OVERVIEW

TimeStudy Pro is a high-performance, professional-grade platform designed for industrial engineers, method specialists, and lean manufacturing managers to capture, analyze, and optimize production processes. This guide will help you set up your first study and generate management-ready reports in minutes.

STEP 1: Setting Up Your Hierarchy The foundation of a successful time study is organization. TimeStudy Pro follows a professional industrial structure: 

Factories: Create a top-level entity for each facility or production plant.

Stations: Define specific work centers or machines within a factory. 

Work Steps: Break down the operation into individual elements (e.g., Loading, Machining, Unloading). You can categorize steps as Online, Machine (Auto), or Offline. Important: Enable the Heavy Task option for all manual handling steps (like Mounting, Unmounting, or Transferring), even if they do not currently involve heavy lifting. The weight allowance will only affect the calculation if a specific weight is entered later in the Allowances Table. Enabling it now acts as a safeguard, ensuring the system can instantly calculate weight allowances if process conditions change and manual lifting becomes necessary for a special case. 

Note: Further more about Task types (Online, Offline, Machine) read "Understanding Task Types"

STEP 2: Configuring Industrial Allowances To move from "Observed Time" to "Standard Time," you must apply the correct factors. Navigate to the Allowances Table on your station card to configure: 

Allowances: Define percentages for personal needs, fatigue, and occupational factors like posture, noise, and mental stress based on ILO standards. These selections are defined separately for each Station, allowing you to customize and specialize different work centers according to their specific environmental and physical allowance requirements. 

Weight Allowance: When a Heavy Task is identified, the app integrates an additional variable allowance based on the physical load (Kg) handled. This ensures the Standard Time reflects the physiological strain of the task.

STEP 3: Capturing Precision Data Once your setup is complete, enter the Measurement Screen;

Select a Step: Tap the work step you are about to observe.

Toggle Timer: Tap the Start/Stop button to record the cycle. 

Performance Rating (Tempo): Use the real-time slider to adjust the worker's pace (Default is 100%).

Adjust Weight & Piece Count: If the task involves heavy lifting or multi-piece processing, adjust the parameters on the fly. The Piece Count function adjusts the number of units produced during a single observed cycle. Use this if one cycle results in multiple finished parts (e.g., a press machine producing 4 parts at once). The system automatically divides the total standard time by this count to calculate the Unit Standard Time.

Same Cycle (Lock Icon): This mode links multiple work steps to a single production cycle. Use this when observing a worker performing different steps for the same single unit. While the lock is active, the app records times separately for each step but treats them as part of the same piece count. 

Critical Warning: If the Same Cycle lock remains active by mistake, the app will continue to attribute all subsequent measurements to the first unit. This results in an artificially low Total Piece Count and a massive, incorrect Total Time per Unit. Always toggle the lock to define cycle boundaries.

Save & Reset: Tap save to commit the record to the local database. Long-press the timer to reset if an error occurs.

STEP 4: Data Analysis & Visualization Analyze process stability without leaving the floor: Statistics: View Average Time, Standard Deviation, and CV% (Coefficient of Variation) instantly.

Live Histogram: Check the data distribution (Bell Curve) to identify outliers or process instability at a glance. 

History: Review the last 15 records for quick validation.

STEP 5: Professional Reporting Ready to present your findings? 

Excel Export: Click the Share icon to generate a detailed .xlsx report. The file includes a complete "Unit Analysis and Standard Time Table," ready for production planning and management reviews.

Data Security: All your data stays on your device in a secure local Room Database. Use the JSON Backup feature to sync or transfer your workspace to another device.

Data Management & Performance Notes

Storage Capacity: TimeStudy Pro uses an ultra-efficient SQLite engine. Even with hundreds of thousands of measurement records, the app's database will typically occupy less than 500 MB of storage.

Device Security: Since your data is stored locally for maximum privacy (Local-First), the safety of your measurements depends on your device. We recommend utilizing our JSON Backup feature weekly to prevent data loss due to device damage or theft. 

Performance Optimization: While the database can handle massive amounts of data, having more than 50,000 measurements per single station may slightly increase report generation times (Excel export). For peak performance, we recommend archiving old studies or organizing data using our Factory/Station hierarchy. Database Health: To maintain high-speed indexing, ensure your device has at least 10% free storage space. 

To prevent any potential data loss due to device failure, we highly advise storing your JSON backup files on Google Drive

In TimeStudy Pro, we categorize industrial processes into three distinct types to ensure 100% mathematical accuracy in Standard Time (ST) calculations. Understanding these definitions is key to performing a valid work study.

1. ONLINE TASKS (Human-Centric Steps)

Online Tasks represent the manual work performed by an operator that is essential to the production cycle and directly contributes to the Standard Time per piece. In industrial engineering terminology, these are widely known as In-Cycle or Internal operations. 

• The Rule of the Human Factor: These steps are entirely dependent on human effort. Therefore, Performance Rating (PR) and Allowance Factors (AF) (Fatigue, Personal, and Delay) are strictly applied only to these durations.

