Case Study:
Contractor Time Tracking

The Challenge

A utility company faced several challenges with its existing contractor time-tracking process:

  • Manual data entry from non-standardized spreadsheets took too much time and was prone to errors.
  • Frequent entry errors, leading to mismatches between recorded hours and valid Oracle work orders.
  • Cumbersome validation, requiring finance teams to manually cross-check work orders and project codes.
  • Delayed accounting integration, slowing down billing and payroll cycles.

The finance and operations teams needed a solution that could:

  • Allow contractors to enter time on a standard timesheet.
  • Support spreadsheet uploads for batch time entries and reduced errors.
  • Validate each entry against Oracle’s active work orders.
  • Output a file ready for ingestion by Oracle’s accounting software.
  • Provide real-time reporting and oversight for management.

The Solution

Tilt Development built a custom Power App leveraging the Microsoft Power Platform, combining Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power BI with direct Oracle integration to deliver a unified, efficient solution.

Power Apps – The Time Entry Portal

A responsive Power App was created to serve as the primary interface for the accounting department.

Key features included:

  • Manual entry forms allowing users to submit data.
  • Spreadsheet upload capability, enabling bulk time entry via Excel templates.
  • Real-time validation against Oracle work orders through a Power Automate–Oracle connector.
  • Role-based permissions ensuring that only authorized users could approve or modify records.

The Power App’s intuitive interface made it simple for contractors to record time accurately while ensuring data integrity and consistency across the organization.

Power Automate – Integration and Workflow Automation

Power Automate played a central role in managing backend processes, including:

  • Validating work order numbers and cost centers directly against Oracle records.
  • Flagging invalid or closed work orders for review before submission.
  • Generating a formatted output file compatible with Oracle’s accounting ingestion process.
  • Notifying managers and accounting staff of new submissions, approvals, or exceptions.

This automation eliminated manual checks and ensured seamless integration with Oracle’s financial systems.

Power BI – Reporting and Oversight

Tilt Development designed a Power BI dashboard to provide transparency and insight into time tracking across the enterprise.

Highlights included:

  • Real-time visibility into total hours logged by contractor, project, and department.
  • Validation and rejection statistics for process improvement.
  • Trend analysis on labor costs and utilization rates.
  • Exportable reports for auditing and compliance.

Power BI reports were embedded within Teams and the Power App interface, allowing managers to review activity in context.

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