Time Tracking
Time Tracking Best Practices
Be Consistent
If you choose to track time for a project that you will work on intermittently over the course of the day, week ,or month, be sure to create a new timer entry for each time you work on the project – this way you’ll have all the time you spent on the project.
Stop the Timer When Your Finished Working
WorkingPoint continues to track your time if you step away from your computer – which is cool if you perform a lot of customer activities away from your desk. But that also means the timer is running until you log back in and click stop. So, make it a part of your workflow to stop the timer when you are finished with your customer’s task. But don’t worry, you can always edit the timer if you forget.
What is time tracking?
Time tracking involves recording the time you send on activities to gain insight and quantitative data on how you are spending your time. Time tracking systems can range from simple punch time clocks where you insert a paper timecard into a mechanical time clock to advanced biometric systems that require a hand or fingerprint scan.
Why is time tracking important?
Time is a non-renewable resource, so how you spend it counts. There are only so many hours in the day and if you want to have a life outside of work, you need to maximize how you spend your time on the clock. No one knows this more than the self-employed.
By tracking your time, you can gain valuable insight into how you are spending your time. You’ll be able to see how many hours you can bill for and how much time you are spending on activities that don’t pay off. You’ll also be capturing data you can use to to invoice current projects as well as accurately estimate future projects so you don’t sell yourself short.
How do I track time in WorkingPoint?
Tracking time doesn’t need to be complicated. WorkingPoint has worked hard to make it as simple as possible while giving you the information you need to make your time count.
To track time in WorkingPoint, the first thing you will do is create a time tracking item. The time tracking item stores the information that is required to invoice for the time, including the name of the project, the description of the work being done and the rate you are billing for your time per hour. You also select the bookkeeping account you want to use to track the sale of your time once you use the item on an invoice. These special time tracking items are stored in the Time Tracking List. To get to the Time Tracking List, you can click Items on the main navigation menu.
After you create the time tracking item, you add your time to the item by creating time entries using the timer. A timer is available in each time tracking item. To track time, simply click Start when you begin your task and Stop when you are finished. Once you click Stop, a timer entry is recorded in the item. You can create multiple timer entries on a single time tracking item and WorkingPoint will add up all the time you spent on the project/service.
Once you are finished with the project/service, you can add the item to your invoice just like any other item. Simply start typing in the name of the time tracking item and the total duration of the project will be entered on your invoice at the rate specified in the item and the sale will be recorded in the bookkeeping account you chose.