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Standard Time® Apps

Are you using a project tracking app?  Or just winging it?  Why not try Standard Time®?

There is an android or iOS timekeeping app.  They both sync with the cloud or desktop.  They both let you track time, expenses, mileage, and vehicles. Scroll down below the video to install the smartphone apps.

A single road warrior, saving the universe?

Hey, that’s cool.  Use the Android or iOS app while working at client offices.  All your records can be sync’d with the cloud or the desktop.  When you return to the office, bill clients for your time and expenses.  Easy!

Part of a project team, but escaped the cube?

If you’re working with a project team, you’ll see only your projects and project tasks on your smartphone.  Track your hours and sync.  All the hours from team members are added together and are instantly available for project managers to review.  PM’s can compare estimates with actuals collected in the field.  They can schedule new tasks that will find their way to your smartphone on the next automatic sync.

Scroll down below the video to install the smartphone apps.

 

Install the Android timekeeping app:
http://www.stdtime.com/android.htm

Install the iOS app:
http://www.stdtime.com/iphone.htm

 

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Employee Skill Availability

Ever wonder if an employee is scheduled for tasks next month?  Or next week?

How would you know?  Ask them?

There’s another way.  Schedule some tasks, assign employees, and then open this resource availability window.  You’ll see a graph of all the hours an employee has available to them.  If there are gaps, schedule more tasks.  Maybe you should ask them first, but then do it, and you’ll have some nice documentation that shows who is scheduled and who is not.

And, there’s a flip-side to this.

Resource allocation is the flip-side to employee availability.  In other words, an employee is available when they are not allocated to tasks.

You might have a need to find resources by their skillsets.  Looking for an ‘Engineer 1’ or ‘Engineer 2’ qualification?  Use this tool to find them.  You can then assign them to your project… after asking them first.  (People aren’t machines.  And you probably shouldn’t call them ‘resources’ either.  They are human beings and like to be consulted before blindly signed up for anything.)

Watch the video to see if this might be useful to you and your project.

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Future Project Billing Rates

With Standard Time® an administrator can predict how much a project will cost. The dates for the project are sometimes far enough into the future that you must set future rates.  You can create date ranges that contain future billing rates.

For example, suppose you needed to predict project costs into 2017 and 2018.  (still future at the time of the article)

The salary and billing rates are likely different for those future years.  You may not know exactly what they will be, but you have an idea.  The software lets you enter your predictions, and uses them for tasks that are scheduled to begin then.

So, back to our 2017 and 2018 example… your future rates will be used for tasks that are scheduled on those future dates.  Each task has a starting date.  Each task is assigned to users.  So, the user rates for those dates are incorporated into the cost of each task.

A task in 2018 may cost more than a task in 2017.  The software knows this.

Watch the video for details.

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Expense Timesheet Template

Create expense templates to automate entering new expenses and mileage.  After creating the template, users will see the new item in their timesheets.  They will simply enter a quantity for each one they spent money on.

One example of an expense template might be for travel you do repeatedly.  Let’s say you drive to a nearby city several times per month.  Each time you drive, the mileage is the same.  It’s all deductible, so you could create an expense template that represents that dive.  After creating the template, you could simply enter the number ‘1’ into the timesheet next to that line item.  the ‘1’ represents driving once.  Enter ‘2’ for two trips.  New expense records are created for each value you enter into the timesheet.

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Simple Timesheet Notes

Standard Time® allows you to put notes in with your time. Keep track of projects and remind yourself along the way!

These timesheet notes can serve many purposes.  They can find their way onto client invoices.  They can act as project status in a report.  Or, they can simply remind you of what you did.  Consider this the biggest project communication tool you have.  It is your memory… it is your direct communication to clients and consumers of your project work… and it is historical documentation your organization can rely on.

All that from a simple edit field in a project timesheet?

Not really… there are other time log fields that serve the same purpose.  Don’t overlook the start and stop times.  Those simple fields mean a lot to consumers of your work.  The date alone is big.  The timestamp is better, but not always necessary or used.  And consider that the project, subproject, client, and category all help to categorize the work you do.  All that is collected without a lot of effort, but those who view your historical records find it invaluable.

 

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PTO and Time Off Tracking

Having a solution for PTO and time off requests is just as important as project tracking. Putting the PTO options right in with the project tasks means the users can quickly enter time off requests at the same time they enter project task actuals. This solution lets you do both, and that means you get a nice complete solution.

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Project Revenue Win/Loss Chart

Standard Time® lets you see revenue estimates for your projects. Project revenue estimates are like Win/Loss charts.  Another analogy is the traditional sales funnel.  You win some projects, you lose others.  And when predicting, you set a percentage of likely win.  This chart shows the possible outcome over the next 12 months.

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Project Management

Manage the projects and tasks that show up in the timesheet.  Employees only see tasks that are assigned to them.  That makes collecting time for tasks easier.  Employees aren’t so barraged with projects and tasks that they can’t find the ones they are working on.