Introduction
Time tracking tools are essentially time management tools that help people and their teams become better organized, efficient and can get more things done in a given time. It is a tool that can save people and organizations time and with it money as well. It is a fact that there are hundreds of time tracking apps on the market. What suits a person often depends upon his needs and resources at his disposal.
Most of the time, time tracking tools are free to use, with some premium features available for those willing to pay the extra amounts. As said above, it depends on what a client is seeking to do with his time tracking software most of the time.
What are time tracking tools?
In the first instance, a time tracking tool would keep track of how people spend their working hours. It logs in the person when he arrives for work and holds a record of when he leaves the workplace. That is the most basic of time managing software.
Then some keep track of what people do when they report to work and when they are working. Some advanced time trackers keep track of the employee’s whereabouts by using GPS. It all depends on how much the management is willing to invest in an active platform most of the time.
Best time tracking tools
It would be somewhat premature to conclude that specific time tracking tools are the best. Each of the market’s timekeeping tools has some strong point or the other that keeps people interested. It is ultimately for the user to understand his needs and choose a time tracking tool that fits in with his requirement as far as possible and all within the budgeted needs.
Clockify
This is a time tracker for those involved in project and teamwork. The time tracking software notifies the person if he doesn’t start a project on time and keeps track of how time is spent while on the project.
While on a project, the tracker program would start the clock when starting a project and divide the time into various sub-projects. Clockify helps manage time as well as allocate time to the entire range of activities on the board.
Desktime
Desktime is more for those individuals and companies seeking to manage time from a macro perspective rather than manage time at the most basic levels. It is possible to set the monthly productivity targets and keep track of the employees to achieve these targets. On offer is a daily productivity line that keeps track of time spent daily, and it is possible to integrate the application with other project management software most of the time.
Hubstaff
With Hubstaff, it is possible to track how employees spend their time and how it is spent. Some project management capabilities are built into the system that comes in handy for those keeping time during the projects.
It is available as a user version for Windows, Mac, and iOS and is thus well supported. The GPS feature helps keep control of the employees as they spend their working hours as well. It helps to have GPS keep track of those delivery boys and marketing personnel as they move around doing their duties.
An auto screenshot feature helps keep employees under watch and control all the time. You can apply many templates to actual situations and conditions. It is a somewhat helpful feature to have around.
TimeCamp
TimeCamp is for that management that seeks to integrate a timekeeping tool with project management needs as well. It has an automatic billing feature built into it, and this comes in handy when invoices have to be raised. It is possible to create and track invoices and also when people get to open out an invoice after it has been sent to them. Also at hand is an attendance tracker that keeps control over people do report for a job or not.
The strong point with TimeCamp is that it can track projects until completion and help managers collaborate on a project. Billable work is kept track of, and it is possible to keep track of the overall project progress. You can also track employee productivity, and it is possible to keep a record of productivity as it happens across the floor of the shop.
Toggl
At the heart of Toggl is a timer-based time tracking software that tends to record time spent by each employee. A project is created, and a task is assigned to the work. The timer is then started to keep track of how the project proceeds. Once the project’s completion occurs, the invoicing is done automatically and sent to the client without any human intervention.
With Toggl, it is possible to create projects, assign people to the projects, and create expected timelines and budgets. In this manner, it is possible to know when a project is due and the financial progress. The time managers can keep track of how time is spent and decide much before a project turns critical.
Time Tracking Tools – Which one is the best?
It would be a challenging task to pick out the best software to track time. The more pragmatic approach is to try out a particular software and check if it does the function expected of them most of the time. Like all available apps on the market, each one has its unique selling propositions. It is for the managers to decide what features are essential at any given point in time.
What has been observed with some of the time tracker tools is that they tend to be smart on the project management aspect. Thus, it stands to reason that such software can be used to manage an overall project most of the time and with good results.
