busybusy vs Raken Comparison

busybusy Time Tracking | February 2, 2023

busybusy vs Raken

‘Real-Time’ Time Keeping
OR
End of Day Time Keeping Guesstimating

 

busybusy and Raken both offer construction software that manages time and daily project reports, but that doesn’t mean they’re the same. busybusy is a real-time, time tracking app with extensive daily report and labor management features built with an emphasis on improving subcontractor’s project data, while Raken is more of a safety protocol, daily report, and document management app for general contractors.  

These two companies are fundamentally different for many reasons, busybusy is specifically designed for subcontractors and general contractors who self perform, allowing them to track their real-time, input cost codes, and create their own injury reports. At the same time, management can check everything in real-time. Bonus- the most valuable part of “real-time” isn’t even the monitoring. It’s the accuracy.  

On the other hand, Raken’s product is built for supervisors to input all the data for their crew and their subs, including hours, job codes, and injury reports at the end of the day. It’s important to note that Raken does not track anything in ‘real-time’.  As business owners know, end-of-day time entries require a lot of guessing and rounding- just one of the many reasons paper timesheets are notoriously inaccurate, so why duplicate this process in an app?  Guessing on hours increases payroll cost while also messing up the data for estimators because the labor wages can vary dramatically.  End-of-day entry usually has a 15% variance of accuracy.  

 

Besides the ability to track things in real-time, some other notable differences include 

  • GPS time tracking capabilities (geofencing, universal map, heavy equipment tracking)
  • Instant access to real-time reports reflecting the most current project data
  • How Daily Reports are created and the accuracy of the data they contain
  • Employee Scheduling 
  • Daily individual sign off of real-time, safety, and break compliance
  • Overtime and Labor Law Integration and Implementation 
  • Fair Billing Policy (inc. a 90 day, 100% money-back guarantee)

 

This article will cover the subtle differences and the not-so-subtle differences between busybusy and Raken.

Table of Contents
busybusy vs Raken Comparison: Similar Features

What is Raken Missing?

What is busybusy Missing?

Cost Break Down

busybusy vs Raken Comparison: Customer Service

Summary of busybusy and Raken Comparison

 

Summary of busybusy and Raken Comparison


summary of busybusy and Raken comparison Click to Enlarge

Similar Features 

(and how they differ)

 

Mobile Time Clock

busybusy’s mobile time clock significantly differs from Raken’s time clock because busybusy offers GPS mobile time tracking. Raken provides the ability to input time at the end of a day but not real-time, time tracking throughout the day. In the Raken app, not only is there no GPS, but the supervisor must report the crew’s time at the end of the day because the employees don’t have access. The lack of GPS by Raken means that features like employees being able to clock themselves in, jobsite geofencing notifications, on-site verification, equipment tracking, safety sign-off, daily break sign-off, and universal mapping don’t exist. busybusy has each of those features. (busybusy’s GPS features are discussed further in the ‘Features Raken is Missing’ Section below)

Raken has no “Clock In – Clock Out” feature because Raken was initially built as a daily report software. Raken only added a time tracking feature because people kept asking for it. With Raken, it’s up to the supervisor to report who is on the jobsite and calculate how many hours each crew member worked; these hours are then manually recorded on Raken’s app by the supervisor. As mentioned above, this approach to timekeeping will result in inaccurate time records and poor data collection. It also requires some of your most expensive employees to take extra time to input all that information at the end of each day. 

busybusy delivers a mobile time tracking app that uses smartphones to record employee hours while on a jobsite. You can either have a Supervisor clock their team in and out or each employee clock themselves in and out directly from their smartphone and verify that the hours they worked for the day are correct. Everything is automated, from the recording of hours to the classification of overtime. busybusy is a mobile time tracking app, and the rest of their tools are built on the foundation of gathering real-time first. Additionally, busybusy has the option for employees to clock in/out from a centralized tablet kiosk with facial recognition or from a computer at the office if desired.  

 

Photos

Jobsite photos are becoming essential, and so is the ability to organize and share them. Photos can increase communication between teams, prevent costly litigation, showcase stellar work, and enhance your social media advertising.  Raken and busybusy have photo (and field note) capabilities built into their software. Photos can be shared among crews and management through the app. Images are also easily included in Daily Reports. A significant difference to note about the photo feature is that because busybusy has GPS capabilities, photos are automatically geotagged and instantly searchable by jobsite location, date, and the employee who took them. Raken’s images are searchable by date and job only once they are manually assigned to a jobsite (if the supervisor remembers to do that). In contrast, busybusy’s photos are assigned tags and organized automatically.

