Save your time, and your timesheet that is quick and easy to use

This is a Design Challenge I have worked on.

What if we had a tool, that kept reminding us about what we are working on? What if we had a tool on our mobile, to log our hours and save, and submit it at work when the deadline arrives?

So the design had to be built on the requirements below;

1. As a designer/engineer/QA person, I want a fast and easy way to log my work hours.
2. I work on different projects and perform several tasks during a day.
3. My day might consist of 10 different tasks that I complete with the aid of different tools and software.
4. Remember that I also take breaks, pause and switch between tasks.

The above pain points have given away one of the personas. But, I did my research get a deeper analysis of the tool we use in different organizations, everyday.

I spoke to friends who are at entry level, mid-level and also senior level (who do not use the tool for reporting) and noted the pain points and insights.

Questions asked:

1. When did you use the timesheet for your organization, and why?
2. How frequently do you submit the timesheet?
3. What motivates you to fill the timesheet?
4. What are the protocols set by the organization, for skipping a deadline set for the submission of timesheet
5. Whom do you reach out when you are unable to find a task, and what is the process?
6. How are the projects assigned and communicated to you?
7. How do you track the status of your timesheets?

The User Feedback:

1. To report everyday, is a task.
2. Look for tasks, that are not listed and end up logging incorrect data, to meet timesheet submission deadline.
3. Enter the same data everyday.
4. Have to always open the website on the using VPN or intranet, unable to access from phone to log after work hours
5. Need to know the status of my timesheets and the reason for rejected ones.
6. Have to keep a track on the tasks manually, and then enter the data into the system.
7. UI is boring. Too text heavy and overwhelming.

The approach:

Approach remains the same, ‘Design Thinking’ where the main focus was designing on a tool that is easy to use, and saves a lot of time.

Empathize — Define — Ideate — Prototype — Test

A list of activities I perfomed using this approach:

1. Conduct User Interviews
2. Gather User Feedback, on tools that they are currently using
3. Understand the roles and responsibilities for persona to create the design
4. Create a conceptual model by designing the sketches, information architecture and wireframes
5. Design the prototype
6. Conduct User Testing

I have elaborated the process, step by step below:

We could get various personas for this tool, like

1. A manager who wants to view all the project hours put by his team.
2. A business analyst who needs to understand what roles can be defined or enhanced for the project
3. And the third one I have defined below; the employee who logs multiple projects daily.

For the above persona defined, I have designed few user stories;

Anuhya’s typical day at work

Scenario 1

Nita works on a multiple projects and tasks aligned to her role, everyday. She finds it tiring to report all tasks everyday, and then submit the entire timesheet for the week. She is looking for an easy tool that helps in tracking her time spent on each project and tasks.

Scenario 2:

Yash works on 5 projects in a day. He has different tasks, under each project. At times he works on the same tasks under different projects. He wants the system to be quick and easy to log same tasks performed in a day under multiple projects .

Scenario 3:

Keya has to log using the VPN or intranet. She wishes to log the hours from anywhere, depending on her free time, or over the weekend. She is currently unable to log hours manually and misses deadlines.

The user flow, to resolve the pain points described in the scenario

For Scenario 1

The user can work on multiple tasks by switching between tasks and projects, using the time tracking design

For Scenario 2

The user will first select the tasks, aligned to his roles and responsibilities in the job.

The tasks will be common for all projects, depending on his role at work.

After selecting multiple tasks to work on, the user can add multiple projects that have the same tasks, and also other projects with different task, individually.

For Scenario 3

For this situation, which is the most requested, enhancement in any timesheet, I have decided to create a small widget/app that can be downloaded on your local devices too. This app will have limited access and features. It is designed to only track your time, and notify you to fill your timesheet.

Low-fidelity wireframes:

Link for the wireframes : https://www.figma.com/proto/AptP0nZvHrewwOaukRSYOC/TimeSheet?node-id=16%3A0&scaling=min-zoom

The prototype and its features:

Through the prototype, I have tried to meet the goals of the user, which are:

1. Can be loaded as an app or tool on your personal computer or phone. Timesheets are mostly not accessible on personal devices, due to privacy and compliance issues. Keeping this in mind, the app has very limited features to log and save the hours, only.
2. The app, saves the logged hours, that are tracked on click of a button on the system. It notifies the user to log hours as soon as he logs back on to his computer, or as preferred by the user.
3. The user need not remember or write down his hours spent on a task and project. He can switch between tasks and track hours through the automated system.
4. The UI is interactive and easy to use.
5. Need not report everyday. The app will track and updated to the system when saved. The timesheet for the week, has to be submitted using the web application designed to track, update and submit the hours.

Link to prototype:

https://www.figma.com/proto/K4TaoM7bhvvgzeARxECKl5/TrackMyTime?node-id=1%3A2&scaling=scale-down