Task Codes
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With remote work, one of the buyer's biggest concerns is "What are my providers spending their time doing?" Here at oDesk, that question is easily answered with a quick look at the work diary or a TimeAnalyze report. Just set up some task codes and have your providers tag their time. A few minutes setting up codes enables our most powerful reporting features to help you save time - and money.
- What are task codes?
- How do I tag my time with task codes?
- How do I set up task codes?
- What kind of task codes should I create?
- What kinds of reports can I get using task codes?
- Can I see what the provider was doing when they logged time against a particular task code?
- My colleagues are tagging their time with task codes. Why don't I see it on my reports?
- My provider tagged time over the weekly limit with task codes. How will this affect my reports?
- My provider tagged offline hours with task codes. How will this affect my reports?
- Can I assign task codes to specific providers?
- I already do my project management in an external system (basecamp, etc.). Can I import my project information into oDesk?
oDesk encourages buyers to set up task codes for better management and reporting of the time worked by their providers. The buyer (or hiring manager) defines task codes in oDesk. When the provider is performing the task, they'll tag their time with the code. This allows the buyer to easily see and track what time was logged against which task. You can even view and download task-based reports!
All team members can see the team's complete list of available task codes in My Jobs > Reports on the Task Codes tab. You can tag your time two ways:
- In oDesk Team application: Select the correct task code from the list (in the Memo window).
- In the Work Diary: Task codes are changed just like memos except you choose from a list of available codes.
If a task code was deleted it will no longer be available to tag time in the work diary. For this reason we recommend buyers not delete task codes until after the work week and provider review period are over.
Buyers (and hiring managers) can set up, edit and delete task codes for their providers and colleagues to use. Since the codes are tied to the company or team, you can set them up even before you have an active assignment.
- Go to My Jobs > Reports. Select the Task Codes tab.
- Click the Add Task link. You may also Edit or Delete a code you've already set up.
- Enter a Task Code. This is what the provider will choose when tagging their time in the work diary or oDesk Team application.
- Enter a Description to help you and the provider understand when to use this code.
- Click the Save and Add Another button to continue or Done when you are finished adding codes. You can add more, edit or delete any task code at any time. Changes will affect your reports.
You can either use oDesk's built-in Bugzilla system for task-tracking or manually enter task codes for your company. By default, the same task codes will be available to all the teams within your company. You can change these settings in the advanced options.
Different buyers use task codes differently - there are a few strategies depending on the kind of reports you need for your business.
Consulting companies often have their providers working on projects for several customers. It is important for them to be able to report on exactly how much time they are spending on work for each of their customers. They might create codes for each of their customers and/or for each project:
- acme-project1
- acme-project2
- beta
- gamma
Software companies might choose to create tasks that are tied to departments:
- QA
- Engineering
- Development
- Documentation
- Marketing
- TextEditor
- Spreadsheet
- TextEditor-QA
- TextEditor-Eng
- TextEditor-Docs
- TextEditor-Mktg
- Spreadsheet-QA
- Spreadsheet-Eng
- Spreadsheet-Docs
Our TimeAnalyze reports are integrated with the task codes system. You have the option to show hours per task per team or per provider.
Yes, you can snapshots for each time segment in the provider's work diary.
While your colleagues are welcome to participate in your team room, log hours to their Work Diaries and tag their time with task codes, only time logged to assignments is included in oDesk reports.
To take advantage of our full task-tracking and reporting capabilities, you'll need to hire your colleagues on oDesk.
Time over the weekly limit is not compatible with viewing tags in the new TimeAnalyze report. To see the total hours (including hours over the weekly limit) you need to remove the tasks column from the report. Then you can check include overtime. You are not billed for the time over the weekly limit, therefore, it is not included in task-based reports.
The provider logged 4 hours last week: 2 on Task_A, then 2 on Task_B.
The assignment's weekly limit was only 3 hours. Therefore, the second hour on Task_B was time over the weekly limit.
The TimeAnalyze report including tasks will show 2 hours for Task_A and 1 hour for Task_B (the 3 billed hours).
The TimeAnalyze report excluding tasks and enabling overtime will show all 4 hours.
The assignment's weekly limit was only 3 hours. Therefore, the second hour on Task_B was time over the weekly limit.
The TimeAnalyze report including tasks will show 2 hours for Task_A and 1 hour for Task_B (the 3 billed hours).
The TimeAnalyze report excluding tasks and enabling overtime will show all 4 hours.
Offline hours can be tagged with task codes are included in the TimeAnalyze report. For the time being, they cannot be excluded from the TimeAnalyze report.
No, task codes are available to all providers in a team.
If you must have task codes that can only be used by a single provider, we recommend you create an additional team, then send just one provider an invitation to it (team access only is sufficient). Any task codes assigned to that team will then only be available to that provider.
I already do my project management in an external system (basecamp, etc.). Can I import my project information into oDesk?
Possibly yes, with the use of the oTask API. We're still developing this feature, but integration is now available for advanced users. If you'd like to request compatibility with a particular project management system, please contact Customer Support with your suggestion.
