Timekeeper is a database of time and charges for projects you work on. It lets you keep track of time by client, project and activity performed. Once you’ve created an entry for a client, project or activity, entering that information again is just a mouse-click away. Timekeeper automatically calculates charges for time you record by using the hourly rates you enter for each activity. You record your time entries on a daily basis, then Timekeeper stores each day’s entries on a “Job Sheet” for each project. You can see at a glance your accumulated time and charges for projects you’re working on. You can print reports for each job, or export job data to a disk file. If you work in a place where daily time sheets are required, a report can be generated each day very quickly.
Timekeeper has several options you can set to customize the type of information you record for each project. You can choose from automatic sequential job numbering or your own manually entered job numbers. You can create a “custom” data entry field that will track a single line of information for any project. You can record time by the 1/10 hour or 1/4 hour. All these options and more are available from the Timekeeper menu’s Settings command.
•Daily Timesheet•
The Daily Timesheet is where you log your activities each day. It has blanks, or “fields,” for client, project, activity and time information.
You log time against projects, which are each tied to a particular client. So to start logging time you have to enter at least one client name and at least one project name. You will also want to assign an activity to each line. Activities can include things like Consulting, Copywriting, Meeting, Design, Travel — whatever is appropriate to your business. For each activity you enter, you will also be prompted for an hourly rate, which will be used to calculate charges for your work.
•Getting Started•
The easiest way to create new entries is to start with a new client entry, by either selecting the New Client command from the Timekeeper menu, or selecting the Client List command (also in the Timekeeper menu) and clicking on the “New” button in the list dialog.
Timekeeper will then take you through all the steps for this time entry. If you cancel at any stage, you will have to fill out the remainder of the line’s entries “manually” by clicking in the proper spaces. (To enter an activity on a blank line, you must press the Option key on your keyboard while you click on the blank activity line.)
Once you have created any Client, Project or Activity listing, it will appear in the appropriate list dialog for instantaneous usage for subsequent entries.
•Keeping notes•
There is a button at the right end of each line on the Daily Timesheet screen — the empty rectangle — that lets you store a note for each line. When you have a note entered, it changes to a filled circle. To change an existing note or enter a new one, click on the rectangle or circle at the right end of the line. Clicking OK in the resulting dialog box will accept your entry, clicking Cancel will erase any entry.
•Deleting a line•
To clear a line from the Daily Timesheet screen, click on the appropriate line number on the left side of the screen.
•Timekeeper menu — Daily Timesheet•
Nearly everything you can do in Timekeeper can be controlled with commands from the Timekeeper menu. Depending on where you are in Timekeeper, the menu will offer different commands.
In the Daily Timesheet screen, the Timekeeper menu has 17 different commands:
Hide Timekeeper: Hides Timekeeper's window, giving you access to anything behind the window.
New Client: Lets you enter the name of a client in your client list, which is accessed with the following Client List command.
Client List: Calls up your list of clients, so that you can create a new Project List entry. You can also create a new client entry, by clicking on the “New” button. To remove a client entry, highlight the entry and click on the “Remove” button.
Project List: This command opens a dialog box that lists each of your projects on separate lines. Projects are listed by the name of the client and the project name. To enter a project on the Daily Timesheet, highlight the desired project and click on the “Select” button (or double-click on the project you want to enter). You can also use this dialog to go to the Job Sheet for a project by highlighting it and clicking on the “Go To” button. Remove a project name from this list by selecting the project and clicking on the “Archive” button. This sends the data on the Job Sheet for that project to a special inactive section of Timekeeper. This dialog also lets you tell Timekeeper to time your work on a project. See the complete explanation below.
New Activity: Lets you create an activity for your activities list, which is called up with the Activity List command. After you enter an activity name, you can enter the hourly rate that you charge for that activity. That rate will be applied to all jobs where you enter that activity.
Activity List: The list of activities you can choose to enter on the Daily Timesheet. Like other list dialogs, you can select an entry, remove an entry or create a new entry with the buttons in this dialog.
Change Rates: Lets you change the hourly rate you charge for any activity. The new rate you enter will be applied to all future entries on your Daily Timesheet.
