Time tracking?


  • 🚽 Regular

    We have a new edict from on-high that all time must be tracked. I don't fancy using hand-written time sheets so does anybody have any suggestions for decent software? There seems to be a lot of it out there.


  • Fake News

    Excel. :trollface:

    Seriously, my place of work in the early oughts used an Excel spreadsheet with some macros and shit to track time in quarter-hour increments. Hey, it did what it needed to do with a minimum of custom programming.



  • org-mode in emacs.

    I started using it for my own sake a couple of years ago (to figure out where all the time went), and I have not regretted it since. I've got my entire life there now, it seems.


  • Banned

    How precise and truthful does it have to be?


  • 🚽 Regular

    @lolwhat said:

    Excel.

    That was actually what my boss suggested. I'd like a little more functionality than that if possible. Mostly auto-complete based on previous input would be nice (Excel's doesn't count, it behaves very weirdly).

    @Mikael_Svahnberg said:

    org-mode in emacs.

    My work PC is Windows 7 so that might be a problem with finding a working port.
    I will check it out though, maybe emacs will play with Cygwin. I've never touched emacs before though and vi scares me...always been a nano guy ;)

    @Gaska said:

    How precise and truthful does it have to be?

    Probably not extremely. I've asked some more questions and it is to support some tax breaks we are getting for development. So it's to prove development is occurring and tie that to specific projects.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Cursorkeys said:

    I don't fancy using hand-written time sheets so does anybody have any suggestions for decent software?

    I've previously used Hamster time tracker (Linux/Gnome, locally based) and found it passable for my needs, except when I ended up forgetting to back up the DB and it got corrupted....

    I currently use Kimai, (MySQL/PHP, server based), which again I find passable for my needs, especially since it's available to me anywhere (I stuck it on a server I use for a few of the websites I maintain.)

    My (current to fit in with filling out the current incarnation of Vandelay Industries' timesheets) requirements which Kimai fills:

    • Start/stop times, plus duration, for time spent on

      • Projects as a whole
      • Individual tickets within projects
    • Export as CSV so other things can be done (pivot tables mainly to help with filling out above mentioned timesheets, since I've not yet found how to get daily/weekly totals.)



  • +1

    @PJH said:

    I've previously used Hamster time tracker (Linux/Gnome, locally based) and found it passable for my needs, except when I ended up forgetting to back up the DB and it got corrupted....

    Never had any issues and been using this since forever. I like that it's very simple and doesn't get in the way of how to track your stuff. Highly recommended. I think it also works in Windows (I mean, it's done in Python + GTK, so it should be ported to anything)


  • :belt_onion:

    I currently use www.toggl.com. Could be interesting if a SAAS solution is acceptable for your organization.

    Filed under: <tag deleted>


  • 🚽 Regular

    Kimai seems very nice after a quick poke on their live demo.

    I can spin up a new VM with apache2 and MySQL on our private cloud with no hassle.

    There's even an Android App which would come in handy for tracking IT tasks when away from my desk.


  • 🚽 Regular

    Looks very polished. I'll check that one out too, thanks!



  • @Cursorkeys said:

    finding a working port

    Not really; There are binaries provided from Gnu. Depending on how much fun you want to have, there's a certain amount of tweaking to do.



  • @Cursorkeys said:

    I've asked some more questions and it is to support some tax breaks we are getting for development. So it's to prove development is occurring and tie that to specific projects.

    Then the real question is what is easy for accounting to read (or when they spec a format near when they need it how easy to get your records into said format).


  • Grade A Premium Asshole

    @Cursorkeys said:

    We have a new edict from on-high that all time must be tracked. I don't fancy using hand-written time sheets so does anybody have any suggestions for decent software? There seems to be a lot of it out there.

    What manner of projects? How much granularity do you need?


  • Fake News

    I like https://funkytime.com/ so far, but my employer does have a full-blown license including their backend analytics. The "normal" version is more basic but you can still create projects and descriptions on the fly.

    EDIT: oh, and it exports to PDF or CSV.



  • That's what we use at my new place also. Seems reasonably good to me.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    I have no experience with the software, but I'd hate to be the guy trying to sell management on that.



  • +1 for toggl.
    It had all the features I needed. Weekly/monthly total, per project & customer.



  • I KEEP A PRECISE TRACK
    OF WHEN I WORKED
    ON WHICH PROJECT

    • Nancy Faut, Business Manager, Lenea

    WOW! WHAT A TESTIMONIAL!

    Oh wait it just states what the product does.


  • Fake News

    I'm recommending their product, not their marketing. A more hands-on demo would have worked better, but then anyone can make a free account and get to work.


  • 🚽 Regular

    @locallunatic said:

    Then the real question is what is easy for accounting to read (or when they spec a format near when they need it how easy to get your records into said format).

    I asked them and it just needs to be 'readable'. I think I'll look for CSV to be available so I can morph it into something else should the need arise.

    @Polygeekery said:

    What manner of projects? How much granularity do you need?

    Hardware, software and internal IT (I'm the sysadmin as well).
    I think I would like to be able to have at least one sub-level on the tracked 'item' for granularity, so:
    123-456 (Project Foo) -> Hardware Design (FPGA section)
    IT -> Backup Maintenance


    Thanks for all the suggestions, I'm going to give them all a go. If I chose a paid one I have to buy it myself though.

  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Cursorkeys said:

    I asked them and it just needs to be 'readable'.

    You also need to find out the granularity of detail they want. We rarely collect anything finer than by the project work package and by the hour; getting more detailed than that tends to just make a rod for your own back. For development work, the half-day is about as much detail as you ever really need.


  • Grade A Premium Asshole

    I assume you have some spare server space. Take a look at OpenProject. It may be overkill for just the time tracking, but you may be able to consolidate some systems to it.

    Installation is a bit of a bastard, so be warned.


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