Do you want to know how much time you spend working on a project?

[jianway]

We've created project timer software - Desktop Timer that you can use to monitor how much time you spend while working on a project. We use it to improve efficiency and accuracy in our project management.

It's free to download from www.jianway.co.uk/desktop-timer.html?ukbf and you don't need to register.

Desktop Timer is in beta release and we're keen to hear what you think - [email protected]


Desktop Timer Features

It runs in your taskbar's system tray (or notification area) making it quick and easy to access.

You can set multiple timers for different projects and add notes when the timer stops or starts.

To look back at the timer logs open Logs screen and select project timers that you want to see.

You can customise the view by selecting timers (Timers > Add/Remove Timers or select timer), columns (View > Columns) and timer events (Events > select timer event) to display.

If you want to use logs other applications you can export them in 2 formats, CSV for use in spreadsheets and HTML for sharing online.

Thanks
Jasmina

 

[littlened]

I'll download this and have a look, anything that helps record the time spent on a project could be a real help.

We used to use a website called dotproject(free) for tracking time spent on a project, but we found it a pain because you had to login to the site to register time against a project. We developed a small desktop application which returned a list of projects and task and used the data to populate drop down lists. The application would count how long you spent on the project and post updates to the dotproject database. It was loads easier that logging into the site.

As a web developer, desktop applications are not my strong point, and it eventually stopped working and I've not got round to fixing it.

 

[jianway]

We're planning to add server component which will enable centralised logs for multiple users. It will enable us to provide more substantial reporting features for business owners and managers. This information could then be served as feeds to the business' intranet or extranet.

 

[frimleypit4]

Thanks. Nice simple solution that you've saved us developing ourselves (which we would have never got round to).

I suspect at this stage you may be looking for ideas re: future enhancements, so my top 1 would be:

* Customizable columns. It would be more useful to me if I could define "Customer", "IsRechargable" and "IsR&D" columns

Like I say, I was looking for something simple like this so I'll roll it out to a few of the team and see how it goes.

Cheers,
Leon

 

[jianway]

Hi Leon,

How are you finding Desktop Timer?
We would be interested to hear your comments and feedback.

* Customizable columns. It would be more useful to me if I could define "Customer", "IsRechargable" and "IsR&D" columns

Thanks for the suggestions.

Cheers
Jasmina

 

[crashed]

Im going download this and have a play tonight, its always been a irrisome area, though currently i've been using subversion check-in's to calculate the project im always getting distracted by the phone/email etc.

Is there any way it can be tied to a specific window, so calculates the amount of time that the window has focus?

 

[jianway]

Is there any way it can be tied to a specific window, so calculates the amount of time that the window has focus?

It's on our feature list, including tracking when specific document is open or closed.

 

[dave_n]

jasmina...are there any plans to export to ms project

thanks