Time Tracking Software – Time Tracking Software Reviews

Punchtime Time Tracking App

Intelligent Time Sheets in the Cloud

Punchtime is a SAAS solution for businesses to keep track of employee time & location.

Punchtime app is installed on the employees smartphones, all the data gets pushed to the Punchtime cloud
The employer can access all the time & location data with any smartphone, tablet or desktop
iOS app is available in the app store. The service works on all other platforms using any web client that supports HTML5. Android app is currently in development.

Key Points

Well designed, easy to use
Quick signup, no contract
Affordable, starts at $3 a month per employee
Integrates with existing payroll packages to help automate payroll
Supports Geo-fencing (automatic clock in/out)
Dashboard with project management features (time spent per job, total travel time, average start and end times etc.. )
Sent automated notification to employees when entering specific location or work area

Packages

3$ a month per employee

Time & Location data
Automatically calculates hours for payroll

$9 a month per employee

Geofencing
Project management features
On site notifications
Integration with accounting and payroll systems

Why is Punchtime on an invite only basis?

We are currently testing Punchtime with a group of companies. Our invite process allows us to be selective with our first batch of users. During this time, we are working closely with these companies and welcoming feedback, bug reports and feature request before opening sign up to the general public.

Learn more on their web site: punchtimeapp.com

Timely

Just ran across this app while browsing the excellent “Product Hunt” web site. Looks like a really clean UI with a fast design.

Timely has a free plan, that allows 1-user to have 3 projects. The next plan for one user with unlimited projects comes in at $14 per month. Slightly more than comparable products.

On that note, while the picture they show on their home page shows an iPhone, they also have a view designed for desktop – in the browser.

I went ahead and created an account on the free plan, since it was free!

I like how when I first signed in it had a sample project pre-made so I could see how the app looks with real information.

The interface is super clean, and fast.

What’s cool is that when you are looking at your calendar view, you can see your week and all of the time you have entered so far.

There’s something here that is rarely seen in time tracking apps: The ability to see gaps in your time entries.

Boom! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve requested this feature from time tracking apps.

Oh, you know what else is cool? You can begin a timer, pause it, and then continue. On that note, it fills up the gap you just created. Not sure if I like that, but, you could always make a second timer.

A time entry can also be an item on your calendar. That’s neat. So, I can create a time entry for next week… and then it’s some scheduled time. I’m not really sure how that works with billing. What if I forget to remove an item?

I’ll includes some screenshots below.

Reports:

Users:

Projects:

Calendar:

Pomodoro Timer App for OS X

I’ve been tracking my time on a daily basis for almost 8 years now. It’s something of a habit at this point. I’m even detailed when tracking my own non-billable time.

I’m serious about tracking my time because I’ve needed to be efficient every day, and avoid distractions. I’m my own boss, and since my time is what I sell, it’s important for me to stay focused.

Because of that, I keep my time tracking widget visible at all times on my computer, so I can see exactly what I’m supposed to be working on. I write a detailed description of the task at hand, and start the timer… having that clock ticking… and assigned to a client and project, keeps me on track. I don’t want to have to adjust it later, since it’s too much effort.

I think the Pomodoro technique is perfect for people that don’t want to go to this extreme to track their time. The Pomodoro Timer for OS X doesn’t even have long-term tracking, and doesn’t allow you to enter a description of what you’re working on. It simply exists to keep you focused on your task, and reminds you to take a break at set periods.

Do you use the Pomodoro technique to stay focused in your daily work? If so, leave a comment here about how the technique has affected your day.

How much time do American’s waste on the internet every day?

“I need to start feeling shame for time wasted on the Internet.”

I saw this in my Twitter feed this morning. It was a friend that posted it. My initial reaction to this was: “Wow, I wonder how much time I waste online.” I mean, do I actually get any value out of social networks? I’m sure that question has been asked a thousand times over.

So, what is my recommendation to this friend? My answer is: track your time religiously. Personally, I track all of my time using a timer-based app installed on my computer. On a constant basis I can see what I am doing, and it’s right in front of me.

Since I only earn revenue when I’m billing for my time, there’s a constant pressure to perform. Since I also work for myself, and don’t have someone I call a boss, I am accountable to myself. I have to keep myself in check, otherwise at the end of the month there’s no income to report.

So, that’s my recommendation. I track my time throughout the day, and I do track both my billable time, and my unbillable time. This helps me see how much time I did waste (and what percent was billable). My billable utilization is an incredibly useful tool in determining several factors:

It helps me quote future jobs
It helps me know what I will likely be able to produce next year based on hourly rates
Helps me understand how much work I can get done in a month (useful for estimating)
Keeps me motivated

I highly recommend tracking your time. If you need a time tracking system, check out this useful list of time tracking apps.

Clockwork for Harvest

I must admit, if I had a newer iPad I would rush and get this Clockwork for Harvest app. It just looks cool! It’s an iPad app (free at the moment) for iPad that let’s you interact with Harvest (for time tracking).

