From vacancy to invoice: joining up the placement journey

A single placement touches a vacancy, a booking, timesheets, an invoice and a payment. When each of those lives in a different tool, a lot of the working week goes on copying details across and chasing people for hours and approvals.

Why it matters

Each step in a placement is simple on its own. The cost comes from the gaps between them. A booking agreed on the phone has to be entered somewhere. Hours submitted by a candidate have to be checked against the booking. Approved hours have to turn into an invoice, and the same hours into a payment. At every handover there is a chance for a detail to be lost or entered twice.

Joining these steps up has two benefits. Your team spends less time on the copying and chasing. And you can see, at any point, where a placement stands, without asking three people.

What to look for

• Every booking type you place. Day-to-day cover, longer placements and permanent roles all need handling, and so do things like interviews and trial days. A system that only suits one type will leave you working around it for the others.
• Timesheets that clients and candidates can approve online. Chasing signatures is one of the biggest time sinks in supply recruitment.
• Invoicing that starts from approved hours, so invoices reflect what was actually agreed.
• Payment runs that your payroll process can use.
• A calendar and a list view, because different people like to see work differently.
• One view of where any placement is, from vacancy to payment.

Questions to ask in a demo

1. Which booking types can I manage, and can I see them all in one place?
2. How do clients and candidates submit and approve timesheets?
3. What happens when hours need to be queried?
4. How do approved hours become an invoice?
5. How do I get payment information to our payroll process?
6. Can I see where any placement stands without asking my team?

Common pitfalls

• Joining up only part of the journey. If bookings and timesheets are connected but invoicing is not, the copying just moves.
• Approval bottlenecks. Make sure timesheet approval is easy for clients, or it will still be you chasing.
• Reports built from several sources. If you need a spreadsheet to know how the week went, something is not joined up.

How Edun CRM helps

Edun CRM keeps the placement journey in one record: vacancies, bookings, timesheets, invoices and payment runs. Your team can see where each placement is, and spend less time chasing hours and approvals.

Frequently asked questions