In heavy industries like manufacturing, refining, mining, chemicals, and power generation, facilities constantly require maintenance and upgrades to operate at full capacity. During shutdowns, turnarounds, and outages (STO), companies often face the high-stakes challenge of keeping timelines and budgets under control. Every day offline means lost revenue, which puts immense pressure on teams to complete these projects as quickly as possible. But speed comes at a cost, often, that cost is vendor overpayment.
During these high intensity periods, companies frequently end up overpaying contractors for time not worked or equipment and materials not used. But there’s a better way. The fully automated process named “myTrack” helps organizations close the gap between what vendors invoice and what they've truly earned. By offering real-time visibility into contractor hours and applying contract terms and conditions precisely, myTrack ensures companies only pay for the actual work performed—eliminating costly over payments.
Racing Against the Clock
When you shut down a facility designed to run continuously for a maintenance or turnaround project, you have three priorities – zero safety events, complete the project as scheduled, and be on budget. Every day of downtime means significant revenue loss, and any delays beyond the planned project timeline multiply those losses while potentially damaging the company’s reputation.
However, the high intensity of these types of projects can create oversight, especially around contractor payment accuracy. Teams are under immense pressure to meet deadlines and ensure safety, often pushing cost controls to the back burner. But when contractor spending spirals out of control, the project’s financial success is compromised.
The Challenge of Invoices vs. Earned Value
Keeping STO project on time and within budget is tough enough, but paying contractors accurately adds another layer of complexity. Often, the person approving vendor timesheets has limited insight into the terms and conditions of the vendor’s agreements. Procurement teams negotiate these agreements, STO teams are overseeing the work in the field and signing daily contractor timesheets, but individuals approving the invoices may not know whether contractors are adhering to the contract's specifics.
Consider a typical scenario: John the Welder submits his timesheet, listing his hours worked, skill level, and pay rate. It seems straightforward, but important questions are often overlooked:
- Did John invoice at the correct skill class?
- Was he on-site for his assigned shift?
- Were the terms of his contract, such as lunch deductions, call-out rules, travel pay, per-diem, etc. applied correctly for John’s eligibility?
- Does John get paid overtime after 8 hours per day or 40 hours per week?
Without these answers, companies run the risk of overpaying. Unfortunately, many teams approve these invoices without reconciling them against actual hours worked, site rules, or the contract’s specific terms and conditions. The result? Overspending.
The Cost of Oversight Gaps
This lack of oversight in managing contractor invoicing can have serious financial consequences. For example, in one case, a company could have saved $77,053.18 during a two-week turnaround period—nearly $2 million annually—simply by enforcing schedules, lunch deductions, and applying agreed-upon rates. What’s more, these savings represent only a fraction of what could be recovered if the full capabilities of myTrack were utilized, e.g., adding equipment and material charges.
The gaps between what vendors invoice and what they've earned can be staggering. And unless companies have automated systems in place to track and manage these discrepancies, the losses will continue to add up.
Why the Invoice-Earned Discrepancy Exists
Why are there often large gaps between invoiced amounts and what’s actually earned? There are several key reasons:
1. Lack of Real-Time Visibility into Project Spend
The primary focus during STO projects is on completing the work safely and on time. While maintaining budget integrity is important, it often becomes secondary to the project timeline. Many companies lack real-time data on contractor hours worked or spending. They don't have automated systems that integrate with their access control systems to track actual hours on site vs assigned schedules. They also, don’t have real-time visibility to their Purchase Order spend rate. Instead, they rely on manual timekeeping and approvals, which leaves room for error.
2. Manual Reporting Errors
In a fast-paced worksite with hundreds of moving parts, mistakes in manual reporting are inevitable. Whether intentional or accidental, these errors add up quickly, especially when there are no systems in place to catch discrepancies before they’re approved.
There’s no line of defense if a vendor makes a mistake. Therefore, the information is accepted. The person responsible signs the timesheet and doesn't bother with a careful review. How could they when they have nothing to compare it to? They simply accept the timesheet as fact.
3. Inconsistent Contractor Tracking
Large-scale STO projects typically involve numerous contractors working long hours. Without an automated system to reconcile timesheets with actual time on site, companies end up overpaying. Even small discrepancies, such as rounding hours or inaccurate check-in/out times, can lead to substantial overpayments when multiplied across a large workforce.
For example, a contract laborer who leaves the worksite at 5:15 pm, and they note the nearest half hour, 5:30 pm, on the invoice. What about more dramatic discrepancies? How can you measure invoice hours vs actual onsite time? On a project that includes hundreds of contractors or more, the amount of money paid to employees who weren’t even on-site adds up quickly.
Technology’s Role in Closing the Gap
This is where myTrack steps in. With myTrack, companies can take control of contractor spending and ensure that payments reflect actual time earned—not inflated invoices. It also eliminates the dreaded late invoice that arrives after a project is closed. When you use myTrack, you'll know all outstanding commitments and accurately accrue until invoiced.
Take the next step—learn how myTrack can help you pay vendors what they've actually earned. Reach out to learn more about myTrack.
