Cross Examination: Easy and Familiar Time Tracking

Easy and Familiar Time Tracking Timetag works seamlessly with Microsoft Outlook. Dec/Jan '05 Issue		Timetag Inc. www.timetag.com (877) 701-9700 Price: $209 for an annual subscription Microsoft Outlook 2000 and higher.
Reviewer 1: Brett Burney is the legal practice support coordinator for Thompson Hine in Cleveland, Ohio. He also authors a monthly legal technology column for Law Library Research Xchange. His e-mail address is brett.burney@thompsonhine.com.	Reviewer 2: David Hiersekorn is an estate planner with the Brock Law Office based in Chino, Calif.
Anything that can help attorneys capture their billable time more efficiently is a good thing, but learning a new application for time entry or transcribing handwritten scribbles into digital time periods takes time and effort. Timetag solves these problems by letting you capture your time in something you already are familiar with — Microsoft Outlook. Timetag allows your calendar entries in Outlook to do double duty as your billing entries. If you put a client meeting on your calendar, you can add a client and matter number and tag that appointment as billable time, rather than backtracking over your day to remember how much time you spent in the meeting. Integration With Outlook Timetag integrates seamlessly with Outlook because it’s simply using calendar appointments and the “Invite” option to tag the entry as billable time. To get started, you must visit Timetag Central, an online portal for all of your Timetag activity. After you log in, you can enter client and matter numbers and add users from your firm. Once those records are created in Timetag Central, you will get an e-mail with the additions attached as “Outlook Contacts,” which you simply move to your “Contacts” folder. When you create a new calendar entry in Outlook, you can “Invite” one of the Timetag client or matter numbers (now contacts) that you previously set up. The appointment is tagged and recorded in Timetag Central. The seamless nature of Timetag within Outlook is wonderful. I don’t have to launch a separate application to enter my time and I usually have Outlook open anyway. Plus I am already familiar with customizing how I view my calendar in Outlook. Reporting Capabilities Timetag Central allows you to generate all sorts of helpful reports on your time and billing entries. In Timetag Central, you can elect to see timesheet or billing reports in detailed or summary views. You can see all your clients and matters, or just certain ones. You also can generate a report on individual timekeepers or all of them at the same time. Timetag can be set to send each timekeeper a daily report of their billed hours. You can check this option in the profile screen on Timetag Central. I appreciated having this report pop up in my Inbox everyday because it gave me a sense of how much time I was billing. All of these reports will not mean much if you can’t export them to your billing system. Timetag can do this easily and the company will make sure the service gives you what you need. The Timetag Central interface is inviting and intuitive. I was able to generate very helpful reports with just a few clicks of the mouse. Interface for Time Entries Entering billed time is as easy as creating a new calendar appointment, but you can add a bell and whistle to the service with the BillThis add-on that was in beta development at press time. (The license now is available for $39.) BillThis works from within Outlook and provides another entry box for your billed time. It automatically can color code your calendar appointments so you quickly can identify which ones qualify for billed time. Lastly, you also can create time entries from the Timetag Central Web site. Since the site is on the Internet, you can log on from any connected computer and add or modify your time entries. I definitely preferred entering time by just creating a calendar of appointments in Outlook, but BillThis enhanced the functionality of those appointments. I didn’t really like entering time through the Timetag Central Web site, but it was certainly convenient to do so when I was away from my office and didn’t have my GoodLink handheld device with me. Web Portal The Timetag Central Web site is the main hub of the Timetag service. The site is where you customize the information specific to your firm and make changes as necessary. If you can generate a database of your client matters from your billing application, Timetag Central will let you import them into the system wholesale, rather than one at a time. You also can elect to upgrade to the Enterprise edition, which includes all the features already discussed, but uses an internal server to keep all of your information within your firm’s firewall. Time Entries Via Handhelds Since Timetag uses regular Microsoft Outlook calendar entries to capture billed time, you can use a BlackBerry or GoodLink device to enter time, then sync them with your Outlook accounts. This method is much better than trying to integrate a new application into your wireless e-mail environment to capture time when attorneys are outside the office. Since BlackBerry and GoodLink devices notate calendar entries right on the Outlook calendar, the appointments are billed accurately and appropriately. I was very impressed with the entire Timetag service. A lot of thought went into the whole system, and I am happy to see a process as important as time entry integrate into an application everyone already uses.	