Time Tracking Tool

I'm in the prototype phase for designing a time
tracking/invoicing tool
for my small business. First i'd like to know if anyone has
already
done this kind of thing?

If not, i'd like to make something available to other
looking for this
kind of functionality.

I should note that this _IS NOT_ for planning or project
management.
Its just a time entry, reporting and invoicing tool.

Ok, here is what i've got so far, table wise:

CLIENT - name, address, notes, etc.
PROJECT - name, description - high level
JOB - name, related to a project. (rate)
WORK - hours, date done, by (association to the django USER
table).

So, i might have a 'new product page' JOB for the 'web
site' PROJECT
for 'wizbang' CLIENT.

I'd then do WORK, which is associated to a JOB. The JOB
currently has
the Rate ($/hr).

I also have an INVOICE table to which each WORK row is
associated.

I'm not really happy with the INVOICE and WORK
associations, or how a
JOB has the rate. I've also just hacked on the django USER
association
to WORK.

It works for now, but in looking to make it (possibly)
usable for a
wider audience, what things would you change or want to see
added?
Don't use the built-in USER? Where should the Rate be
stored? What
other var's would you want to have tracked (keeping in mind
this is
trying to be a small simple app)?

I know that reports need to go in too, but that can be done
once the
schema is defined...

Thanks for any suggestions, hints and comments.

jos


--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the
Google Groups "Django users" group.
To post to this group, send email to django-usersgooglegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
django-users-unsubscribegooglegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at http://gr
oups.google.com/group/django-users
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

On 27/06/2006, at 6:48 AM, Jos Yule wrote:

>
> I'm in the prototype phase for designing a time
tracking/invoicing  
> tool
> for my small business. First i'd like to know if
anyone has already
> done this kind of thing?
>
> If not, i'd like to make something available to other
looking for this
> kind of functionality.
>
> I should note that this _IS NOT_ for planning or
project management.
> Its just a time entry, reporting and invoicing tool.
>
> Ok, here is what i've got so far, table wise:
>
> CLIENT - name, address, notes, etc.
> PROJECT - name, description - high level
> JOB - name, related to a project. (rate)
> WORK - hours, date done, by (association to the django
USER table).
>
I'm assuming WORK also is associated with JOB

> So, i might have a 'new product page' JOB for the
'web site' PROJECT
> for 'wizbang' CLIENT.
>
> I'd then do WORK, which is associated to a JOB. The
JOB currently has
> the Rate ($/hr).

that OK for small stuff, but if you have 2 people on a JOB
it will  
fall down.
>
> I also have an INVOICE table to which each WORK row is
associated.

you should probably associate it with the CLIENT, as the
client will  
probably want a single invoice
for the time period detailing the work being done overall
(but your  
client may be different)

>
> I'm not really happy with the INVOICE and WORK
associations, or how a
> JOB has the rate. I've also just hacked on the django
USER association
> to WORK.
allow a invoice to over-ride the rate.

>
> It works for now, but in looking to make it (possibly)
usable for a
> wider audience, what things would you change or want to
see added?
> Don't use the built-in USER? Where should the Rate be
stored? What
> other var's would you want to have tracked (keeping in
mind this is
> trying to be a small simple app)?


features ?
for me multi-currency and PDF invoice generation.
but you may just want to use SQL-ledger of OFBIZ (or
quickbooks) they  
are pretty easy to use, and cheaper than writing it
yourself.

regards
Ian

>
> I know that reports need to go in too, but that can be
done once the
> schema is defined...
>
> Thanks for any suggestions, hints and comments.
>
> jos
>
>
> >


--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the
Google Groups "Django users" group.
To post to this group, send email to django-usersgooglegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
django-users-unsubscribegooglegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at http://gr
oups.google.com/group/django-users
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

Thanks, i'll check those two packages out. I have the NIH
syndrome down
pretty good. ;)


--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the
Google Groups "Django users" group.
To post to this group, send email to django-usersgooglegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
django-users-unsubscribegooglegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at http://gr
oups.google.com/group/django-users
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

I quite like Task Coach (http://taskcoach.so
urceforge.net/). It could
use usability improvements like more keyboard shortcuts but
for me it's
a pretty good 80% solution.


--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the
Google Groups "Django users" group.
To post to this group, send email to django-usersgooglegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
django-users-unsubscribegooglegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at http://gr
oups.google.com/group/django-users
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

> First i'd like to know if anyone has already done this
kind of thing?

I have a pretty basic time tracking and invoicing feature in
my
database. As people have pointed out, the biggest issue is
printing
consistently. However, you can avoid this headache (yes, it
is going to
be a headache!) if you yourself are doing all the printing,
or have
control over the machine(s) that are printing invoices. I
use Firefox
and make sure all my employees use Firefox, for the time
being.
Eventually the PDF output is a must but I am delaying that
as much as
possible.

As for the time tracking, probably the most useful thing I
found was
the inline feature of the admin interface. This is a very
basic way to
associate something of variable length (i.e. time) with a
single fixed
entity (i.e. project).

You are basically on the right track. Just keep trying and
make
improvements when you see the need. Its so simple with
Django!

 -rob


--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the
Google Groups "Django users" group.
To post to this group, send email to django-usersgooglegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
django-users-unsubscribegooglegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at http://gr
oups.google.com/group/django-users
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

I have a time tracking tool I wrote in PHP a long time ago. 
It's not
perfect but it works.  Now that I have a couple Django sites
under my
belt I've considered using it for rewriting it.  So if
you're
interested in pushing this along I'd be willing to
contribute.

My system is basically this one with my own added features
on top and
an invoice creator:
http:
//www.zend.com/zend/tut/tutorial-delin.php

For PDF generation I cheat and use Firefox to print to a
file to get a
.ps file, the use the ps2pdf tool on Linux and archive those
off
manually.

But maybe that article will give you a few ideas but it
sounds like
your ideas are already beyond the article.  The system
presented is
pretty basic.


--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the
Google Groups "Django users" group.
To post to this group, send email to django-usersgooglegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
django-users-unsubscribegooglegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at http://gr
oups.google.com/group/django-users
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---