Freedcamp time tracking - steps, limitations, 6 alternatives

Freedcamp is a project management software designed for large organizations. It offers features like time tracking, project templates, Gantt charts, and other core project management features.

If you use Freedcamp to manage your projects, you may be curious about implementing its time tracking features. Efficient project time tracking can offer valuable productivity insights, improve employee accountability, and help manage your resources better.

So how does Freedcamp time tracking work?

In this article, we’ll cover how Freedcamp time tracking works and three limitations that you may face. We’ll then highlight the six best alternative time tracking tools that you can use instead.

How does Freedcamp time tracking work
- A. Time tracker
- B. Manual entries
4 key limitations of Freedcamp’s native time tracking
Top 6 alternatives to Freedcamp time tracking

Let’s get started.

How does Freedcamp time tracking work

Time tracking is one of the core features of this project management software and is available across all Freedcamp pricing plans.

Here are two ways you can track time in Freedcamp:

Time Tracker: Toggle the play/pause button to track time.
Manual Entries: Make time entries into a form to record hours worked.

Now, let’s take a detailed look at these features:

A. Time tracker

Freedcamp offers three options to track time using a timer. They are:

a. Time recorder

Open a task and click on the Time tab between Comments and History.
Press the play icon to record time.
Click the pause icon to stop recording time.
Mark ‘complete’ to finish time tracking.

b. Timer header

You will be able to start/stop a timer or start a new timer anytime. Here’s how:

Select the Timer Header.
Toggle the stop/pause button to start/pause an ongoing timer.
Or, tap Add a new time task to track time for a new task.

c. Quick add timer

Tap the Quick Add button at the top of your page.
Select Time record to start a timer anytime.

B. Manual entries

Forgot to start the timer while working?

Don’t worry!

Here’s how you can make a manual entry:

Open a task and tap the Time tab between Comments and History.
Click on the Add Time button.
Now, enter all the details like Time Worked and Date in the form.
Press Create to create a time entry.
Mark Complete to submit.

That was all about time tracking!

But before we look at the drawbacks of this feature, let’s take a quick look at other Freedcamp features:

Split larger tasks with Subtasks.
Establish task dependencies in the Gantt Chart view.
Drag-and-drop tasks to manage them with Kanban Board.
Quickly duplicate projects through Project Template to save time.
Group multiple projects to set a Milestone.
Automate mundane tasks using Recurring tasks.
Use Wiki to manage all documents easily.
Store and manage contacts and leads with CRM.
Track and monitor bugs with the Issue Tracker.
Use Freedcamp integration with third-party apps like Google Calendar, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, and Zapier for seamless team collaboration.

Next, let’s discuss the shortcoming of using the time tracking feature of this project management tool.

4 key limitations of Freedcamp’s native time tracking

Freedcamp’s Time Tracker is a useful feature. It saves time and is accurate.

However, it can lack on the following fronts:

Manually entering time worked can not only be time-consuming for employees but also prone to inaccuracies.
No option to verify these manual entries, which can lead to time theft.
Reports don’t offer insights into employee attendance and web and app usage.
Lastly, it doesn’t support employee payroll management.

With that, let’s check out a few advanced time tracking tools that you can use to track time for your Freedcamp projects.

Top 6 alternatives to Freedcamp time tracking

Here’s our list of six handpicked tools that you can use as a parallel time tracker:

1. Time Doctor

Time Doctor is a game-changing employee time tracking and performance management tool trusted by major companies like Verizon and small businesses like Thrive Market, to boost employee productivity across the board.

It offers a comprehensive list of features as well as integrations and is available across platforms like Mac, Android, Linux, and Windows.

Let’s check out what features Time Doctor has to offer:

Key features

Here’s a detailed look at some of its features:

A. Time tracking

Time Doctor offers manual and automatic time tracking modes for its users.

The manual time tracking mode gives complete control to the user. Here’s how you can track time:

Create a task for which you want to track time or pick one from the existing task list.
Click Start when you begin working.
Press Stop when you’re done or wish to take a break.

In the automatic mode, Time Doctor starts tracking time as soon as the user turns on their device. It then silently runs in the background and allows employees to fully focus on their workflows – without affecting their daily routine.

B. Idle time tracking

Time Doctor’s idle time feature help employees stay focused on their work and avoid distractions.

Idle time is determined as tracked work time with prolonged inactivity or a lack of keyboard or mouse activity. Project managers can set a time range for idle time, after which a notification alert pops up asking employees if they’re still working.

And if employees don’t specify that they are still working, this tool automatically stops tracking work time.

Note: Time Doctor doesn’t record keystrokes or mouse activity to protect user privacy.

C. Screencasts (Optional)

Time Doctor can take screencasts of users’ computers at regular intervals to help managers see what their employees are working on. This gives them valuable insights into employee work hours and computer use.

Note: To protect employees’ privacy, the administrator can blur sensitive information in the screenshot.

D. Tasks and projects

Time Doctor’s project management feature allows you to create and assign projects and tasks to your employees.

To create projects, all a project manager or admin has to do:

Ensure that you’ve enabled Use projects and tasks in Company settings.
In Settings, select Projects & Tasks from the dropdown.
Click on Add Project and enter the project name.
Press the + icon to add the project to your project list.

Now you can create a new task under it and assign it to employees. To do so:

Create a new task: Select a project name and click on Add task under the task tab. Then enter a name for the task and press Save.
Assign employees: Tap the people tab under the selected project and add the team members to provide access to this project and its tasks.

E. Productivity reports

Time Doctor offers several detailed time reports to help with employee performance. Some of them are:

Timeline reports: See daily and weekly reports of the user’s total work hours.
Attendance reports: Monitor whether an employee was present, absent, late, or partially present.
Hours tracked reports: View the total number of hours tracked daily, weekly, or monthly.
Projects and tasks reports: Detailed reports of time spent on each task and project over a certain time period.
Web and app usage reports: Websites and applications visited during work hours.
Custom export report: A single report reflecting custom fields according to your preference.

F. Payroll management

Time Doctor’s payroll feature is helpful in streamlining your company’s payroll process.

To generate a payroll report:

Choose the team members you want to include in the payroll.
Set the pay rate for each employee or freelancer.
Select the currency for each user’s payment.
Select the pay period.
Select payment methods like Wise, ADP, PayPal, and Gusto.

Additionally, you can make a quick batch payment by manually uploading your payroll as a CSV file to PayPal or Wise.

J. 50+ integrations

With the Time Doctor Chrome extension feature, employees can track time across 50+ tools and avoid the hassle of juggling between apps to complete a task.

Here are some integrations:

Project management tool: Trello, Zoho Project, Basecamp, etc.
Customer service: Zendesk, Freshdesk, etc.
Task management: Todoist, Microsoft To Do, etc.
Collaboration tool: Google Workspace, Office 365, etc.

Discover all of Time Doctor’s integrations here.

Also, check out other Time Doctor features.

Pricing

Time Doctor has a 14-day free trial which requires no credit card. Paid plans start at $7/user per month.

User ratings

G2: 4.4/5 (270+ reviews)
Capterra: 4.5/5 (400+ reviews)

2. TimeTracker

TimeTracker is a time and attendance tracking solution that helps simplify employee tracking and administration processes through automation features.