Project Managers Like This Time Tracker

If you’re a project manager looking for a time tracking app with project management, you will like this one! See the video below.

A lot of time trackers are just dinky wanna-be’s with some nice web graphics. Dig in a little, and you find their depth within an hour. It doesn’t take long to figure out that it’s not an app with any depth or longevity. Come back a year later and they’re gone. The nice web campaign was not enough to sustain.

“Project managers want a time tracker with depth.”

“But don’t want to spend months figuring it out.”

Other timesheets with project management could be classified as “million dollar implementations.” You know what that involves. Hardcore functionality that doesn’t care if you get it or not. Every module costs extra. And every module requires months of ramp-up. Uggh.

ST is nicely in between. Attractive and easy user interface, with every PM feature you need. Consider these for your PM needs:

1. Employee timesheet for projects and tasks
2. Full project hierarchy with sub-projects and tasks
3. Task assignment and linking
4. Resource allocation
5. Project triangles
6. Project analytics 

Start with time tracking basics

Project managers usually just want the basics, with a few choice features for usability. Of course the time tracker has to have projects, subprojects, and tasks. And those have to show up in the timesheet, and retain their hierarchy so users know the context of every item they see. Crack open a project, and you see the guts that are relevant to you, not everybody in the organization. That makes the timesheet appear smaller and simpler. A simple time tracking app gets more use than a hard one. That means PM’s get more accurate information.

“Start with a basic time tracker… and keep it basic.”

Project managers like a time tracker that gives them raw materials without a big fight. And those raw materials usually mean reliable employee hours, written against projects and tasks. Close the tasks out quickly, and close the project out, and project managers are usually happy.

Now add a few good time-sheet tools

The basics are good, but you can’t manage projects on just the basics. Once you have projects, sub-projects, and tasks in the time-sheet, you only need a few good tools to make project managers happy. Here is what you can expect from ST:

1. An advanced resource allocation bar chart to help assign employees and schedule tasks
2. A project revenue chart to watch for revenue dips where sales need to engage more heavily
3. Email notifications to remind everyone when tasks are coming up, or overdue, or projects are over budget
4. Project analytics to point out which projects, clients, users, and kinds of work are trending

“That’s a time-sheet I can recommend”

What’s the difference between a timesheet and a time tracker?

The extra stuff. A time tracker doesn’t have any real project management. So when a project manager says he likes a time tracker, he’s probably talking about a timesheet plus task management, charts, and PTO and time off accrual. It’s those tools that make the product usable in the organization.

The original article Project Managers Like This Time Tracker was first written at http://www.stdtime.com