Time tracking is incredibly important for technical professionals for several reasons. Firstly, it boosts productivity and efficiency by helping identify how time is spent on different tasks and projects. This awareness allows professionals to manage their workload better and avoid spending too much time on less important tasks.
In terms of project management, accurate time tracking is essential for keeping projects on schedule. It allows project managers to allocate resources effectively, monitor progress, and make necessary adjustments to meet deadlines. For freelancers and contractors, time tracking is vital for billing clients accurately, ensuring they are paid for all the hours they work and helping create detailed invoices that justify the charges.
Cost management also benefits from time tracking, as it provides insights into the actual time spent on various tasks, helping calculate the true cost of a project. This information is invaluable for budgeting and financial planning. Additionally, time tracking promotes accountability among team members. When everyone tracks their time, it becomes easier to identify who is responsible for what, enhancing transparency and responsibility within the team.
Managers can use time tracking data to evaluate team performance, understanding individual contributions and identifying areas where additional training or support may be needed. It also plays a role in client satisfaction by providing detailed reports on how project time is spent, building trust and improving client relationships. This transparency demonstrates professionalism and ensures clients feel they are getting value for their money.
Lastly, for technical professionals, especially those working remotely, time tracking helps maintain a healthy work-life balance. It prevents overworking and ensures they take necessary breaks and manage their time effectively. Overall, time tracking enhances productivity, accountability, and financial accuracy, contributing to the success of technical projects and professional growth.
What is Ophion?
Ophion was built to fill this need. Geared towards IT professionals, but usable by anyone, Ophion allows you to track your time daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly. Use this data to show your boss how much you actually do! I originally built this app for my own use. I had some friends that were looking for a free or cheap way to track their time, so I introduced them to it. The original version is gone, and has been integrated into fortypoundhead.com as a tool for registered members.
The tool allows you to track your time in fifteen minute increments each day. Here are some of the main features of Ophion:
- Categorize by keywords
- Assign ticket numbers or other references
- Flag as significant
- Flag for followup
- Search by:
- keyword
- company
- ticket/reference
- date constraints
- Handy dashboard of time tracked
The tool itself is pretty straightforward to use, but I’ve spelled out some of the highlights below, just in case. If there is something you’d like to see, or a change that you would think good for all users, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me via the contact link at the bottom of the page.
Main Screen
This is the default screen you are delivered to when clicking the Ophion link in the My Stuff section. The screen will display a table of entries for the currently selected date, which is by default the current date. If there are no entries for the selected date, the table will be empty.
There are seven fields in each record for the table. The fields are listed below
| Description | A brief description or title of the entry. |
| Ref/Tkt | This would be ticket number or some other reference data. |
| Keywords | Specific keywords assigned to this entry, used for building reports. |
| Company | The company name this entry is tied to. |
| Start | Start time for this entry. |
| End | End time for this entry. |
| Hours | Number of hours calculated for this entry. |
The description field of each entry is a link, which will expose the details of that entry. For example, each entry has an option Details field that can hold more detail about that entry. From the detail screen, you can also edit or delete the entry. In addition to the linked description, there three icons at the right side of the description field. These icons are:
| Flag | Flag the entry for later followup |
| Circle ! | Mark the entry as a significant event |
| Trashcan | Delete the entry |
Adding a New Entry
At the top of the table, in the heading for the Description field, there is a button marked Add New. Clicking this button will expose the form that allows you to enter new items. Clicking the button again will hide the form.
When adding a new item, there are some fields that are mandatory, and some that are optional.
Mandatory Fields
- Description
- Date
- Start Time
- End Time
- Company
Optional Fields
- Details
- Keywords
- Ref/Tkt
- Significant
It is recommended that you add a keyword or two, seperated by commas or spaces, so you can use this data to build reports and utilize the dashboard later. This allows you to categorize your information to see it presented and tallied in a logical way.
Ideally, the Ref/Tkt field is not needed. If you have a ticketing system, your information and time utiilization about a particular block of time should be tracked there. However, it’s not the only case where you would want to use this field. For example, if you are an IT person who has to call a vendor help desk, you can use this field to document their ticket or case number in this field. Another example could be if you are working with an entitty wherein you made a payment, you could document a payment or transaction confirmation number in this field.
Further, while the Company field is a required field, you can assign it to the Not Specified item if you do not want to assign it to a specific company, or you don’t have any companies defined. Using the Company field allows you to track work performed for specific companies that you might work for. This is especially useful for contractors, freelancers, or other people that might perform work for multiple entities.
Changing the Selected Date
Clicking on the Change Day menu item will present a calendar view on the screen. In this view, there is a clickable link that well set the day focus for the main screen. In addition to the links for each day, any hours tracked during the month will be displayed for any days where time has been tracked.
To change the month/year focus of the calendar, select the desired month and year in the form below the calendar, then click the Change Timeframe button.
Search (Reporting)
Clicking the Search link in the menu will present you with the filtered search screen. By default, the current days items will be displayed in the table below the filtering form.
With this screen, you can filter by Date, Company, and a keyword. Note that the keyword field will search the description, keywords, and details fields of all entries in the specified date range. If no entries are made for the Company or Keyword fields, then only the date is filtered.
For example, if you want to see all meetings you had for Company X, between April 1, 2019 and April 30, 2019, you would set the start date to 04/01/2019, the end date to 04/30/2019, select Company X in the Company field, and put the word Meeting in the Keyword field. Click the Search button on the right, and all your meetings in the specified timeframe for Company X will be displayed.
To print the results of your search, simply use the print function of your web browser to print to actual paper, or to a PDF document.
Dashboard
The dashboard is meant to be a quick overview of hours that you have tracked. As of this writing there seven tables present in the dashboard:
- Hours Logged Yearly
- Hours Per Company, All Time
- Hours Per Company, This Year
- Hours Per Company, This Month
- Hours Per Keyword, All Time
- Hours Per Keyword, This Year
- Hours Per Keyword, This Month
More options are to be added over time, including “drilling down” in to certain areas. If you have a request for a particular dashboard, please don’t hesitate to ask for it by using the Contact page.
Follow-Ups
The Follow-Ups screen lists any items that you have flagged for follow-up. From this screen, you can un-flag the items, delete, edit, or view the details of the items.
Company Manager
This is where you define companies or entities that you perform work for. From this screen, you can add, remove, or edit entities. Each company or entity has fields for:
- Company Name
- Address
- Two phone numbers
Any company can be set as the default company to bill time for, in which it will be automatically selected in the Add New form on the main screen.
Keyword Manager
Using keywords is a simple way to categorize or organize your time entries, which is especially useful when using the search function for reporting on your time utilization. Example keywords might be as shown:
- Meeting
- On-Call
- Vacation
- Project X
- Proposal
- Debugging
- Maintenance
Any word can be defined as a keyword, and rigorous use of keywords when adding time entries helps to keep your time tracking on-track. For example, if your boss wants to know how many hours you spent working on Project X, you can instantly give a report of what dates, times, and how many hours were spent on Project X.
Summary
And that’s about it for this overview. If you have any questions or are experiencing problems, feel free to hit me up with the Contact link down below. I’m happy to answer any questions you might have.