I write software for a living and, in common with most office staff these days, can be working on many tasks within one day, all of which require tracking for billing purposes. To this end, armed with my new XDA II, I started to trawl the net for suitable products to record my time and since I was going to all this trouble I thought I'd again write a bit of a review of my findings.
Ok, let's first set some criteria to test against, what are the requirements of a good time keeping package? Well, everyone is different and will have slightly different requirements, but for me the list is as follows...
- It must be quick and easy to use. If it takes me five minutes to start the thing recording a task or event, I won't use it. I need to be able to switch task as soon as the phone rings or someone appears next to my desk.
- It needs to be able to record in at least a two tier manner, i.e. tasks within projects or tasks by category/client.
- It is necessary that it has timer functions so that recording of task duration is automatic and I don’t have to think about what time I started the task. Only one timer is essential but it needs to be a simple operation to switch from one event to the next.
- Task records must be editable after the fact, editing of the currently running timer is desirable but not essential.
- It is highly preferable that timers continue to 'run' when the application is stopped i.e. they resume in real-time, as if the unit continued to run the program. This is for performance and data integrity reasons, and to allow for the PPC 32 process ceiling.
- It must be able to provide some summarised data on the unit but, more importantly, must be able to export the data in a standard format to a PC for further reporting.
|
Some of the reviewed packages also include an Expense Recording element. While these functions may be reviewed briefly, the primary focus shall continue to be with the Time Recording. In addition, some of the packages come with a PC component, sometimes at additional cost. Since the focus of the review is on the PPC device, additional functions provided by the PC software will not be included.
|
Now for the candidate list of software and, boy, was there a lot of it to be found! The following is the list of all the packages I identified as being potentially suited to the task, based on their respective descriptions - I know it is not at all complete but it covers a wide range of types and prices:
Review Approach
I gave each product up to three days of 'real' use by using them to record my normal daily activities at work. In some cases only a few hours were necessary to determine how suitable the product was - depending as much on the work mix I had at that time as on the product itself. For obvious reasons - given the number of products to assess - I also would be running as least two, sometimes three, in parallel. In order to determine the durability of their data I would also soft-reset my XDA during a run as well as force them to exit fully, even if they did not provide an exit function (as per the Microsoft PPC minimise guidelines).
BillableBuddy provides a simple two-tier approach of group and task with a maximum of eight tasks per group.
In order to record times it is first necessary to use the New screen to create a Group with its associated sub tasks, setting the rate, timing interval and billable attributes for each. Recording time is a simple case of selecting the group from the combo (if necessary) and pressing one of the eight task buttons. Only one task within a group may be running at one time (though each task group is independent), starting one task within a group stops any running task within the group and times are cumulative.
The Task Overview button displays a daily, weekly or monthly summary of the recorded times for the current task group, the Task Report provides an exportable (csv format) report for the currently selected task group, the Task Earnings History and % Pie charts both provide graphical representations of the hours and/or dollars for the current task group.
In my opinion, too much effort has been expended on making Buddy 'pretty', without making it flexible - the limitation of eight tasks per group is far too restrictive. In addition there is no apparent way to copy tasks from one group to another and a group needs to exist before a timer can be started, rather than starting the timer and then assigning attributes. In its favour, Buddy does allow the application to be stopped without affecting the running state of timers, it can also export data.
I expect that in a limited task environment Buddy could be fairly effective but in the realistic environment I provided it with, I rapidly found it cumbersome and frustrating and stopped using it after less than a day.
As BOnTime announces when starting for the first time, it uses a hierarchical structure of clients, projects and tasks - it then tells the user how to create these prior to using the application… a very good start!
The main screen displays a tree representation of the client, project, task hierarchy with a timer for the currently selected item displayed below. Highlighting a task and pressing Start starts the timer running - a description may be entered and the start time adjusted, the available buttons become Stop and Pause. Pausing a timer does just that and records the pause duration in the Rest field, pressing Pause again restarts the timer running; pressing Stop stops the timer and updates the tree view with the timer details. When a timer is stopped, changes may be made to the details and the changes saved, times are recorded to one minute accuracy.
A new timer cannot be started until an existing one stops and unfortunately it is not possible to stop one timer by starting another which makes it slightly inconvenient. One nice feature is the cut/copy/paste functions which permit timer details to be 'moved' from one task to another. To cater for unforeseen events, I created a dummy client/project/task and used that as a placeholder for a timer while I then created the necessary hierarchy, it was then a simple task to cut and paste the timer from the dummy to the actual; if it was running at the time it continued to do so - a nice touch. Any running timer effectively continues to run while the application is stopped, it restores correctly on restart.
