It's Your Time, Take Control of It with Time Tracking Software

Time tracking software is an incredible tool for any business. It serves many purposes for various types of businesses, but I've found that female business owners are active advocates of using time tracking software because they recognize multiple benefits from efficiently managing their time, as well as their resources.

Historically, time tracking software has been used by professionals who bill by the hour and by employers to keep track of employees' time on the job. Time tracking software has also proven useful for project management. Women, however, have redefined the uses of time tracking software by using it as a time management tool to keep their busy lives and their businesses on track.

As a tool for tracking billable hours, time tracking software simplifies recordkeeping and billing processes making it easy to bill clients for the time spent on their projects or cases. Lawyers, accountants, consultants and even handymen (or handywomen) find time tracking software invaluable for these purposes. Bookkeepers love it because they don't have to decipher each professional's notes regarding their billable hours. The information is quick and easy to access, and in most cases (aside from human error) is pretty accurate.

As a tool for keeping up with employees' time, time tracking software eliminates the need for those cumbersome time cards that have to be hand calculated. Time tracking software that is specifically programmed to work as a timesheet tool for payroll purposes will even keep accurate track of regular time and overtime taking the majority of the manual labor out of processing payroll. This may not be an issue for a small business that doesn't have a lot of employees, but for larger businesses that are heavily staffed, time tracking software is essential to timely payroll processing.

Time tracking software is extremely valuable to project management professionals. In project management, not only do you have to make sure that the project is completed on time, but you also have to keep a close watch to ensure it is completed within budget. On many types of projects, construction projects for instance, various tasks associated with completing the project are outsourced or subcontracted. If the outsource or subcontract providers bill by the hour, time tracking software is vital to providing up-to-date information on the project and resources used for budget comparison purposes.

For quite some time, business people have recognized the advantages of using time tracking software for tracking billable hours, employee time, and project resources. Then, along came the innovative women, the home business entrepreneurs, who tout the value of using time tracking software on a personal level for the purpose of efficient time management.

For these women, time tracking software is much more than a business tool, it is truly a life management tool. Customized time tracking software can be used to track how much time they spend doing various business activities along with the time spent on their personal duties and recreational activities.

When a woman's business gets active and she needs to consider outsourcing various aspects, if she has tracked and documented her time using time tracking software, it is easy for her to make decisions regarding the value of certain activities and to determine which tasks are best outsourced. This is frequently necessary for home business owners due to the fact that having home and business in the same place can result in one overtaking the other resulting in neglected responsibilities.

One female home business owner told me, "It is so easy to become a work-a-holic when you have a home business. You really can't 'leave your work at the office' because it is sitting there staring you in the face all the time. If you end up working all the time in your home business, then you've really defeated the purpose of having a home business, which is having control of your time so you can better meet the needs of the home and family."

Reports generated from time tracking software, when it is used on a personal level, alerts home business owners right away if they are falling into the trap of letting their home businesses consume their lives. Having easy access to reports that tell you exactly how you have spent your time makes it easy to readjust and redefine priorities so you can balance your life and your responsibilities. Time tracking software makes this possible.

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Google Analytics vs Real Time Tracking Services

14 November Google released a new service with the name Google Analytics. Google Analytics is basically a rebranded version of Urchin, a web analytics service that Google purchased a few months ago.

Web Tracking Analytics Services

Like other web analytics services Opentracker.net, shinystat.com, or truehits.net Google Analytics is a service that tells you where visitors to your site are coming from, what links on the site are getting the most traffic, what pages visitors are viewing, how long people stay on the site, which products on merchant sites are being sold and where people give up in multistep checkout processes. The difference between these tools or website analyzers is that Google tracking is not done in real-time, they use a system what's similar to log analyzers. That mean it will not measure human behavior or what's done by the visitor.

Google Analytics vs Other Website Tracking Services

Another difference between Google Analytics and other web tracking services is that Google Analytics is free and unreliable. Google Analytics doesn't work with Safari and Mac OS X. In order to view a Google Analytics report on Mac OS X, you have to be using a Mozilla based brower, IE. or Firefox. But for sharing your data with the company, Google doesn't require you to pay directly for their web analytics service.

But unfortunaly if you want to open an account with Google Analytics you will get this answer:

New account signups are temporarily suspended. If you want to be notified when signups re-open, please enter your e-mail address on our signup page. Thank you!

Should you use Google Analytics or should you pay for a better service?

