Time Recording Software
When you get caught up in the “busy” part of business, it can be easy to lose track of how much time is being spent on particular tasks. For a business to run smoothly, it is imperative that you have a good understanding of time as it relates to projects and tasks within your organisation. This is not only true for the sake of payroll, but for future planning and job estimation as well. The problem is, a lot of time management solutions out there demand a whole lot of time to learn and use, and that really defeats the purpose. Ideally, your time recording software should be easy to use, and automated as much as possible.
It doesn’t really matter what occupation you are in, whether you are a lawyer, a doctor, or a contractor, time will always be the one thing that is out of your control. While a time management software package won’t help you stop the steady march of time, it will help you get a much better understanding of how you can best utilise the time that you have, and identify areas within your business that could be improved and potentially free up resources. If you are in business and are able to effectively manage your time, then you are much more likely to succeed in the long term.
The type of time recording software you choose will largely depend on what your own personal needs are. It will also depend on the specific way you operate. Some people are meticulous about keeping records and logs of everything that they do, and if this is the case for you, you will probably just need a software package that allows you to manually enter in the details of time worked as you go. This sort of software should allow you to specify categories and projects, so that you simply enter in start time and end time, and enter in your work details. This type of system will only work if you remember to use it, and unfortunately many of us get so involved in work, that we find ourselves losing track of what we have done.
If you need something a little less hands on and more automated, there are a couple of easier options. One particular type of time recorder software is the type that takes screenshots of your computer at regular intervals. At the end of the day, you can then play these screenshots back as a slide show and document what that work was for. This approach means that instead of recording your time worked after the changing of tasks, you can do it at the end of a day, and most of this software is simple to use, so it should only take you 5 or 10 minutes to document a full days work. This type of software can be used for other, more sinister purposes as well. It will usually run in the background without any user interaction, and if installed on your machine without your knowledge, can keep a log of all of your web surfing habits and login details.
Another type of timer recording software that is a little less invasive is the type that tracks windows that are opened on your computer. These software solutions do not take screenshots, but simply provide a list of window captions that you can then use to determine what you were working on during any given time period. There are also many online timer applications that have simple start and stop buttons that allow you to record work progress as you go.
Of course, simply logging time as you go and then forgetting about it is a fairly useless activity. Once you have logged your time, you are going to want the ability of creating customisable reports that show you not only where your time is being used, but allows you to set targets and budgets within the software. It should give you the ability of identifying time leaks within your operation in order to help your business run smoother.
Top 5 Time Recording Software Packages
Timesnapper is one of those programs that takes a screenshot of your computer at predefined intervals. You can change the frequency of the screenshots, as well as the quality of each individual image file. That is one thing that you need to keep in mind with this type of time recording software – if it is taking a snapshot of your desktop every 5 seconds, that is going to be almost 10,000 pictures at the end of your working day. This can be a very effective way of filling up your computers hard drive.
RescueTime is an online time tracking software package, although it requires you to download a client that you install on your computer. The client runs silently in the background, logging every window you open, and uploading that data to the RescueTime server, which then allows you to log in and view customisable reports based on your computer actvities. It also provides the ability to give yourself a “nudge” when it recognizes you taking part in time wasting activities.
Tick works on the premise that each project should be allocated a time budget. It then keeps that information available as your employees enter in their time details, so that your whole organisation has a good understanding of whether a project is on target or not. Tick is completely web based, there is no software needed on your computers, and this allows you to access it from any computer, with any operating system and from anywhere in the world.
SlimTimer is one of the cleanest interfaces that you could hope for in a time tracking software solution. Once again, SlimTimer is completely web based and strips down the functionality to a bare minimum. If simplicity is what you’re after, then SlimTimer is the way to go. It’s as simple as creating your tasks, timing the work you do as you go, and exporting the end results to a CSV file that you can do whatever you need with.
ManicTime is a great alternative for those of you that feel uneasy about having so much of your businesses personal details on some remote server. ManicTime will record every window you have open through the day. You can then assign certain projects or tasks to each application or window through the use of tags, and export customisable reports on a daily or weekly basis.
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Comments
Comment from Chris Neumann
Time: December 10, 2009, 2:05 am
Good call, thanks ppol. openTempus looks extremely useful. Unfortunately I can’t get the reporting functionality to work, but from the screenshots it looks like a very clean interface, and if it is actually doing something on my machine (hard to tell without reports), it’s doing it with a nice small footprint.
Comment from ppol
Time: December 4, 2009, 3:55 pm
Slimtimer it’s a nice tool with complete reports but you should input every few minutes new tasks and control your activity, manictime doesn’t require user input but it does not have clear reports. Since a few days ago i found opentempus , opentempus.org, is like manictime + slimtimer with a lot of plugins and reports