Posts Tagged ‘Timesheet’

TeamTime 2: SharePoint time tracking reborn

Date:July 24th, 2013 Author: Tags: , , , ,
Category: SharePoint TeamTime, SharePoint Timesheets Comments:0 ;

SharePoint TeamTime version 2 has just been released! Time tracking in SharePoint is now a faster, cleaner, and more customizable experience.

Here are some of the features you’ll see in this new version:

  • A brand new theme
  • Archiving old data
  • Settings for individual users
  • and more …

New Theme

We’ve worked with our designers to produce a simple clean interface to keep the focus on what matters: Tracking and reporting on your teams’ time.

Archiving

Old data slowing your site down? Archive it away to improve performance. Don’t worry, you can still view the archive’s Reports and Analysis, as well as pulling it into an Overview site.

User Settings

Different people work on different projects, have different working days or hours, and different approvers. Now you can configure all these settings and more on a per-user basis.

tt_users

More!

Here are some more of the new features we’ve added:

  • Cost Reports: View and export detailed reports on your teams’ costs
  • Change the week start: Don’t start work on a Monday? Now your site can match your working week.
  • Dates on the timesheet: Avoid confusion by displaying the day’s date on the timesheet
  • Hide custom columns: Don’t want to see a custom column in a certain site? Now you can hide it.

Try it out!

Give our 30 day free trial a go:

How do I upgrade?

If you’re already using TeamTime version 1 and have Premium Support, then upgrading is simply a matter of installing the new version and sending us your new Installation Code (as well as your old License Key).

Similarly, if you have purchased TeamTime version 1 in the past 90 days, then we’re happy to upgrade you free of charge.

You can contact us at [email protected]

TeamTime 1.5: 2013 and more

Date:February 1st, 2013 Author: Tags: , , , , ,
Category: SharePoint TeamTime, SharePoint Timesheets Comments:0 ;

To start with: TeamTime is now compatible with 2013, at last! To upgrade to the latest version, just download and run the new installer: Download

As you may have noticed, TeamTime is the product we can’t help but keep polishing and shining as we hear more from our customers. So here are a few little tweaks to help make TeamTime that little bit nicer.

In order of everyday to technical:

Everyday folks

Just use TeamTime for logging time? The punchcard now shows the time logged so far without refreshing the page. Just click Start and watch it run.

Admin Gurus

You know how the menu shows all the different options to all users? Then does the whole “permissions denied” thing when they try to access them? Well now users will only see the pages they can use.

This means only Managers will see pages like the Team Overview and Analysis (unless you’ve allowed users to see Analysis), and the Settings page will only be shown to you.

There have also been a number of minor performance improvements: For those of you that have hundreds of Projects and Tasks, you’ll notice that this version is considerably faster to load the My Dashboard page.

Designer-people

TeamTime no longer has it’s own custom Master Page, and won’t reset it during upgrades. When you install this version it will switch back to the default Master Page.

In short, this means you can use your own customised/themed Master Pages in TeamTime, so it fits in with the rest of your organisation. Add your own CSS, JavaScript, or logos to make it your own.

Want more?

Tell us! We get all kinds of interesting requests and suggestions from our customers. Once we get enough requests for the same feature, it gets shoved to the top the queue for the next version.

Of course, sometimes we have to say “No, sorry” or “Not quite yet”, or very occasionally “I’m not sure that’s physically possible”, but you’ll always get a good reason at the very least. So drop us a mail: [email protected]

TeamTime just went up a gear

Date:May 16th, 2012 Author: Tags: , , , , ,
Category: SharePoint TeamTime, SharePoint Timesheets Comments:0 ;

We’ve added some new bells and whistles to the latest version of TeamTime:

  • Add your own columns to the timesheet (Custom Columns)
  • Pull data from multiple TeamTime sites in to a single place (Overview Site)

Custom Columns

You can now add and reorder columns on the timesheet on your TeamTime homepage. For example, you can add Cost Center codes to record where the time is chargeable to:

tt_cc_example

This data can then be used to produce Reports and Analysis within TeamTime. It can be accessed via our extensibility lists to integrate with other systems in your organisation.

Here are some other useful columns you could add:

  • Overtime flag
  • Chargeable client
  • AM/PM

For more information see our Custom Column Guide.

Overview Site

Since there is no limit to the number of TeamTime sites you can have, we encourage creating smaller sites with fewer users. We’d recommend about 10-20, and certainly less than 50.

Having several small sites keeps it easier to use, as Marketing isn’t tripping over Development’s tasks, and the approvers don’t waste time trying to figure out who the heck “David Jones” is.

