The Inspire Planner Time Tracker allows users to view and log time spent on each project task. Project Managers can define the Planned Effort for each task within the Project. As the assigned resource logs time against the task, it rolls up to Actual Effort. This allows Project Managers to see how much effort is actually spent on each task and allows them to better measure planned effort for future projects.
This article explains how to define Planned Effort and how to log time using the Time Tracker. Start with the video below:
You can use the following quick links to jump to a specific section.
Planned Effort is the estimated amount of time needed to complete a specific Project Task. Project Managers can set the Planned Effort for each task. This helps users see how long a specific task is expected to take. To specify Planned Effort, double click on the cell for the project task under the Planned Effort column of your Project.
Planned Effort can also be divided among Assigned Resources. Double click on the Assigned To cell of the Project Task and click on the arrow.
For each Assigned Resource, you can define a Unit, which is the percentage of the total Planned Effort allocated to each resource. For example, let’s say the total Planned Effort for a specific Project Task is 3 hours. Setting the Unit to 50% for a specific resource means the Planned Effort for that resource is 1.5 hours, or 50% of the total Planned Effort time.
Actual Effort is the actual time it took the assigned resource to complete the task. While Planned Effort is defined by the Project Manager, Actual Effort automatically rolls up from the time logged in the Time Tracker.
While time is logged by the resource in hours and minutes, Actual Effort time is defined as total number of hours. For example, let’s say a user logs 1 hour and 45 minutes against a task. The hours are logged as 1:45 in the Time Tracker but the Actual Effort will be 1.75 hours, or one and three quarter hours.
This section will walk you through how to access the Time Tracker in Inspire Planner for both Salesforce Lightning and Classic environments.
Click on the Time Tracker tab from the navigation bar.
The Time Tracker Interface is comprised of two (2) sections - the Records List and the Time Tracker.
The Records List on the left, by default, will display only Projects that are "In Progress" or "Not Started" and where there are tasks assigned to you. Tasks that have been assigned to you will display in a List View under Records List, organized by project. Click the > arrow to expand a project and see the tasks underneath. The task list provides details beside it such as the parent task, planned and actual effort, start date, finish date and status for each task. The Records List will display Projects in alphabetical order.
If you have custom Project Status values, you will need to define them in Custom Settings so that Time Tracker displays these Projects in the Record List. To learn how, please visit Define Project Status for Time Tracker.
Remember that the list will only display Tasks for Projects where the Project Status is "In Progress" or "Not Started" and where there are tasks assigned to you. However, when you search for tasks, it will return all projects with tasks assigned to you. The task subject is truncated but will display the full task subject when you hover over it.
It is possible to exclude specific Projects from displaying in Time Tracker. To learn how, please see Exclude Projects from Time Tracker.
The Non-Project Tasks section lists all of your booking tasks such as Vacation or Future Project (created from Resource Allocation) so that you can log time against them if needed. For more information on this, please see Resource Allocation.
You can hide/collapse the Records List by clicking on the bar that separates the Records List and the Time Tracker. Click on the bar again to unhide/expand the Records List.
To enter time against a task, click on the task.
The New Time Entry window will open.
Because you have selected the task for which you need to enter time, the first two fields (Object Type and Record) will be pre-populated for you and do not need to be changed.
Time Tracker defaults to the Weekly View and will display all tasks assigned to you where the task date falls within the current week. The Weekly view allows you to quickly and easily log time against multiple project tasks.
If there is time already logged against a task, Time Tracker filters time entries by OwnerID. This means you only see time entries where you are the Owner.
To switch between weeks, you can use any of the following methods:
1. Click on the Calendar icon and select a date in a different week from the applicable month.
2. Click on the < or > arrows to move through weeks, one at a time.
Tasks will display for the week selected, only if the task dates fall within that week. If the task for which you need to record time is not displayed, click on Select Records either at the top or the bottom of the Time Tracker.
From the Records List on the left, select the tasks you would like to enter time against. You can select multiple tasks across multiple projects. Then click on Add Records to add them to the Time Tracker.
Now you can enter the time for each of the tasks you added, for each day of the week displayed.
Enter your time in hours:minutes format. For example, if you spent 1 hour and 30 minutes on a task, enter it as 1:30. Once you've entered all your time for the week, click on Save. You must click on Save before navigating to a different week, otherwise you will lose your unsaved entries.
Please Note: The daily totals at the bottom of each day and the weekly total to the right may take up to 2 minutes to update. The total time spent on each task rolls up to the Actual Effort in the task.
To edit or add details to a time entry, click on the Edit Icon to the right.
A dialogue box will open which will allow you to then edit or add details to each time entry for the week displayed. Remember to click on Save to save your changes.
To remove a task from the time tracker, click on the trash icon. Be careful as deleting a row will delete all the time logged against that task for the week.
To switch to the Daily View, click on the Daily Tab. The Daily view shows you time logged against project tasks for the current date. If no time has been logged for the current date, no project tasks will be displayed in the Time Tracker. If there is time already logged against a task, Time Tracker filters time entries by OwnerID. This means you only see time entries where you are the Owner. To view time logged for a different date, you can use any of the following methods:
1. Click on the Calendar icon and select a date from the applicable month.
2. Click on the < or > arrows to move through dates one day at a time.
3. Click on a day of the week.
Project Tasks will display for the date selected only if time has been recorded. To add a new time record for a specific date, click on New Entry either at the top or the bottom of the page.
A New Time Entry window will open.
This is the same window displayed when you create a new time record using the Records List. The only difference is that the Record field is blank since it does not know which specific task you would like to log time against. Therefore you will need to search for the task. Start typing the first few letters of the task name and tasks that match what you have entered will display. Select a task by clicking on it.
The Time Tracker interface is also available within a Salesforce Task record. This an ideal option to use when you are already working within a task and would like to update the details of a task (i.e. status, priority, etc.) as well as log hours.
Within the Salesforce task record, click on the Time Tracking Tab. Planned Effort and % Allocation are defined by the Project Manager within the Project while Actual Effort automatically rolls up from the hours logged against the task in Time Tracker.
The Time Tracker you see in a Task record is the same as the Time Tracker interface you see in the Time Tracker tab where you have both a daily and weekly view. You log hours the same way.
For Weekly view, if no hours have been logged for the week, you would log hours by clicking on New Row. This will add a row for time entry.
Enter the time you spent on the task in hour:minute format, for each day of the week. For example, if you spent 1 hour and 15 minutes, then enter it as 1:15. Click on Save when you are finished entering your time for the week. It is important that you save your time entries before navigating to a different week. Otherwise you will lose your unsaved changes.
The total time for each day is displayed at the bottom while the total time logged for the week is displayed on the right.
The Actual Effort on the task is automatically updated every 1-2 minutes with the total hours spent on the task based on your time entries. While time is logged by the resource in hours and minutes, Actual Effort time is defined as total number of hours. For example, let’s say a user logs 1 hour and 45 minutes against a task. The hours are logged as 1:45 in the Time Tracker but the Actual Effort will be 1.75 hours, or one and three quarter hours.
Another way to log time in Salesforce Tasks is to use the Inspire Planner Stopwatch Component. To learn more about this feature, please see How to Use the Inspire Planner Task Stopwatch Component.