Lawyers are fanatical about keeping track of their time; at least a dozen commercial products out there are meant to help lawyers record their billable hours. Timetag is the latest entry in the field. For many, it will provide long needed time entry capabilities to one of the most widely used software products in the marketplace. Integration With Outlook Just about every practice management software package provides a way to turn your appointments and To-Dos into time entries that you can bill from within the program or export to a third-party solution. Timetag gives Microsoft Outlook users the same capabilities. Timetag works within Outlook, which should prove a great feature for attorneys who already track their appointments and tasks in Outlook. Once installed, the program appears to be part of the Outlook program itself, so attorneys always will find the Timetag toolbar. The program stores client and matter information in a contact folder. The Timetag entries are distinguished from regular contacts by the “TT” in front of the name. Reporting Capabilities You get time reports in two ways. First, you receive a daily e-mail detailing time entries from the previous day. For firms with more than one time keeper, individual users are e-mailed a preliminary timesheet and given time to review and correct their entries before a final report is e-mailed to the firm administrator. If you prefer, you can log on to the Timetag Central Web site and create a report of time entries in detail or summary form, which can be sorted by date, client or both. Reports can be created in printable format, or you can export time entries in one of several popular billing program formats. Interface for Time Entries The Timetag toolbar offers three ways to create new time entries. You can enter a time entry directly, start a timer or create a time entry for an existing Outlook task, appointment or e-mail. Each of the options allows you to create the entry for any client or matter in the database, or you can use a convenient pull-down menu to create an entry for a recently used matter. The direct entry approach is simple enough. You specify the matter and write a description of the work. For the time portion of the entry, you can enter the amount of time you spent on the task, or you can draw a time block on a graphical time chart. The program lets you specify whether to use tenths or quarter hours. The timer approach is similar to direct entry and allows you to assign the timer to a particular matter, or you can just let it run and fill the matter in later. One interesting feature is the “BillThis” button, which lets you create a time entry out of any e-mail, task or appointment in Outlook. For example, if you had a one-hour appointment at 10 a.m., you could select the appointment in your daily calendar and click on the button. That would convert the appointment into a time entry. No matter which method you use to enter your time, the time entries show up in your daily calendar as a visual representation of how you spent your day. This approach makes it easy to find any points of inactivity or missed billing. Also, it would indicate any overlapping billing entries. Web Portal After you have completed the time entries in Outlook, the program sends an e-mail to the Timetag Central Web site where all the entries are collected for reporting. Each billable matter is assigned its own e-mail address, and that e-mail address is stored in your Outlook address book. The Web site also is where you go to add new users, clients or matters. The Web site is laid out well and is easy to use. The only downside is you can’t access your billing records without Internet access. Time Entries Via Handheld The e-mail-based approach creates an elegant solution to one of the most difficult problems many road warriors face. Rather than run a separate program on a handheld that tracks time entries, you can create a new time entry by sending an e-mail to the Timetag e-mail address assigned to the matter you want to bill. There is a simple formatting protocol you must follow, but it isn’t difficult to learn. This generic approach lets you create time entries from any e-mail enabled device. In theory, this will allow you to capture more billable time. Adding all the necessary information can be a bit cumbersome on a handheld. One tip I suggest is to go to the “Sent Items” folder in Outlook and forward a time entry to your handheld. That time entry can serve as the template for all your future time entries. Another approach that works is to send an incomplete time entry from the handheld and edit it by logging on to the Timetag Central Web site. The effectiveness of any method for capturing billable time will depend greatly on how consistently you use it. The primary benefit of Timetag is it runs inside a program where many attorneys already spend a great deal of their time. For anyone who tracks appointments and tasks in Outlook, Timetag is a natural addition.
FOR THE RECORD
FEATURES 1. Integration With Outlook Entering time is simply a matter of creating a calendar appointment in Outlook so integration is seamless. 2. Reporting Capabilities Reports are easy to construct and run from Timetag Central. 3. Interface for Time Entries Intuitive dialogs for entering billable time. 4. Web Portal Timetag Central is accessible and provides a multitude of features for every user. 5. Time Entries Via Handhelds Timetag allows you to enter time on your wireless e-mail device without needing extra software. JUDGMENT Pros Timetag integrates seamlessly into Outlook and allows you to generate all sorts of reports. Cons I would like to see Timetag work with personal information managers other than Outlook. Verdict 3 1/2 out of 4«s Recommended for anyone looking for a quick and easy way to capture billable time without purchasing and learning a new application.	FEATURES 1. Integration With Outlook Regular Outlook users will be very comfortable. 2. Reporting Capabilities You get the information you need, but it might be nice to have more control over the format. 3. Interface for Time Entries Very well done with several nice touches (i.e., spell check). 4. Web Portal Would rate higher if you didn’t have to go online to access reports or add clients. Once you are there, it works fine. 5. Time Entries Via Handhelds Can be a bit cumbersome. JUDGMENT Pros Works in a program you already use, which means you can capture more billable time. Cons Requires Web interface. Verdict 4 out of 4«s It deserves four stars.