The next question is of course “How do I consolidate the data from all those sites into one place?”, and the answer is to use an Overview site.

Overview

Simply create an Overview site exactly as you would a normal TeamTime site, and pull the data from all your sites in the site collection into one place.

The Reports and Analysis are in the same familiar location and layout, with direct access to the consolidated list data as a bonus.

For more information see our Overview Site Guide.

Try it out!

Give our 30 day free trial a go:

If you’ve trialled TeamTime in the past, just ask us for a trial extension: [email protected]

If you’re upgrading from an earlier version, please see the following: v1.4 Upgrade Notes

SharePoint TeamTime 1.3: Unlocking the Toolbox

Date:February 8th, 2012 Author: Tags: , , , ,
Category: SharePoint TeamTime Comments:0 ;


SharePoint TeamTime (our time tracking software for SharePoint) has been upgraded with shiny new extensibility features, to make integrating it into your organisation even more seamless:

  • Get raw timesheet data
  • Import and export Projects and Tasks
  • View Approval logs
  • Attach workflows

All you have to do to install or upgrade is download and run the new installer, which will automatically upgrade any existing sites:

SharePoint TeamTime Download

What’s in the upgrade

Access to the lists used in the internal workings of TeamTime. Below is a short description of each list. More information is available on the Extensibility Manual Page

Timesheets List

This list is a read-only copy of the main Timesheet list, which allows you direct access to the data your users record. Once a timesheet is approved, its entries will be copied across to this list.

This allows you to generate your own custom reporting and to integrate TeamTime’s data into external applications.

Project and Task lists

You can now view and edit the Project and Task lists directly. Using the Datasheet view on these lists will allow you to bulk import your existing Projects and Tasks, and to quickly edit or extract data.

These lists can also be used with third party list synchronisation software, to keep TeamTime’s data in line with your data in lists elsewhere. Or alternatively workflows can be attached to these lists, and used to push changes elsewhere.

Approvals list

Now you can see who’s approving what and when; especially useful when self-approval is enabled.

You could also attach a workflow to this list to perform actions on approval: For example, letting users know when their timesheets have been approved.

SharePoint TeamTime is out now!

Date:December 12th, 2011 Author: Tags: , , , ,
Category: SharePoint TeamTime, SharePoint Timesheets Comments:0 ;

teamtime-big-noshadow

Track and analyze your team’s time with our newest product: SharePoint TeamTime! A ready-to-use timesheet site template for SharePoint 2007 and 2010.

What’s so great about TeamTime you ask? Well let me tell you:

Log your time your way

Want to log your time as you work? Then simply punch in on your personal dashboard to begin the timer:

TeamTime Punchcard

Want to write up your timesheets when it’s convenient for you? Your dashboard has this covered too:

TeamTime Timesheet

Make those numbers work for youTeamTime Analysis

Logging the time is all well and good, but what we really want is to see what all that data adds up to. Don’t waste time working for the numbers; make the numbers work for you.

Using the Analysis page you can drill down to the data you want, and view read-made summaries and graphs.

If you still want more from your numbers, pick the data you want from the Reporting page and export it straight to Excel.

Need more?

  • Per-server licensing: No wasting time trying to license and set up every user; buy it once and forget licensing ever happened.
  • Take the tour: Watch our TeamTime Demo; see if you can count how many times the word ‘time’ is used. It’s a lot, trust me.
  • Free 30 day trial: Download and try it out!

SharePoint TeamTime: It’s Time for Beta!

Date:November 16th, 2011 Author: Tags: , , , , , , ,
Category: SharePoint TeamTime, SharePoint Timesheets Comments:1 ;

teamtime-big-noshadowWe have started beta testing our newest product SharePoint TeamTime and we expect it to be finished in the next couple of weeks!

Sign me up! Wait… what is it again?

TeamTime is a time tracking site template for SharePoint. Users track their time by entering it into a timesheet (a.k.a. timecard) or by punching in and out of tasks.

You can then get an overview of everyone’s time logged using our custom reporting tool and embedded versions of PivotPoint and FilterPoint that come preconfigured in the site.

Tell me more!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here’s a glimpse of what’s inside:

‘My Dashboard’

tt_mydashboard

‘Analysis by Week’

tt_analysis

To look in more detail at how it works (or just to see more pictures), you can have a glance at our manual: SharePoint TeamTime manual.

If you want to be notified when its released then signup here.

Whats a Beta test and can I help?

Its the final stage in testing a software product before its released into the real world. All the major bugs should have been squashed but there may be some minor problems left. The idea is to get broad feedback from ‘real’ users that will help pick up problems, omissions or things that are just a little confusing that you wouldn’t find otherwise.

