Tracking and logging time
The time tracker is one of todo.vu’s key features. With a single click, Users can track their time at any billing rate, and ensure that tracked time is recorded against their activities (via any number of todo.vu tasks).
This means every minute of your workday can be easily accounted for, whether it is billable time or not. You can clearly see who did what task, when, for how long, and at what cost to your clients or business. And, todo.vu can neatly collate all of this information for you, even calculating time-cost totals, in clear reports.
This way, you can see the extent of your billable and non-billable work, improve your productivity, and provide itemized billing reports for your clients.
Learn how to track and record time with the user-friendly timer, log time manually, set time budgets, log time on behalf of other staff users, and more.
Jump to:
- Finding the timer
- Starting the timer
- Stopping the timer
- todo.vu’s Time modal
- Connect your timer to a task
- Log time manually to a task
- Log time to previous days
- Log time manually to todo.vu’s Calendar
- Charging the right rate for your tracked time
- Admin-only features
- Setting the time budget for a task
- Setting the time budget for a project
Tracking time with the user-friendly timer
Finding the timer
The timer can be accessed from your todo.vu Workspace’s fixed header bar, which is found at the top of every page in your todo.vu Workspace.
Starting the timer
You can start the timer:
1. From your Workspace’s fixed header bar on any page (but note the special difference about task pages, below)
Simply click ‘Start timer’ or the timer icon. The timer will begin, and you can start working straight away. Every minute until you choose to stop the timer will be tracked by todo.vu.
Task pages:
While you can start your timer on any page, there’s a small – but significant – difference about starting your timer while on an open task page.
When you start the timer while on a task page, todo.vu will automatically track and record that time to that specific task (as in the image below).
When you start the timer from the header bar on any page other than a task page, the time you are tracking will not yet be connected to any task.
Time must be tracked to a specific task in order for that time to be used in todo.vu’s billing and activity reports.
Typically, businesses will track time to a specific task from the outset; however, the ability to track time generically allows you to work swiftly and without interruption and add the task details later.
You can also start your timer:
2. Directly on a task from the listings on the Task Dashboard page
There’s no need to open the task itself. Time will be tracked directly to that specific task.
3. On a task within todo.vu’s Calendar
Simply right click on any calendar entry (excluding already billed tasks). Time will be tracked to the task.
Stopping the timer
All you need to do is hit the timer icon again (or the ‘What are you working on?’ field) to stop the timer running.
If your timer was already running on a task, you don’t have to do anything else; your time will be automatically recorded to that task.
If it wasn’t, todo.vu’s pop-up Time modal will appear, where you can easily hit the ‘Stop timer, log [time]‘ button at the top.
If you stop the timer when the timer is not connected to a task, that data will only appear on your todo.vu calendar as a basic time entry, and in your activity reports. You will not see it anywhere else in todo.vu.
todo.vu’s Time modal
todo.vu’s Time modal is a pop-up modal that appears when a User stops their timer.
On the Time modal, you can:
- adjust the duration of the time entry
- add notes to the time entry
- discard the time entry
- stop the timer
- connect tasks (and therefore clients/projects) to the time entry.
1. Adjust the duration of the time entry
You can adjust your time entry by:
- selecting the plus and minus signs on either side of the hours and minutes.
- selecting any number on the Time modal and using the up/down arrows on your keypad to increase or decrease the number, or inserting numbers from your keypad.
- selecting the time disks underneath the time duration.
2. Add notes to the time entry
You can add notes to a time entry on todo.vu’s Time modal under the time entry duration. You can edit time entry notes at any time, from when the timer is running to when you are creating your billing report.
Time entry notes appear on your billing reports to provide your clients with even greater transparency when it comes to their invoices.
3. Discard the time entry
Using the Bin icon or the three-dot menu to the right of the bin icon on todo.vu’s Time modal, Users can discard their time entry.
4. Stop the timer
Apart from the primary ‘Stop timer, log [time]’ button that appears at the very top of the Time modal, Users can stop their timer by selecting the three-dot menu to the right of the trash can icon on the modal.
In this drop-down menu, Users can:
- Go to the Task the timer is currently connected to (Only available if the running timer is connected to a task)
- Stop the timer and log the time
- Log the time and continue working, which will automatically stop and restart the timer on the same task, giving a User the opportunity to record more specific time entry notes to their tracked time in increments.
5. Connect the timer to a task
If you did not start the timer directly on a task initially, you can easily connect a running timer to a task at any time.
Follow these steps to connect the timer to a specific task.
1. A pop-up window (todo.vu’s Time modal) will appear on your screen once you select the timer icon or the ‘What are you working on?‘ field.
2. Click on ‘No client – Not linked to a task’, or the link icon, that appears under the ‘Time entry note’ field.
3. A separate Tasks modal will open. Here, you can search for and select an existing task, or create and select a new task.
To select an existing task, simply locate your task from the task list, or search for your task with the search bar on the top left-hand side of the modal.
You can also filter your recent task list by a specific user or client, by selecting the relevant avatars at the top.
Change views on the Tasks modal:
By default, the pop-up Tasks modal displays a list of recent tasks ordered chronologically based on your interaction with them.
You can toggle this Tasks modal to assume a view similar to your primary Task Dashboard by selecting the icon next to the cross (x) at the top right-hand corner of the modal.
Use this view as you would your Workspace’s actual task dashboard to search and select a task to which you want to connect your timer.
4. To create a new task, simply enter your new task’s title in the blue task adder bar at the bottom of the tasks modal.
Add a Client and a Project by selecting the square to the left of your new Task’s title. Select the right arrow on the task adder bar to finish creating your new task.