Google already knows a lot of things about you. If you also use their new tracking service or log analyzer system, you will tell Google how much you earn, when you earn it, which products you sell, how often you sell them, how much you spend for ads on other sites and you will reveal much more information about your personal online business and company details.

Ask yourself if you want Google to know that much about you and your company. Do you really want to share your revenue information with Google that also wants your advertising money? Do you want to share your revenue information with any other company at all?

Google officials have declined that they will use the data to better understand how much you are willing to pay for ads, based on conversions. They also claim that they do not plan to tap into the data as a means of improving regular search results or to identify bad sites. Nevertheless, these things are easily possible if you use Google Analytics also your ranking would be in danger. Google engineer Matt Cutts even writes in his blog: "Blackhat SEO companies may be leery of using Google for analytics, but regular site owners should be reassured. That sounds as if Google might actually use the information for other purposes.

Think twice before using anything that is free

While Google's new analytics tool looks great at first place, you should think twice before using this tool. The market power of Google can make your business highly dependent on Google if you decide to use all of Google's services. The more Google knows about you, the better they can get your cash. If a company in the real world asked you to tell them everything about your interests, the shops you visit, the news papers you read, your full address and telephone number, your revenue and a lot of other information, then you probably wouldn't give that information to the company.

When it comes to Google, many people reveal information they wouldn't even tell their family or friends. Be Aware.!

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Time Tracking: Software All Companies Need

Time tracking is essential for all businesses. You need to be able to know just how productive your business is. In many cases, accurate tracking can lead to instances where you’ll be able to see just what is holding your company back from reaching its goals. Time is valuable and you do not have much to throw away on useless products. Instead, you need high quality software to get the job done correctly.

Here are some things to consider about the time tracking software that you choose.

• Make sure it is what you need. Not only should it fit your needs in function, but it needs to deliver to you effectiveness, quality and accuracy every time.

• Software programs are all different. Make sure you find the ones that offer what you specifically need. In fact, you will find that some will offer additional features as well. If you do go for one of these packaged programs, insure that you find the best fit for your needs. For example, if the features look great you may lean more towards it. But, the standard function of the tracking software needs to be high in quality as well.

• Shop around for your software. As we said, there are many options. Various brands are out there and you can find a wide range of brands. Shopping around will give you the best price as well.

Time tracking products can help you to know what is happening in your business. How long are your employees working? Are they working at a high efficient rate or can you improve things to keep them moving in the right direction? Tracking how long things happen can also help you to understand the view from your customer’s point of view. In each industry, there are various uses for this type of tracking. You will find there is no limit to the needs out there but with high quality software for time tracking, your needs will be met.

For more information please see http://www.time-tracking-help.co.uk

Don't Just Manage Your Time, Track It

 

Decades ago we started to learn about the forthcoming paperless office due to the advent and widespread acceptance of technology. Well, that did not happen even though electronic document management and knowledge management have come a long way since then.

Then we moved on the era of ease of communication and away from fax machines.

Emails, cellphones, voicemail and video conferencing were the tools for the future designed to make us more effective and productive. A decade ago 40% of US workers called themselves ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ successful but by 2005 that number had fallen to 28%.

A common retort is now “We are never able to concentrate on one task anymore. You take a little chip out of it and then you are on to the next thing. It is getting harder and harder to feel like you are accomplishing something really worthwhile.”

The average time spent on a work computer is now around 16 hours per week, compared to 9.5 hours ten years ago. We are all now bombarded with email, computer messages, cellphone and telephone calls and endless meetings.

Many of us are moving faster and faster and still knowing and feeling that we are accomplishing less and less. From that same research, twelve years ago 82% of US workers said they accomplished at least half their daily planned work, but that number has now fallen to 50%.

So has technology made work easier and quicker? Obviously not. By speeding everything up it has paradoxically slowed us down by fragmenting what we do, and in a lot of cases people being unable to distinguish the important from the so-called urgent.

Keeping Track Of How You Spend Your Time Is Not Time Management

For effective time management, you have to apply a time management system that will help you see where changes can and should be made.

Keeping track of your many daily activities and analyzing how you actually spend your time, can help you determine what changes you need to make.

This is where many people’s attempts at time management fail.

They look at a specific day in their Day-Timer or Outlook calendar or on their PDA which is packed with activities from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and don’t know how to really analyze the information.

So they fall back on the tried and true by eliminating a few activities and prioritizing others. But they haven’t really managed anything; they’ve just rearranged it.

All the perceived problems and frustrations of the day’s activities are still there – and at the end of their day they are still just as frazzled.