Beta testing isn’t for everyone – these are the things you should bear in mind :-

  • You need to be reasonably proficient with SharePoint.
  • You will need an in-house deployment of SharePoint 2010 or 2007 – its not suitable for BPOS/Office 365
  • You should have a “non-production” environment to test in.
  • You will need to have some time free to give it a good test and provide feedback.

If you would like to help us Beta test this then please e-mail us: [email protected]

SharePoint Timesheets – What are your options? Part 3: Free Solutions

Date:November 10th, 2011 Author: Tags: , , , ,
Category: General, SharePoint TeamTime, SharePoint Timesheets Comments:6 ;

Following on from Clare’s previous two posts on Native SharePoint Timesheets and Plug-in one, I’ll be running you through the options for creating SharePoint Timesheets for free.

During the early development of SharePoint TeamTime we looked at our potential competition, including the free alternatives. Of those we found, the following three were the most notable:

  • Fab 40 – Timecard Management: One of the famous Fab 40 templates (2007 only)
  • Built-in Timecard List: A little known built-in Timecard list (2010 only)
  • Open Source Project: Paul Beck has kindly published an open source solution (2010 only)

Fab 40 – Timecard Management

The Timecard Management template was produced by Microsoft as a demonstration of the capabilities of WSS 3. In Microsoft’s own words:

The Timecard Management application template helps teams track hours spent working on various projects. The site enables team members to ‘punch in’ on a particular project and ‘punch out’ when they cease work. The system automatically generates the time worked by project, and can show managers who is working on a particular project…

This was one of the favorites out of all the templates we tried. In fact, the punching in and out functionality was a feature we emulated into TeamTime. I’d like to think of TeamTime as a spiritual successor to this template.

Built-in Timecard List

SharePoint 2010 has a built-in Timecard list, that is hidden from normal view for some reason. Although this is by no means a complete solution, it’s freely available to anyone able (or willing) to activate the feature and create it though SharePoint Designer 2010.

Laura Rogers has a very helpful walk-through for creating one of these lists: Out of the Box Timecard and Holiday Lists. Here is a description from her blog:

In SharePoint 2010, there’s a little-known built in feature.  There are list templates that can be used for time card tracking, with a holiday calendar that ties into the time card.

Open Source Project

Paul Beck has published a four part blog series on creating a Timesheet solution from scratch, entitled Timesheet solution for SharePoint 2010. He then went a step further and published his code to CodePlex for anyone to use. In his own words:

A common requirement on Intranets is to have a timesheet template on SharePoint.  There are solution for company timesheets.  I wanted to build a timesheet application that was scalable, reportable and friendly for SharePoint.

If you want to skip the source code, his third article in the series (Part 3 – Installation) has a link to the pre-built package.

This solution is slightly different from the others, as it stores its data in a separate SQL Server database; which may not be an option for everyone.

Lastly

I hope you’ve found our  SharePoint Timesheet series useful. If you know of any better alternatives, please let us know. We’re not afraid of a bit of competition. Winking smile

SharePoint TimeSheets – What are Your Options? Part 2: Plug-in Commercial Solutions

Date:November 3rd, 2011 Author: Tags: , , ,
Category: General, SharePoint TeamTime, SharePoint Timesheets Comments:0 ;

This is the second part in our series covering the options available for anyone looking to implement a timesheet or time tracking system within SharePoint.

Those of you who are regular readers of this blog will know that we have been doing some work with SharePoint Timesheets recently. As a part of that we have spent quite a bit of time looking at what’s currently available. In the spirit of social sharing we thought we would give you a rundown of what we have found.

I want to stress here that we haven’t tested all of these timesheet applications. We’re not aiming to offer any kind of recommendations here, simply a handy run down of what’s available: A brief summary of each product in the publishers own words, and an idea of pricing where possible.

In part 1 we looked at native commercial SharePoint Timesheet applications.  Today we are looking at Plug-in Commercial SharePoint Timesheet software. In other words Timesheet applications which, whilst not built in SharePoint, can be accessed via your SharePoint site. These applications may offer functionality which is not available within the confines of SharePoint. A potential issue to consider if purchasing in this category would be that of data integration.

TeamTimesheet (AssistMyTeam)

Product Homepage

This is an interesting one.  Time is input in Outlook, and then reported in SharePoint:

Team TimeSheet for Outlook & SharePoint is an enterprise time reporting and billing management solution for team to work, plan and execute project related activities and prepare timesheets in Microsoft Outlook and publish to the company’s SharePoint site.

Pricing starts from $600 for a 10 user license.

