On Oct 26th, 2023, we started to roll out the new time tracking Day view layout (BETA).
Some of the benefits of the new layout:
Enhanced Time Entry: Time entries can now include both Start and End times, providing more detailed tracking (e.g., 2 pm - 4 pm).
Quick Access to Service Groups: Enjoy convenient access to predefined groups of services, including Pinned, Scheduled, and Recent. Start tracking time with a single click or hide groups that are not currently in use.
Improved Service Searching: Finding services has been streamlined with improved search functionality. Simply type a part of the project or service name to quickly locate what you need.
Manual Time Entries
Tracking time in Productive can be done in two primary ways: manual tracking and using the timer. Manual tracking enables you to enter time worked against a budget and service freely, while the timer allows you to track time as you work.
In this article, we will focus on manual time entries. For guidance on using the timer feature, please refer to this link.
To access manual time tracking, simply go to the Time tab and select My time.
Picking The Date
You will find weekdays at the top of the user interface. You can pick any day from the list and start adding time entries for that day.
Use arrows to navigate between weeks. Click the dot in the middle to get back to the current day.
You can also choose a date from the calendar.
Filling Out The Time Form
Time is tracked against a particular budget and service within that budget or a sales deal.
Pay attention to budgets and projects. Every project has at least one budget, and a budget has at least one service.
So when you're tracking time, make sure you've selected a service from the right project and budget.
Put down a brief description of what you've been working on in the Note field and for how long.
You can record different time formats: type 8, 8h or 8 hours for 8 hours, 30, 30 min or 0.5 for 30 minutes, and 5 min, 5 m for 5 minutes. You can also use formats like 108 min/m for 1 hour and 48 minutes.
Switch Between The Manual And Timer Mode
Whether you prefer manual or timer mode, you can easily switch between two standard modes of tracking time. Click the icon in the top right to do so:
Filling Out The Time Form In Manual Mode
When you're done filling out the time form, hit the Save entry button.
Here's what a properly filled out form would look like:
You can also use the Start timer (in timer mode) and Productive will automatically log your time to a specific service.
Just don't forget to come back to the Time tab and stop the timer when finished.
Time Suggestions
If you're Scheduled to work on a project, you will get automatic time-tracking suggestions under My Time. Clicking these suggestions will pre-fill the budget, service, and time for you.
Pro Tip: Include Time Off Option
By enabling the "Include time off" setting, all time-off bookings will be added to that day's total hours.
For example, having a time-off booking for 8 hours and tracking 5 hours of work, the total will be 13.
With the setting turned off, the total will be 5 hours.
Greyed-out Dates In The Header Section
There are three scenarios when the dates in the header section are greyed out and appear as non-working days
there is no capacity set in the person's cost rate
a holiday is considered a non-working day - it will be marked with blue and red triangles (see screenshot below)
time off is booked on that date (see screenshot below)
Can't Track Time For Some Reason?
There are a few possible reasons why you can't track time.
There is no budget (you need to create a budget and add services to it)
User Not Added to Budget's Sharing Options
Inadequate Budget Date Range
Missing Cost Rate for the User
Delivered Budget
Budget Lacks Services
Disabled Time Tracking Against Services
Restricted Time Tracking to Assigned Services
Find out more in our Can't Track Time Against a Budget article ✅