Time Management 101

[InArch]

A common necessity in a small office is the tracking of time on projects. Since, I'm a sole practitioner, my usual routine of writing notes on various pieces of paper is not very efficient. A few months ago I looked into time/expense tracking software and concluded most of it overwhelmingly exceeded more than I actually need. So, I decided to design a template in Microsoft Excel to handle the task. After a few months of tweaks, it seems to be doing the job.

Just curious how others are tracking time/expenses and invoicing on their projects?

[msalvarez]

Steno books and Quickbooks

A good friend of mine introduced me to steno books. I list date-client-work done-starttime and endtime. Its quick and easy.

Then at the end of the week I enter my times into quickbooks.

So why dont I just enter my times directly into quickbooks, you ask? Though its powerful and keeps track of my taxes and expenses and all that good stuff (saves me money my accountants hours too) Its interface is something I try to avoid as much as possible.

[ryarch]

I'm with you InArch...nice and simple excel. My whole office does it, and we have 30+ people. Some may say it's archaic, but we do alright. I think that we are considering a change to a slightly more sophisticated, but still simple software. You input the info yourself, but it is stored on a database for the office staff. Right now they are inutting the data into the primary software by hand, in latin. Just kidding about the latin.

[tdmc]

InArch - I'm in a similar position (having given up the corproate life some time ago and elected to be a sole practitioner)
I've had a good look at most tracking software that I thought would be useful - but they seem overly complicated. Add a difficult interface, or a vast number of features that are not needed - and well - you know it!
I also moved to an excel spread sheet.
I set up a new template for each project. Add a hard copy to the file. Keep my notes, time spent and costs etc on the hard copy and weekly (or monthy) update the electronic version and print of an updated sheet.
It might seem like double handling, but it keeps me pretty much hands on with projects and where they are (I tend to have many medium scale jobs - so volume is a significant element)

I'd love to hear of any software that could do this, and keep a record of expenses as well!

[ryarch]

This is my blackberry!

[InArch]

Well it seems I'm not alone. With the help of my now elaborate Excel spreadsheet, certain project averages and specifics have become apparent. I'm also trying to track time usage in order to better my proposal fees on prospect projects. Although not all my projects are hourly, most of the smaller ones work best in an hourly format.

One other consideration is hourly rates. Without being specific, I learned that I spend an average of my project time on various tasks.

• 10% meetings
• 25% design
• 55% documentation
• 10% construction administration

So I have decided to structure my hourly rates accordingly:

• $1x/hourly - meetings
• $2x/hourly - design
• $2x/hourly - documentation
• $2x/hourly - construction administration

By charging less for meeting time I gain a few more hours on other tasks. I find this to be a fair return for the Cient's valuable budget. And also hoping to get a return call for another project.

[tdmc]

Over lunch I remembered that in another life, another time, we used Filemaker as a time log/client data base.

Set up a data base with client contact details, then staff logged their coded times against jogs - the whole set up generated electronic time sheets - and possibly invoices, although invoices were usually adjusted by had.

More a refinement of the basic excel approach you've adopted though

[InArch]

Originally Posted by ryarch

This is my blackberry!

ryarch, this is what I'm using for "the cad system mainframe"

[tdmc]

I've adopted a similar approach over the past six months - higher rates for specialised work, lower for telephone consultations/discussions, and another rate for "routine" type work. Like you - I've found clients appreciate it and it seems to yeild a fair result!

[InArch]

Originally Posted by tdmc

....we used Filemaker

A firm I worked for used Filemaker for everything except time-sheets. Everything from contacts, project data, schedules, logs, transmittals, sketches, you name it was in there. It was the most sophisticated system I have seen in any office. It integrated well with the work-flow of the projects. It's success is attributed to one IT person that understood the in/outs of Filemaker. Just like any other software, you get out what you put in.

Thanks for mentioning Filemaker. I have spent some time with the software and found it simple to understand and implement. Perhaps some day I will follow the same track.