TimeControl (HMS Software)

Product Homepage

TimeControl is designed with its own powerful web-based interface. However, for organizations which have adopted the Microsoft SharePoint environment as their Intranet or Corporate Portal software TimeControl can be deployed right inside the SharePoint interface. This allows end users to use TimeControl without ever leaving SharePoint.

Pricing: Although HMS give extensive advice on how to buy the product, they don’t actually provide any indication of the price on their website.

SharePoint Timesheet (Tenrox)

Product Homepage

SharePoint Timesheet is a Web-based timesheet solution offered by Tenrox. This Employee Timesheet and Scheduling Management application leverages SharePoint technology for collaboration, dashboards and reporting. Tenrox Timesheet is an on-demand solution that works with your SharePoint instance on-premises or on-demand thereby enabling collaboration with team members and customers in various locations.

Pricing: Once again we are in Enterprise land, and the website gives no indication of pricing.

That would seem to be about it for commercial plug-ins.  Again, if we have missed any then please do let me know.

In our third and final instalment we will be looking at creating SharePoint Timesheets for free.

SharePoint Timesheets – What are your options? Part 1: Native Commercial Solutions

Date:October 24th, 2011 Author: Tags: , , ,
Category: General, SharePoint TeamTime, SharePoint Timesheets Comments:1 ;

Regular readers of this blog will know that over the past few months we have been doing some work on SharePoint Timesheets.A clock on a laptop

As a part of this we have spent quite a bit of time looking at what the available options are for people wanting manage timesheets in SharePoint, and in the spirit of social sharing we thought we would give you a run down on what we have found.

I want to stress here that we haven’t tested all of these timesheet applications. We’re not aiming to offer any kind of recommendations here, simply a handy run down of what’s available: A brief summary of each product in the publishers own words, and an idea of pricing where possible.

We are going to look at the options in 3 categories:

  • Native Commercial SharePoint Timesheets: Timesheet applications fully built and deployed within SharePoint (commercially produced and supported).
  • Plug-In Commercial SharePoint Timesheets: External applications that ‘plug in’ to SharePoint, rather than being fully integrated; making them accessible through your SharePoint Portal (commercially produced and supported).
  • Free SharePoint Timesheets: Free to use, but lacking a commercial standard of support.

Native Commercial SharePoint Timesheets

Today we are starting with Commercial Native SharePoint Timesheets, with the other 2 categories in separate posts over the coming few days. When we finish there will also be a PDF covering all the options, which you will be able to download for reference.

In this category we are looking at applications which are built in SharePoint and available commercially (i.e. you are going to have to pay for them).

If SharePoint is key to your IT infrastructure then the advantages of having a “native” SharePoint Timesheet application are easy to see.  You are leveraging your existing IT investment, allowing people to record time in the familiar SharePoint interface and storing your data in the central SharePoint data repository.

SPTimesheet (1st Thinking)

Product Homepage

SPTimesheet is the first 100% SharePoint based time tracking management solution. With SPTimesheet you are able to fully leverage your existing investment in SharePoint while benefiting from a feature rich powerful time tracking solution.

Pricing is per user and starts at $1000 for 20 users.

Time Management (EPM Live)

Product Homepage

Understand the full effort associated with the execution of any work item. Reduce organization costs by re-aligning employees to improve deliverables and improve employee productivity and performance. Understand historical data to create precise future estimates and quotations.

This is part of the EPM ‘Work Engine’ which “expands the capabilities of SharePoint with a whole raft of common business applications for you to pick and choose from”.

Pricing – is not clear from the website, however this is firmly positioned as an Enterprise solution, which may give some clue as to where pricing is likely to fall.

Timetracking for SharePoint 2010 (NowShare)

Product Homepage

Our application “TimeTracking for SharePoint 2010” offers you a professional time tracking tool. It simplifies the time registration on different tasks or projects, also with your iPhone while travelling. The instantaneous commenting simplifies the documentation of the accomplished tasks.

Pricing starts from $1600 for a 10 user license.

SharePoint TeamTime (Pentalogic Technology)

Product Homepage

This is of course our own offering:

A simple SharePoint time tracking application.  Time is entered through a punch card or a traditional grid. The Team Dashboard shows what everyone is working on now, a breakdown of work this week and timesheets awaiting approval. Powerful reporting and analysis with Export to Excel gives an overview of the big picture. All in a ready-to-use SharePoint site.

Pricing – $995 per server.

That rounds off the commercial SharePoint timesheet applications.  If you know of one we’ve missed, please share!

In our next post we will be looking at Plug-In commercial TimeSheet solutions.