Project Management Software

[cybershot]

A while back, chris did an article on project management software. This is how I became aware of freshbooks. I really like freshbooks, but do not want to pay a monthly fee to use the service. So having read other articles, I found fanurio which is ok, it would be nice if it had other stuff but that may come in the future. I have also been looking at quickbooks which is really expensive and does not have a lot of project management features. Like timers and new project creation and things of that nature.

So I was wondering what others use? Do you know of something better that is cheap or can be downloaded and doesn’t cost a lot? One of the other programs I found was Easy Time Tracking pro http://www.easytimetracking.net/

[TheDoc]

I use Freshbooks.

You can manipulate the free version to use the time tracker however you want. I love being able to access it from anywhere, and their iPhone app makes recording time for meetings and work on the road a lot easier.

[cybershot]

yes, but what happens when you get more customers than what they will allow. Then you will have to pay

[TheDoc]

"cybershot" wrote:

yes, but what happens when you get more customers than what they will allow. Then you will have to pay

That’s why I mentioned the manipulation.

I don’t let clients log into it, so I can manipulate it however I feel. I have well over the 3 clients in there, I just set it up differently.

[cybershot]

I don’t understand how you can set up freshbooks to allow more clients. I have two clients in there and I can have one more before it forces me to upgrade. I would be very interested in knowing how you set up your freshbooks Doc. Can you give some pointers to doing this?

[TheDoc]

I’ve set up my Freshbooks like this:

I have 3 "clients":

1. Personal Work (Blog, Website, Writing, Classes, etc)
2. Paid Clients
3. Freebies

Under each one I define as many projects as I like. For example, under personal work I could have:

– Website Redesign
– Online Tutorials
– Blog Writing
etc.

Under "Paid Clients" I could have…

– Client Name – Website Design
– Client Name – Website Coding
– Client Name – Meeting
– Client Name – Research
– Client Name 2 – Website Design
– etc

[TheDoc]

In the next month or so I’ll be looking into a way where I can use the Freshbooks API so that clients can login and see the hours I’ve worked, but not on the freshbooks site, on my site.

[cybershot]

I like it. I think I will try that out and see if I can get it working for me. Right now I am messing with harvest. But I really don’t like the idea of paying a monthly fee. I would imagine that the way you have it set up you can not allow your customers to login and view their project

[cybershot]

I love the freshbooks options. Just hate the price. But it does seem to be the best for web designers. I think my second choice so far would have to be fanurio. For the price, it has some good options and it seems that they are interested in making it better and better. So some free upgrades could come your way. Easy Time Tracking isn’t bad, but it doesn’t work as good as the others. Still the price is good.

[cybershot]

I know what you mean about freshbooks looking cool. Plus it has the feature of assigning a login for your clients to view information about their project which could be good for you. what I want is to be able to make a client, make a project, and then have the timer running that when done I can push a button and log the time to that project and have the software tell me right away how much I earned for that customer. I wish I had the skills to program my own thing

[TheDoc]

Yes, but I also use the billing feature for keeping track of payments (very helpful, and nice to be able to access it from any computer at any time).

I have my own templates for invoices.

[creativeways]

I have an Idea for cybershot to see what thedoc is talking about!

If cybershot would let thedoc log into freshbooks set it up for cybershot then once everything is set up then cybershot can change the password so nothing could happen.

Or maybe TheDoc could do a screencast of how he sets it up and then sends the video to cybershot

Make it a great day!!!

Edward

[cybershot]

I think I get how he is doing it. The issue is that it shuts down a lot of freshbooks options if you set it up that way. it is very creative though.

[TheDoc]

Yea, the way I’ve set it up is restrictive, but it works for me, especially having my own templates for things. It’s just a way for me to keep things organized I guess.

[ggenit024]

Here are several other
http://www.timedoctor.com/blog/2011/02/02/43-project-management-software-alternatives
project management software altertatives that you can consider.

[Author]

Posts