How Outlook calendar reporting helps businesses manage employees better

The only thing that is certain right now is uncertainty

Businesses have been dramatically affected over the past few years, from the effects of Covid-19, rising inflation, interest rates and recession fears. In uncertain times it makes sense to take better control of both forward planning, and time tracking and billing, and this is what Timewatch can add, but cost-effectively via Outlook.

Organizations face almost infinite challenges in overcoming massive disruption – not just economically, but also how they function day-to-day and best maximize and utilize human resources. Executives are being tested as they navigate how to balance their workforce, keep their business afloat, and plan for the immediate and long-term future.

Does Outlook have a reporting tool? No, but Timewatch’s  Whitespace® resource scheduling software with it’s seamless two-way Outlook calendar can provide outlook reporting and outlook analytics. As Whitespace® has secure access to all the calendar data in Outlook, it provides organization-wide Outlook calendar reporting. This includes multi-resource calendar views, availability views, utilization views, capacity planning, productivity analysis, and even time tracking using Outlook data. With more remote working now more common, Outlook analytics and reporting on Outlook calendars provides much-needed employee workload visibility to administrators, schedulers and managers. The system provides instant visibility to all employees in a multi-resource view, as well as specific groups of employees such as teams, regions, offices, skill groups etc. There’s no messy Outlook plugin to download and install, and the solution works with Outlook on PCs, MACs, Phones and Tablets. It’s the perfect tool for organizations that need to view and report upon employee calendars.

There’s no messy Outlook plugin to download and install, and the solution works with Outlook on PCs, MACs, Phones and Tablets. It’s the perfect tool for organizations that need to view and report upon employee calendars.

Understand your workforce in uncertain times and make the right decisions

Many businesses are struggling to understand their workforce – what they are doing when they are doing it, and what they could be doing in the future. It can be a challenge for managers to make the correct – and informed – decisions.

One advantage our customers have said they have in turbulent times is that our Whitespace for Outlook system allows them to report upon their employees Outlook calendars as a organization-wide business tool.

“Companies used to purchase Whitespace for resource scheduling, but with all of the changes over the past few years we are finding more and more organizations are looking to enhance the Outlook system to gain visibility of their workforce with Outlook group calendar views and Outlook analytics and calendar reporting,” explains Timewatch CEO Graeme Wright. “Whitespace already did all of this, but was too much for businesses that just wanted visibility of their Outlook calendars. So we created Whitespace for Outlook, a streamlined version of Whitespace that enhances Outlook with consolidated employee calendar views, additional features, analytics and reporting. ”

Can You Run Reports In Outlook Calendar?

Sadly no you can’t, reporting is very limited in Outlook. This is frustrating to individuals, but incredibly frustrating to businesses as Outlook has a wealth of information on employee activities, tasks, customer meetings etc. Timewatch’s Whitespace® solves this, providing Outlook calendar reporting via consolidated views of any number of employee outlook calendars.

Make an informed decision on staff and staff levels

Whitespace®s definable multi-resource views allow searching and sorting resources by availability, skill, region, location, anything you need to group employees. It also enhances appointments by adding customer and project fields, and allows custom fields to be added, examples include: type of work, chargeable / non chargeable, customer contact – anything your organization needs to manage and report upon your workforce. The system’s powerful reporting tools include traditional print/preview type reports, dashboards, and optional report writers and dashboard designers for those that wish to customize their reporting.

Importantly, reporting and analysis provide managers the insight into employees’ past and future resource trends that could be the difference in your organization surviving the current – and any future – crisis.

You can learn more about the power of Whitespace and the insights it can offer your executives to manage resources here.

We also offer free access to a product specialist to discuss your requirements, answer any questions you have, and even provide a tailored demo. Use the form to the right to request your free session.