How to organise clients, projects and tasks in Clockgauge

Before you start

Decide how you want to see your time: by client for billing, by project for delivery, by task for the kind of work. Keep names short and consistent.

You need the Host set up (see first employee).

Steps

1. Add a client if you bill by client.
2. Add a project under the client.
3. Add tasks to the project, such as design, development and meetings.
4. Choose who can track on it. Assigned people see only their projects, and the Host refuses time logged to a project they are not on.
5. Set a budget in hours or cost, for the whole project, each month or each week, with a warning percentage.
6. Ask people to pick the project and task each time they start the timer.

Check that it worked

Run a report grouped by project and compare it with what you expect.

If something goes wrong

• Time on the wrong project. Restrict assignment and keep the project list short.
• Too many tasks. Merge similar ones.
• A project is over budget. Review scope or choose to pause tracking when it is used up.

What to do next

Read clients, projects and tasks, project budgets and project assignment.

Naming conventions that keep reports readable

• Use one name per client and keep it identical everywhere.
• Start project names with the client or a short code so lists sort sensibly.
• Keep tasks generic and reusable: design, build, review, meetings, admin.
• Avoid dates in names; reports already have date ranges.

A worked example

A three-person studio has four clients. Each client is a client record, each engagement a project, and each project has the same five tasks. Everyone is assigned only to their own projects, so the project list on each person's timer is short. At month end the owner groups the report by client and project, and sees at once that one project is at 90 percent of its hours with a week left.