Ask the Experts | Good Timekeeping Apps?

Question: What timekeeping apps do you recommend?

Drew Cameron; President, HVAC Sellutions & Energy Design Systems, Inc.:

That’s an interesting question. This is a new one that we haven’t had, ever, that I’m aware of, anyway. And so I guess I’d want to better understand, what is the questioner asking about? Are we talking about keeping time of our coworkers – meaning people who come to the office and have to punch a clock? Are we talking about our field personnel? Not having that understanding here, I’ll just throw out a couple ideas based on some assumptions.

Number one, I don’t ever like to reinvent the wheel, and I don’t like to double entry if I can avoid it. So I believe — and Gary can probably talk about this a little more intelligently than I can because I know his awareness of software is probably at a higher level than mine – the software you use to run your business, if you’re using some type of service management, service dispatch software, there’s some kind of timekeeping element in those programs. So some listeners I know are in Quickbooks for their accounting, and then they’ve got some type of folded-on service management; that service management software should have that. I believe Quickbooks has a payroll function as well that will allow you to track time.

So if you can do everything within the system that you’re already operating in, I’m going to recommend that you work in that. I know software programs like Aptora and SuccessWare21 and Construction Monkey, those types of programs have those timekeeping functions.

And then if you’re looking at some other programs or apps that are already out there, that might tie into Outlook, or if you just need to keep track of time for some reason – I’m not really sure why you need to keep track separately from your core function – if you go to Kalmstrom.com, that interfaces with Outlook and you can have a timekeeping function there. Toggl.com is another one. Clockshark. TSheets –TSheets is owned by and interfaces with Quickbooks, so if Quickbooks’ internal payroll function doesn’t give you what you need, TSheets is probably an enhancement that would work for you there.

Swipeclock.com is another one, and then there’s all kinds of project management software. Those are the ones that I’ve come across in my career. You could probably Google things, or look in the Apple or Android app store and find something if you’re looking for something specifically for an app.

But without having a real clear understanding as to what the questioner’s looking for and trying to accomplish, it’s hard to know where to go with that. So with that thought, I’ll throw it over to Gary, because I’m sure he’s got some good insights on that.

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