Now, if you want to:
Keep the timer running on the task:
Select (x) at the top right or ‘Close’ at the bottom right of the modal, or click anywhere outside of the modal.
Stop the timer on that task:
Click ‘Stop timer, log [time]‘ at the top of the modal, or from the three-dot menu next to the (x).
Logging time manually to a task
Whether you want to add time to a task after the fact, or to adjust logged time, you can do so manually from inside that task.
Simply open (select) the task to which you would like to add time or adjust already logged time, so that you are taken to that task’s page.
On the right-hand side of the page, you will see two options, one to set a due date (under ‘Task is due‘), and one to log your time (Under ‘Time spent‘).
Select ‘Time spent’. A mini calendar view will appear, displaying the current day in hourly increments including all calendar entries that relate to your User, and not just those relating to this specific task. This is ‘Your timeline’ view.
You can add a time entry directly to this task here by clicking anywhere on the calendar. You can also modify existing time entries by clicking on them.
Like on todo.vu’s main Calendar, you can navigate through the days with the left and right arrows at the top left-hand side of the sidebar. The dot in the middle of these two arrows will take you back to your current day.
If you click on the hamburger icon in the upper right corner of the ‘Time spent’ sidebar, you will consolidate your view to display time entries logged by you and your team members on this task only.
You can also add time entries here by selecting the (+) sign at the top left-hand corner of the sidebar.
Because it is unlikely you will complete all your tasks in one sitting, and you may have several team members working on the same task, todo.vu allows you to add multiple time entries to a task.
That means:
- any number of team members can add time entries to the same task
- one single user can add multiple simultaneous time entries to one or more tasks.
Logging time on previous days to a task
Let’s say you needed to log time for work you completed last week on a task.
Back in the ‘Time spent’ sidebar, under ‘Your timeline’, you could use the left arrow at the top left-hand side of the Task sidebar to navigate to the required day and add your time entry.
You could also use todo.vu’s Calendar to select any day in the past or future to add a time entry and connect a task to that time entry. More on this below.
Logging time manually to the Calendar
todo.vu’s Calendar (previously called the Time Dashboard) grants you flexible views of your and your team’s logged time, and the ability to log time quickly and easily.
Access todo.vu’s Calendar by selecting the clock icon on the left sidebar.
Here, you can log previously tracked time through any of the different Calendar views: the Agenda (A), Rolling Day (1/3/5/7/9), Week (W), Month (M) or Year (Y) views. Select your view with the symbols on the top right-hand side of the Workspace.
On the calendar’s Agenda (A) view, log time manually by selecting ‘Log time’ at the bottom of the vertical scrollable list of existing calendar entries (if any) on the desired day.
On the calendar’s Rolling Day (1/3/5/7/9) or Week (W) views, log time manually by clicking on blank space at the desired date and time, or by using todo.vu’s predictive time feature.
On the calendar’s Month (M) or Year (Y) view, simply right click on the day you need to add the time entry to, and select ‘New time entry’ from the drop down menu.
Once you have added a time entry to the calendar, you can choose to edit it at any time by clicking on the time entry to open the Time modal.
If you are an Admin user in todo.vu, you will have the option to edit or delete all time entries in the Workspace. All users have the option to edit or delete their own time entries only.
Charging the right rate for your tracked time
Head to todo.vu’s Time and Billing Settings support page for more information about setting your hourly rates.
Essentially, time in todo.vu is tracked automatically to pre-set billing rates as configured in your settings.
These billing rates includes rates for:
- The entire Workspace: This is the default rate for the entire Workspace; time will be tracked at this rate on all tasks, unless there are overrides, as below. Learn how to set up your Workspace’s billing rate here.
- Projects: This is the rate at which time will be tracked on tasks belonging to a specific project. This will override your Workspace’s default billing rate. Learn how to set up your Project rate here.
- Project Users: This is the rate at which time will be tracked for certain staff users working on a specific project. This will override a project rate and the Workspace’s billing rate. Learn how to set up your Project User rates here.
Admin-Only features
Admin Users have advanced features for manual time entry both on the ‘Time spent‘ sidebar and in todo.vu’s Calendar.
Admin Users can edit a time entry’s billing rate, and edit the User who logged the tracked time.
To do this, simply select an existing time entry to open todo.vu’s Time modal, and select the relevant option from the three-dot menu.
The time budget feature
todo.vu Users have the option to set a time budget for certain tasks and projects.
This means that you can allocate a specific amount of time to a task, within which you budget to complete it. Many consultants, for example, will quote a price based on the amount of time they think a task will take.
The time budget feature helps you to monitor and manage your budget and workflow, helping you to ensure that you and your team are quoting effectively and completing your tasks efficiently.
The time budget can be set from within a task or through the project.
The image below illustrates where a User can set a budget for a specific task.
To the left of Your timeline, under ‘Time spent’, you will see a graph tracking the time logged to this Task within the limits of your budget.
This graph will turn red as you are near to or are exceeding your time budget.
From the Task page, you can see at a glance how you are tracking. In the example below, we are over budget.
Setting time budget for a project
Navigate to your Project Dashboard by selecting the Projects icon on the left sidebar of your Workspace.
Here, you can add a time budget at a project level.
Select a project to which you would like to allocate a time budget. Scroll to the bottom of the page where you will see a field on the right-hand side that says ‘Time budget’. Click the pencil icon to the right of this to input your time budget.
In the example below, we have set a time budget for 80 hours. That means we have 7 hours and 22 minutes remaining in our time budget for this project.