• Impact on ST: These are the primary building blocks of the Standard Time formula. Any variability in human performance directly affects these steps.

2. MACHINE TIME (Non-Human Cycles)

Machine Time encompasses any duration where the process is driven by technology rather than human labor.

• Scope: This includes automated CNC cycles, conveyor belt transfers, or robotic arm movements (loading/unloading).

• The Stability Rule: Because machines do not experience fatigue or psychological delays, no allowances or performance ratings are applied to these durations. They are added as constant values to the final Standard Time.

3. OFFLINE TASKS (External Manual Work)

Offline Tasks are manual operations performed by the worker that are excluded from the primary cycle time (Standard Time per piece). In industrial engineering terminology, these are widely known as "Off-Cycle" or "External" operations. 

• The "Shadow Work" Concept: For example, if an operator is marking a part while the machine is already running the next cycle, this is an Offline Task.

• The Logic of Efficiency: If you add offline work to the standard cycle, you would be double-counting the duration, falsely suggesting that the machine is idle during that task.

• Strategic Use: Measuring Offline Tasks is crucial for calculating Labor Intensity (LI) and identifying opportunities for parallel processing (Multi-machine handling).

Analyst's Note:

By distinguishing between these three, TimeStudy Pro prevents the common error of "over-allowance," where human fatigue factors are incorrectly applied to mechanical cycles. This ensures that your factory's data remains scientifically sound and ready for high-level management audits.

Key Takeaways 

• High Labor Intensity: Signals a process heavily dependent on manual work, suggesting a need for ergonomic improvements or potential robotics/automation.

• Low Labor Intensity: Indicates a machine-dominant process, where the focus should be on multi-machine handling or reducing idle operator time.

• Availability: Measures how much of your shift was actually spent working.

• Performance: Compares your actual output against the Theoretical Time you set in Job Details.

• Quality: Tracks the ratio of "Good" parts to the total produced.

Quick Checklist: > 

1. Did you define the breaks in the Station settings?

2. Did you enter the Theoretical Time for the entire job in Job Details?

3. Did you remember to long-press for scrap entry?

1. Where is my data stored?

TimeStudy Pro follows a Local-First data sovereignty policy. All your measurements, factory hierarchies, and station settings are stored securely in a local Room Database on your Android device. We do not upload your sensitive industrial data to any external servers, ensuring 100% privacy and full offline capability.

2. How does the app calculate "Standard Time"?

The app uses the industry-standard formula:

Standard Time = (Observed Time × Performance Rating / 100) × (1 + Allowance Factor).

For machine-specific steps, the app intelligently adds the machine cycle time directly to the result, as it is not subject to human performance ratings.

3. What are "Industrial Allowances" and how are they managed?

Allowances account for time lost due to personal needs, fatigue, and unavoidable delays. TimeStudy Pro allows you to define these factors based on ILO (International Labour Organization) standards. You can configure station-specific variables such as posture, noise levels, mental stress, and physical monotony to automatically calculate the total Allowance Factor ($AF$).

4. Can I use the app without an internet connection?

Yes. TimeStudy Pro is designed to work in deep industrial environments where Wi-Fi or cellular signals may be weak or non-existent. You only need an internet connection for the initial license verification (Premium) or to share exported Excel reports.

5. What happens if I make a mistake during a live observation?

We know the "Gemba" can be fast-paced. You can:

• Flag as Invalid: Mark a measurement as invalid to exclude it from statistical calculations while keeping the record.

• Reset Timer: Long-press the timer button to reset the current cycle if an interruption occurs.

• Edit History: Review and manage recent records directly from the measurement screen.

6. How do I transfer my data to a new device?

You can use the JSON Backup feature found in the Settings menu. Simply export your workspace as a backup file and import it into TimeStudy Pro on your new device. This will clone your entire hierarchy, including Factory, Station, and Step configurations.

7. What is included in the Excel (.xlsx) Export?

The professional export is management-ready. It includes:

• Raw measurement logs with timestamps.

• A comprehensive Unit Analysis Table (calculating ST for each part and operation).

• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as Labor Intensity and Machine Efficiency.

9. What is a Disaster Recovery Solution and How Does It Work? 

It is a Premium+ cloud storage service engineered to prevent data loss in scenarios where your device becomes completely inaccessible. This data recovery system is fully compliant with ISO/IEC 27001 Information Security Management System standards.

The workflow operates as follows:

• Encryption: Your data within the TimeStudy app is symmetrically encrypted using the AES-256 algorithm with a user-defined private key.

• Transmission: The encrypted data is securely transferred to cloud servers.

• Storage: All uploaded files remain in an encrypted, non-readable format.

• Restoration: These files can only be decrypted and rendered readable again by using the same unique key.

Warning: If the encryption key is lost, it is impossible to recover the data stored on the Cloud. 

8. Why should I upgrade to TimeStudy Pro Premium?

The Premium version is built for high-frequency users. It provides:

• Ad-Free Experience: No interruptions during critical studies.

• Unlimited Data: Manage an unlimited number of factories and stations.

• Advanced Exporting: Full access to all reporting and backup features.