What are Apps for Time Tracking?

Working as a freelance contractor over the net for technical, administrative or creative positions often require that you work alone. With only the internet and yourself to rely upon, work can sometimes swamp you. Aside from accomplishing the project right, you also need to fulfill other roles. These roles include planning your tasks and priorities well, organizing your calendar and deadlines, tracking your hourly progress, computing your client’s bill and preparing the invoices. But all these can be made easier with a time tracking system and its various apps for tracking time.

A time tracking system is like a personal secretary, supervisor and accounting clerk but just a virtual one. It is a compilation of various software that help run projects smoothly by doing the extra clerical works of the business. This is what people who are very time-conscious and progress-oriented need to have by their side. Basic apps for tracking time are namely the timer application, billing/invoice application and document manager application.

1.    Timer App

A timer takes note of the hours one spends in accomplishing a specific task. This is vital for those freelancers who are paid on an hourly basis. It comes in two features: manual or automatic. For manual timers, users have to fill up a time entry. These entries comprise of the start and end data. Users have to key in the time they started working on the project and the hour they have completely finished the work. But for those who do not want to be bothered with remembering time entries, an automatic timer can be used. It automatically records the exact time users began and ended their work. This gives the user freedom to focus on his work and delegate the tracking to the software.

2.            Billing/Invoice  App

With hours elapsed accurately recorded through the software’s timer, the billing/invoice application takes the rein in calculating the earnings of the freelancer. Using the start and end time entries and the corresponding hourly rate entered, this app accounts every project. After calculating everything, the app can be used to create invoices and to electronically mail these to their respective clients. Furthermore, this app displays which client has not settled their accounts yet.

3.            Document Manager App

To make everything smoother, the document manager app helps to store files and documents in an orderly fashion. Hence, retrieval of documents becomes easier to users. Also, advanced features allow for multiple projects to be displayed all at once in the dashboard.

Working alone does not really mean that one has to do all the jobs. Roles can be delegated through the use of the apps for tracking time. With the use of the timer, billing/invoice and document manager application, one’s work become faster and easier.