Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Just Hit Cancel


It's so easy - just hit cancel. We've all done it, whether it's by accident or to avoid having to enter some information a software program is asking for.


It was a problem for a CadTempo user that was attempting to record time spent by his AutoCAD users for non-CAD activities. As easy as CadTempo makes it to account for this time, it's still easier to just hit cancel.


You see, CadTempo works a little differently than your normal, run of the mill time tracking software. After the CAD operator is away from his or her computer for a predetermined time, CadTempo will prompt the user to account for that time upon return. The idea behind this is interruptions that require immediate attention many times remains unaccounted for. With CadTempo's Activity Logging enabled all that is involved is selecting a choice from a drop-down box (and optionally add a description).


But too often his CAD operators just hit cancel.


 My customer (an engineering manager) had the problem of attempting to discover the amount of time users were away from their CAD station. Upon his request a default term was added to CadTempo. Now, when his CAD operators just hit cancel the time will be recorded and he will gain new insight into the performance of his team. It won't deliver quite the impact of knowing what activities took place but with the proper coaching over time I'm confident better accounting will take place.

Activity settings with new default selection



If you are wondering what type of information is recorded here's an example spreadsheet that CadTempo generated. The document that is open during the activity is recorded along with the selected activity name. The user may also include additional information to further describe the activity.





Do you want to get a better understanding of your CAD work time, or your team of CAD operators? If so then visit the CadTempo website to download a fully functioning 30 day trial.