Before EssentialPIM, I organized my work somehow — probably in a spreadsheet — but I can't remember exactly because that's how long EPIM has been my time tracking software.
As an IT professional, I am assigned to several projects simultaneously and have to log the time I spend each week into Workday, our human resources system. Even if I shorten the time-entry window to daily, I cannot remember at the end of the day where my time goes because of interruptions and unrelated tasks.
I need a tool to track my time and EPIM is my choice. It has all I need to organize daily activities, such as lists that let me separate work from personal. Categories, a hierarchy and customizable views help me manage my assignments, which amount to small projects in themselves.
EPIM doesn't compete, of course, with the major programs whose only business is project management, but it is a solid task management software in its own right and is easy to use. I have tried other apps but you have to learn their quirks, which makes them seem rigid. EPIM, however, is highly flexible. It leaves control with you to create lists and categories, to order tasks in as many levels as necessary, to cross-link with notes or calendar items, and to shrink or expand what you see with filters and views.
Let me show a couple of examples.
My assignments fall generally into projects or my own team's business as usual (BAU). Within these categories, I have to charge my hours to time codes. This picture shows a snippet of my work list and how I use up to three levels of detail to group tasks by category, subject, and time code.
The next picture shows my time for a particular day to record in Workday. I filtered the view for the day, using the search window at the top right (highlighted), and then sorted the list by clicking on the T-CODE column header.
Now, in the next picture, I can easily see in the status bar at the bottom my time for the day. I work eight hours, so my 7.5 hours is short and I have some time to make up. When there are multiple entries for one time code, selecting them let's me quickly get the total from the status bar and record this.
This is how EPIM helps me track my time throughout the day and then, in minutes, enter my hours easily in Workday. Of course, this is accurate when I start and end my tasks, but remembering to do that is a different story altogether.
Whatever daily activity you you need to organize, give EPIM a try. I think you'll find, as I have, that it becomes your go-to app for tracking time and tasks.
Have a tip for how you use EssentialPIM to manage your to-do list? Leave a comment to help the community.