Apply Current Rates: Lets you apply your current hourly rates to existing entries on active Job Sheets (not on archived jobs).
Clear Entries: Allows you to clear all your current entries on the Daily Timesheet screen.
Set Date: Lets you change the date for which you’re logging entries. You can also change the date by clicking on the date in the Daily Timesheet screen.
Calculate Hours: Tells you how many hours you currently have entered in the Daily Timesheet screen.
Transfer Entries: Transfers all the entries on your Daily Timesheet screen for which there is at least .10 hour logged, to the appropriate Job Sheets. After your entries are transferred, you will be asked if you want to change the date. If you do, Timekeeper will clear the Daily Timesheet’s entries.
Daily Report: Creates a report of any day’s activities for which time has already been transferred to Job Sheets. Requires the “Daily Time Reports” stack, where the reports are created.
Save Hours: Lets you save a partial day’s entries to disk for completion later. You may be prompted with a ‘file save’ dialog for a location to store ‘Hours’ files. You don’t need to type anything in the file name text box — just click “Save” when you're in the folder where you want ‘Hours’ files saved.
Load Hours: Works with the Save Hours command above to load ‘Hours’ files saved to disk. After entering information on the Daily Timesheet screen, it scans each line to make sure you haven’t deleted or archived a Job Sheet corresponding to a Project that has just been placed. You’ll be warned if such a situation arises. If a Job Sheet has been deleted or archived, the hours can’t be properly transferred.
Timekeeper Settings
Several of Timekeeper’s functions can be controlled by settings you select with this command. It is not necessary to set these functions, but you may find them useful.
Custom Job Field: Lets you track a specific piece of information of your choosing for each Job Sheet. You could use this custom field to enter a client job number, purchase order number or any other type of information you want. The dialog for this setting will ask you to enter text for a dialog prompt — i.e., what you want the dialog prompting you for this information to read (e.g., “What is the client job number?”). It will also ask for a field label — i.e., text to appear on the Job Sheet identifying this field (e.g., “Client Job #:”). Both items must be filled out in order for this setting to be invoked.
Job Numbers: Lets you choose between having Timekeeper automatically number Job Sheets (starting with a whole number you specify), and being prompted to enter a job number manually for each new Job Sheet you create.
Hour Divisions: Lets you choose between displaying and calculating hours by tenths of hours or quarter hours.
Transfer Warnings: Lets you specify whether you want to be warned before transferring entries from the Daily Timesheet if your total time is less than the amount you specify.
Auto Reports: Lets you choose to have Timekeeper automatically create a Daily Report immediately after transferring Daily Timesheet entries at the end of a day (or whenever you transfer entries).This is particularly useful for people required to turn in daily time reports.
Skip Weekends: Lets you choose to have Timekeeper skip weekend dates in the prompt for a new date after transferring entries for Fridays. You can still enter any date in the new date dialog.
Long Comments: Presents a larger Comments entry dialog box so that you can keep detailed notes for each line on your Daily Timesheet, and therefore on your Job Sheets. Long comments cannot be viewed in their entirety on Job Sheets, nor can they be printed in their entirety from Timekeeper. You will need to export them to disk and use another application (such as a word processor or spreadsheet) to take full advantage of this feature.
Job Report Settings: Lets you reset the location for storing Job Report export files, and the locations of FileMaker and your spreadsheet or word processor for importing/opening Job Report export files.
•Timing with Timekeeper•
You can have Timekeeper automatically track how much time you’re spending on a project. To start timing, select the Project List command from the Daily Timesheet’s Timekeeper menu. Highlight the project you want to time, and click on the clock at the bottom of the dialog. A similar-looking clock will appear to the right of the date in the Daily Timesheet screen. This clock is a reminder that you’re timing a job. If you want to stop or pause timing, click on this clock icon. If you pause timing, the time that passes until you either resume or stop timing will not be added to your total time. An icon of a coffee mug will appear, to remind you that you’re taking a break from timing. Clicking on stop will put the project and client names, and the time that has been logged, in their respective fields, and you’ll be prompted for the rest of the information for that line. Timekeeper continues timing the project until you stop it. Neither switching to another program under MultiFinder or System 7, or even quitting Timekeeper and shutting down your Mac, will stop timing.
