Time tracking of project tasks keeps exact track of all the time spend on all projects

This guide is intended to teach a Project Manager how to maximize the use of 3f Software Planner. This guide is neither a manual nor an introduction to 3f Software Planner. If you are looking for that, please go to the tutorial section. There you will find a short getting started guide to each module in 3f Software Planner 2006.

To download this guide as a PDF file, click here.

Everything in this guide applies to the base module unless otherwise noted.

Everything in 3f Software Planner evolves around time: how much time is planned for tasks, how many tasks are planned for a project, the time spent on individual tasks, the time remaining for each task, etc. In addition, you have several handy tools available to you that, when used correctly, will lessen your workload and get you more organized.

When a new project is set up in the system, the first thing that needs to be done is to define the tasks in the project and estimate the number of hours needed to complete each task. A task can be added in the task list by anyone with access to the system. Before time can be tracked on a task, that task must be set to "Allow Time Tracking" which can either be done in the task particulars (Figure 1.) or in the task list inside the optional Gantt diagram and Planning module (Figure 2.) If a task is not set to allow time tracking, nobody can track time against the task nor make time post entries.

Project Manager Tip: Disable "Allow Time Tracking" if you want to prevent anyone from working on a particular task. Note that unless you have the optional Approval Management module, anyone can change the status of the "Allow Time Tracking" checkbox. The Approved, Pending and Rejected radio buttons are only visible if you have the Approval Management module.

Project Manager Tip: With the optional Approval Management module, the tasks entered by Project Members will be listed in the Approval Management section of each project, thus pending approval by the project manager.

If you have the the Approval Management module, then you can set up projects so that all timesheets submitted by resources can be approved before the time spent is included in the time reports (Project Overview and Time Report). If you do not have the Approval Management module, then the time is included in the time reports as soon as a resource has submitted the timesheet. In Figure 3, you can see where you set the Time Sheet Approval.

Everything pending for approval is found in the Approval Management section (see Figure 4.) The Approval Management section can only be accessed by the Project Manager or a user with an Enterprise Manager login. The section is divided into 3 groups: Timesheets, Tasks and Requests.

Note: If you do not have the Approval Management module, then everyone have access to the same. In smaller companies where the structure is simple, this may actually work better.

To approve a timesheet, click the date across the resource for whom you want to approve the timesheet. Before you approve the timesheet, you have the option to adjust billable and non billable hours and you can even edit the report. Finally, you have the option to reject the timesheet altogether (see Figure 5). If a timesheet is rejected, the resource will be notified by a red triangle next to the date of the timesheet (see Figure 6).

Project Manager Tip: You will only see the timesheet for the projects where you are assigned as Project Manager, unless you have an Enterprise Manager account, in which case you will see all the resources' timesheets in all the projects.

Project Manager Tip: Time worked on non project tasks is not approved; hence it is not listed on the timesheet for approval.

Tasks are approved in the same way as timesheets. Simply click on the task name, review the detail, then choose whether to approve or reject the task. You also have the option to set the task to "Allow Time Tracking" by checking that checkbox (see Figure 7).

When a new task or general request is entered, such request is automatically listed under the requester's "My Requests" section. The system tracks when the request was reviewed, by whom and the status (see Figure 8).

The 3f Software Planner keeps track of all timesheets that have not been submitted by the resources (Figure 9). Here you can see at a glance the resources whose timesheets are pending submission.

The 3f Software Planner has number of tools that you can use for you to see the status of a project. However, the data delivered by these tools are only as good as the data going into them. Therefore, before you retrieve any report from 3f Software Planner, you should first do the following:

As a project manager, you should always stay on top of two things (1) how much time has been spent on the project and (2) how much time remains. If you can do these, then you are in good shape (provided that you react to the signals you get). When submitting a timesheet in 3f Software Planner, one requirement is that the person submitting the timesheet should enter how many hours he/she has left on the task that he/she is working on. This is done by making an entry during timesheet submission (see Figure 10).

