Choosing the Best Activity Timer Software for Very Small Companies

Time billing software has become more and more abundant because businesses, whether big or small, have increased in number and are adding client billing software to their small business management software.

If you have a business that needs business accounting software for just a few workers, what is the best way to select time billing software for your business? How can you know if the small business management software or time billing software you are going to buy is worth your money?

This article discusses how to pick the best time keeping software for your small business. First, you must know your needs. What are you looking for in a time billing software? Second, do you need a desktop application or a web-based program? Third, is the business software application user-friendly? Fourth, how affordable is the task tracking software?

Common features that we can find in time billing software are:

Activity Timer that accurately tracks time spent on tasks or activities for any number of users, clients and projects throughout the day.

A way to keep track of billable expenses that are to be reimbursed by the client.

Notes on the activities or tasks performed.

Generate invoices and reports for any or all users, clients, projects or activities, for any range of dates. The ability to round off times and print an invoice with a custom header would be important for many people looking for complete billing or invoicing software.

Other features you might consider are:

The best billing software allows you to view an editable timer log that shows when you started and stopped the timer during the day.

Ability to enter start and stop times or even the total time directly.

Flexible rates that can be based on a client, project or hourly basis.

View all records for a single client or project or task and get totals.

The ability to collapse the timer into a very small window and run multiple timers.

Record an estimated time for a task or activity and see how close you came to your estimate.

Keep track of all invoices and know who has paid and who has not with time and expense invoicing software.

Activity and expense notes wherein you could add unlimited amount of text describing your activities and billable expenses.

Record the estimated time for a project or task and see how close you came to that estimate.

Create reports with totals for each expense category with easy income tax preparation software.

Keep track of travel miles (or kilometers) that you can add to your invoices or tax reports.

One major thing to consider is, should it be a desktop application or a web-based application? Here are some differences between the two:

A web-based application, which includes any software you log on to a web site to access, requires a fast, reliable internet connection. A desktop application is an application that runs without the need of an internet connection.

Desktop software is generally much faster and easier to use than web-based software. If you do not have a very fast internet connection, it could take you several times longer to get the same amount of work done.

A desktop application, if backed-up regularly, is more secure and reliable than a web-based application. If your web connection goes down, or the company's website were to go down, or the company went out of business, you will no longer have access to your data if using web-based applications.

With desktop applications, you generally pay just once, and technical support is often included. With web-based applications you rent the software, paying monthly fees and often get only email support.

The next thing to consider is how easy is the software to use? Is it easy to understand? Are you comfortable using the software? Can you get technical support easily and quickly, both by phone and by email? Does that support cost extra?

The final question is, how much are you willing to spend for this software? Would you rather pay less on a monthly basis for web-based software, which will add up to much more over time, or pay one reasonable amount up front and get the features, speed and reliability of a desktop application?

As a very small company, I'm sure you would rather find ways to save money and at the same time have the features and capabilities you are looking for in time management software?

With these things in mind, you can now determine what would be the time tracking software for your needs. One of the best employee time billing software in my opinion is Activity & Expense Tracker for Workgroups. It is a reasonably priced desktop application that is easy to use and is available for most Mac and Windows computers.

To better understand its ease, comfort and productivity, and to download a free trial today, visit Activity and Expense Tracker for Workgroups for more details.