On starting Project Clock, you will see the Tip Of The Day screen. Click OK to show the main screen. The main
screen will look something like this:
The first step in using Project Clock is to enter your projects into the program. Your data will include information
about your clients, projects and tasks. Data is erased and added in the Data Manager screen. Open the Data Manager
by choosing View | Data Manager from the main screen menu.
The Data Manager will look something like this:
When you first use the program there should be some sample data. Once you have finished experimenting with this
data you should erase it and enter your own data. To delete all the records in the current table choose Records |
Delete All Records from the menu.
The first step is to enter your project data. When billing time with Project Clock, the most important field
is the Project. The Project is what you are billing time to. As well as the Project, you can also optionally add
either a Task or a Client. For example, suppose you have a customer called Acme Piping. The project you bill time
to Acme Piping is called Piping Specs. In addition, you also break this project up into several different tasks:
Planning, Design and Implementation.
Let us start by adding the client. To add a client click on the Clients tab in the Data Manager. The Clients
tab will look like this:
If the fields are not blank as in the above picture. Press the add button to add a new record. The add button is
the red circular button at the top with the + sign in it. Then type in the client data into the fields. In the
example below, we added the Acme Piping client.
The Client ID field is a unique identifier for the client. Every different client must have it's own ID. The name
can be anything you like. It is used to assign a name to the ID. All other fields are optional. The rate field
indicates the rate at which you bill this client. The deposit hours field indicates the number of hours this client
has paid for in advance. The deposit hours field would only be used by someone like a lawyer that is paid on retainer.
The active field indicates whether the client can have time billed to it. If the active field is not set this client
will not show up in any of the client pull-down lists in Project Clock.
Now let us add the Piping Specs project. Click on the Projects tab. The Projects tab will look like this.
If the fields are not blank as in the above picture. Press the add button to add a new record. The add button is
the red circular button at the top with the + sign in it. Then type in the project data into the fields. In the
example below, we added the Piping Specs project.
The Project ID field is a unique identifier for the project. Every different project must have it's own ID. The
description can be anything you like. It is used to assign a name to the ID. All other fields are optional. The
rate field indicates the rate at which you bill time to this project. The deposit hours field indicates the number
of hours this client has paid for in advance. The client ID field indicates to which client this project belogs.
If a project is assigned to a client, when a new client is selected from the main screen, only the projects that
are associated with that client will show up on the Project pull-down list. The deposit hours field indicates the
number of hours this project has been paid for in advance. The deposit hours field would only be used by someone
like a lawyer that is paid on retainer. The active field indicates whether the project can have time billed to
it. If the active field is not set this project will not show up in any of the project pull-down lists in Project
Clock.
Now let us add the tasks. To add tasks click the tasks tab.
If the fields are not blank as in the above picture. Press the add button to add a new record. The add button is
the red circular button at the top with the + sign in it. Then type in the task data into the fields. In the example
below, we added the Design task.
The Task ID field is a unique identifier for the project. Every different task must have it's own ID. The description
can be anything you like. It is used to assign a name to the ID. All other fields are optional. The rate field
indicates the rate at which you bill time to this task. The Project ID field indicates to which project this task
belongs. If a task is assigned to a project, when a new project is selected from the main screen, only the tasks
that are associated with that project will show up on the Task pull-down list. The active field indicates whether
the task can have time billed to it. If the active field is not set this task will not show up in any of the task
pull-down lists in Project Clock.
Project estimates are entered into the Estimates tab of the Data Manager. Project estimates allow you to keep
track of your project's estimated and actual costs and completion times. Here is an example esitmate record:
The Client ID is the client work is being charged to. The Project ID is the project that time is being charged
to. The Task ID is an additional code for the current project. The Login ID is the network user name of the person
time is billed to. Estimated hours is the number of hours estimated for completing the project. Actual hours is
the actual number of hours that were billed for the project. Estimated cost is the estimated cost of the project.
Actual cost is the actual cost of the project. Estimated start date is the estimated date the project will start.
Actual start date is the actual date the project started. Estimated finish date is the estimated date the project
will finish. Actual finish date is the actual date the project finished. Priority is a positive integer representing
the priority of the project. A priority of 1 will be the highest priority. Status is aA positive integer representing
the project's status.
Expense data is entered in the Expenses tab of the Data Manager. The Expenses table keeps track of all the expenses
for different projects. Here is an example expense record:
Amount is the cost of the expense. Description describes the expense item. Invoice is the invoice number the expense
belongs to. The Login ID is the network user name of the person time is billed to. Date is the date of the expense.
Workgroups are used to split people up into different groups. Workgroups are entered in the Work Groups tab.
A workgroup record consists of the work group name and the login ID of the person that belongs to that group.
Common expense items are entered in the Items tab. Each expense item record consists of a unique ID value, a
description of the item and the cost of the item. Expense items will show up in the Items pull-down list on the
main screen.
The User Projects tab is used to assign projects to different people. The Login ID is the network user name
of the person the project has been assigned to.
The remaining data tabs are used by the software itself and normally will not need to be edited. See the Project Clock Tables section of the help file for detailed information on these and other tables.