Keeping Track of Date and Time with Excel and Other
Ways to Clock Your Work
By
Jost Zetzsche
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There are a number of ways
for translators to invoice their clients. We can either
invoice by the number of source or target words, the
number of source or target characters, or by the amount
of hours that we spend on a certain task. Each method
has its advantages and disadvantages, but each method
also has room for improvement. Look for tips for counting
words and characters in the "Upgrade Your Tools"
section, and read on right here for a couple of hints
on how to make it easier to clock the amount of time
you spend.
The most common way to log the time
that we spend on an individual task is probably in
an Excel spreadsheet. A few things that have made
it easier for me to keep track of my time are two
keyboard shortcuts:
- CTRL+; to enter the current date
and
- CTRL+SHIFT+: to enter the current time.
A preconfigured spreadsheet with rows
of fields for client, date, start time, end time,
and rate requires the entry of relatively little information.
If you then add fields such as total time (formula:
=SUM(<end time field>-<start time field>)
– the <enclosed fields> have to be replaced
with the cell designator in the spreadsheet, such
as A1, B2, etc. – and amount (formula: =((<total
time field>*1440)/60)*<rate field>), your
other data is automatically generated.
While it is possible to record your
time in this manner, there are little programs out
there that make this a lot easier. Time Stamp (see
http://www.syntap.com)
is a free program (supported by optional donations)
which allows you to track the start and end time for
projects you are currently working on with a click
on a button in your task bar. It is even possible
to have several instances of the program running simultaneously
so you can switch back and forth between different
projects that you may be working on. Once you are
completely done, all the time that is spent on each
project is summed up and can either be printed out
or saved as a text file. This is a nifty little program
that requires neither a lot of computer resources
nor a lot of time to learn.
© International Writers' Group. Excerpt
from the Tool Kit Newsletter, a biweekly newsletter
for people in the translation industry who want to
get more out of their computers. For more information
see www.internationalwriters.com/toolkit
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