 

Daily Reports

Construction companies often require daily reports from their jobsite supervisors to improve communication and reduce liability. Many construction management software apps claim to have a Daily Project Report feature, but most fall short. Raken and busybusy are two of the best Daily Project Report products in the space. Raken has a nice-looking Daily Report template, and they offer the ability to share their Daily Reports digitally through text, email, or Google Drive. Many subcontractors share concerns that Raken’s Daily Report takes a long time to create. Plus, the Daily Report is not always accurate because the supervisor must manually insert all the data at the end of the day. 

In comparison, busybusy’s Daily Reports can also be shared digitally and have a nice layout. Plus, when compared to Raken, busybusy’s Daily reports can be created in just seconds since busybusy automatically inserts data that has been collected throughout the day: data such as employees onsite, equipment onsite, cost codes used, supervisor notes, injuries statistics, weather report, and photos. Supervisors can then add a few quick notes and have a Daily Report that is thorough, accurate, and done in seconds. 

 

Advanced Reports

Collecting all this data is useless to your business unless it is accurate, searchable, and organized into reports for analysis so you can improve your business. busybusy gives you access to 30+ real-time reports viewable from your smartphone and desktop, so you can monitor what’s happening at the jobsite while in the office or at your daughter’s soccer game. These reports include

  • # of employees currently clocked in 
  • # of employees on break 
  • # of employees clocked out 
  • Total Labor Hours 
  • Total Labor Costs 
  • Total Overtime Hours 
  • # of Covid Issues 
  • # of Injuries 
  • # of Inaccurate Time Issues 
  • # of Break Issues 
  • Machine Hours 
  • Equipment Hours 
  • Equipment Cost 
  • Photos and Notes Uploaded 
  • Most Active Employees 
  • Most Active Projects 
  • Most Active Cost Codes 
  • Most Active Equipment

The busybusy software allows you to instantly view detailed budget reports comparing estimated labor hours and labor cost vs. project actuals.  This information can be viewed from the moment the project starts and is stored forever so that you have historical data to look back on if a similar project comes up in the future. 

 

Digital Timecard Signature

If you want a paperless timekeeping system, you need a system with a digital real-time card signature feature! If you’re using a timekeeping system that requires you to print paper timecards for employees to sign, then your company is missing out on the freedom of going paperless.  Who moves from paper to software just to have to print time cards each week on paper for employees to sign? To add insult to injury, signed real-time cards must be stored for a minimum of two years and up to five years to comply with federal and state labor laws!

busybusy directly notifies employees on their phone when a timecard is ready to be signed, and employee can then sign their timecard right on their smartphone screen using their finger. There’s also the ability to have supervisors digitally sign employee time cards, making payroll easy and efficient.

With Raken, supervisors can digitally approve an employee’s timecard with a signature. However, individual employees will still need to come into the office to sign their timecards once a supervisor approves them.  

 

Cost Code Tracking

If you want to win bids and stay on budget, you need to make sure your cost code tracking is accurate. Cost code data can help narrow in on future bids and run a more efficient business. busybusy reminds employees to input job codes whenever they clock in/out, including before and after breaks. Supervisors also have the ability to input or edit cost codes for entire crews, and they can monitor a project’s labor/cost code budgets in real-time on their smartphones or desktop computer. Raken only tracks cost codes entered by supervisors at the end of the day.  As previously mentioned, the more information entered at the end of the day,  the higher the chance that your business is using inaccurate guesstimates to make crucial decisions. 

Cost Code Tracking is a must for business owners to improve job site understanding to know where they are making money and losing money. Even if you start by only tracking rough and finish or a couple of other cost codes that apply to your business, just start somewhere, and you’ll be shocked at the new information you learn about each of your projects! This is why it’s critical to make sure that your time-tracking app doubles as a job costing app.

 

Supervisor Tools

Raken’s entire product is a “Supervisor Tool” because the whole product is built for only supervisor use. busybusy is different because it allows employees to engage as well. busybusy was designed as a real-time, time tracking app that allows employees and/or supervisors to input data busybusy built a separate section specifically for supervisors. busybusy’s supervisor tools include the ability to

  • clock in/out entire crews at once (or individual employees)
  • create daily reports
  • create and modify employee schedules
  • view equipment location
  • view job costing data based on field labor
  • view the location of jobsite employees based on timestamps.

