Time tracking is key to understanding your productivity patterns, better time management, and higher control over other personal and business resources. This practice has a very long history, and like many long-living phenomena from the human world, it evolved dramatically over the centuries.
Among the main things that changed in time tracking is its form. Ancient people utilized stone tablets, paper, and other physical writing materials to keep a record of time. And nowadays, we can run the process entirely in the digital space. 🧑💻
More than that, time tracking can be largely automated with the help of such modern software solutions as actiTIME. And in this post, we talk about the five main benefits that this smart timesheet tool offers in terms of automated time tracking.
Let’s dig right in!
Automated Time Tracking with actiTIME: What Are the Gains?
⏱️ Easy and fast data collection
When you track time manually in paper-based systems or simple electronic spreadsheets, you have to make an immense mental investment in the process:
- You need to take note of when you start and end different tasks to log your working hours accurately.
- You need to check if your employees complete their timesheets correctly and in due course by looking through their records one by one.
- You also have to calculate and summarize all the numbers manually in order to accrue wages, generate invoices and analyze productivity trends.
All in all, manual time tracking with paper timesheets or spreadsheets requires a lot of effort, time, and attention. In contrast, with actiTIME, you can make the process much easier and more efficient.
If you still prefer to record your working hours manually, just use actiTIME’s timesheets or calendar interface. Then, when timesheets are filled, you can review the submitted time tracking data by running a report or generating a chart in merely a few clicks.
However, for a more streamlined time tracking experience, there’s a better solution – you can integrate actiTIME with Time Management Assistant, a clever and free browser extension that makes a detailed log of your online activities and tracks the exact time you spend on them in a fully automatic way.
The extension has a flexible configuration, which lets you:
- Choose what online tools and websites to track
- Seamlessly export the collected data to actiTIME on your own terms
Besides, Time Management Assistant features several visual reports that can display the collected data for different periods of time and give you a profound insight into your time usage statistics and online behaviors.
For more information on Time Management Assistant and how to use it, don’t hesitate to check out this post. 👈
🎯 Higher time tracking accuracy
The automatic timer allows you to increase data accuracy by a large degree. Yet actiTIME offers some other functionality that helps to decrease the risk of error during the collection and analysis of data. For example, it has a timesheet approval feature that lets managers review and either accept or reject the submitted timesheets. This way, you can swiftly verify timesheet information and liquidate mistakes before moving the data further in the reporting cycle.
And do you know why it’s so crucial to make your time tracking as accurate as possible?
Higher data accuracy produces many advantages:
- Error-free billing and invoicing that are key to business profitability.
- Faultless payroll to reduce the risks of employee dissatisfaction and ensures impeccable legal compliance.
- In-depth understanding of personal and team productivity that lets you see what holds you back or moves you forward and then undertake the suitable measures accordingly.
- Effective project management, including improved work planning, task estimation, and performance control.
- Smarter resource management decisions that allow for higher efficiency in whatever you do.
🙅 Zero risk of micromanagement
actiTIME doesn’t aim to monitor each and every user activity. It neither takes random screenshots of employee workstations nor includes geofencing or GPS tracking features. Compared to fully automated time tracking solutions, it’s not intruding by nature. Hence, actiTIME is suitable for companies where managers aim to promote employee autonomy and want to establish a culture of trust.
Remember that micromanagement is one of the top reasons why employees resign. It has such intense harmful effects as:
- Burnout,
- Low team morale,
- And reduced productivity.
As a result, micromanagement prevents individuals from thriving in the workplace and inhibits business growth. Therefore, by choosing a non-invasive time tracking system like actiTIME, you can avoid these risks and, instead, will cultivate respect for employee privacy.
Since actiTIME neither threatens employees’ autonomy nor makes them feel as if they are constantly watched, your team will likely be at ease with using the tool daily.
⚙️ Multiple integrations for a smooth workflow
Using multiple apps for work management is a norm nowadays because different solutions allow you to streamline disparate processes and facilitate performance in different business areas. However, continually switching between the apps is by far not so convenient. And paradoxically, frequent changeovers cause workflow interruptions that contemporary software itself aims to rid you of in the first place.
So, how to handle this problem?
App integrations are the answer!
Besides Time Management Assistant we briefly mentioned before, actiTIME can be integrated with a plethora of useful platforms that you either already utilize or are planning to adopt. The list includes:
By integrating actiTIME with one of the above products, you will easily streamline data export, avoid duplicate data entry and log working time without even entering your account. Thereby, software integrations can increase your management flexibility while streamlining the workflows, minimizing time wasters, and boosting overall work efficiency.
🤑 Affordable price
Another important actiTIME benefit is the tool’s affordability. Compared to many other automated time tracking products, it is reasonably priced and incredibly cost-effective (especially if you work in a large team).
Besides, actiTIME offers a forever-free version for single users and smaller teams of up to three members. It means you can capture all the advantages of automated time tracking with no financial investment at all!
To give it a go, sign up for a 30-day trial and start tracking hours with actiTIME today. Higher work productivity is merely a few clicks away!
