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bionicny
Community Member

Head is spinning w/Time Tracker

I'm brand new to using Upwork. Bear with me, please.
I've read through countless other threads about the Time Tracker and still can't figure out how to get the most accurate account of the work I've been doing. 
When I click on a snapshot in the Work Diary, it gives a minute-by minute breakdown of my activity, so why isn't all of the time cumulative at the end of a project? (with the snapshots used as proof of activity)
If the snapshots are taken at a random time within the 10-minute segment, but I turn off the tracker to step away on the :07 (for example) and it hasn't taken a snapshot yet, did I lose that time? 
- Should I proactively try to start and stop the tracker ONLY on the :10's in any given hour? 

What is the BEST way to guarantee that my time is being tracked accurately? 

ACCEPTED SOLUTION


Dina D wrote:

Thanks for the reply. 
You said, "...Or if I start working near the end of a ten-minute interval, I'll just delete that first snapshot." - what is the benefit of deleting the first one? 


If you look at your work diary, each 10-minute time segment has little green bars underneath that show how much of each segment you were actually active (one bar for each minute). So for example, if you start working at the 9-minute mark - or you stop working at the 1-minute mark - it'll only show 1 bar of activity, so you'd be charging the client for 10 minutes but you only worked for 1 minute. And if the client were to challenge this, Upwork's payment protection wouldn't cover you for this segment. It's not a big deal and most clients are unlikely to make a fuss about it (or even look closely at the work diary), but I agree with the others that it's just more professional and fair to the client to delete such segments at the end of each work session.

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6 REPLIES 6
elyannie
Community Member

Hi Dina, and welcome!  Yes, you are correct

 

"If the snapshots are taken at a random time within the 10-minute segment, but I turn off the tracker to step away on the :07 (for example) and it hasn't taken a snapshot yet, did I lose that time?"  

 

If you step away and turn off the tracker before it takes the snapshot for that ten-minute increment, you will lose that time (it will not bill the client) Also if you delete the snapshot, the same thing happens and you lose that time. I try to stop and start work at the start of a ten-minute interval. Or if I start working near the end of a ten-minute interval, I'll just delete that first snapshot.

 

 

Thanks for the reply. 
You said, "...Or if I start working near the end of a ten-minute interval, I'll just delete that first snapshot." - what is the benefit of deleting the first one? 

She isn't deleting those time segments to derive benefit. She is deleting those time segments because they contain very little time worked and she is trying to be more fair to the client.


Preston H wrote:

She isn't deleting those time segments to derive benefit. She is deleting those time segments because they contain very little time worked and she is trying to be more fair to the client.


Theoretically, if a time segment is shorter than 5 minutes, it should automatically be deleted, but doing so manually guarantees it will be deleted.

__________________________________________________
"No good deed goes unpunished." -- Clare Boothe Luce


Dina D wrote:

Thanks for the reply. 
You said, "...Or if I start working near the end of a ten-minute interval, I'll just delete that first snapshot." - what is the benefit of deleting the first one? 


If you look at your work diary, each 10-minute time segment has little green bars underneath that show how much of each segment you were actually active (one bar for each minute). So for example, if you start working at the 9-minute mark - or you stop working at the 1-minute mark - it'll only show 1 bar of activity, so you'd be charging the client for 10 minutes but you only worked for 1 minute. And if the client were to challenge this, Upwork's payment protection wouldn't cover you for this segment. It's not a big deal and most clients are unlikely to make a fuss about it (or even look closely at the work diary), but I agree with the others that it's just more professional and fair to the client to delete such segments at the end of each work session.

Thank you Christine - that makes perfect sense. 

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