Before we start talking about the time tracking tool, we have to know what is a time tracking tool and how will it benefit you? Of course, you won’t want to make a tool just for fun. Now, the concern is you might know the reason for developing a time tracking tool as well, but who said that a little detailed recap will not give you any new information? 

For that reason, we, at Vyrazu Labs have developed this blog, for delivering you with an elaborate description for the purpose of creating a time tracker tool and how easily you can do it. Us, being a software development company, we know the need for a time tracker tool and how essential it can be when it comes to billing. 

What is a Time Tracker?

No, not a new topic at all. On the other hand, knowing what a time tracker tool is not a bad idea, to begin with. A time tracker is a tool that is used to track the employee’s time spent over the project. Using a time tracker tool will tell you how much work one particular employee is doing. When you are hiring someone to work on your project. You are entitled to know everything that a person is doing for your project. 

This will give you enough space to understand how the work was done and how much effort the developer gave to develop your project. A tacker will also give you the security, on the basis of the work done, i.e. no one will be able to fool you cause, you will already know it. When your employees use tackers they are also entitled to complete the work that has been predetermined for that day.

Benefits of using a time tracker

There are plenty of benefits of using a time tracker tool, you might have got some idea from the previous paragraph. However, I will document the benefits that will help you understand why building a time tracker tool is necessary for all types of businesses. You can use a tracker on any employee that you hire:

1. Part-time
2. Full-time
3. Freelancer 
4. Remote

When you make your own time tracking tool you will be able to use it for your own company, for tracking all the activities of the employees. Both you and your employees will be able to use it equally

1. A time tracker tool will help you to generate the payroll depending on the time the employees have spent working on that project.
2. HR has to do less work when there is already a time tracker tool 
3. This will help improve productivity 
4. The work done will be efficient and subjective
5. It will help you identify loggerhead
6. It will be used to interact within the company as well as with the client connected with that project

When you include a time tracker tool it doesn’t only help you keep a track on your employees and what they are doing it also helps you to get a lot of work done on time. You will be able to manage a lot of internal tasks and keep a track of the work that actually has to do. See, once you make a schedule it becomes easy to work. You will be able to achieve accuracy while you use a time tracker tool. When it comes to the utility of the time  tracker I must say, it provides

1. The time tracker tool will take 6-7 screenshots of the screen per hour that can be stored anywhere, deleted if unnecessary, and will detect the work done by tracking the mouse clicks and the keystrokes. 
   
2. The calendar in the app will help you to manage the work log
   
3. Using the time tracker tool you will be able to exports reports to excel, CSV(extended with user fields) or printable format 
   
4. Accounting the time tracker tool will help you set up cost rates and create billing reports
   
5. You will be able to create a work-log based on numerous criteria like JQL expression or filter that you like.
   
6. It will enable timesheet approvals  
   
7. It will also provide analysis from different activities, URLs, apps that were used for different purposes like entertainment, communication, learning, and other such things. 

 When you are dealing with a time tracker tool you can be sure that it will do some tasks that will be essential for your company. With the time tracker, you will not only be able to see what your employees are doing but you will also make an account of

1. The developer to stage map the task to produce the status after each day
2. The analytics of the time tracker tool will enable planning and estimation hits
3. There will be more influence of the focused features which has to be done immediately 
4. The time tracker tool will also help you to maintain the due focus task 

Among all the above points you have taken account of the factors that will help your time tracker tool to do a lot of tasks that the HR alone will not be able to handle. I mean, there are a lot of employees that are working under you, keeping track of everyone is not possible until you assign an HR for every employee. Hence, when you have the time tracker tool you will be able to check out what each of the employees is doing through the tool. You can also use it for billing your clients, but mainly check what your employees are up to when you are not watching. 

The development of the time tracking tool

When you start the development process you will have to consider what you need, after you know all the requirements that are essential for the development of the time tracking tool we will be able to start the development. The most essential tool: Angular is a JavaScript-based platform, which is known to be one of the best platforms for developing apps, tools, etc. So we will use Angular and Electron to complete the development process of the tracking app. When we start the development process we will first need to get

1. HTML/CSS
2. JavaScript (ES6)
3. Bootstrap 
4. Angular and Electron

After we have everything that we need we will be able to take the development process ahead. So, now that we have all the elements that we need to develop the tracking app let us start the development, eh?

The first procedure

Developing the activity sector of the time tracking tool

1. Install the libraries for the frameworks
2. Creating a basic app with Angular and Electron 
3. Adding Bootstrap 4
4. Adding the font for making amazing icons

The second procedure

Integrating the basic timer

1. Now, we create the box for the timer view
2. We will render the present time passed on the timer
3. We will add the basic buttons like start, reset, and stop

The third procedure

The creation of the basic countdown timer

1. We will make the box for countdown timer view
2. Again, rendering the present time passed on the timer
3. We will add the start, stop and reset button just like we previously did
4. Inputting the specific time for the countdown timer
5. An alert will get triggered as soon as the time is up in the timer

The fourth procedure

Integrating record times

1. We will add functionality to record the time
2. The recorder time will be shown as a list integrating the display of the same

The fifth procedure

Integrating the data storage facility

1. We make sure the data collected is stored at the desired location, hence, we will integrate options that will allow the user to store the data
2. The stored record will be dated and titled according to the job done as well as a short description of the work done.
3. We will quickly run over the future steps to extend the time tracking tool further

The cost of development of a time tracking tool

As the tool has to be developed looking at a lot of factors the cost will definitely vary, on different aspects that you will have to integrate, there are different types of time tracking tools

1. The time tracking tool that will only track the working hours
2. The time tracking tool that will record the data taking screenshots 
3. The time tracking tool that will allow you to do all the above

Since there are different time tracking tools if you make a basic tool that will cost you a certain amount looking at the features that you want your tool to perform. The development of other tools will also vary according to the features that you add. If you want an advanced tool you will have to pay a little more than that of the basic tool. Hence, as you know your requirements it will be easy to determine the cost of the time tracking tool. 

Now, if you want to add features that will allow the employees to do a lot of tasks like setting the calendar, inputting the title and description for the task that is done, screenshotting the tasks hourly, and sharing the data using the internet (might be sent through mail or social media) then the price of the tool will go up. Providing you with exact figures is not possible as we do not know what integration you will make in the time tracking tool.

Conclusion:

I hope this article helped you to understand the stages of development of the time tracker tool. I would appreciate it if you leave a comment or feedback. You can also make suggestions so that I could include them in this article or make a follow-up article that might help you. If you are planning on developing a time tracking tool you can obviously bring it to us.

We are a leading software company that will be able to solve any problem that you have. If you have any kind of requirements do not hesitate to approach us with your idea, we will make it happen, this is our promise. If you believe in yourself we believe in you, let’s make a new tomorrow together.