Ideally, the remaining hours for a task is the sum of the remaining hours entered by all the resources working on that particular task. However, in reality, such ideal is difficult to attain. Therefore, one of the most important jobs for a Project Manager is to review, and if necessary, adjust the remaining hours on the tasks in the project. In the 3f Software Planner, this is done under Task Remaining Hours found in the Project Management node (see Figure 11). When this page is loaded, all the tasks in the project are listed by task number. (You have the option to rearrange the list and view the tasks by Phase). There are two columns of particular importance: the "Rem. Hrs." and "Res. Rem. Hrs."

In the column "Rem. Hrs." is where you set the remaining hours for the task by the number of hours you find appropriate. On the other hand, in the column "Res. Rem. Hrs." is where you can see the sum of the remaining hours entered (and/or approved) for all the resources working on the task. You now have two options: (1) Click "Set Task" which updates the remaining hours to be equal to the sum of remaining hours for all the resources or (2) you can click the number to the right of the Set Task button. In the subsequent form you can see the remaining hours broken down by resource.

It is then your job as a Project Manager to review and adjust the remaining hours. If this is regularly done, then your system is always up-to-date!

Project Manager Tip: If you enter 0 in the "Rem. Hrs." column, the task is considered 100% finished. If a task is finished, it will no longer be listed in the Project Time Tracking page and, therefore, time cannot be tracked on that task anymore.

There are several project reports that show the remaining hours. Take a look at each of these reports to see which one you can use in your organization.

The Project Overview report (see Figure 12) may be considered as the most important report because it gives you a list of all the tasks in the project, listing the number of hours that has gone into a project versus the planned and remaining hours. It basically gives you the health of your project and tells you the areas to which you should pay particular attention.

The columns Planned, Actual, and Rem. Hrs. are self-explanatory, so we won't spend any time on that.

The "% +/-" column tells you, as a percentage, how much ahead or behind plan a certain task is.

The "Planned/Actual" column tells you if a task is ahead or behind the plan in terms of hours.

The "Planned/Current" column tells you (in hours) how much a task is ahead or behind considering the remaining hours that you have set .

The "% Finished" column tells you how completed a task is.

This report has a counterpart, the Project Overview by Phase, where the same data are shown but the tasks are grouped by project phase.

Project Manager Tip: Before you use the Project Overview report, make sure that:

(a) Everybody has submitted his/her timesheets (basically, prevent delaying timesheets).

(b) You review and approve the timesheets (if you have the Approval Management module).

The Project Home report (see Figure 13) is a summary or snapshot of the current project. On the main page you will see the client details, completion percentage, a summary of the number of hours worked on the project, as well as a summary of the errors and changes.

You also have the option to print Project Home. The printout (see Figure 14) gives you a summary of the project. The summary contains key data from the project. The report was designed to be used in management meetings, or if you are working by the hour for your client, you can send this report as part of your reporting requirements.

Project Manager Tip: Before you use the Project Home report, make sure that:

(a) Everybody has submitted his/her timesheets (basically, prevent delaying timesheets).

(b) You review and approve the timesheets (if you have the Approval Management module).

Aside form the previous reports, 3f Software Planner contains other project reports that you may find useful. Each report is listed below with a short description of what they do and what they can be used for.

The Time Report (Figure 15) gives you an overview of the hours worked on the project. This report shows you the hours worked (billable and non billable) and can be grouped by resource, task, department, approved by, etc. If you need to report to clients how many hours have gone into a project, then this is the report to use. You can export the data to Excel and then manually remove the Work Hours column so that the client does not see the difference between billable and non billable hours.

Project Manager Tip: Before you use the Time Report, make sure that:

(a) Everybody has submitted his/her timesheets (basically, prevent delaying timesheets).

(b) You review and approve the timesheets (if you have the Approval Management module).

