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Project Time Tracking - The Best Solution

4/2/2014 1:50:00 PM -- Ted Krapf

<img alt="" src="//www.tedkrapf.com/portals/tedkrapf.com/images/TimeKeeper.jpg" style="float: right; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-left: 30px;" /> <p>So the other day I set out to look for an app, a widget, a sidebar gadget or a web app that handled Time Keeping for project work. &nbsp;</p> <p >I was surprised to find that while there are a lot of tools out there, many are lacking, cumbersome, expensive, or just simply way over complicated. &nbsp;So I decided that I'd just create something for myself to use. &nbsp;It turned out to be an interesting project.</p> <p >What resulted is is TimeKeeper by TKC. &nbsp;This simple C#.NET 4.0 WinForm app has a pair of SQL database tables to hold the tasks and each of the task's logs (time).</p> <p >I set it up so the user could run timers for tasks, or enter them manually (in case you missed setting a timer.</p> <p >Using a slick open-source calendar control (calendar.net), I added the lower calendar so I could quickly and visually see the total hours attributed to a specific day. &nbsp;This helps me more closely track what is going on with each project.</p> <img alt="" src="//www.tedkrapf.com/portals/tedkrapf.com/images/TimeKeeper.png" style="width: 100px; height: 100px; float: right; margin-top: 30px; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-left: 30px;" /> <p >As a nod to my favorite little Binary Clock, I used a reimagined version it as the program's icon. &nbsp;</p> <p >I also added an export to Excel feature that packages all the data for a month up using the OpenXML Document spec, resulting in a nicely formatted .xlsx file that I can hold for my records and/or present to clients.</p> <p >If nothing else this was a reminder that with just a little programming skill and time, almost anyone can create a program solution to an everyday problem to make their life easier.</p> <p >Happy Coding,</p> <p >~Ted</p>

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