Harvest
Time Tracking
Sign up free

How to Create a Time Tracking Report

Harvest simplifies the creation of comprehensive time tracking reports, offering customizable features to ensure accuracy and compliance with regulations.

Try Harvest Free

Will this project be profitable?

Estimate your project cost, set the right price, and know exactly how many hours your team can spend before margin disappears.

Total hours across all team members
$
Average rate across all roles on the project
15%
Scope creep is real. Most projects need 10-25% buffer to stay profitable.
Recommended project price $0
Base cost (before buffer) $0
Hours per person per week 0h
Weekly burn rate $0
Max hours before loss 0h

Track project hours with Harvest

Walk through the entire flow below. Start a timer, check your reports, and create a real invoice — all in three clicks.

Go ahead — start tracking!

One click and you're timing. Try it right here: start a timer, add an entry, edit the details. This is exactly how it feels in Harvest.

  • One-click timer from browser, desktop & mobile
  • Works inside Jira, Asana, Trello, GitHub & 50+ tools
  • Duration or start/end — your call
  • Day, week & calendar views to stay on top of it all
  • Friendly reminders so no hour gets left behind
Acme Corp
Website Redesign
Homepage layout revisions
1:24:09
Content Strategy
Blog calendar planning
1:30:00
SEO Audit
Technical audit report
0:45:00
Brand Guidelines
Color system documentation
2:15:00
Logo Concepts
Initial sketches round 1
1:00:00
Today's total 6:54:09

The Foundation of Effective Time Tracking: Why and What to Track

Understanding how to create a time tracking report begins with recognizing the strategic importance of time tracking itself. Beyond payroll, tracking time is pivotal for project profitability, resource planning, and meeting compliance standards. A well-structured time tracking system captures total hours worked, differentiating between billable and non-billable hours, while also offering insights into task breakdowns and project allocations. For instance, companies tracking time for legal compliance in the U.S. must adhere to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which requires meticulous record-keeping of daily and weekly hours, overtime, and pay rates.

Establishing clear objectives is essential before implementing a time tracking system. Define what you aim to achieve, such as improving project estimates, enhancing resource allocation, or meeting legal compliance requirements. Distinguishing between tracking for attendance versus productivity insights is crucial, as each serves different organizational needs. Effective time tracking systems, like Harvest, provide data that supports these objectives, offering detailed breakdowns of billable versus non-billable hours to aid in accurate client invoicing.

Building Your Time Tracking Report: Data Collection and Customization

Creating a comprehensive time tracking report requires robust data collection and effective customization. Accurate data collection is crucial, with daily or real-time entries significantly improving accuracy—memory decay can lead to inaccuracies if entries are delayed by more than 24 hours. Tools like Harvest facilitate this by offering user-friendly interfaces for both real-time and manual time entries.

Customization is equally important. Standardizing categories for projects and tasks with clear definitions ensures consistent data entry. Utilize Harvest's filtering capabilities to tailor reports to specific needs, whether by date range, project, or task. Custom fields can be added to capture business-specific insights, making reports more relevant to various stakeholders. Whether presenting high-level insights to executives or detailed performance breakdowns to project managers, customization helps align the report's content with its audience.

Ensuring Compliance: Legal Requirements and Best Practices

Compliance with legal requirements is a critical aspect of time tracking, especially in regulated environments. In the United States, the FLSA mandates detailed record-keeping, including daily and weekly hours worked, overtime, and pay rates. State laws, such as those in California, may impose even stricter requirements, like recording meal periods and split shifts. As of 2024, EU employers are also required to maintain accurate time records.

To meet these requirements, it is essential to establish clear, documented policies for time logging, breaks, and overtime. Implementing audit trails and ensuring data integrity with tamper-proof records are best practices that not only ensure compliance but also safeguard against discrepancies. Tools like Harvest support these needs with customizable time tracking reports and integration with project management software, ensuring that data is both accurate and compliant.

Analyzing and Actioning Time Data for Continuous Improvement

Regular analysis of time tracking data is key to continuous improvement within an organization. By reviewing reports weekly or bi-weekly, managers can identify patterns, discrepancies, and areas for optimization. Metrics such as total hours worked, billable versus non-billable hours, and task completion rates provide insights into efficiency and productivity.

Comparing estimated and actual time spent on tasks helps refine future project planning and budgeting. Harvest's detailed reporting capabilities allow businesses to visualize data through graphs and charts, making it easier to spot inefficiencies and bottlenecks. Setting measurable goals based on data insights can drive improvements in productivity and resource allocation. By leveraging Harvest's tools, organizations can not only track time effectively but also use the data to enhance their operational performance.

Create Time Tracking Reports with Harvest

Discover how Harvest helps you build detailed time tracking reports tailored to your projects, ensuring accuracy and compliance.

Harvest time tracking report interface for project management

How to Create a Time Tracking Report FAQs

  • A time tracking report should include total hours worked, a breakdown of billable vs. non-billable hours, task distribution, and project allocation. It should also highlight overtime hours and compare estimated vs. actual time spent. Harvest facilitates this with customizable reports that organize data into tabs for Clients, Projects, Tasks, and Team.

  • To customize a time tracking report, use tools like Harvest to filter data by date range, project, task, or team member. Add custom fields for specific insights, and tailor the report's focus to suit different audiences. Harvest's integration with project management tools like Jira and Asana further enhances customization.

  • Tools like Harvest are ideal for creating time tracking reports. Harvest offers one-click timers, manual time entry, and detailed reporting features that allow for customization and integration with project management systems, enhancing the accuracy and relevance of your reports.

  • Ensure compliance by understanding the legal requirements in your jurisdiction, such as the FLSA in the U.S. and EU regulations. Use tools like Harvest, which offer features to maintain accurate records and provide audit trails, ensuring your reports meet legal standards for time and attendance tracking.

  • Best practices include regularly reviewing time tracking data to identify patterns and discrepancies. Focus on key metrics like total hours, billable vs. non-billable hours, and task completion rates. Use tools like Harvest to visualize data and set measurable goals for productivity improvements.

  • Harvest integrates with Asana to streamline time tracking within project workflows. This integration allows users to track time directly from Asana tasks, ensuring seamless data flow and accurate time reporting for project management and billing.

  • Yes, Harvest includes expense tracking capabilities with features like receipt capture. This allows you to manage both time and expenses within the same platform, providing a comprehensive view of project costs and enhancing financial reporting.