Work distribution refers to what type of work is being planned or worked on a project expressed as a percentage of all the hours planned or worked on that particular project. When new tasks are added, one of the requirements is to choose an activity. The activity says something about the work being done on the task. For instance, if you are planning a pre project meeting with a client, you may want to assign the activity "Planning" or "Meeting". During the planning phase, you can use this as a guide to see if you are allotting enough time for the various activities in the project by reviewing the Actual Work Distribution report in similar projects. Figure 16 shows planned work distribution of a project.

Like most software applications, 3f Software Planner also has functionalities and features that are not easily recognizable at first glance. In this chapter, you will be introduced to some of these features including examples of how you and your team can use them.

A project resource is usually an individual (or sometimes an equipment) that you can add to a project but who cannot log in to the system. A project resource can be scheduled in the Gantt diagram, for whom the work schedule can be printed and for whom the number of hours worked on tasks along with the remaining hours for the tasks worked on can be entered. A project resource cannot be assigned to an error and change item, nor can a project resource use the comment system.

You can use project resources when, for instance, you have an external consultant working on a project that you need to schedule and track. Another example is if you are renting a special piece of equipment to be used on a project, the time of use of which needs to be tracked.

Enterprise resources are in essence the same as project resources with one notably difference: they are set up once in the system for use in various projects just like regular login resources. In other words, you can set up as many Enterprise Resources as you want and then assign them to any project. The assigned resource can then be scheduled in the Gantt diagram.

6.3 Usage of Project and Enterprise Resources (Requires: Gantt diagram and Planning Module)

While login resources will always give the greatest amount of flexibility, you can in the beginning consider to use only Project and Enterprise resources while you get yourself acquainted with the system.

From time to time you may want to cancel a task in a project. Canceling a task basically removes the task from the task list and prevents users from tracking time against it. When a task is cancelled, the time that had been tracked on such task remains in the system but will be grouped under "Canceled Tasks" in the Project Overview report.

When a task is cancelled, the following happens:

1. The task is removed from the task list and Gantt diagram (if you have the Gantt diagram module).

2. It is removed from the Project Time Tracking page, hence time can no longer be tracked for the task.

3. On the Project Overview report, it is placed at the bottom in a special section for cancelled tasks. In this way, you can see all

the time spent on a project with or without the cancelled tasks.

To cancel a task, go to the "Tasks Remaining Hours" in the Project Management section; next click Cancel across the task you want to cancel (see Figure 17).

To "reactivate" a cancelled task, check "Show Cancelled" on the same page. All cancelled tasks are listed at the bottom of the page. Simply click the "Activate" link across the task you want to reactivate. Note that after activating a task, you may want to move it in the task list to a different position, because the newly activated task is assigned the next available task number (not its original task number), placing it at the bottom.

Grouping projects together gives you an overview of the number of hours spent into multiple projects that are not related to each other. You can set up an unlimited number of project groups in which you can include an unlimited number of projects from any client. You can even include the same project in multiple project groups. Project grouping can be helpful if you are working on multiple projects for the same client, or if you work for multiple clients on a major project. You can probably think of more ways this report can be helpful for you. The grouping of projects takes place in the Project Grouping node found right under the Project node (see Figure 18).

Note: To group projects together, your login must be Enterprise Manager (that is, if you have the Approval Management module).

When a project is finished, there are a few things you need to do:

1. Go to the "Time Remaining Hours" in the Project Management section; then click the button "Set all rem. hrs. to 0". Doing so will set the remaining to 0 on all the tasks, identifying them as finished.

2. Check the "Uncommitted Timesheets" which is also found in the Project Management section. If there are resources who have yet to file one or more timesheets for the project, request that they do so.

3. If you have the Approval Management module, check and make certain that there are no pending timesheets; otherwise, approve them.

4. Go to Project Home in the Project Management section; print the Project Home report and file it.

5. Click the Project Name to open the page where the project is defined. From the Status combo box, choose "Finished"; then click Save.

When a project is set to "Finished", the following happens:

1. Nobody can access the project anymore because it is removed from the tree view.

2. The tree view becomes less cluttered with projects.

If needed, you can reactivate the project at any time by going to the page where the project is defined and change the status from "Finished" to "Ongoing."