The main screen also permitted easy access to the Day Summary view - time spent by client/project/task and the more advanced Reporting which permitted filtering and exporting to csv files. The menu system also permits exporting of data to XMS and SQL, though not while a timer is running.
The only flaws I would identify would be…
- The tree view cannot be redisplayed with the date at the top of the hierarchy.
- projects/tasks cannot be easily duplicated across clients/projects.
- not being able to create clients/projects/tasks on the fly while creating a timer.
- not being able to stop one timer by starting another.
I used it in total for about two days and it coped easily with a variety of scenarios, the website provides a wealth of support information. All up, I found BOnTime to be a well constructed and useful application from our antipodean neighbours, well worth consideration.
ConTRAK is a very crude and simple program which permits time records to be recorded against contracts. It has no timing facilities, minimal editing and reporting, was buggy and did not really fulfill the requirements of the review - it was discarded almost immediately.
Time Tracker records Tasks against Projects and provides one timer.
The interface design of IM Time Tracker creates an intensely annoying application to use. It displays the Projects, Tasks, Details and Reports as a series of expanding/collapsing bands and makes navigating between the detail levels of projects a very painful operation. Opening the project band the first time would display a link to permit the adding of the first project, after that you have to guess that the popup menu exists which permits the maintenance of projects. The same goes for tasks which may be maintained/selected after selecting the appropriate parent project on the first screen then expanding the tasks band.
The details band displays the details records on a day/week/month basis for the currently selected project/task but as a two level tree view (why the bands then?). The popup menu permits static records to be added, edited and deleted but it is the Task screen which permits access to the timer - very confusing. Selecting Track Time displays a simple screen containing a running timer for the current project/task - two buttons Stop and Close control the timer. Pressing Stop stops the timer and writes record to the database, leaving the screen open (the Stop caption becomes Start); Close stops the timer and writes record to the database, returning to the Task screen.
The Reports band provides access to four reports (including csv) which display results in Pocket Explorer and are saved, thus permitting a crude export to be performed.
IM Time Tracker has a very pretty installer and interface but, when used in anger, appears poorly designed with little thought given to true usability making it frustrating to use - it lasted less than four hours in my testing.
The program permits recording of events against activity, project, task and customer in any combination, it has one timer.
METAtime has a very simple interface, albeit a little too yellow for my taste! The main screen has three toolbars: project/activity filter, date range and timer control; the first two, to be fair, are more for display only.
Base data (project, etc.) does not have to be entered before timing records can be entered, which I consider a major plus. A timer is started simply by pressing the start button on the toolbar - details are not entered until the timer is stopped when the project, etc. and a comment may be entered or selected and the times may be adjusted.
Times are recorded to one minute accuracy and may not overlap with other records. While the timer is running it is possible to enter and update other records, it is not possible to stop the existing timer event by starting another. Reporting in METAtime is limited to exporting the data in XML format.
While fairly crude in design and (I think) a disgusting colour, METAtime is actually fairly effective in what it does. While it does not have all the bells and whistles of some of the packages reviewed here, it is flexible enough to warrant a second look.
MPE Time Management uses the project by task approach for its time recording, where tasks are common to all projects - it does not provide timers. Unfortunately the demo. version also restricts the user to just two tasks (which I think is quite pathetic) and greatly limits its evaluation potential.
The main screen provided a daily or weekly summary of all entries for the current week; before entries can be made, projects and tasks must be entered via the relevant edit screens. Projects have a name, a category (Internal, External or All) and a State (Opened, Closed or All), Tasks have a name, price (rate) and description. The reports are limited to a simple hierarchical summary of time or earnings, there is no formal export facility but the data is stored in a Pocket Access database which could be interrogated via a PC.
The lack of timers and demo. restrictions meant I could not truly evaluate this product but I did find it lacked the sophistication of many of its competitors - as an 'after the fact' recording tool it could have value, but not for me - paper and pen would more than suffice.
PDA Time Track is another very simple time recording program which permits the recording of time events by customer and project, it has no timer facilities however and therefore falls outside the full review scope.
The main screen permits the entry of a customer name, project name, pay rate type and notes - records are saved via a menu operation. The application is extremely simple and provides only a list of entries by way of reporting.
