Engineering firm
14 people
Montreal, CA
- Time tracking
- Billable and non-billable hours
- Reporting
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Transforming Time Tracking into Efficient Invoicing and HR Management

About Canadian Railway Services (CRWS)
Canadian Railway Services (CRWS) is a consulting engineering firm specialized in railway rolling stock. They offer a broad spectrum of engineering services for the rail industry, including structural design, modification, refurbishment, and overhaul of passenger, freight, and commuter rail rolling stock.
Founded in 2021 by James Marks and Lukasz Kozdeba, CRWS is dedicated to providing tailored services while emphasizing exceptional communication and client satisfaction. Their passionate team is committed to delivering innovative solutions that not only meet but exceed their clients' expectations.
CRWS has experienced significant growth since its founding, both in reputation and team size. The organization has undertaken larger and more impactful projects that will shape the Canadian railway system's landscape and economy.
One of their most impressive projects is the complete overhaul, rebuild, and structural repair of the Tshiuetin Rail Transportation, the first railway in North America owned and operated by Indigenous people, specifically by the Innu Nation
Time is the most valuable asset
“We went from 4 people to 14 employees in one year,” explains Catalina Blanco, the business administrator of the company. “When there were only 4 people, they tracked time using Excel sheets. However, by the time I joined, the team had grown to 7 people, and that system was no longer sustainable. It was clear to everyone that we needed to change our way of working.”
As for many rising engineering firms, accurately tracking all working hours is essential to their business. This is especially true for CRWS, as they manage both time and materials projects as well as fixed-fee projects.
Since Catalina became part of the CRWS team, she has implemented stricter policies regarding time recording and has organized the Timeneye workspace in a more structured manner. “As a consulting company, we charge our clients by the hour, and Timeneye is extremely useful because it allows us to record time entries at different rates for engineers, industrial designers, electricians, administrators, and more,” she shares. “One of the features I find most helpful in Timeneye is the tagging system. I require all our employees to tag their time entries, which makes my job much easier when creating invoices at the end of the month, as the time is already organized by department,” she adds.
CRWS handles a diverse array of engineering projects, ranging from refurbishing the coach car fleet to conducting basic safety inspections. To effectively manage these projects, they require a reliable project management tool like Microsoft Planner, which they have integrated with Timeneye to track their time every step of the process.
Transforming entries log into accurate invoices
Catalina has implemented a new rule requiring everyone to fill out their timesheets every Friday. This allows her and the director of engineering to review them on Monday and make any necessary adjustments.
“At the end of the month, I generate a PDF report and lock the previous month's entries, preventing anyone from going back and editing the time records. This ensures there are no discrepancies between what we bill the client and our recorded time,” she explains when asked about the process of transforming a time report into an invoice.
However, the invoicing process doesn't end there: “We also utilize the expense feature since we sometimes can bill for client visits, including mileage and lunch expenses. We find the expense attachment feature particularly useful; without it, we would have to sift through our emails to locate the corresponding receipts, which can be time-consuming. With Timeneye, we can manage our expenses in one convenient location!” she adds.
“Once the invoice has been sent to the client, I mark those time entries as 'billed' so our platform is always up to date. This prevents any confusion and allows us to maintain a clear understanding of the project's profitability status at all times” she concludes.
Timeneye helps with the HR tasks
In addition to simplifying the invoicing process, Timeneye plays a vital role in tracking HR tasks. Catalina provides insights into their way of working: "We also use Timeneye for internal purposes. Specifically, we track sick days, vacations, and paid time off (PTO). This is very practical because, for example, at the end of the year, we can easily check how many days our staff has left for personal use.”
She continues, “We also utilize Timeneye for personal expense reimbursement when team members incur expenses during working hours that need to be refunded. We organize our tags by color, with all tags marked in green indicating expenses that must be reimbursed.”
Additionally, she mentions, “We have a special project called Admin, where everyone tracks their time for unbillable activities, such as the onboarding process for new employees or internal projects. We track everything with Timeneye!"