Time Tracking
WHAT IS TIME TRACKING & ESTIMATING?
Many industries require the professionals to track their time for a variety of reasons. Often time tracking is done for determining the cost of labor on a job or the total bill for a client, while, in other cases, it is done simply for appropriate payment of the professional or resource utilization. Depending on the industry or organization, time tracking may be done on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis in order for management to properly track and bill out certain resources.
Projects typically start with an estimation of the amount of professional time necessary so a client or customer is able to understand the costs of the project. Being able to perform these estimates accurately will effect an organization's ability to be awarded jobs and can impact if they will run out of money before a project is complete.
Developing the skills to estimate and track time clearly and quickly can have a significant impact on a professional career as an individual contributor on a team or a member of management.
HOW IS TIME TRACKING USED IN SENIOR DESIGN?
In the senior design program, some project advisors may ask or require that students estimate and/or track their time. This can prove valuable in learning the many nuances of project budgets, client relationships and expectations, quotations/estimations, and much more. Other project advisors may not require it at all, so students should inquire about expectations in one of the early meetings.
SPREADSHEET TEMPLATES
The templates can be used as an examples, and teams are welcome to utilize them for estimating and tracking their own time. To use the template:
Save or download the read-only template to a shared folder for your team.
Rename the file to something intuitive for your team (e.g. "EN24-99 Time Tracking Sheet")
Read the "Read Me" tab for the basic instructions of the sheet.
Clear the example fields and fill in the appropriate values for your team.
Modify as appropriate for the team's needs.
CAUTION AROUND METRICS
Review the notes on cells within the template for tips and details related to entries and generated metrics.
There are many metrics that students will encounter in their careers like the ones found in this template. It is important to learn early that these types of metrics are only indicators and require expanded context in order to be made useful. Managements and team members who jump to conclusions based on metrics are likely to have issues.
