Introducing the New WORKetc Desktop CRM Timetracking App
Click for full view.In the screenshot above, you can see our old CRM timetracking app on the left and the new timer on the right. The first thing you’ll notice is the completely revamped design — the new timer’s user interface is more in line with the graphical changes we have planned for our next big release.
We haven’t just given the new timer a shiny new coat of paint, either. Everything’s changed under the app’s hood, too. This isn’t just an update to the previous desktop timer, it’s a complete and total overhaul; the app is entirely built on 100% new code. As such, the new timer no longer requires Silverlight.
The new timer app will also be cross-platform and will be released for Windows and Mac users at the same time.
Using the New Desktop Timer
Despite the completely new interface and codebase, using the timer remains simple:
- Select the client with which you want to associate the timesheet.
- Select the activity to which you want to attach the timesheet.
- Select what timesheet activity you’d like to record.
- Click “Start”.
Once you click “Stop”, you can still edit and enter time manually, just like if you clicked the “Enter Manually” button.
Clicking the “Create” links in the “Find Client” and “Attached To” fields will open a new tab in your browser where you can create a new company contact record or project, respectively.
The Settings Tab
The three buttons on the lower right corner of the timer let you, from left to right:
- Return to the main timer view.
- Open the Settings tab.
- Logout.
Here’s what you’ll find in the Settings tab:
Click for full view.One major difference between the two is that the new timer now automatically shows all entry types by default. No need to enable it in the settings to see support cases, events, products, subscriptions, and expenses in addition to projects and tasks.
The new timer also comes with an overhauled reminder function. If enabled, a popup message reminding you to track time will show up from the Windows taskbar once the duration you’ve entered (in minutes) has elapsed. This is perfect for users who regularly find themselves forgetting to create timesheets.
Record Time in Blocks
The first of three new settings — “Record time in blocks of” — will automatically round up time recorded to the nearest increment of whatever value you’ve entered. For example, if you set the timer to record in 10-minute blocks and you let it run for 39 minutes, the timer will automatically round that up to 40 minutes.
Here’s a sample scenario: According to the American Bar Association, lawyers commonly keep track of time spent with a client in 6-minute, 10-minute, or 15-minute increments. This is recommended for convenience’s sake — as the ABA notes, it wouldn’t be practical for lawyers to track time in constantly varying measurements.
With the “Record time in blocks of” setting, a law firm can use the desktop timer to automatically record time following whichever increment system they use.
If it’s set to 6 minutes, a 39-minute meeting with a client will be recorded as 42 minutes. If it’s set to 10-minute blocks, that 39-minute meeting will be recorded as 40 minutes. If set to 15 minutes, that very same meeting will be recorded as 45 minutes.
Keep the Timer Top-of-Mind
The other two new settings help keep the timer top-of-mind, especially when used in tandem with the reminder setting.
First, you can now choose to keep the timer on top of any other windows or apps that you have open, giving you quick access to it anytime. The timer can be freely moved and resized if you want to free up some screen real estate.
Second, you can also change the behavior of the “close” (X) button so that instead of closing the timer it just minimizes it to the taskbar instead. To fully exit the app when this setting is enabled, you can right click on it on the taskbar and choose “Close window”.
If you’ve ever found yourself accidentally closing a running timer and losing the time it already tracked, enabling this setting will help you avoid similar accidents.
Insiders-exclusive Beta Test
As with all of our beta releases, the Windows and Mac beta builds of the new desktop time tracking app are first being made available exclusively to members of WORKetc Insiders
All of our releases rely heavily on feedback and direction from the Insiders community, so if you want in on this as well as future beta tests, join Insiders now. Once you’re all set, login to your Insiders account and complete our beta signup challenge.
Beta testers can post any and all feedback / issues / bug sightings in this WORKetc forum thread.
COMMENTS
Looks useful! Is the beta available for Mac?
The 2 best things about the timer is reminders and having the ability of keeping the timer on top of other windows (Keep the Timer Top-of-Mind). As diligent as I try to be, I admit I have left timers running in the past forgetting about them or getting pulled into another meeting. This will definitely be a huge help to avoid those situations. Another feature I really like is displaying the entry types. I mainly submit subscriptions and products, so it’s nice I am able to switch between the 2 quickly now and apply it to a time sheet. Thanks for keeping the look and feel fresh too, great job all around!
Looks like a great improvement. I’m downloading it as I type this, and I’ll try giving it a shot today. But already I can say I love the idea of the ‘record in blocks’ feature. That’s how we work in my office, and it’s nice to have this work automatically.
This could be useful to our team members who bill some of their project work by the hour. Will download and give it a test drive.
Clean, simple, and effective! The record in blocks feature is super awesome because, as you mentioned, that is totally how many consultants track time. We’ve always billed our services in 15 minute blocks while support is billed in 5 minutes so this makes an easy way to get that recorded correctly at the time for the accounting team.
Basically excellent. I have have only looked at it (it looks lovely).
My team have used it and they like it. A great improvement.
Three comments they have put forward:
1/ Ability to be able to put time against opportunities without having to create a to-do in the lead and place the time into that. (Leads not visible in the timer).
2/ Possibility to pause or interrupt one job to briefly work on another then come back to the first. (For our workflow that would be a huge benefit).
3/ Ability to duplicate or continue an activity from a “history”.
This is going to be great for our IT techs. We need to add timesheets as we go or immediately after the work is done. It’s easy to forget and I forsee the pop up reminder to be helpful. Our techs normally work on multiple computers from different clients at once, having the ability to record this is crucial and hopefully this will keep the times straight and make it easier for billing purposes.
Huge improvement over the previous timer application both in look and feel. I like the ability to record time in blocks. I would love if you could choose in settings between having the Find Client search against companies and customers as we generally track time against companies. This is a huge step in the right direction though!
The new timer looks awesome! I am really love the new look and feel. I had not even bothered with the desktop timer before because i found it cumbersome to use, but I will totally be trying the new timer out. I love the time blocks tracking ability because a lot of what I do is in blocks of time. If nothing else this new desktop timer will help me track how long i am spending doing specific tasks!
My boss has downloaded the timer and loves it. He travels a bit and he is able to capture his time while onsite with ease. keep the new improvements coming