[No Image Available]
PocketTime records time events by Customer and Project in any combination, however it does not have a timer and so falls outside the scope of the full review.
Once Customers and Projects have been entered, time events are recorded by selecting the Customer and Project then entering a time value (in decimal). The main screen provides a variety of ways of looking at the data and there are multiple export methods. The inclusion of a timer plus the ability to rename Customer and Project to Project and Task would make the product worth a revisit.
Pocket PunchClock is a relatively simple, no frills, event recorder which records messages against Jobs, it has one timer.
The simplicity of the application meant no formal review was performed as it did not meet the criteria. The demo. version also limits itself to three uses which makes it totally useless for realistic assessment.
Standard Time CE -
www.stdtime.com - Free / USD$134.99
Standard Time records Projects by Categories and has one timer.
As with many of the products it is necessary to create the base entities prior to recording times. It is also possible to create ready paired combinations known as Quick Tasks which can be selected from the menu but, given that there are only projects and categories, this seems a little bit of overkill.
Tasks are created by starting the timer, the project, category and a description may then be entered. The timer continues running when the application is closed, however a running task must be stopped before a new one may be started. Entries may be edited during and after the timer has stopped.
Navigation and maintenance is very crude. Tasks are simply displayed in the main screen as a list with two columns, double tapping an item opens it - there is a delete, forward and back button available so removing records is laborious. Reporting is also limited to on-screen displays of pre-defined reports (day, week, month).
The main limitations of Standard Time appear to be due to its big brother on the PC which I presume contains all the fancy reporting and better data manipulation. It is a fancy ploy to release the PDA version for nothing then charge for the required PC software - however I suspect this PDA software won't hold it own for long enough to catch too many people.
Time and Expenses Manager -
www.cyncware.com - USD$14.95
This product only permits the recording of time events against Categories and has no timer function, it is therefore not fully reviewed.
The rather colourful (!) main screen permits the entry or selection of a Category, a date, plus standard and overtime hours. The entered records may be viewed by day, week or month. The product suffers from a cumbersome and clumsy interface and provides limited reporting.
Time Bandit is unusual in that it permits the user to create an effectively unlimited hierarchy of items to record time against; it has multiple timers.
The main screen consists of a tree view, below which are three timers (regular, overtime and special). After initially setting up the clients in the database, the user simply uses the buttons on the toolbar to create the hierarchy of projects, tasks or whatever to record time against. To record time it is only necessary to highlight the tree element and click the appropriate timer button. Times are cumulative and any element which does not contain other elements can record time, times are also accumulated upwards through the hierarchy.
Where the Bandit falls down is that there is no concept of date. In order to record daily times I found it necessary to create a top level item for each day I worked. Reporting is limited to the exporting the data in csv format.
Time Bandit has the potential for being very powerful as a result of its flexible approach but its lack of dates means it becomes very cumbersome for daily time recording.
Time Bill records events by Project, Task and Client, it has one timer. It is also based on, and requires, the AppForge Booster platform.
While the software has a dated look to it, it appears reasonable flexible at first glance and might be adequate to the task. Unfortunately the demo. version is so thoroughly hamstrung as to be impossible to assess, with all the maintenance tasks disabled and only the timer working with sample data. Reporting was limited to exporting data in a predefined 'invoice' format to text files.
Given the inability to fully evaluate the product and its poor reporting facilities, I can't actually see how the developer expects to sell any copies of this.
Time Biller records events by Client, Project, Phase and Task, it supports up to four timers.
The main screen can display records for a day, week, month or custom period, in either a list, detail or tree view from which any record may be edited.
Entering a static record is a simple case of selecting New from the menu and completing the details on the edit screen. A timed entry is almost as simple - go to the timer screen and start a timer, when it is stopped simply fill in the same details screen. The edit screen permits entry of the base data (client, etc.) directly into the drop down boxes so it is not necessary to pre- create all the hierarchical data as with most of the others.
Reporting is limited to a single summary screen but the information may be exported in both csv and xml formats. A wealth of maintenance options permit good control of the application, which can also be set to use time rounding of 6, 10, 15, 20 & 30 minutes.
Time Biller is a well thought out and nicely designed application, well suited to the task of monitoring the busy desk jockey or software developer; it is rich in features and well presented. If I could make one change it would be to permit the user to choose what to display in the tree view and to permit the date to be shown at the bottom of the hierarchy.
Time Manager records time against clients by project by task, it has one timer.
