Frequently Asked Questions

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How is this similar or different from other time management software?

There are some similarities with other software on the market but there is nothing that comes close to the benefits of Time Doctor.

Time monitoring: Strangely there is almost no software on the market (for small medium sized businesses) that monitors how many hours a person works in an easy to use comprehensive manner. This seems like an absurd statement because it's such an obvious thing to do. In fact in our opinion it's crazy to have a business where you pay people hourly but don't monitor how many hours they actually work. There are dozens of software applications that allow a person to report how many hours they worked, but this is usually a self reported figure and does not have any way for you to cross reference and check if it is real. IBM does have a software solution with some of this feature set but it's significantly more expensive than Time Doctor.

Monitoring poor use of time: Most large companies have mechanisms to monitor or block the use of Facebook and other personal web sites. However one of the big advantages of Time Doctor is that it monitors hours worked and websites visited during business hours but NOT whilst the person is on a break. So this makes it appropriate for people working from home on their own computer (where they obviously would not want to have Facebook blocked!).

Priorities: The major feature of Time Doctor that is not available in other software is the priority feature and the ability to know how much of the day a person is focusing on their priorities. It's one thing to reduce wasted time, this is a big benefit, but an additional, and probably greater benefit is having your team focus on their priorities and knowing exactly what priorities they are focusing on.

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What are the hardware and software requirements?

Time Doctor works with Mac, Linux and Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. There is a desktop application on the computer of each team member and there is also a web component.

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Is the data in a secured environment?

All communication to the server is secured by SSL encryption. The files on the server are encrypted to provide an extra level of security for company data. The servers are located in secure enterprise datacenter facilities with 24/7 monitoring and hosting support.

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How much time will it take for the person to use it?

The initial set up will take around 30 minutes for the admin and 15 minutes for the users of the software. After that it takes very little time each day (a few minutes).

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How does it monitor if the person is wasting time?

There is monitoring of the web sites visited and applications used whilst the person is working. The manager can receive a report with this information. Managers can also receive a report with a list of "poor time use" applications such as Facebook and how long they were used.

Also you have the options of taking screenshots of the person's screen during the day. The process of reviewing these screenshots is extremely quick for a management or HR person. The software also monitors if the person is using their computer when they say they are on the computer. It also provides various online and email reports to management which allow you to see how time is being used.

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Are there any privacy concerns?

The software does not monitor anything on the person's computer when they are on a break or when they are not working. Therefore even for a person using it from home they can be comfortable knowing that they are not being monitored during their own time. Our position on privacy concerns is that a company has the right to know what team members are doing during work hours, and have no right at all to know what team members are doing during their breaks or after working.

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Is this software intrusive?

We believe that the employer has the right to know what a team member is doing whilst they are working, and has no right to know what they are doing when they are not working. The software turns off completely whilst the person is not working (on a break etc), and in this time the person can do anything they want and it will not be monitored. This is in fact less invasive than most monitoring software because mostly the monitoring software will monitor all use of the computer and does not distinguish the difference between working and non-working time.

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I don't need to "monitor" my team, is there any benefit to this software?

Absolutely. About 20% of the benefits of the software come from the monitoring features. The other 80% are from implementing other time management principles in your organization. For example one major benefit is the ability to know exactly what your team are working on, and what their current priorities are. It provides a much closer communication with your team, reduces the time spent in unnecessary meetings and a host of other benefits.

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Does this software work for monitoring the hours worked for clients? Can we report these hours to clients for billing purposes?

The software is not designed for this and you may be frustrated with it if this is your goal. One big factor is that in reality most businesses do not want to charge the actual exact hours worked, but instead be able to report their estimate of hours worked. Time Doctor measures actual hours worked which may be appropriate for some situations, but if you are charging time to multiple clients this is probably not the right software for you.

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We already block Facebook and other websites in our company, so how can this software help?

Blocking distracting websites is only the first step to increased productivity. People waste time in many different ways, including long lunch breaks, chatting with friends on their phone etc. Unless you are tracking time through the whole day you cannot know where people's time is spent. Also the software has many other benefits for time management than simply tracking time, such as the focus on the person's priorities and sending a daily report to team leaders of the person's priorities. In fact you can turn off the web site monitoring feature and still get significant benefits from the software.

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Is it necessary to track the person's entire day of activities?

Tracking the entire work day is a necessary first step to a significant increase in productivity. It's not the only step, as other elements such as making sure that everyone focuses on their top priorities are probably more important, but it is an important first step.

Also tracking the exact use of time each day has other benefits as well. It allows you to find inefficiencies in your process. If you notice that one person takes a long time to perform a particular task you can find out why and then educate them on how to improve the process. So there are a multitude of benefits to tracking the exact use of time throughout the day.

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Does this software work for individuals?

It's much more effective with a team, but there are still some significant benefits for individuals. Time Doctor is the best software on the market for tracking your time each day. That ability to track time will help you to know exactly where you are spending your time, and help you to prevent wasting time on unimportant activities. It also will help you tremendously with keeping focused on your top priorities each day.

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Will I get resistance in my organization in implementing this software?

You might. The software requires change in behavior and it will become immediately obvious when people are wasting time. Some of your team may not like it and may resist it furiously. Generally the hardest working and most productive people on your team will accept it because they can see the benefits it will provide to their productivity. Also team members whom are keen to use this software to work from home, or to work flexible hours will also welcome the software.