Manage Your Time With Time Management Categories

How do you actually manage time? The secret is in the categories.

Look at your calendar for tomorrow. It is probably already full of events and activities that you are hoping to accomplish. As you work, or afterward, you will be filling in the blank spaces.

Now look at the list and categorize it. How much time during your working day did you actually spend:

(a) Putting out fires. An unexpected phone call. A report that’s necessary for a meeting that should have been printed yesterday. A missing file that should be on your desk. How much of your day was actually spent in crisis mode? For most people, this is a negative category that drains their energy and interferes with their productivity.

(b) Dealing with interruptions. Phone calls and people dropping by your office will probably top the list when you’re assigning events to this category. Once again, for most people, this is a negative category because it interferes with (and sometimes kills) productivity.

Looking at and answering email falls into this category also. For me the analogy is talking to someone, but when the phone rings [and without even knowing who it is] picking up the phone and ignoring the person you are meeting with.

Email is similar to this. How many of us are working away on a task and hear the ‘ding’ as an email arrives and immediately look at it? How more productive it would be if we only had our email on for say one hour per day.

(c) Doing planned tasks. This is the most positive use of time during your work day. You are in control and are accomplishing what you intended to accomplish. Planned tasks can include phone calls, meetings with staff, even answering email – if these are tasks that you have put on your agenda.

(d) Working uninterrupted. You may not be working on a task you had planned to do, but you are getting to accomplish something, and for most people, this is a very productive, positive work mode.

(e) Uninterrupted downtime. Times during the work day that are used to re-energize and regroup. Lunch or breaks may count if they are uninterrupted. We all need a certain amount of uninterrupted downtime built into our day to be productive during work time.

Realign your effort into categories which produce effective results.

Use categories to analyze your work week. Go through the entries of each working day and categorize them. Keeping a running total at the bottom of each day will make it easy to see just how you’ve spent your time each day.

You now have the data you need to make changes to the way you spend your time.

Are you spending too much time putting out fires? Then you need to make the organizational or physical changes to prevent or defer these constant crises.

Do you lack sufficient time to be effective at completing major tasks or projects?

Finally, rearrange your effort to spend more time on your CSF’s – Critical Success Factors, and not busy work.

After all it is only by achieving your CSF’s that management or the Board will determine how effective you are in your role.

You won’t be evaluated on the fact that you received and answered about 46 emails a day – half of which were unsolicited!

If you do what you have always done, you’ll get what you have always gotten. - anon

Author: Denis Orme www.leader-success.com

Denis Orme http://www.leader-success.com

As Performance Leader of the Leadership Success Institute, http://www.leader-success.com he has been heavily recruited by start-up businesses through to Fortune 500 companies to analyze operations, develop and implement change management and repositioning strategies, and return organizations to sustainable profitable long-term growth.

Cited in Who's Who in Emerging Leaders, Who’s Who in Sales and Marketing and Who's Who in Industry and Commerce. He has received leadership awards from the American Lung Association, Business Volunteers for the Arts and the Greater Houston Partnership.

Time Clock Software - Why Your Small Company-Business Needs A Time Tracker

Rules on attendance and punctuality are put in place to ensure work efficiency and maintain smooth work flow in the company. A good time clock software can greatly help human resource managers and employers in ensuring these rules are strictly implemented.

What exactly is a time clock software?

Time clock software products are computer programs that manage and keep daily time records of a company's employees, replacing the time-consuming manual timekeeping equipment used in the past. The data recorded on the software can facilitate the processing of payrolls and salaries. The software is great for companies with a large pool of employees.

Different types of time clock computer programs

A standard time clock software records employees' daily time records including, ‘time in’ and ‘time out.’ It can also keep track of incidences of undertime, overtime and tardiness. The more advanced payroll time clock software, on the other hand, can calculate an employee's total working hours for a specified duration. The software will then compute for its corresponding compensation. It is useful for facilitating salary management in output-centric companies.

Choose the best software

Make sure your computer meets the minimum requirements of the program that you are interested in purchasing. There are some programs that only run on Mac, so don’t buy them if you use Windows. You should also sample the features of a particular software program by using its trial version first. Trial versions of software programs are free for downloading on the Internet. This will help you test the program's features before making an actual purchase. Lastly, choose a software product that can easily be integrated into your existing payroll system for convenience. This also minimizes hardware and program incompatibilities.

Time Clock Software Products for Small and Medium Businesses

A complete Guide to TIME CLOCK SOFTWARE is available in Picky Guide, one of the fastest growing online magazines giving free consumer advice and product information.