The main screen is primarily a tree view which is used both for maintaining the clients, etc. but also for recording the time events. As with many of its competitors, it is first necessary to enter the clients, projects and tasks against which times are to be recorded. Selecting and holding an element in the tree displays a contextual popup menu permitting the item to be maintained.
To record an event it is necessary to select a task in the tree view - the context menu enables permits a work entry to be created and saved. To create a timed event, the timer button is pressed after selecting a task. I could not tell if it was intentional or not but the timer button was like an on/off switch - changing the task would stop one task and start a new one for the next task selected. It did appear to be able to keep the timer running when closed as long as this did not cause it to lose context in the tree, which would in turn stop the timer.
A very annoying feature with this product was the save function on most of the screens. Most have an OK button (top right) and a save, delete and undo (cancel) button on the form, only the save button would preserve the data but all would close the form, so why have an OK button? I lost many changes through closing the screen with the OK and it put me right off the product.
The menus at the bottom of the screen provided access to the reports and import/export features with date being available for export on a table by table basis and in csv, sql and xml formats.
But for the annoying OK button feature this could be a reasonable product, though I personally found the tree view navigation a little clumsy with the menu coming up for the wrong item on a regular basis. Perhaps worthy of another look if none of the others grab you.
Time Recorder uses a two-tier approach of project and task and has one timer.
In common with many, it is necessary to create the projects and tasks before recording events. However, unlike any other product I've found so far this one permits the tasks of one project to be easily added to another, making setup a little less of a chore.
The main screen consists of five tabs:
Day View displays a graphical representation of the day showing which projects were worked on, when and for how long.
The Project tab displays task level summary information for a project and permits the creation and maintenance of the projects and tasks. Static (untimed) records are added via the project tab by selecting the project and task then the Add Time button - the appropriate details are entered and saved.
On the Summary tab is displayed a simple project level summary d he hours spent on each project for the current day while the Reports tab permits the creation and export of simple project or task based reports.
The Timer tab permits the user to select a project and task and control a timer. The timer may be paused and resumed and continues to run when the application is closed.
Exporting to Excel and csv are both supported and the package also permits time rounding granularly to be user defined for both reporting and data entry.
All in all, Time Recorder is a nice and well behaved application, neither too simple nor too complex. It performs the required tasks well and has a clean and simple design which makes it easy to use, well worth considering.
This application allows the recording of times against accounts and tasks, it has a single timer.
Time to Time requires that accounts and their tasks are setup before use - the maintenance screen is fairly crude and also functions as the selection screen for choosing the account and task to record against.
The timer is run against the currently selected account and/or task by simply pressing the start button, times are recorded to minute accuracy. Previous records may be edited afterwards via some very simple (read: crude) edit screens. Reporting is strictly limited to on-screen viewing and there is no apparent export mechanism.
Time to Time has very limited functionality and a very simple and clunky CE style interface, it even fails to cope with the input area of the screen when the keyboard (or whatever) disappears. Even with the additional functionality that the pro version (which requires desktop accounting software) might provide I cannot are how the high price could be justified.
Timesheets records times by client and task, it has one timer.
The main screen has three tabs - Overview, Details and History. The first tabs shows a list of recorded items and includes the various timer controls. The second tab serves both as a record edit and entry screen, the third tab as a filtered record review screen (I think, but couldn't be sure!). [Edit: due to a faulty install, the help file wasn't functioning, which would have clearly defined the tab function as above. My comment is therefore a little unfair perhaps?]
To add a new record requires selecting the second tab, entering the desired information and selecting Write New Record. To record a timed entry entailed starting then stopping the timer, then selecting and editing the new record to add client and task selections - what a pain!
Talking of pain, a number of to maintenance dialogs were terrible to use, displaying the likes of "To save changes use Tools|Save before closing the…" when the OK button was pressed, or "Add a task - blank aborts" despite there being an OK and a Cancel button displayed.
A great deal of effort seems to have gone into clever features like being able to print via infrared and communicating via the comm port, sadly this does not make up for a poorly designed program and basic interface standards.
TimeTTracker MX -
www.rfcons.com - from USD$49.95
If a benchmark is required for PPC timekeeping software to measure up to, without doubt this application is it.
TimeTTracker permits time to be recorded against a combination of client, project, subproject and task, it permits multiple timers.
In common with some other packages it has a PPC and a PC component but in this case the PC component is a desktop version of the PPC program with as 
much functionality and fully synchronised with the hand-held.
