Time Tracking within the Projects Module

Today I’d like to tell you about one useful TeamLab feature you frequently ask to write about. That is Time Tracking.

What is the Time Tracking feature for?
The answer to this question is obvious – in order to know where the time goes. But you can use this information in different ways. As a project team member, you learn how much time you spend on a certain task and can plan your workday better to fulfill the current tasks in time or even improve your performance. As a project manager, you get essential data to estimate how much progress your team needs to make and reallocate resources if needed. As a boss, you can compare how much time every employee spent performing his tasks.

How to record time spent on a task?
You can do it manually using the Time Tracking window if you exactly know how long you have been working on a task. To access it,

1. open the Projects module;
2. select the needed project in the All Projects drop-down menu;
3. switch to the Tasks tab and find the task you want to perform;
4. click the icon to open the Time Tracking window.

Here you need to add time in hours, select a date, enter a description and click the Add Time button.

Not to waste your valuable time on figuring out how many hours you need to add, use the Timer function that will automatically calculate how long you have been working on a task. To access it,

1. open the Projects module;
2. select the needed project in the All Projects drop-down menu;
3. switch to the Tasks tab and find the task you want to perform;
4. hover your mouse cursor over the task and you’ll see the icon;
5. after clicking it, the Timer window (tab) will appear.

The Project and Task fields will be filled in automatically. You only need to enter hours you have already spent on a task (if you forgot to start the timer in time) and click the icon. As soon as you are through with the task or your workday is over, click the icon, enter the description of work you got done and press the Add Time button.
Note: please don't close the Timer window (tab) while performing a task, otherwise the timer won't count time you spend on it.

How to view total time spent on a task or project?
To view total time and the description of every period you spent performing a task, open the task overview page clicking its title in the tasks list and press the link with specified hours. In the appeared table you can also edit each time period correcting spelling in the description and changing some data like a person in charge or delete the period of time added accidentally.

It’s much easier to view total time spent on tasks within a certain project. Just select the needed project in the All Projects drop-down menu and switch to the Time Tracking tab.

To view how long it took all your colleagues to complete their tasks, you can generate a report switching to the Reports tab (with All Projects option selected at the top) and configuring filters.

That’s all as for time tracking! I hope this information will prove useful to you. For more instructions on TeamLab functionality, please check out our Help Center. If you still have any questions or would like to leave your feedback for TeamLab, feel free to write to us at support@teamlab.com.