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From
TNPC issue #3.08...
Product Review - Time Logger
by Al Gordon
April 13, 2000
One of the joys of the shareware world is happening upon one of
those programs that is "just what I was looking for." Better yet,
EXACTLY what I was looking for, and without the bloat associated
with commercial software that has to be all things to all people.
Alan Macy's Berkeley-based Responsive Software's Time Logger is
my most recent "just right" discovery. In my day job as a
consultant, Hourly Billing R Us, when time really is money, you
want to keep the best possible track of it. And you want to be
able to turn those time records into billing invoices with the
least possible hassle.
I had been trying to make a go out of Intuit's QuickBooks Pro.
This is immensely powerful software that can run a fairly decent
sized company. From my purposes, however, I found that it was
demanding way too many potentially billable hours.
Responsive Time Logger (RTL) is simple but powerful. Think of it
as a stopwatch with a database attached.
The main window (customizable) is a familiar database records
table, into which you can manually record time events. You can
also automatically generate records by running Time Logger's
"stopwatch" dialog. You activate the timer function when you
begin a task, pause it when you take a break, resume timing, and
so forth and so on until you are finished. Even better, I have
discovered from use, is that when you forget a part of the above
sequence, you can manually correct your errors. A helpful
optional settings allows you to set minimum billing increments--
for example, the common 15-minute billing step.
While the stopwatch is running, you can minimize RTL, and start
and stop the timing by right-clicking on the taskbar icon.
The interface provides ample fields for identifying jobs: client,
project, subproject, activity, and a place for narrative about
the work done. The fields are customizable. Once you have your
client and project information in place, timekeeping is simply a
matter of working with drop-down lists in RTL's dialogs.
There also is a client for Palm organizers, which allows you to
keep time logs on your PDA and then import them into your RTL
database.
The touch that absolutely sold me on the program was the way it
helps you prepare billing reports. For one thing, it uses
conventional .dbf to store data. That means that you can bring up
the records in Excel, Access, or any other standard database
management software and use their capabilities if you want. Even
better, RTL's internal report system puts the data into your word
processor. The program ships with a number of pre-fabricated word
processor templates which you can modify, or you can create your
own using a lengthy list of field codes. These are Responsive
Time Logger-specific templates, by the way, not the word
processor's own templates. (For Word, that means it's a .doc file
not a .dot.)
Time Logger also can export to .qif (Quicken) and .iif
(QuickBooks) formats, allowing you to input the information into
either program. My personal method is to keep my checkbook in
Quicken and use this feature to integrate the two. QuickBooks
does have a "Timer" applet, but it is much less useful than RTL,
and if you use it, you have to do an import into QuickBooks
anyway, so its integration advantages are minimal.
Basically, you can make the look and design of your invoices
consistent with those of all your other Word documents. In fact,
once an invoice is created, it is a Word document, and you can
edit to your heart's content. Time Logger notes whether you have
invoiced a client for particular jobs, and keeps track of your
accounts receivable.
"Customizable" is a hallmark of the program, a welcome relief
from Intuit's "do it our way or else" protocol.
Responsive Time Logger isn't cheap--$89 for single-user, a
sliding scale for site licenses. But if it helps you identify
billable time that you might otherwise have forgotten, it can
very quickly pay for itself.
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/308/tr.cgi?fprod
mailto:AlanMacy@ResponsiveSoftware.com
You can reach Al Gordon at:
mailto:algordon@TheNakedPC.com
Copyright © 2000, PRIME Consulting Group, Inc. and Dan Butler.
All Rights Reserved.
The Naked PC is a trademark of PRIME Consulting Group, Inc.
ISSN: 1522-4422
You may reprint an article from TNPC as long as you show the
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Product Review - Time Logger
by Al Gordon
(This article originally appeared in The Naked PC
newsletter #3.08, subscribe at http://www.TheNakedPC.com)
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