An Overview of Time Tracking Tools in Project Management

"Time is of the essence."

The phrase rings true, particularly when you talk about project management. All the things in a project are time dependent. It’s often necessary for one department to use their time efficiently so that other departments could pick-up from there and finish their job on time. And so, it goes without saying that utilizing this commodity wisely is as crucial as resource management, finance management, or anything else. That’s when time tracking tool come into picture.

Take a look at how a time tracking tool can positively impact a team’s performance -

• Maintain records of time entries - How are teams investing their time? How long does it take to finish a task? Access to that knowledge is necessary. Using a web based time tracking software is how you can gain that access. Every time someone starts a new task, he/she can note how long it takes to finish it and make manual time entries of the same. If you don’t want to make manual entries, there’s always a timer you can use, which you can turn on and off whenever you start/finish a task respectively.

• Advanced reporting - Reports are like a summary of the project history. All the time entries that you make in a time tracking software can be further used for generating productivity reports. With just one look at those reports, you can find out how teams are utilizing time. Managers can spot areas where a lot of time wastage is happening and work towards scope for improvement.

• Helpful in billing clients - If you work in a project where your working hours are billable, then it’s all the more crucial for you to maintain timesheets.  For such professionals, it’s all the more necessary to maintain timesheets. Once you have prepared the time sheets using a timer, the same can be used for billing the clients. If you use a billing software for that purpose, then you can import/integrate those timesheets into it.

• Better time management - The most unproductive thing is to do what shouldn't be done in the first place. Are there certain tasks that are not contributing to the project and only was wasting your time? To find that out, use a time tracking software for sometime. After that, you can find out which tasks are not yielding any output and only causing wastage of time and efforts. You can then eliminate those tasks from your routine and use all the saved time towards other important stuff.

• A wakeup call - It’s easy to keep postponing your work without realizing how much time you’re wasting procrastinating. But, a timesheet paints a clear picture of just how productive you are. Timesheet records can sometimes be like a wake-up call reminding that you’re wasting this much time everyday without even realizing it.

If you want to use your time productively, it is highly recommended that you get a time tracking tool ASAP. That’s the only way to have concrete records of time utilization and make the most of your time!