The business case for research grant timesheet software
What moving grant timesheets off spreadsheets saves a department, and what it protects, worked through with every assumption on show. Written for grants administrators to send to a head of department or finance.
Figures from the worked example on the pricing page · October 2026
The short answer
For a department with 50 grant-funded staff, UniTimesheet gives back about 1,466 hours of staff time a year, worth about £43,500. The Department plan costs £6,000 a year, so on staff time alone it pays for itself within 2 months and returns more than 7 times its price.
The bigger number is what the timesheets protect: about £216,700 of staff cost a month, claimed from funders on the strength of those records.
Where the time goes today
With paper or spreadsheet timesheets, four people spend time on them every month. These are estimates, not a customer's figures; change them to yours.
| Who | Time on timesheets today | Hours back a year | Worth a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 postdocs and PhD students | 30 min a week each | 1,040 hours | £27,700 |
| Programme manager | 2 hrs a week | 83 hours | £3,100 |
| Principal investigator | 15 min a week | 10 hours | £500 |
| Grants administrator | 8 hrs a week | 333 hours | £12,200 |
| Altogether | 1,466 hours | £43,500 |
Counted at 80% of today's time, because staff still check their hours and principal investigators still approve. Salaries: postdocs and PhD students £40,000, programme manager £55,000, principal investigator £70,000, grants administrator £55,000, each with 30% on top for employer costs, over a 37.5-hour week, 52 weeks a year.
What the timesheets protect
Timesheets are the evidence for the staff costs a department claims from its funders. The 50 staff in the example cost about £216,700 a month with on-costs; where that is charged to grants, it is claimed on the strength of their timesheets. The funders say what happens when the evidence isn't there:
- Horizon Europe: if record-keeping obligations are breached, costs that are insufficiently substantiated are ineligible and rejected, and the grant may be reduced (Annotated Grant Agreement, Article 20.2)
- UKRI: its Funding Assurance Programme tests a sample of grants at every research organisation, and reports finding examples where the audit trail for directly incurred staff costs had not been maintained
Software doesn't make an audit go away. It makes the evidence complete, signed on time and ready when the auditor asks, rather than gathered in a hurry from whatever was kept.
What it costs
- £6,000 a year on the Department plan, for up to 100 staff. Approvers and administrators who don't submit timesheets are free
- One invoice a year, so one purchase order covers it
- Set-up done with you: projects, allocations and roles loaded
- No integration project: projects, funders and allocations come in from CSV
- A free trial first, on your own projects
Do the sum for your department
- Count the people who fill in grant timesheets, and estimate the minutes each spends a month working out hours and getting signatures
- Add the time whoever chases late timesheets spends, the time principal investigators spend signing, and the time your office spends checking and filing them
- Turn each into hours a year, take 80% of it, and multiply by each role's hourly cost: salary plus employer costs, divided by working hours a year
- Compare the total with the plan your headcount needs, and with the staff cost a month the timesheets evidence
A paragraph to send
Change the figures to your own, then paste it into your email:
"Our grant timesheets take about 1,466 hours of staff time a year across researchers, principal investigators and the grants office, worth about £43,500. UniTimesheet would cost £6,000 a year. It works out each person's hours from their allocations, chases late timesheets and turns every approved month into a signed, locked PDF ready for UKRI and Horizon Europe audit. On staff time alone it pays for itself within 2 months, and it protects the evidence behind about £216,700 of staff cost we claim each month. The sums are at https://www.unitimesheet.com/blog/research-grant-timesheet-software-business-case."
How UniTimesheet fits
The saving comes from the work it takes off people: hours drafted from allocations and days off, daily reminders after your deadline, escalation to the principal investigator, approval in one go, and a signed PDF for every approved month with bulk export for claims.
What it leaves to you: staff still check and correct their hours, principal investigators still approve, and your office still prepares the claim. The estimate is only as good as the times you put in, so measure a month before you send it.
Sources
The figures are the worked example on the pricing page, from stated assumptions rather than a customer's data. The funder rules summarise their published terms; they are not legal or audit advice.
Run next month's timesheets in UniTimesheet
Tell us about your group: how many staff, which funders, how you sign timesheets today. We'll set up your organisation and import your projects and allocations with you.