Time tracking system and method of use

摘要

A system and method of managing time and, more particularly, to a system and method for automatically tracking time in an electronic system. The system includes a time tracking tool is configured to be integrated with an instant messaging system. The time tracking tool is configured to associate a received instant message with one or more projects and track a session time in which the received instant message is active.

主权项

1. A computer program product for implementing a method of billing for time spent in an instant message session by a service person for a project for a customer, the computer program product comprising:
one or more computer-readable storage devices and program instructions stored on the one or more storage devices, the program instructions comprising:
program instructions, responsive to the instant message session, to (a) retrieve a name of a sender of an instant message from the instant message which identifies the sender in the instant message session and (b) correlate the name of the sender of the instant message to the project based on the name of the sender being listed in project settings previously defined by the service person, wherein the project settings include an identification of the project, names of people associated with the project, and keywords associated with the project, wherein the sender is the customer, and wherein the service person receives the instant message from the sender;responsive to the program instructions identifying the project based on the identification of the name of the sender and the correlation of the name of the sender to the project, to determine a charge to the project for labor based on a duration of the instant message session and an hourly billing rate for the time spent by the service person in the instant message session; andresponsive in part to an inability of the program instructions to identify the project based on the name of the sender and one or more key words in a text portion of the instant message not existing in the previously defined project settings, further program instructions to determine a second project on which the service person has most often worked, and to determine a charge to the second project for labor of the service person for participating in the instant message session based on the duration of the instant message session and the hourly billing rate.