Time Management software is used to record and analyze contractor, employee, and consultant time spent on tasks and jobs. It is a productivity tool that enables users and companies to save time and money.
With the availability of time tracking tools via the Internet, people have more options to manage and structure their time more efficiently. These products are stored and accessed online or in the cloud and sometimes referred to as cloud-based, web-based, or browser-based software.
Trending Time Tracking Software
Most time management software providers offer a free trial of their product. Our top 5 is based on the strength of core time tracking features, ease of use, competitive pricing, customer support reviews, and other extra features such as integration. Here is our recommended list of the best time tracking tools for 2023.
Benefits of Time Management Software
Time tracking software provides its user’s insight into how they spend their hours doing daily activities. Freelancers, teams, or enterprises can benefit from using the software to provide more accurate project costing, improved scheduling, and increased productivity. For example, time tracking software:
- Identifies non-essential tasks – With time tracking software, users can avoid wasting time on unimportant tasks, and instead replace them with productive ones.
- Improves time estimates – Resource management allows users to review previously tracked time entries to make better estimates of future projects. They can set more accurate deadlines and monitor employees to check their time and pace for consistency.
- Facilitates fair pay – Billing and invoicing features help freelancers, professional services providers, consultants and agencies get the amount of money they deserve. It eliminates guesstimates and is useful with problematic and uncooperative clients. It provides securely stored online evidence that details minute-by-minute time logs for billing settlement.
Best Features of Time Tracking Software
Time Management software varies in purpose, function, and complexity. Some are only meant to record time, while others are integrated into business process solutions. At its core functionality, time tracking software captures/records in real-time. It has time clocks that allow users to manually or automatically record the start and end times of an activity, task, or event. These recorded times are usually kept in a timesheet (a database of multiple time entries of a given period) for multiple users and bears additional details for each time entry.
Most products are flexible enough for manual addition and editing, and some follow an approval process. The different time entries can be categorized and classified into groups such as for specific rates, currencies, projects, clients, and billing type. Most of this software offers reporting features, and many have invoicing capabilities. Depending on the integration of the application, many time tracking tools also combine with other business processes. Time entries can be linked to scheduling/calendaring functionality, GPS tracking, leave/time-off management, task and project management, resource management, and financial management. Many products also offer additional features such as notifications or reminders, as well as having native mobile apps.
Conclusion
Online time tracking software offers great value to users who need remote access, and it’s automatically updated by vendors, resulting in less user maintenance. On-premise installations may be preferred by organizations with more IT resources and in need of greater data control.
Time tracking software is essential for time management, which is more than just planning how to spend time in a day to accomplish goals. It also involves controlling how to spend those actual hours. It is just as important to monitor where the time goes as it is to establish goals and priorities. We can only improve what we can measure.
