aLemmer

Problem

You’d like to make documenting and tracking your work hours easy and simplistic.

Solution

By using Google Docs we can make a form for punching in our minutes and documentation.

Step one: Create a new form.

Once you’ve logged into your Google Docs account click create new then select form. I’ve made two required questions, namely “How many minutes were you working for?” and “What was done with said time?”

Step two: Modify the spreadsheet to calculate payments due.

We’ll want to total our working minutes first. I found how to do so via a Google Forms question I posted on Google Docs Help.

Delete rows 3-100 in your spreadsheet.

To total your working minutes, let’s consider my example: two questions, column b reflecting my working minutes, column c reflecting documentation.

In D1 add a column title for your total, I simply used “total” in the example. In D2 enter =SUM(B2:B) as it will echo the sum of the numbers in column b starting at row 2.

Append a column title in cell E1, I used “amount due” in the example. Let’s calculate our payment due in E2. Let’s say you’re getting paid $15 an hour, the calculation you’d use is =(D2/60)*15, which will take the total of minutes found in D2, divide it by 60 (to get hours) and then times that amount by 15 (your hourly earnings).

Note: Double-click to edit a cell, press enter to apply changes.

Step three: Testing your form.

While viewing your spreadsheet click form from the menu, then click go to live form. This will bring you to your form that you’ll be using to track your minutes and documentation.

Fill out the information as necessary; upon submission once again open your spreadsheet. By default the entry will come out on the third row, if that’s a visual pain for you just select the cells, cut the cells, and select where you want the cells pasted. Don’t forget to delete the third row you cut from.

You’ll notice that the formulas we used in D2 and E2 are now reflecting the data we want to see. Go ahead and add a second entry via your live form to further test the formulas.

You’re done! You have a functioning tracking form for minutes and documentation.

What to do from here…

I recommend that you share the spreadsheet with your client. While viewing your spreadsheet click share and choose your sharing options to invite those to view whom you’d like.

I print-off my form and staple it to the back of my invoices. If you do this make sure to revise the questions so they read appropriately in the invoice, e.g., making the column title “Minutes worked” instead of “How many minutes were you working for?”

Extra note: how I track my minutes.

I’m often using these forms in situations where I have my web-browser, Opera, open as I do a lot of webdev coding. Anywho, I use a particular Opera stopwatch widget.

A question for you

Is there anything you do to make paperwork easier or more efficient?