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<b>Any Answers:</b> Which automatic project timer program? By John Stokdyk

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22nd Feb 2006
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Sometimes a simple Any Answers question can uncover a much wider world of opportunities and solutions for users.

Nigel Packer did just that last week when he asked, "Does anyone know some software in the marketplace to help keep track of client project time when working at the computer?"

Nigel runs the Port Talbot-based internet marketing consultancy BusinessForBusiness.co.uk and wanted a simple mechanism to record the hours he spent on various projects so that he could bill his clients accurately. "Sage and QuickBooks have got timers - they've all got them - but most of the project management packages are too cumbersome and take longer to set up than the time for the project," he complained.

He was also aware that it was possible to use journals in Microsoft Outlook, "but you've got to sit there with a calculator to add it all up".

The answers Nigel received covered the full spectrum from Outlook to the dedicated 10-clock practice timing system supplied by Star Computer. In the end, however, he opted for one of the simplest suggestions - the £49.50 FourFourTime. Jill Speirs of FourFourTwo said that two people had bought copies as a result of the Any Answers thread.

"This software was designed for people who wanted it simple," she said. "Our first users were engineering consultants, for whom it was designed. The second wave of users are mainly individuals who are charging by the hour but having trouble keeping records."

FourFourTime seems to work. A day or so after dispatching a CD to South Wales, Speirs got an email testimonial from Packer saying how delighted he was with it. "It's brilliant," he told AccountingWEB. "It's just a small application that sits there on the screen with a start and stop buttons.

"List all the current projects you are working on and when you start you select the client from the drop down list." You hit Start when you start progressing the work and if there are any interruptions or breaks, you simply switch the program off and it will offers a dialogue box to let you enter what you have did in that period, he explained.

"When you send out your invoice it is minute accurate and there is a print out of dates times and activities ready for the client. The price is reasonable and I would consider any business in the professional services sector - consulting, accountancy, legal - would find this tool useful."

Nigel Packer had tried the Outlook Journal option suggested by Stephen Smith, but also felt programs like Sage, QuickBooks and Microsoft Project were akin to taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut. But what if you want a little bit more functionality than he needs?

Starting with the suggestions put forward by other AccountingWEB members, we embarked on a mini-survey to track down some of the options that might be more suited to more specialist requirements, such as within accountancy practices.

Practice IT guru Simon Hurst reported that timer software isn't as widely used as many might thing. "It probably works best in tax departments because of the way they work - where they might tackle 97 entries in the space of a week rather than spending all of their time on the audit of one client.

Digita's TaxabilityPro tackles the challenge by including built-in trackers that can automatically log and report how long users spend within the application and on particular client records. It's a bit Big Brother-like, but effective.

The other challenge for a practice management timer system would be how many clocks you need to run. The clear market leader in this field is Star Practice Management, which offers you a battery of 10 clocks.

Alastair Harris, who implemented the system for a multi-office practice explained that the timers sit on your PC taskbar. "If you set a timer running then it will continue to run whether the timer is visible or not until you stop it running. If you have several on the go at once then only one will run, but you can switch between them, just like a chess clock."

The clever bit, he added, was that if you set up the Star application to do so, it would let you drag and drop the timer on to your timesheet and it would automatically create an entry for a particular client. Harris agreed with Hurst's analysis: "I found that the timer was most popular with tax staff, particularly for timing and recording phone calls."

Keytime's DRIVE suite may not quite match Star for sophistication, but it does have a slick Communictions module that includes timers to help you track the work you devote to client phone calls and emails.

When you telephone a client, you can start the timer running and and type in instructions and contemporaneous notes as you talk. If you put the client on hold to check something for them, you can leave the timer or you can stop it and set another timer running if you have to pick up another call. If you assign the timer to a particular client's timer sheet, you can set the timer running and when you click stop it will log the time automatically.

In contrast to these approaches, Sage does not include dynamic timers in its new Practice Management application. Sage product development manager Richard Whitehead said the demand just wasn't there for it among Sage users. "We try to encourage people to use our application to enter their time more efficiently, but people work in a messy fashion. They tend to wait until the end of the week before they tot their time up and enter it on their timesheets."

If you are Sage practice up and want more sophisticated tools to keep track of time, Stephen Quay suggests looking at Timeslips (now owned by Sage). He's used the application for more than 20 years in his practice. Its big brother Timesheet can track your actual work and send the data back to Microsoft Project to update the schedule. These applications, along with Sage Carpe Diem, which includes floating on-screen timers, are available from Sage developer Deepak Sareen Associates.

There are myriad timer systems out there designed both for accountants and for general use. It's certainly worth doing some Googling, it's worth mention two other suppliers who came to light in the time-keeping Any Answers thread:

  • Skynet Applied Systems offers a simple time recording module within its SkyEnterprise suite.
  • TimeBox is designed as a software punch-clock. You press an on-screen button to signal the activity you are beginning, and can attach project notes as you go along. The system includes a mini-web server if you record your work time remotely. You can print, view, or save summary reports to disk, or export them to a spreadsheet or database application for further analysis.
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    By User deleted
    06th Aug 2009 10:37

    you should try Replicon Web Timesheet Software
    I see that you are discussing something about Timesheet,Time Tracking,Project Management and Client Billing and i m wondering if you have heard of Replicon Inc..

    Replicon Timesheet Software offers easy to use web based time tracking software for tracking employee time, project time, as well as expenses, to streamline payroll and attendance as well as project tracking, project costing and client billing.

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