 

GPS Real-Time Equipment Tracking VS Equipment Logging

What’s the difference between equipment tracking and equipment logging? Busybusy’s GPS equipment tracking allows you to view the location of your heavy equipment in real-time while monitoring meter reading and employee usage. busybusy can sync to your heavy equipment via Vision Link and import data like fuel levels, location, and employee hours.  busybusy’s GPS equipment tracking makes it easy to track and dispatch equipment, budget for equipment usage, and monitor the efficiency of your operators. Equipment monitoring not only makes it easy for office staff to understand operator efficiency, but it also makes the transporter, the mechanic, and the fuel guy’s life much easier, further saving the company time and money. 

Logging your equipment is simply keeping a record of equipment use. Sadly, Raken only allows you to log your equipment by manually recording and tracking its usage.

 

Covid/Injury Reports

The right timekeeping system will reduce your Worker’s Comp liability by having employees record injuries (or NON-Injuries) before clocking out. Having a record of injuries (and non-injuries) ensures that employees are taken care of and employers are protected from fraudulent injury claims. 

busybusy gives an option where companies can require employees to record if they had an accident that day before they can clock out. Supervisors and admin are then automatically notified if an injury is reported so correct protocols can be followed. However, equally important, busybusy also records when an employee reports they were not injured on the job. This often-overlooked procedure can save a company massive headaches and lots of money if an employee tries to file a claim they were injured on your jobsite weeks later when in truth, they injured themselves during a weekend soccer game. 

If your company is using Raken, it is the sole responsibility of the supervisor to report any injuries that occur on the jobsite. If a supervisor forgets to file an injury report (or does so incorrectly), then you’re opening yourself up for a workplace claim. Also, what prevents an employee (or past employee) from claiming they told their supervisor about an injury when they didn’t? By design, busybusy captures a health check every day.  This way, an employee cannot claim an injury well after their employment with the company has ended.

In light of COVID-19, busybusy created an option for a pre-clock-in health questionnaire screening to help protect employees from potential exposure and protect employers from potential liability.  Raken also offers a solid option for a covid survey and other health and safety topics in their ‘toolbox talks’ section.

 

Payroll Integrations

You will have the ability to integrate your time tracking data with your payroll with busybusy or Raken. Employee hours are automatically calculated and uploaded into your preferred payroll service, saving your payroll clerk hours and hours of work.  Both are good solutions. 

 

Alerts and Notifications

busybusy and Raken utilize alerts and notifications, but in very different ways. Because busybusy uses GPS technology, employees can receive an alert reminding them to clock in/out when entering or leaving the jobsite. These alerts will save a company money because timecard ‘guesstimates’ will be eliminated. The accuracy of future labor budgets will also improve significantly. busybusy flags a time entry if an employee clocks in before reaching the jobsite or clocks out away from the jobsite.

busybusy will notify employees when there is an update or change to their schedule, saving supervisors the hassle of manually making phone calls or sending texts. busybusy also alerts employees when their timecard is ready to sign (which they can do digitally). busybusy also automatically notifies employees and records required break time, keeping your company compliant with labor laws. 

Raken has additional notifications, offering the ability to notify management if daily reports or safety briefings are not complete. busybusy and Raken both notify management if there is an injury report or Covid issue. 

 

What Raken is Missing

 

An Actual Time Tracking system with GPS Technology

I spoke of GPS technology at the beginning of the article, but it bears repeating if you care about GPS (if you don’t, this paragraph won’t matter to you).  Raken is not a GPS mobile time tracking system. They do not have GPS capabilities. 

On the other hand, busybusy’s GPS time tracking software gives a company the ability to set up GPS ‘geofences’ around jobsites to remind employees to sign in upon arrival. Administrators can also enable an optional feature called ‘on-site verification.’ On-site verification ensures employees are on-site before they can clock in. busybusy’s GPS equipment tracking helps keep track of your heavy equipment location, run-time, and operator efficiency. 

Your equipment, clocked-in employees, and multiple jobsite locations are all tracked in real-time with busybusy’s Universal Map feature. 

