Introduction
Tracing time should only occupy a fraction of the time that is actually being traced. traceTime achieves this by a quick and simple to use interface. It does not contain a Start/Stop mechanism, instead a simple to use hour entry system.
Certain steps have to followed though to allow full reporting capability and sort or filter entries by projects and project tasks. This is completely optional though, the tracker can be used without any grouping (all entries are simply allocated against one single task).
Entries can be exported via e-mail out of the phone and there are simple filter mechanisms for weekly and project statistics.
To further simplify setting up tasks if they are needed, templates for standard project management methodologies simply setting up tasks.
User Guide
Daily Usage
Upon start, the application presents the list of entries descending into the past, i.e. the most current entry is at the top. Initially this list is blank.
In the navigation you find the menu to reach the settings and the Plus button for a new time entry. At the botton are the filtering options. Later to that. Press the "+" to create a new entry.
Time tracing entries consist of a date, start and end hours and a narrative text. Every entry is in the time format YYYYMMDD and HHMM. With just this information, the entry can be saved.
The two buttons "Task" and "-" are to assign the entry to a task and to delete the task respectively.
The next screen shows what touching "Task" brings up.
After the installation, only a dummy project "-" with a dummy task "-" is defined. Touch the task to assign the entry.
The "Edit" button at the top right allows to add tasks one at a time. Later we'll see in the options section how projects with standard tasks can be added as a bulk.
Click "NEW" to add a new task.
Enter project and task and click "Save".
Enter date, start and end time and the summary of the log entry, then click "Save" again.
The new log entry shows on the home screen - in preparation of the next section, another few logs have been added here.
Filtering
This section explains how the home screen is used to narrow down the list of recorded entries.
The most simple filter is applied by touching "Week" automatically the last 7 days of entries will be shown only. Touching the left and right arrow moves the time frame by another week.
For custom selection of the time showing, touch the "From/To" button.
Per default the time since the beginning of the month is selected. Change dates to your convenience using YYYYMMDD format.
In addition to the time filter, you can further narrow down the selection by touching the "Project" button.
The result of the applied filter - last month and project One only.
Graph
In the bottom right corner of the home screen, a little graph symbol can be clicked to show data in a graphical representation.
The same filter options as on the home screen is valid for the graph and can be changed here directly.
If there is no from/to filter or weekly filter, the graph will display the last 12 months for each project.
The sum symbol in the bottom right corner allows a summary graph with monthly totals over all projects (again, last 12 months rolling)
Options and Maintenance
This section introduces the "Options" menu which appears after touching the "Options" button on the home screen.
After the help menu which brings up this document, there are 4 categories "Export via Mail or via WebServices", "Project set up" and selection of background theme.
Background images can be selected to enhance the user experience with the application. Simply touch one of the entries with the images showing in the Options screen.
Changing themes will only become effective after restarting the application.
Touching the "Send Mail with current selection" will bring up the mail dialog. Current selection refers to the settings made on the home screen per above instructions on "Filtering"
The sample in this screenshot is unfortunately not very representative, it will show in a much more readable but at the same time structured format on a bigger screen.
The section for setting up projects brings up a screen that allows to enter projects with template tasks for certain standard project management standards. In
The "Copy"-Section allows to move all entries from one task to another - you have to know the projects and tasks though with correct (case sensitive) spelling.
In this section a "ProjectTwo" has been set up with the choice of Extreme Programming (XP) standard tasks. This is first confirmed with an Alert.
Going back to creating new log entries afterwards gives you the following selection:
The tasks for the projects are
- PMBOK (R) Knowledge Areas
- Integration
- Scope
- Time
- Cost
- Quality
- Resources
- Communication
- Risk
- Procurement
- PRINCEII
- Initiate
- Direct
- Control Stage
- Manage Boundaries
- Manage Delivery
- Close
- SCRUM
- Meet
- Estimate
- Implement
- Test
- Manage
- SCRUM
- Plan Game
- Design
- Code
- Test
- Manage
- SCRUM
- Requirement
- Specify
- Design
- Implement
- Test
- Deploy
- Maintain
- Overhead
Export and Backup
Other than the sending of mail, data can also be send to a web service.
If you do plan to set up a web service in yourself, please contact us via iTunes support link. To simply save files on the computer, you can download little application that will then store a file on disk. This is how it works:
First download the listener application for your platform:
Macintosh or
Windows (Requires .NET 2.0 Framework installed)
Next, unzip the application, e.g. on the desktop. Double click to start.
Either will again show a web address to add to the traceTime application. Enter the address and click "Start" to create a file in the documents folder (mac) or the current folder of the listener (window) with a timestamp included. traceTime will remember the address for future calls.
Stop the listener by typing crtl-c in the window for the Mac, "Enter" in windows
File is located in the folder of the application and can be viewed with e.g. TextEdit (Mac), Notepad, Internet Explorer (Windows).
Those concerned about this listener, rest assured, it only implements the following:
Start TCP Listener on named port.
If a client connects, receive bytes.
If the request is GET then the text will be returned to the sender.
If the request is POST, the data received is stored to the file system as described above.
In the case that the client is traceTime or InDubio which are using POST, the http header is stripped off and only the data is stored. For all other requests, the complete HTTP string is saved (to .txt)
Background
The below diagram provides a brief overview to the simple and straightforward entity model underlying the application design.
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