Project management/Timekeeping/Invoicing Software?

As far as project management, I wish there was one utility that handled it. I try to use Entourage 2004, but it takes a lot of work— remembering to enter info and many clicks to get back to the info. For timing I like OfficeTime; it's very simple, actually all it does is track time, and then generate reports. My invoicing I do in MYOB First Edge (which I don't particularly care for).

mfischer715, michaelmichaelfischerdesign.com said

>As far as project management, I wish there was one utility that handled
>it. I try to use Entourage 2004, but it takes a lot of work÷ remembering
>to enter info and many clicks to get back to the info. For timing I like
>OfficeTime; it's very simple, actually all it does is track time, and then
>generate reports. My invoicing I do in MYOB First Edge (which I don't
>particularly care for).

I don't have a list of project management programs to point you to.

However, for my MacAttorney user group I put together an extensive list
of time and billing programs here:

Time and Billing Software
http://macattorney.com/timebillacnt.html

And there is a decent list of integrated office management applications
here:
http://macattorney.com/lomgmt.html#Anchor-Office-40878

These vary wildly in their abilities, but many of them include time,
billing, and project management. Some even include accounting abilities.






Randy B. Singer

Co-Author of:
The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th and 6th editions)

OS X Routine Maintenance
http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html

J. said:

>Speaking of accounting and payroll software, in the previous thread, has
>anyone found a good project management/timekeeping/invoicing program? I'm
>a designer working on multiple milestones during a project, with multiple
>projects going on at the same time.


There are a number of project managers that you might want to have a look
at:

FastTrack Schedule
http://www.aecsoftware.com/products/fasttrack/default.asp

Daylight
http://www.marketcircle.com/daylite/index.html

ConceptDraw Project
http://www.leadingproject.com/en/main.php

iTaskX
http://www.itaskx.com/software/en/default.htm

Merlin
http://www.projectwizards.net/en/content/view/91/137/

OmniPlan
http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omniplan/

PowerCard
http://www.devoesquared.com/Software/PowerCard

Task
http://www.attask.com/

WorkFlow
http://www.crusecontrol.com/producta.htm#workflow

JustProgress
http://www.mstay.com/jp10_ab1.html

>I've designed my own FileMaker system
>for now, but it's lacking greatly and would like to hear the pro's and
>cons of each.

There are commercial FMP modules available for PM, T&B, etc. that you
might what to consider adding to your own to realize a more complete
solution, if you want to go that route.

For example:

BizProjects
http://www.bizbasics.net/
http://www.bizbasics.net/biz_projects.html





Randy B. Singer

Co-Author of:
The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th and 6th editions)

OS X Routine Maintenance
http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html

For consultants who bill by the hour but may not always be near a desktop computer. And may also need to add the occasional hardware item to the invoice, I can recommend a very simple program for Palm OS. I wrote TapTotal for my own use, and it's really been a huge help to my (mostly) time based consulting business. I use it to easily keep track of my billable time. It's quick & accurate to come up with a total too. Free demo is not time limited, but it is record limited: www.TapTotal.com It's possible that TapTotal also works with the Pocket PC as well. (HanDBase required).

Hope this helps!

Dave Nathanson
Mac Medix
TapTotal

Like the item that started this thread, I have a need for something a little different, in this case a scheduling program, not like the ones in general business used to set up individual meetings, where people are polled to see if they can attend, but somewhat more complex.

The Problem: Our community uses volunteers to staff off-hours at our clubhouse desk in early morning and evening hours outside full-time staff hours. Each month, the schedulers send an e-mail to all (30 or so) volunteers asking what days they are or are not available in the coming month. Using the replies, the two schedulers then have to spend most of a morning thrashing out a schedule for the month ahead, using the can or can't dates e-mailed back or left in their in-box. Their process involves much recursive checking of the replies as they try to fill in open dates.

Query: Is there a software package (preferably cross-platform on OSX and Windows) that allows people to log in to a calendar format and check off the slots (in this case, morning and evening) for the next month that they can work, and which then can combine these submissions and present menus to the administrators of their assignment options for each day? Better yet if the program could accept rules (eg., no more than one assignment per week, blanking out holidays when the clubhouse is closed, log-in rules to allow quick volunteering for all dates, etc.).

In short, a scheduling program for a lot of people for a lot of meetings.

Thanks for any help you can give.

Dave Nathanson said

>For consultants who bill by the hour but may not always be near a desktop
>computer. And may also need to add the occasional hardware item to the
>invoice, I can recommend a very simple program for Palm OS. I wrote
>TapTotal for my own use, and it's really been a huge help to my (mostly)
>time based consulting business. I use it to easily keep track of my
>billable time. It's quick & accurate to come up with a total too. Free
>demo is not time limited, but it is record limited: www.TapTotal.com It's
>possible that TapTotal also works with the Pocket PC as well. (HanDBase
>required).

How does the program interface with the Macintosh? Does it sync with any
Macintosh time and billing programs?

Randy B. Singer

Co-Author of:
The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th and 6th editions)

OS X Routine Maintenance
http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html

What I really want (and I am sure I am not alone) is to be able to track time in my Palm PDA, and then synch to some application that can put together a reasonable invoice on my Mac. I don't see any Mac apps that can do that

On the PDA/Palm end, the functionality of AllTime;

<http://www.iambic.com/alltime/palmos/>

is great, but it only synchs back to the Mac as a tab or text delimted memo file - this theoretically could then be brought into a Mac app, but I don't want to spend all the time it would take to do it right (simply)(and this approach probably eliminates the possibility of two way synching altogether). Iambic has a Windows desktop app that does all this but no Mac version. They had one before the switch to OSX but alas.. no longer supported

I have looked at lots time keeping apps out there, and no solution so far.

I have Filemaker Pro 8 -> does anyone have a good tab delimited input to fabulously flexible and lovely to look at FM invoice template?

Any suggestions anyone can give me or direction you could point would be appreciated

Thank you

Kent Green

James Young wrote

Query: Is there a software package (preferably cross-platform on OSX and Windows) that allows people to log in to a calendar format and check off the slots (in this case, morning and evening) for the next month that they can work, and which then can combine these submissions and present menus to the administrators of their assignment options for each day? Better yet if the program could accept rules (eg., no more than one assignment per week, blanking out holidays when the clubhouse is closed, log-in rules to allow quick volunteering for all dates, etc.).

In short, a scheduling program for a lot of people for a lot of meetings.

Have you thought of setting up a calendar/scheduling template in FileMaker? I know of two commercial solutions using FMP that might suit your need.

One is Schedula from Life$uccess <http://www.lifesuccess.org/>

The other is an integrated Calendar & Contacts from SeedCode <http://www.seedcode.com>. This company was previously part of Cleveland Consulting. Their templates are open allowing for customization to suit your particular requirements.

HTH,

John Wolff

Hamilton, NZ