 

Scheduling

The ability to create and modify work schedules is a pillar of an excellent time tracking system. Unfortunately, Raken is missing a scheduling feature altogether! busybusy’s easy-to-use drag and drop scheduling will

  • Notify employees if there is a change to the schedule.
  • Attach cost codes to shifts to simplify and increase the accuracy of the record-keeping process.
  • Allow employees to clock in directly from their schedule, so they don’t have to exit the schedule if they wish. 
  • Allow supervisors to create and modify schedules on the job site relieving strain on office personnel. 

 

Overtime and Labor Law Integration

Do you feel like you need to hire an extra person just to keep track of your state’s labor and break laws? Good news! busybusy helps reduce some of the burdens by integrating many state labor laws within their software.  busybusy automatically schedules required breaks, and employees are notified when it’s time to take them. Overtime hours are correctly designated. busybusy can customize break and OT rules for any state. For overly complicated states like California, these laws are automatically built-in! 

*If you’re a business owner in California, you should know that busybusy is the only time tracking software company with California overtime and break laws automatically built-in!

Raken does not automatically remind employees to take their required breaks, and with Raken, overtime hours must be manually inserted by the supervisor. busybusy automates all labor and break laws, keeping careful documentation digitally stored in their cloud-based storage. If (or when!) a state audit happens, you are much more likely to have the proof you need to show your business is compliant, avoiding hefty fines if busybusy is implemented into your business!

 

Automatic Fair Billing Policy

Seasonal employees are commonplace in the Construction industry, leading to the worry, “I don’t want to overpay for time tracking software that only gets used half the year.” busybusy addresses this concern with their Automatic Fair Billing Policy. This policy ensures you are only charged for what you use. busybusy automatically tracks your usage and adjusts your bill accordingly, only charging you for actual monthly usage. Paying for off-season employees is a thing of the past. Also, no more hassle of getting workers removed from your account, only going through the process again of adding them back a few months down the road. 

busybusy’s Fair Billing Policy can save a company some significant cash. Still, beyond that, the fair billing policy says a lot about the alignment of the customer and the software provider.

For example, a construction business employs 50 crew members for nine months of the year; however, only a handful of those employees remain working during the winter. busybusy’s Automatic Fair Billing Policy ensures that this small business is not charged for the 20 seasonal employees who aren’t working for three months of the year. busybusy will automatically adjust their bill, saving them over $1,000 a year. 

Raken does not have an Automatic Fair Billing Policy. If you sign up for 8 supervisors and 40 employees, you will be charged for 8 supervisors and 40 employees for all 12 months, whether they are working or not.

What busybusy is Missing

 

Toolbox Talks

Raken’s Toolbox Talks is a collection of safety briefings and jobsite orientations that supervisors or management can read to their workers to help them stay compliant with safety regulations. There are many toolbox talk options, but this is a good one.  Raken does a fine job managing toolbox talks, while busybusy chooses to focus their attentions elsewhere. 

 

Checklists

Raken’s Checklist feature allows management to create a digital checklist to send to everyones’ devices, giving employees a list of things to be done, such as safety surveys, material orders, daily reports, jobsite briefing covid screening, etc.

 

Cost Break Down

 

Price

When comparing the cost of busybusy and Raken, the pricing is very different because the products are built for very different audiences. 

Raken is a ‘supervisor’/management app. Raken has taken the old papers/forms that General Contractors are required to fill out each day (safety briefings, daily reports, etc.) and turned them into a digital online copy. GCs still have to take the time to fill out every blank space on those forms by typing on their smartphones instead of writing them with a pen on paper. Raken is not designed to be used by each person on the jobsite, only the supervisors.

On the other hand, busybusy is a construction real-time, time tracking app, not a construction document app. busybusy is designed to be used by every employee on the jobsite, from individual crewmembers to upper management. Everyone on the jobsite contributes real-time data on location, time, cost codes, photos, injury reports, schedules, etc.  This data is then automatically compiled into in-depth reports. Information is accurate and reliable because busybusy makes data collecting automatic and simple.

These differences affect the cost of the app. Since Raken is marketed to companies for only supervisors to use, their price will be more expensive per supervisor. However, a company will only need as many memberships as they have supervisors. 

busybusy is designed to be used by everyone on the jobsite, so their price/user will be much lower, but a company will have more users. 

busybusy is also mindful of not charging a company needlessly by having an Automatic Fair Billings Policy.  So depending on the company, total employees, and total supervisors, the product price comparisons will vary greatly, and each product will be less expensive in some circumstances.

