that Kissimmee Utility Authority investigate Journyx as a potential solution. Journyx offered a comprehensive timesheet system that integrated seamlessly with their financial system and provided new features KUA desired.

Journyx also offered multiple levels of approvals to meet Kissimmee’s need for “mega-levels of approvals and customizations.” This method ensured the integrity of internal controls and prevented unauthorized changes to timesheets while maintaining and streamlining existing approval workflows. The automatic data validation tools were a huge plus to avoid costly time-entry errors before they were submitted.

Another important automation feature was the addition of accrual calculators. This feature eliminated manual spreadsheet calculations and improved productivity and efficiency across departments. The calculator also provided instant clarity to users about how their time was being tracked up to the moment.

Journyx automatically synchronized data between users and the project accounting software, ensuring a seamless and efficient flow of data for project accounting with no downtime.

Shannon Bair stated, “Anytime you can automate and improve processes, it’s a no-brainer. Not only did we eliminate potential user error, but we also gained efficiency.”

Results

By implementing Journyx, KUA experienced remarkable improvements in efficiency, time savings, and accuracy. With validation in place, potential errors in unrestricted time entry were eliminated, reducing follow-up and correction efforts. The system’s enhanced ability to configure allowed KUA to create a tailor-made solution for their specific needs, streamlining processes and saving valuable time. Automating non-exempt staff payroll further enhanced productivity, minimizing the risk of human error.

“The improved process [from implementing Journyx] definitely led to increased efficiency”

Shannon stated: “The accrual feature is great. We have part-time employees, full-time employees, merit, target, salaried, and intern positions, and some positions accrue different levels of safety hours. Our implementation is completely configured to track all these accruals accurately and automatically.”

KUA is also in the process of implementing equipment tracking in Journyx, which will be a valuable gain. The new feature will enable both time and equipment charges for projects to flow into billable actions—a manual process today.

“We recently made the move from an on-premise solution to the cloud and found the streamlined feature updates work toward future-proofing the product, while security updates give us peace of mind that our data is secure. Plus, Journyx support is fantastic,” Shannon continued.

Benefit

Journyx’s time entry software empowers KUA to track time, expenses, revenue, and equipment (coming soon) across projects, users, departments, and bill types. By automating payroll processes, KUA saved significant time and achieved greater accuracy. The ease of use and flexibility of Journyx timekeeping also enhanced productivity.

Whether a company bills for services, handles project-oriented work, or tracks absences, Journyx offers substantial benefits. Its intuitive interface enables efficient management of employee timesheets and expenses for project control, customer invoicing, and payroll automation, resulting in improved business operations.