•Removing items from lists•
You can remove client and activity names from their respective list dialogs by showing the list dialog with the appropriate command, selecting the line you want to remove, and clicking on the “Remove” button.
There are two ways to remove projects from the Project List dialog. The first way is to open the dialog with the Project List command, click on the appropriate project and then click on the “Archive” button. This moves the data for that project to Timekeeper’s Archive section. You can also remove a Project listing by deleting its Job Sheet. Navigate to the Job Sheet (see the section on getting around in Timekeeper, below) and select the Delete Project command.
•Timekeeper menu — Job Sheets•
When you are in a Job Sheet, the Timekeeper menu has up to 10 commands from which to select:
Hide Timekeeper: Same as in the Daily Timesheet screen.
Select Export Format: Lets you choose the format for text files to be exported by the following command.
Export Spreadsheet/Filemaker Report: Exports a text file that can be opened by a word processor or spreadsheet program, or can be imported into the FileMaker II template distributed with Timekeeper. If you haven’t shown Timekeeper where to save reports, or where the application you want to open or import reports with is located, you will be prompted for that information before you can create the report. After Timekeeper has created the report, you will be asked if you want to open FileMaker, or your spreadsheet or word processor application, at that time.
Export Summary Report: Exports a text file that totals time and charges on a project by activity. This text file can be opened by a word processor or spreadsheet program.
Print Report: Lets you print out up to one page of the current Job Sheet’s entries.
Archive: Puts the data from the current Job Sheet in a special, inactive part of Timekeeper. Archiving inactive Job Sheets speeds up transferring information and creating Daily Reports. When a project is archived, its entries will not show up on Daily reports.
Move A Line...: Lets you move a line of entries from the current Job Sheet to any other active Job Sheet. This command can be useful for such things as moving time entries from business development jobs to billable projects, and moving time entries from “paid” jobs to “receivable” jobs when you bill in the middle of a project.
Delete Project: When you are absolutely sure that you do not want to keep a project in Timekeeper, you can remove it with this command. It is not a good idea to use this command casually.
Settings: Same as in the Daily Timesheet screen.
•Editing Job Sheet entries•
Almost every item on a Job Sheet can be changed if necessary. To make a change, option-click (hold down the Option key on your keyboard while clicking with your mouse) on the item to be changed.
•Deleting Job Sheet lines•
You can delete any line of project data on an active Job Sheet by option-clicking on the line’s “Hours” entry, entering a zero in the “Change” dialog, and then clicking on the “Yes” button in the resulting confirmation dialog.
•Timekeeper menu — Archive•
When you are in the Archive, the Timekeeper menu has up to 10 commands from which to select. Eight of these commands are exactly the same as the commands available in Job Sheets. The two different commands are detailed below:
Find Archive: Lets you quickly find an archived card.
Activate: Lets you remove a card from the archive and make it active again.
•Daily Time Reports Stack•
Timekeeper generates daily reports of your time with a separate Hypercard stack from the Timekeeper stack, called Daily Time Reports. When you use Timekeeper’s Daily Report command to create a daily time sheet report, you won’t see all the information for each job on-screen. But when you print out a report, it will all be there. You have the option of customizing your daily time report somewhat, so you should be sure to select print format options before printing reports. The Daily Time Reports stack has its own Timekeeper menu, which has nine commands:
Hide Timekeeper: Same as in Timekeeper.
Delete Report: Deletes any single report.
Find Report...: Lets you quickly go to a report you’ve created. You’ll be prompted for the date of the report, and Timekeeper will go there directly.
Standard Report: Sets up report printing for the standard report template. You’ll use this one if you aren’t using a custom field on your Timekeeper Job Sheets.
Custom Field: Sets up report printing for the Custom Field report template, to print out the information you’ve been capturing in a custom field on your Timekeeper Job Sheets.
Print Charges: Prints charges as well as hours. Charges will be printed if this item is checked. Charges won’t be printed if it is unchecked.
Print Report: Prints the current daily time report to your printer. You may also initiate printing by clicking on the printer icon in the upper right corner of the screen.