It’s hard to know what Raken charges for their product. It is not listed on their website anywhere, just the instructions to “contact sales.” I believe they require a 1-year contract, but the information was scarce, so you should double-check.

I found some outdated prices from April of 2020, but I don’t know if it’s current or not, because again, it wasn’t listed on their website, but according to this, Raken offers three packages, Basic, Pro, and Performance.

  1. Basic Package – $12 per user/month, billed annually. This package gives you access to six features. Including daily reports, photo gallery, and offline mode. (you do not get access to any time tracking features with this package.)
  2. Pro Package –   $30 per user/month, billed annually. The Pro Package gives you access to all the features of Basic plus time cards, equipment management, and integration of payroll.
  3. Performance Package – $37 per user/month, billed annually. The Performance Package gives you access to all their features, including Toolbox Talks. They offer a 15 day free trial of their Performance Package.

 

busybusy offers two packages. A Free Package and a Pro Package. There is no contract to sign, and busybusy offers a 14 day free trial period and a 90-day money-back guarantee.

  1. busybusy’s Pro Package costs $9.99/user per month if you sign up for annual billing. PRO gives you access to all their powerful features. The first month is free, and busybusy gives you a 90-day money-back guarantee, and there is no contract to sign.
  2. busybusy’s FREE Package gives you access to twelve of their features for FREE. Including real-time, time tracking, digital timecard signatures, overtime calculations, location-based reminders, 7 day advanced reporting, and priority web and phone support. It’s good for an unlimited number of employees for an unlimited amount of time.

 

Customer Service

busybusy and Raken get excellent customer service reviews. However, some of Raken’s customer service features are reserved depending on how much you pay. For example, Basic customers do not have access to priority support like Raken’s Pro and Performance customers do. Also, only Raken’s Performance customers are assigned a designated customer success team.  

New clients at busybusy are assigned a personal onboard specialist. These specialists help ensure a quick and seamless transition by explaining and personalizing all the settings according to your company’s unique needs. They help with importing and setting up current projects, equipment, and employees. Onboard specialists also assist with payroll integration, including walking you through your first payroll process. 

Customer Service at busybusy is available by phone, email, or through their onsite chat feature.

 

Conclusion

busybusy and Raken in comparison are different companies with different strengths. Raken focuses on managing risk and structuring documentation. In contrast, busybusy focuses on delivering a timekeeping system consisting of GPS time tracking, scheduling, automating overtime and labor law compliance, and in-depth data reports to increase future bidding accuracy and profits.  If a supervisor uses Raken, they are responsible for manually recording and inputting all the desired data. This includes manually tracking and calculating hours for the entire crew, monitoring cost codes, and manually creating daily reports. All this, plus more, is done automatically with busybusy. 

 

Reasons to use busybusy over Raken

  • Digital Time Card Signatures for each employee so that you are federally and state compliant. 
  • GPS time tracking capabilities allow for geofencing, equipment tracking, onsite verification, clock-in/out alerts, and simply proving to clients where your employees were if you get into a billing dispute.
  • Drag and Drop Scheduling
  • A 90-day money-back guarantee lets you fully try their software at your company without any risks.
  • Jobsite photos and notes are geotagged and searchable by location, date, and employee. Also worth mentioning, busybusy often has more employees using the product, so you get more photos to choose from when you need them. 
  • Daily Reports are automatically created using accurate data collected throughout the day.
  • An Automatic Fair Billings Policy adjusts your bill according to employee usage without you needing to do or change anything.
  • Comprehensive reports will save you money and help grow your business
  • Equipment Tracking helps to protect and utilize equipment most efficiently
  • Universal Map shows the location of clocked in employees, equipment, and jobsites.
  • Automatically comply with labor laws.
  • Assigned a Personal Onboard Specialist(s) from the beginning that helps keep you on track with a quick, successful rollout and understands your business.

Schedule a demo with busybusy here

Reasons to use Raken over busybusy

  • If you aren’t looking for an in-depth time management/data tracking system but are looking for safety policy implementation software, Raken is the better choice.
  • If your supervisors don’t mind filling in everyone’s hours at the end of the day instead of having hours tracked and calculated automatically. 
  • Need access to outlines and ideas for safety briefings, i.e., Toolbox talks