We recently launched a new feature that allows you to copy all, or part, of your weekly timesheet from one week to another. It’s based on feedback from numerous customers who reached out to us and shared how such a feature would make their day to day time tracking efforts more efficient and less painful.
After gathering initial feedback and working through different ideas, we defined a few scenarios where one would benefit from being able to copy multiple time entries at once. In all of these cases, the ability to copy time entries greatly reduces the number of mouse clicks and key clacks required to fill out your weekly timesheet.
How does copying a timesheet work?
The premise is that there are people who want to track their time by manually filling out their weekly timesheet. Their workdays are such that they don’t need the precision of timers or the automation they provide. When they add the time is less important than how they add their time.
The benefit of copying a timesheet is that it provides a template based on work completed in a prior week. This cuts down considerably the time spent tracking one’s time. Here are three relatable use cases where copying your weekly timesheet can make time tracking less painful.
Working on the same projects from week to week
Many companies will find themselves working on one or more of the same projects for a season. For example, your agency takes on a large, multifaceted project that will take months, or years, to complete. Or, your boutique consultancy is focused on a small handful of ongoing projects.
The number of hours you spend on these projects will differ from week to week. However, copying the previous week’s time entries speeds up the process by creating a prefilled timesheet. All you have to do is enter the correct number of hours for each project and day.
Repeat weekly meetings
Weekly meetings are a common occurrence in any workplace. Many companies will meet Monday to kick off the week, for example. And anyone working with clients, such as agencies and consultants, will hold weekly check-ins to go over project updates.
It’s highly likely that these meetings will not only occur on the same weekday, but also for the same amount of time. When entering your time for these meetings, simply copy the time entries from your previous weekly timesheet. It will save the time and energy spent manually entering your time for each meeting.
Completing common daily tasks
Research has unveiled that we spend up to 40% of our day on repetitive work. While that number is high, and certainly implies that much of that time is being wasted, many will still need to track it. (On a side note, using time tracking software will help you waste less time by identifying daily time sinks.)
Manually entering your time for the same daily tasks, week after week, will quickly become a tedious chore. It’s one of the top reasons people don’t want to track their time in the first place. The ability to copy a timesheet, however, solves this issue by greatly reducing the amount of time and effort required to enter your time.