As a person who makes a living as a UI designer (in Phoenix, AZ) I can see some fairly significant issues with this design, but it’s cool and I like how different it looks. It looks like a nicely designed form from the 60s made with letterpress.

If you only track your time to a couple of projects, this would be a sweet way to track your time every day.

FunctionFox

FunctionFox is the leading provider of time and project tracking software for small creative companies. TimeFox, its web-based timesheet and project management software, is the number one ranked time-tracking system in North America. Graphic design, advertising, communications, marketing, multimedia, public relations, and interactive firms all choose TimeFox as their web-based time and project management application. TimeFox is currently used by thousands of customers in Canada, the US, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. For more information visit: http://www.functionfox.com

1 minute overview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdOuHBS3n1

TIMEFOX TIMESHEETS

Timesheet with Stopwatch Timer
Tasks with Editable Rates
Personal Calendar and Contacts
To-Do Lists with Email Alerts
Timelines with Milestones
Document Exchange
iPhone App & Mac Widget

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Unlimited Clients & Projects
Project Calendar and Scheduling
Project Costs & Expense Tracking
Manage Estimates, Quotes, & Budgets
Instant Reporting for Tasks, Personnel, Productivity, Estimates and Expenses
Advanced Reporting Templates
QuickBooks for the PC Support

Harvest Time Tracking Tips

Here’s a 5 minute long video from the folks at Harvest detailing some of the nuances of time tracking on the Harvest platform. Learn more about Harvest here.

I’ve been using Harvest since October, 2012, and love it! I create over 500 separate time entries every month by tracking my time religiously. I love tracking my time, and it makes me more productive. It’s like having a little boss over there telling me I should keep on task, and be productive.

I use the Mac desktop client, which you can learn about on the Harvest web site. A couple of interesting things to note about the Mac app:

You can minimize it and track time exclusively from the menu bar at the top of the screen, if you want.
I usually keep the window open, which gives me greater ability to start and stop timers, edit descriptions, and see the rest of my time entries for the day.
Speaking of day: it gives you a whole-view of your day! So, at the end of the day, you can review all of your time entries and see exactly where your day went, and how many hours you worked.

Things I wish the Mac app did:

Displayed how much money I have earned that day. While it does show me the hours I have worked on that particular day, it doesn’t show me the revenue earned. That would be nice, although I can easily gather that information on the Harvest web app.
Remembered the last time entry description for each project category (I’ve written about this before).
Show me the gaps in my day. Currently, Harvest only shows me time entries, but doesn’t tell me that I missed a 15 minute block of time between two time entries.

And here is a quick video detailing their iPhone app, which works really well. I’ve used it a bunch of times to compliment the Mac App.

My favorite thing about Harvest is the desktop application for Mac. Ever since converting to using a Mac a little over two years ago I’ve longed for a native desktop application, and Harvest really delivers.

It did take me a little bit of time to get used to the differences in Harvest. I’ve emailed them with recommendations, and even posted some of them here, but I’ve gotten used to the way it works and it works great with my workflow.

Anyways, that’s my 5 minute review. I must say, if it wasn’t for the Mac app, I’d have looked at using a different system. It’s critical to my usage.

Harvest Mac App

I’ve been using the Harvest time tracking service for about 10 months now (since October), after switching to it from a desktop application for time tracking.

I have to say, I love it!

I primarily use the Mac App, which is featured in the video above. It interfaces with the web site (which I rarely use except to add projects, clients, and run reports).

A couple of things that I would recommend they improve:

1. An option to set the start time immediately after my previous entry. Use case: I stopped my previous time entry, and accidentally let 15 minutes go by before starting my time and now I want an easy way to set the start time to be immediately after my last time entry ended. See this screenshot.

2. Show gaps in my day in a different color, and allow me to assign those to another entry. I’d like to be able to see where there are gaps in the time sheet entries from my day (either a new one, or the previous or next entries). For example, see this screenshot.

3. Have it so that it remembers my last description so I don’t have to re-type it if I want to only make a minor change. I’ve managed to figure this one out: Just click start on a previous entry, and then if you want to leave it alone, it will keep the time entry notes.

4. When entering time manually, allow me to enter the duration, not just the start/end times. Sure would be nice to be able to just enter “1 hr” rather than having to enter a specific start time and end time.

List of Time Tracking Apps: Our very own time tracking tools list

A lot of people probably are unaware that we maintain a list of time tracking applications. We realize that everybody tracks time for different reasons and a time tracking tool that works for one person might not be perfect for another.

That’s why we encourage you to check out TimeTrackingResources.com where we currently have links to over 50 time tracking apps — from software to web. We’ll be maintaining this list and adding new apps whenever we spot a new one. Thanks!

Note: Our list is often updated, and the latest update was on August 5, 2013.