Print Batch: Lets you print any of several daily time reports at once.
•Before you print your first report •
Be sure to enter your name by clicking where it says “Click here to change name.” If you have problems printing, you may need to allocate more memory to Hypercard, or it could be a problem that can be corrected with the “Page Setup...” or “Print Report...” commands. See the discussion in the next section.
•File menu•
Timekeeper’s File menu is actually a customized Hypercard File menu. The Open... command lets you open any other Hypercard stack. The New Stack... command lets you create a new Hypercard stack. The Save A Copy... command lets you save a copy of your Timekeeper in another folder or volume, or under a different name. The Compact Stack command is a special Hypercard feature that lets you overcome a characteristic of Hypercard stacks to grow into rather large files. This command reduces the amount of disk space a stack takes up to the minimum necessary. Timekeeper automatically compacts itself if it gains more than about 12Kbytes of excess “fat.” The Page SetUp... command may also be useful if you have problems printing reports. It lets you access the Mac’s standard Page Setup dialog to change the page orientation and other settings. The Print Report... command gives you access to Hypercard’s report printing facility, which Timekeeper uses to print reports of Job Sheets and, in the Daily Time Reports stack, daily time reports. If your reports aren’t printing properly, it may be necessary to edit Timekeeper report templates. Instructions for doing this are in the documentation included in the full working copy which registered users receive. The Quit Hypercard exits from Hypercard.
•Go menu•
Timekeeper’s Go menu is Hypercard’s Go menu, whose commands let you navigate throughout Timekeeper, go to your Home or Help stack quickly, search for text, and hide or display Hypercard’s Scroll window. If you have questions about any of these commands, the best source is your Hypercard manual or Help stack.
•Shortcuts•
Daily Timesheet Screen
Click on any Client, Project, Activity (Option key also required) or Hours line or Comment marker to enter or replace data. Click on a line with an existing entry to replace the entry. Click on a blank line to make a new entry. Clicking on a blank Client or Project line lets you enter or replace a project.
Click on the date to change the date.
Click on the line number to the left of the line to delete the line.
•Job Sheets•
Option-click on any Date, Activity, Comments or Hour line to edit the entry.
•Getting around in Timekeeper•
If you are at the Daily Timesheet screen, you can quickly get to any Job Sheet by selecting the Project List command, selecting a project and clicking on the “Go To” button. To browse through Job Sheets, click on either the left- or right-hand arrow at the bottom of the Daily Timesheet screen. The left-hand arrow takes you to the last Job Sheet. The right-hand arrow takes you to the first Job Sheet. To go to Timekeeper’s Archive section, click on the up arrow at the bottom right of the Daily Timesheet screen. To go to your Daily Time Reports stack, click on the clock-and-page icon on the bottom left of the Daily Timesheet screen.
If you are in Timekeeper’s Job Sheet section, you can browse Job Sheets by clicking on the left- or right-hand arrow at the bottom of the screen. The left-hand arrow takes you to the previous Job Sheet. The right-hand arrow takes you to the next Job Sheet. To go to Timekeeper’s Archive section, click on the down arrow at the bottom right of the screen. To go to the Daily Timesheet screen, click on the right-angle arrow on the bottom left of the screen. To go to your Daily Time Reports stack, click on the clock-and-page icon on the bottom left of the screen.
Navigation in Timekeeper’s Archive section is similar to navigating in the Job Sheets section. There are two differences. 1) There is an up arrow in the bottom left of the screen. Clicking here takes you to Timekeeper’s Job Sheet section. 2) There is a Find Archive command in the Timekeeper menu that lets you quickly go to any Archive sheet.
•Command-key shortcuts: (Note: The following list is separated on each line by tabs.)
Daily Timesheet Archive Job Sheets
L-Client List R-Export Report R-Export Report
P-Project List P-Print Report P-Print Report
A-Activity List A-Activate Archived Job A-Archive Job Sheet
D-Calculate Daily Sum F-Find F-Find
T-Transfer Entries
R-Daily Report
F-Find
These Command-key shortcuts are invoked by holding down the Command key and typing the appropriate letter on your keyboard.
