Time management software

[Craig Verzone]

We are researching the options of incorporating a new time management, project efficiency and billing software into our studio and have discovered Studiometry. Does anyone have experience to share regarding this or another software. We have been using excel but have yet to design a system that takes full advantage of the information we have.

http://www.oranged.net/studiometry/

 

Thanks for your thoughts.

Craig Verzone

[Jason T. Radice]

There are a few systems out there. I’m not familiar with this one, but it looks quite good. A bit on the pricey side, but I guess compared to what else is out there, not too bad (and many other systems are subscription for upgrades). Stay away from Deltek…it is an unweildy beast!

[Thomas J. Johnson]

Studiometry looks pretty legit. It seems to cover all the bases in a clear, intuitive format. My only question would be, can multiple people contribute information to a project? It seems like a good tool for a project manager but I wonder how it would interact with the rest of the team. I.E. Can you assign tasks and have people check them off when completed?

On a somewhat related note, it never made sense to me, that at the end of the day you would document what you had done (allocate billable hours to specific projects). So, you want me to regurgitate everything I’ve done for the last 10-12 hours? From an accounting/project management/productivity standpoint, it would make more sense for a project manager to assign tasks, with allotted time, and have people in production check-off on assigned tasks with actual time to complete.

Johnson – Project #123 – Plant presentation boards – 16 plants (4 trees, 2 vines, 2 ground covers, 4 shrubs, 4 annuals) – Time allotted 2.5hrs ———————————— Completed – 2 hrs.

Smith – Project #123 – Hardscape Redline Corrections – Time allotted 4 hrs ———————– Completed 3.5 hrs

Thompson – Project #123 – Check LEED Compliance of site furnishings – Time allotted – 45min —————— Complete 1/2hr.

It just took me 5 minutes to create 3 tasks that could be sent to the individuals desk top. They have a clear understanding of what needs to be done and how long it should take them.  When they are done, they check-off and it automatically gets logged to the projects budget/accounting. It should be the project managers job to delegate tasks and it should be productions job to complete those tasks. Pretty straight forward… why introduce the opportunity for miscommunication from verbal instructions and then require production to regurgitate what they’ve done in writing? It doesn’t make sense. Put it in writing at the beginning and have production check off on it when completed. Assign another task. Repeat… 

But what do I know…?  

 

[Craig Verzone]

I just got news from a colleague using Deltek that told me that it would help to be an account before using the software. Thanks for your insight.

[Craig Verzone]

Thanks for looking into this. We are testing Studiometry on our server and need to have 10 inputting time data, so it is set up for multiple users contributing information. There are some components that seem superfluous and busy as well as a few extra input strokes to get daily time logged in but we are looking for short-cuts.

Regarding your somewhat related note, I agree with you. If a work-flow plan were to proceed as imagined, we would have no use for timesheets. Doesn’t time documentation allow you to understand your studio’s project efficiency as well as give you the knowledge of how much time your next project of similar scope will take? Isn’t it difficult to bill a project hourly if the hours aren’t tracked?

 

[Jason T. Radice]

Or an IT manager, it takes constant updating (server restarts) and there are quite a few flaws that you have to get technical assitance to perform, very time consuming. Plus, it is a heavy program, meaning it is not very efficient and hogs resources. Studiometry looks like a nice suite of simpler, more efficent software.

[Joe Michael]

Freshbooks might be one of the few systems out there. It’s a tool for project management with billing functionality. I haven’t tried it though but seems a great tool. I think freshbooks has the best invoicing feature for a project management tool.

 

Other great tools that are being discussed can be found here. It’s a list of alternative tools with its features compared with each other in a single table. You might want to look at it for some references and reviews.

[Craig Verzone]

Thanks for the suggestions!

[Craig Verzone]

Thanks Bryan!

[Andrew Spiering]

Will be writing a blog post on this topic soon.  Check out harvest (as already mentioned) and freshbooks.

[Craig Verzone]

Very cool. I look forward to reading it. In the meantime, we are still  using our Excel spreadsheets (since 17 years) and might just find someone who can code our way into a more sophisticated time-tracking system….

Craig

 

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