Guides
Replacing emailed Excel timesheets for event crews
If your crew email an Excel timesheet every fortnight and someone in the office re-types it into payroll, the fix is usually one small system, not a new HR platform. Crew log each shift on their phone, a supervisor approves it, and the office exports clean, checked hours to payroll.
I spent seven years running an entertainment lighting service department, working to truck deadlines, so I know event work runs on changing call times, early starts, late finishes and casual crew across different venues. I build this kind of fix as The Two-Week Fix: a fixed price from $2,500, with a free working sample first.
Why emailed spreadsheets break at pay time
- Versions multiply. Crew save over last fortnight's file, rename it, or send it twice.
- Hours get re-typed. Someone keys every row into payroll, and every re-type is a chance for an error.
- Problems surface too late. A missing shift or a wrong date only shows up when someone's pay is wrong.
- Chasing eats the first days of every pay run, waiting on late sheets.
- Nobody can see the fortnight's hours until every sheet is in.
What the replacement looks like
- Crew log each shift on their phone: date, job or venue, start, finish and breaks.
- Entries are checked as they're made: overlapping shifts, finish before start, missing breaks, unusually long days.
- A supervisor approves or queries each shift, so problems are fixed while people still remember the day.
- The office sees the fortnight build up as it happens and chases only what's missing.
- At pay time, approved hours export in the format your payroll system imports.
It does one job well. It doesn't replace your payroll system or your award interpretation: it records and checks hours, and your payroll still applies the rates.
Three things to check before you start
Bring those to the free call. If you don't know the answers yet, that's fine: working them out is part of the call.
- Who uses it: how many crew and supervisors, and on what phones.
- What your payroll system can import, and in what format.
- Which rules you want flagged automatically, such as minimum breaks, maximum hours or travel time.
What it costs
The Two-Week Fix is a fixed price from $2,500 for one process like this, agreed in writing before I start, usually handed over in about two weeks. Half (50%) to start, half on handover. Support and hosting afterwards is optional at $149 / month.
Don't take my word for it. Click it.
This is the kind of working sample you get within two business days. Approve the shifts, fix the flagged clash, and send it to payroll.
Fortnight ending 11 Oct
Frequently asked questions
Do crew need to install an app?
- Not necessarily. It can be a web page they open from a link on their phone, so there's nothing to install.
Will it work with my payroll system?
- It exports approved hours in the format your payroll system imports. The free call is where I check what yours accepts.
Does it calculate award rates?
- No. It records and checks hours; your payroll system or bookkeeper still applies the rates. That keeps pay rules in the system built for them.
What does it cost?
- A fixed price from $2,500, agreed in writing, after a free 30-minute call and a free working sample within two business days.
What if the finished system doesn't work?
- You see a working sample before you pay a cent. Once we agree the scope in writing, if what I hand over doesn't do what we agreed, I keep working on it at no extra cost until it does. If I still can't make it work, I refund everything you've paid. This doesn't limit your rights under the Australian Consumer Law.
Got a process you've outgrown?
Show me on a free 30-minute call. You'll see a working sample of the fix within two business days, before you pay a cent.
Book my free 30-minute call