Timesheets 2.0 23:52 on Tuesday
I’m a sucker for trying out things that streamline the day to day operation of my one-man enterprise. It’s important for any company to know how time is spent, so naturally I need a timesheet application, where I can enter time, approve entered time, and create various reports of time used… naturally. Umm, yeah. So, lately a couple of Web 2.0 timesheet apps caught my attention and I decided to try them out.
Tick www.tickspot.com
Tick has all the 2.0 ingredients, lots of AJAX, fading things, dynamically changing content, etc. I actually used Tick for a while — until I realized I need less fading divs and a report screen that can fit more than three numbers on a 15″ laptop screen. I mean, a spacious layout is nice, but needing a 20″ monitor to enter timesheets? No thanks.
There has budgets, tasks, and you can add more people to projects. And they can see all your projects, want it or not (and oftentimes in these networked times, the answer is “not”).
Harvest www.getharvest.com
Harvest maintains an even more standard 2.0 look. A wild guess: Harvest is made with Ruby on Rails. It’s got daily and weekly timesheets, automatic timers, “powerful reports” (well, at least good looking reports), data export (how come no one has data import?), a nice task system, timesheet approval… pretty comprehensive feature set.
So what gives? The lack of a useful free version. The free plan includes three projects and one person. For me that’s way too little to find out if the application is useful. I need to be able to either a) put in all my scattered projects and get an overview of how my shattered time divides up, or b) be able to include more people on at least one project and see how the app works when reporting time usage for more than one person.
Freshbooks www.freshbooks.com
Could be useful for folks who do business in US only and can put up with a crowded interface. That pretty much shuts myself out.
Clicktime www.clicktime.com
Update: Contrary to previous statement, there is no free plan with Clicktime, only a 30-day demo account. The pricing starts from $10 per user.
Hence, I’m back with my original choice, Clicktime. It has everything: a free plan with unlimited clients, projects, and tasks, daily view, weekly view, heck, it’s even got a monthly view, timers, ability to slice in the data and create whatever reports you need (available directly in Excel format, if you’re on Windows!), support for more people (don’t know how many, but I haven’t hit the free plan limit yet), employment types and security levels for employees, time-off support… in short: everything. And more, if you decide to pay for Clicktime: project phases, DCAA compliance, expenses, accounting system integration, audit logging, desktop application, handheld access… the list goes on.
And guess what? Clicktime doesn’t carry web 2.0 baggage. It’s interface is spartan, with only the essential elements tightly laid out. No big fonts, no tiny pixel fonts either, although It’s been around since 1997 (almost ten years!). Yes, a little AJAX goodness wouldn’t hurt, but neither does the lack of it. They realize a timesheet application is about data, and a data-intensive application has different design criteria than an application made only to wow the TechCrunch crowd.
[tags]timesheets, web 2.0, web apps, web, applications[/tags]
Links from my other posts:
Comments:
November 16th, 2006 at 3:02
Clicktime is $10 per person per month!
November 16th, 2006 at 8:07
Hey you’re right! I’ve been using it for free since the 90s so I assumed (wrongly) that there is a free plan. But as you said, there is no free plan at the moment. It’s a nice sign of courtesy though they haven’t bothered to start billing me, isn’t it? ;)
January 6th, 2007 at 1:08
timeXchange.net is an online exchange and its free. Not free trial. Not limited use. Its free.
January 24th, 2007 at 0:25
Have you looked at http://www.timesuite.com.au? They have just released a full demo version available online. You just have to register which takes about two minutes. Ideal for small and medium size organisations who are looking for a web based and customised timesheet, project and task management system.
August 6th, 2007 at 5:43
Found this discussion while googling for timesheet applications that support DCAA. When we first were looking around we tried many 30-day free trials… we settled on a product called mindsalt time and expense. We’re now having to move to a DCAA compliant app (mindsalt has it in development… but won’t be ready for another couple months apparently). Clicktime was missing some of the features we were originally looking for… although they support DCAA, we’ll probably be looking elsewhere. Any suggestions from defense contractors?
December 4th, 2007 at 5:38
My company has just released a new online timesheet application, called iZepto. ( http://www.izepto.com ) As a promotion, the first 100 users will NEVER pay for it! I encourage anyone interested to check it out and send us feedback. Further development is based on feedback from our customers. We have a data import function… something you mentioned was missing from other apps. I look forward to hearing your feedback.
By the way, we are currently giving away an iPod each week to users who send us the most useful feedback…. so check it out!!!
http://www.izepto.com
March 26th, 2008 at 11:15
Hi Niko,
Thanks for the hints. Clicktime looks good, indeed. FYI, Zoho Projects has a timesheet feature, enough for simple project management.
September 9th, 2008 at 15:52
I realize I’m a bit late to the party on this one, but I just found this today, and will be giving a few of them a go. Personally, I use TSheets right now, but taking a look at others is always a good thing. Thanks again!
September 9th, 2008 at 21:17
Dear Mr./Ms. Tracker. If you work for TSheets, just say it. Don’t be ashamed. ;)
August 25th, 2010 at 0:22
Thanks for the review, it was helpful. Clicktime is the only one of the bunch to seems like time was really invested in making it a quality product vs. just an app for sale. They charge $12/mo per user (an extra $2 so that your client can approve the timesheets) plus an additional $139 setup fee.
November 23rd, 2010 at 18:20
There’s a new kid on the block: http://DoneCal.com Free, HTTP API and blazingly fast.
November 23rd, 2010 at 19:54
Thanks Peter, looks simple. Now add tracking and I’ll start using it. ;)