The main screen consists of a Quick Nav bar, Info bar, Context Tree, Record list, Tool bar and menus; each of these components may be individually hidden. The Quick Nav bar provides numerous functions for navigating and viewing the saved records while the Tool bar provides access to functions for manipulating the records and timers; both toolbars are highly customisable. The Info. bar provides a summary of the currently selected/viewed records, the Context tree shows the records in a hierarchical tree and the Record list displays the individual records in a list view.
Creating a new time record displays a screen containing four drop-down boxes (client, project, sub and task), five time entry boxes (start, end, duration, break and effective duration), timer start, pause and stop buttons, plus various billing related controls and check boxes. To enter a record in it's simplest form, one simply enters or selects the appropriate details in the combos, enters the times and saves the record. A good feature of this software is that it is not necessary to pre-define all the clients, projects and etc., simply enter new ones in the combos as required.
To create a timer record is equally simple - create a new record from the menus as above and press the start button, or highlight the appropriate branch in the Context tree and press the toolbar start button. Timer information may be changed after the timer is created, times may be adjusted as long as the timer has been stopped and all values edited at a later date; stopped timers may also be resumed.
While multiple timers are permitted, it is also possible to set subsequent timers to halt previous records, this permits a high degree of flexibility and control rather than the usual rigid one/many option offered by most since it permits multiple timers but with context control. Combined with the ability to create subsequent records based on a previous record's time values, it is possible to switch rapidly between tasks with a minimum of effort.
TimeTTracker is very customisable. The terminology used in the program (project, etc.) may be altered to suit user preferences (including Timeslips and Quickbooks). In addition, it is possible to set the granularity of recorded times, either to the nearest or to expand to a multiple of the set value. By that I mean that, if I charge my time in units of six minutes (one tenth of an hour), the timers will always align themselves to six minute intervals - very nice!
I could continue at great length about the various options which permit this application to be tailored to the user’s needs, the variety of reports, import/export functions, the numerous maintenance features (not to forget the PC version) but that would simply take too long and too much space. By the way, did I mention that TimeTTracker also records expenses too?
If you are serous about recording time in an efficient and effective manner then you must download the trial version of TimeTTracker and try it. The entire application simply oozes quality, it is very well designed and presented, extremely easy to use and very stable.
If I had to find fault with the product it would be that it does not provide an exit function, instead it abides by the MS minimise design guidelines. This means that, if the application is shutdown for whatever reason (e.g. soft-reset), any running timers stop on exit, potentially losing some duration values; the main data file is also locked and cannot be backed up while the product is running. However, if you use a task manager and take care, this need not be a major drama.
There also appear to be no on-line help in the PPC version, only the PC version – again, though, this is a minor issue since the product is very intuitive and easy to use. One final nice-to-have would be to permit the user to put the date at the top of the tree if desired - sometimes its nice to group by project, sometimes by date.
A very major plus in TimeTTracker's favour is the support. Within 24 hours of sending an enquiry regarding the timers stopping on exit I had received a full detailed technical response. What is more, after explaining my concerns over the 32 process issue and minimised applications, my feedback had been entered into the development team's feedback database for consideration - very impressive PR indeed.
Time Keeping/Recording Software Overall Score
|
Verdict:
There are a great many products available for recording time via a PPC and some are obviously more suitable than others, depending on what is required by the user, prices also range widely though the more expensive are not always the best. There is also some real rubbish to be found (which was not even included here!) and I strongly advise people to trial all candidates they are interested in as realistically as possible.
For myself there was one clear winner in this contest – TimeTTracker – though there are a pretenders hiding in the wings which do come a little close and could challenge for the crown with a little work.
Mike's Scores:
|
BillableBuddy |
4/10 |
|
BOnTime |
9/10 |
|
ConTRAK |
N/A |
|
IM Time Tracker |
4/10 |
|
METAtime |
7/10 |
|
MPE Time Management |
5/10 |
|
PDA Time Track |
N/A |
|
Pocket Time |
N/A |
|
Pocket PunchClock |
N/A |
|
Standard Time PPC |
6/10 |
|
Time and Expenses Manager |
N/A |
|
Time Bandit |
5/10 |
|
Time Bill |
2/10 |
|
Time Biller |
9/10 |
|
Time Manager |
7/10 |
|
Time Recorder |
8/10 |
|
Time to Time |
6/10 |
|
Time Sheets |
5/10 |
|
TimeTTracker MX |
9.9/10 |
|