Zoho Time Tracking – The good, the bad, and the useful
Full Disclosure: while I am an avid user of the Zoho CRM product, I am not a paid (or avid) user of Zoho Time Tracking, which is a subset of Zoho Invoicing.
Zoho Time Tracking scores a 7/10
Summary: It’s not bad – it’s intended to be more of an add-on to their invoicing product than a stand-alone time tracking product. While it does feature a stopwatch type feature, the program is not based around the stopwatch model. I found Zoho Time Tracking useful and functional, but I also found interface bland and it did not inspire the relative joy (for a time tracking product) that Freckle inspires. It does include iPhone and Android versions, which I was not able to test (I’m one of the select few with a Windows Phone 7).
The desigens did not design Zoho Time Tracking to be a mindless push button type of product, but instead to require some deliberation to use. Not much, mind you, but some. I found that to be my main gripe with the product. As time tracking is a “necessary evil” product mindless button pushing becomes a much more important feature than one would otherwise expect. I liked the tie-in to Zoho Invoicing and if you are an existing Zoho Invoicing user I would use Zoho Time Tracking.
Pictured left is their main time entry window. It’s not bad, and it works, but it doesn’t induce a craving to use it. That’s a lot to ask of a web app, but considering that time tracking is a necessary evil, a craving to to do the right thing is a good thing.
The Highlights
I liked the ability to assign different rates to different tasks to different people. This would be helpful to keep track of certain things which are not billable (by setting the rate to zero), but still associated with the product. Including zero sum line items to an invoice would be a nice way to remind an ongoing client the time cost of meetings for example.
Invoicing
The tie-in to invoicing the true strength of the product – see the screen shots below for more details.
I found creating an invoice to be as simple as clicking a link.
I liked the “Bill Up To” feature. This would be handy with most of my hourly clients.
The invoice populates itself for the most part.
Sending the invoice is simple. I don’t know why the description is not in an html editor (like the rest of the web these days) but it does work.
Being able to see a customer’s history is nice, it’s not tied to the time tracking portion, but it would be handy.
I often forget who I have sent nag emails to, so this “Email History” feature would be nice.
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What I Would Change about Zoho Time Tracking
Alphabetical listings on the main task window
For whatever reason this is not chronological, but alphabetical – no idea why.
Snail mailing of invoices
I could not get this work due to some error in the “Customer Country” field.
Conclusion
Overall I found the time tracking feature to be adequate, not spectacular. What was spectacular about Zoho Time Tracking was the integration with Zoho Invoicing. If you are already a Zoho user, or if you are well served by the Zoho Invoice features, I would use Zoho Time Tracking. If not, then I use a dedicated time tracking service, like Freckle Time Tracking.
Sign up for Zoho Invoicing here
