Time Tracker

[JLDrafting]

I have a project that was started in January that I wanted to get drawing time for. The time tracker has always presented the accumulated time in hrs., mins. and secs., but for some reason I'm getting this:

[parkwest]

I had problems with tracking time when having computer go to sleep without logging out of CA.  

 

Just highlight and delete the obvious wrong time and you should be ok.

[Alaskan_Son]

Looks to me like you accidentally added or edited that one entry manually.  Look at the start and end times.  It says you've been working on that for 6 straight months.

[JLDrafting]

It says you've been working on that for 6 straight months.

 

Started more than one project around that time. This particular one had multiple iterations of the plan over that time period, but not every day. The job was a per square foot price and I'd like to know just how much additional time was spent actually making changes. This may be the only plan that accumulated time in this way. I had been using the beta for X8 before it was released, but I don't know that time frame and didn't check the time tracker until after a couple of major changes. I never tried to edit the total because I couldn't find a way to change the format. Just wondered if anyone had encountered this and found a way to fix it or determine the hours .

[Chopsaw]

As Michael said that first entry appears to have been entered manually. Did you have several versions of this plan saved under different plan names?  If so you may have inaccurately added hours from a preliminary file to this one.  If that is not the case then there is a problem because normal time tracking will follow in chronological order.  If the recorded hours are actually correct then you had your computer turned on with that file open for over 5 months straight with no idle setting and no power failures. 

 

You may want to talk to tech support to see if that was a known beta bug, and if they can help you.

[JLDrafting]

Yes, I did have previous saved versions of this plan. I didn't check the time tracker for most of the project since I wasn't doing an hourly scale and I never manually inserted anything. I was hoping to use the hours applied to changes as a basis for additional fees due to the number of redraws to the plan. I did send this in to support and referenced that it may have been started in the Beta version. I had never seen this on previous or subsequent plan files and just wondered if anyone had seen this or had a resolution. Thanks.

[Mardie]

Today I checked my time, which I had estimated 6 hours this week and it stated 186 hours???  I don't always log out at night when I'm working on a drawing because it says it has "timed out."  I have been using Chief Architect for 15 years and currently running X9.  It should be easy for the system to keep track of the time I spend on one particular drawing - any remedy's?  Thanks, Mardie

[Chopsaw]

2 minutes ago, Mardie said:

any remedy's?

 

Take a careful look at the log a see if there is anything that does not make sense and be thankful that you are only about 6 hours in and thought to check it already.  Often there are hours from a recycled file or template. Just delete them.

[atomic12]

Using the Chief time tracker was really messing me up. After screwing myself out of money, I figured it was time for me to figure this out. The problem was that I would open a plan and work on that until I was ready to send it to the layout page. Problem was I was having time tracking on the plan sheet and then time tracking on the layout sheet. Try explaining that to your customer when they get the bill.... So,, now when I am charging by the hour, I will open up a plan sheet and immediately open a layout sheet and send that plan to layout. The layout sheet will consolidate the plan time into itself and now I only have one time tracking to think about. It seems to work for me but hey,,, anyone has a better idea, let me know.

[Chopsaw]

4 minutes ago, atomic12 said:

It seems to work for me but hey,,, anyone has a better idea, let me know.

 

You seem to have the right idea but for me it seems to make more sense to let the plan file track the time by making sure the plan is open and tracking when working on layout but that would depend on how you work and what type of template you use.

 

I spent quite a bit of time figuring out the time tracker and exporting the files to Excel for the purpose of eliminating overlapping time periods from multiple plan and layout files to accurately determine the number of computer hours spent on one job.  Unfortunately it requires quite a bit of work because the exported chief files are almost totally incompatible with calculations in Excel and I got to the point where the formulas got more and more complex as the number of plan and layout files grew which took me beyond my programming knowledge.  I did have some success but would like to hook up with someone who has a better knowledge of Excel to finish the project.

[atomic12]

I spent some time on this also. When you export your time it will save it to a file with a bunch of commas. When you open excel, open up that file and you will be asked a bunch of questions. Choose Delimiters and check tap and comma. Finish and it will separate it. Then you will have to use "sum" and calculate your hour wage,,, or not.

Hope this helps as I still have a bald spot when I was pulling out my hair figuring this out. Wish chief would make this simpler...

[Kbird1]

I find it is better to save as a .txt ( not csv or Excel Auto Formats it), I then use Delimit with comma and Space (Tab doesn't make a difference in a Chief File as far as I can see) , accept every thing as General ( you can remove AM/PM columns or any others you want too now) and I usually get Columns A>L , using this Method.

 

Chief does not give a Total or Column Headers when exporting for me, (Why?)

 

so I Select Drag everything in the total time Column (K for me) , right Click and select Format Cells>

and on the Number Tab...Select Time> and for Type I choose the 37:30:55 Option

(in Excel 2007, others work too) then a background for the Column if desired and hit Ok.

 

To get the Total you then select a Blank Cell at the Bottom of the Column and on the Formulas Ribbon hit AutoSum ( it will insert =SUM(Cell number you clicked in)

 

so click in the Cell and type in your actual Column Cell IDs ie. change it to K1:K(Last Cell number)  eg it should look like =SUM(K1:K53)   where 53 = your actual last cell number.  ( *Use your column letter if not K too )

 

Adjust Column widths , add Column Headers if needed , and then save it as a WorkBook (.xlsx)  or PDF for a Client if needed. ( it may complain about ruining the Txt File , if you want to Keep it too , Use Save As>Workbook instead.)

 

I don't know Excel well, so that's about as Far or Fancy as I get , probably are better ways but it's good enough ......

 

M.