recording total editing time to track billable hours to R&D tax credit

[EricatNordic]

Autocad has a tool on it to track total time a drawing file is open, being modified and saved for automatic tracking of billable hours for contract firms.

It becomes a document property that can be printed on the drawing or collected in windows and outputed to databases.

It would be handy for us here to have something like that in solid edge for tracking how long we work on parts that qualify for R&D tax credit. Right now we do that by hand which takes about as long as doing the actual R&D work itself.

Any one seen a tool out there from UGS or 3rd party that can do that?

 

[swertel]

What happens when you step away from the computer to get coffee or a bathroom break but you leave the file open. Does it still track billable hours against it? What about times where you keep the file open in the background but are researching on the internet or sending email?

Wouldn't that open a window to unethical, if not illegal, charging?


--Scott

http://wertel.eng.pro

 

[EricatNordic]

That window is already open, nothing stops us all from just lying when we fill paperwork out by hand, besides a duty to our professional ethics and fear of a bad reputation.

If the coffee and bathroom breaks add up to anything significant you might want to look for a new employee.

Otherwise, yes that would get counted too even though its not technically working. Same thing with the web surfing and other task. But I think all of that together would still be more accurate then trying to remember to do it manually and putting in sketchy estimates with the best of intentions.

It would be even nicer if it could track time open vs time when inputs were being made or SE was crunching math in the background. But I'll take anything I can get.

So whats out there? I noticed a total working time file property, but it doens't measure anything that I can tell.

-Eric

 

[rocknrol]

Look

http://www.nestersoft.com/worktime/index.shtml

 

[Schipperus]

This program is not downloadable at this time, but I know the program works, so e-mail them for information.

http://www.horchner-hammersma.nl/SolidTools/main_productivity_documenttimer_eng.html

IJsbrand Schipperus

 

[EricatNordic]

Those are great! Thank you everyone.

-Eric