Basics:Time Tracking
From Cerberus Helpdesk Wiki
Time Tracking is sometimes not enabled by default, so turn it on through the 'helpdesk setup', 'Features & Plugins' tab first (and so we can explain time tracking reports later, turn on that plugin too).
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Activities
Before you actually get started, you need to create some basic activities in the 'Time Tracking' tab. These are important in establishing a sort of structure in your data beyond just an association to a ticket and/or contact organization. Normally you'd use these categories to describe the type of job or services you're logging minutes for, e.g. "Tech Support" or "Product Training".
You'll notice an additional 'Rate' field which allows you to assign a dollar/hr rate to your activity, but keep in mind this number is entirely arbitrary. The denomination US$ is meaningless, you could interpret that as Euros€ and it won't make a difference to Cerb4; the field itself is not used in any Cerb4 business calculations behind the scenes. The option only exists so you can keep tabs on a "dollar" figure for use in another billing application you use in your company. So with our reports you should be able to determine the number of hours worked on a particular activity (or job), and then enter that data somewhere else to construct an invoice.
- Leaving the 'Rate' field blank or setting it to zero will create a non-billable activity.
Using Time Tracking
With all the pre-configuration done, you are now ready to actually record time. Remember all time tracking entries are attached to individual tickets. If you want to record minutes worked for an organization in your address book, you must find a ticket they are requesters on. If they don't have one, then your best bet is to create a placeholder through 'Open Ticket'.
Creating a new time entry
Every ticket inside Cerb4 has a couple of 'Track Time' buttons you can click to start the stopwatch. One is always at the top of the ticket with the rest of the "action" buttons like 'Close', the other is inside the reply box. After you click 'Reply' to expand the window it'll appear below the 'Subject' field.
Once the button is clicked a stopwatch appears that'll keep a running tally of time spent on this ticket until you stop it. There is a pause button next to it if you need to temporarily halt the ticking. The stopwatch overlay also conveniently follows you around between pages, so you can browse through the Helpdesk as you please. Because the time entry is attached to the ticket it was started from, no matter when you stop and save, the time will be recorded for that ticket; times cannot be linked to more than one ticket.
- Warning: Modern web browsers make heavy use of tabs and you may be tempted to run multiple timers at once. Your mileage may vary with recording accurate times that way, so keep it in mind when multitasking.
In everyday use typically you'd start the clock, write out your reply (or do a little research), click send, and then stop the timer. The edit window gives you an opportunity to modify the "time spent" to the nearest 15/30 minute interval (or any time of your choosing) and specify a company to log time for. If you need to resume or reset the clock, you can also do that instead of finalizing your time entry.
- If you have any time tracking custom fields, e.g. "Over the phone support: yes/no", you can also fill those in here. Remember time tracking is a valid "worklist type" so you can use custom fields to create fine-tuned workspaces.
Viewing saved times
All saved times can be viewed and modified in the 'activity', 'Time Tracking' tab. It's really no different from other worklists in Cerb4, there's a number of columns you can display, searches you can do, and several links back to the corresponding ticket and organization.
Deleting unwanted times (comments?)
Saved time tracking entries are also shown in the ticket's comments. Your other Helpdesk workers will see it right away but if you do not, try refreshing the ticket (CHD-855). Now please realize those comments are static pieces of text, distinct from the actual time data. In other words, deleting the comment in the ticket does not delete the actual time tracking entry. Similarly, modifying a time entry in the ‘activity’ section does not edit the ticket comment itself. If you plan to delete a time entry in ‘activity’ you probably want to go back to the ticket first and delete the comment (because the convenient linkback to the ticket will be gone if you delete the actual time first).
Reports
The reason I had you turn on reports at the beginning was to showcase the three basic time tracking reports Cerb4 has. Three are included in the current product:
- Time Spent Per Worker
- Time Spent Per Organization
- Time Spent Per Activity
All of them are fairly self-explanatory, they just emphasize a certain structure based on the "per ...", but generally speaking the same data is contained in each one. Here's a report generated from the sample data we've been using.
- Unfortunately it's not easy to track total minutes on a single ticket in the latest versions of Cerb4, as that data is not calculated in the Time Tracking area, reports, or the ticket itself. There is an open JIRA request (CHD-1558) which includes a patch submitted by Robert M that may help those looking for this functionality.
