Best Time Tracking Tools
Introduction
A time tracing app is essentially a time management tool that helps people and their teams become
better organized, efficient, and can get more things done in a given period of time. It is a tool that can
save people and organizations time and with it money as well. It is a fact that there are hundreds of time
tracking apps on the market and what suits a person often depends upon his needs and resources at his
disposal.
Most of the time, time tracking tools are free to use with some premium features available for those
willing to pay the extra amounts. But as has been said above, it really depends on what a client is
seeking to do with his time tracking software most of the time.
What are time tracking tools?
In the very first instance, a time tracking tool would keep track of how people are spending their
working hours. It logs in the person when he arrives for work and keeps record of when he leaves the
workplace. This is the most basic of time managing software.
Then there are those that keep track of what people does when they do report to work and when they
are on the work as well. There are some really advanced time trackers that keep track of the employee’s
where abouts by using GPS and it all depends on how much the management is willing to invest in an
active platform most of the time.
Best time tracking tools
It would be rather pre-mature to conclude that certain time tracking tools are the best. Each of the time
keeping tools in the market have some strong point or the other that keeps people interested in them.
It is ultimately for the user to understand his needs and choose a time tracking tool that fits in with his
requirement as far as possible and all within the budgeted needs.
Clockify
This is a time tracker for those involved in project and teamwork. The time tracking software notifies the
person if he doesn’t start a project on time and keeps track of how time is spent while on the project as
well. While on a project, the tracker program would start the clock when starting a project and divide
the time into various sub-projects as well. Clockify helps manage time as well as allocate time to the
entire range of activities on the board.
Desktime
Desktime is more for those individuals and companies that seek to manage time from a macro
perspective rather than try to manage time at the most basic levels. It is possible to set the monthly
productivity targets and keep track of the employees as they work towards achieving these targets. On
offer is a daily productivity line that keeps track of time spent on a daily basis and it is possible to
integrate the application with other project management software most of the time.
Hubstaff
With Hubstaff it is possible to keep track of how employees spend their time and how it is spent. There
are some project management capabilities built into the system that comes in handy for those keeping
time during the projects. It is available as a user version for Windows, Mac and iOS as well and thus is
well supported. The GPS feature helps keep control of the employees as they spend their working hours
as well. It helps to have GPS keep track of those delivery boys and marketing personnel as they move
around doing their duties.
An auto screenshot feature helps keep employees under watch and control all the time. There are also a
number of templates that can be applied to actual situations and conditions. This is a rather helpful
feature to have around.
Timecamp
Timecamp is for those management that seeks to integrate a time keeping tool with project
management needs as well. It has an automatic billing feature built into it and this comes in handy when
invoices have to be raised. It is possible to create and track invoices and also when people get to open
out an invoice after it has been sent to them. Also, at hand is an attendance tracker that keeps control
over people do report for a job or not.
The strong point with Timecamp is that it can track projects till completion and help managers
collaborate on a project as well. Billable work is kept track of, and it is possible to keep track of the
overall project progress. Employee productivity can also be tracked, and it is possible to keep a record of
productivity as it happens across the floor of the shop.
Toggl
At the heart of Toggl is a timer-based time tracking software that tends to record time spent by each of
the employees. A project is created, and a task assigned to the work. The timer is then started to keep
track of how the project proceeds. Once the completion of the project takes place the invoicing is done
automatically and sent to the client without any human intervention.
With Toggl it is possible to create projects, assign people to the projects, and get to create expected
timelines and budget for the project. In this manner, it is possible to know when a project is due and the
financial progress of the same too. The time managers can keep track of how time is spent and take a
decision much before a project turns critical.
Summary
It would be a tough task to pick out the best software to track time. The more pragmatic approach is to
try out a particular software and to check if it does the function expected of them most of the time. Like
all apps that are available on the market each one has its unique selling propositions and it is for the
managers to decide what features are important at any given point of time.
What has been observed with some of the time tracker tools is that they tend to be smart on the project
management aspect as well. It thus stands to reason that such software can be used to manage an
overall project most of the time and with good results as well.
