Main Screen Map
1. Main Menu Bar - When you have the Menu Hack option enabled you can quickly access the menu commands by tapping and dragging from this area. Otherwise, access the menu options by tapping the silk-screen Menu button.
2. Project Time Elapsed - Shows current time elapsed on each project since last Clearing/Saving project data.
3. Drop-Down Project Menu - Allows quick selection of the appropriate project. Also serves as a current project indicator. If no project is active this window reads "none". This is handy for when your projects extend beyond one view able screen. If you have set one of the projects near the bottom but are viewing the list near the top you can still easily tell that a project is still on the clock.
4. Project Note Indicator - Tap onto this icon to quickly access the note associated with this project. When the icon is all black this is an indication that there is already data entered there.
5. Drag-able Scroll Bar - Allows you to scroll to and select any of 50 concurrent projects.
6. Total Time Elapsed - Shows the total time elapsed for all projects minus time elapsed from those projects whose properties are set to Ignore This Project.
7. Project Properties QuickView - Allows you to easily view and change the properties for the current project. Uppercase letters indicate that the associated property is enabled, lowercase indicates disabled.
8. Commands Pop-Up List - Allows quick access to all required commands. When there is no project highlighted only universal commands are shown, while a project is active universal commands as well as project-specific commands are available.
9. Empty Project Slot Indicator - Indicates availability of the current slot for a new project.
10. Current Project Indicator - Indicates the project that is currently on the clock. (Remember if you are viewing another part of the list the current project will still be indicated by the Project Drop-Down Menu.)
Options Screen Map
1. Display times as hhh:mm - Time totals on the main screen and in the exported data will be shown in this format even when totaling more than 24 hours. Note: As this option is contradictory to the following, enabling one option disables the other.
2. Display times as dd:hh:mm - Time totals on the main screen and in the exported data will be shown in this format when totaling more than 24 hours. Note: As this option is contradictory to the former, enabling one option disables the other.
3. Save into the memopad - When project details are saved, they will be saved in a MemoPad entry under the category "Titrax".
4. Save into the datebook - When project details are saved, they will be saved in a timeless DateBook entry for that date.
5. Show datebook warnings - Whenever you attempt to Change Time or Shift Time for any project that has the Create datebook entries option selected, you will receive a reminder that those functions may result in inconsistent DateBook entries.
6. Center active project - Whenever you select a project from the DropDown Project Menu the project list view will be adjusted so that the highlighted project is in the center of the screen.
7. Save All implies Clear All - Whenever you save the project details those details (such as time elapsed and notes NOT the project name or properties) will be removed automatically from the Titrax screen.
8. Clear removes notes - Whenever the Clear command is invoked whatever details are maintained in the note associated with that project will be cleared as well.
9. Menu Hack - Allows single-tap & drag access to the menu bar.
10. Clear notes in datebook mode - ?????
Installing the Program
Using the "Palm Install" tool, load the included "titrax.prc" and "libtitrax.prc" files onto the Pilot.
Starting the Program
On tapping the Titrax icon you enter the main screen where you maintain a listing of current projects. Along the left side of the window you see an ellipsis for each empty project slot and along the right a sliding scrollbar which allows you to maintain up to 50 concurrent accounts or projects.
In order to get the fullest use of this tutorial you should first go to your "Memo Pad" application on your Pilot and create a "Titrax" category and ensure that the Options screen within Titrax (accessed through the Menu silk-screen button and selecting Set...) matches that shown below:
Entering New Projects
Tap onto the topmost project slot and the Project Properties window appears. For this first project enter "ABC Plastics" for the Project name and select the Create datebook entries option. This allows the automatic insertion of an entry in your Datebook corresponding to the time, date, and note information entered within Titrax.
After clicking the OK button you will see that the newly entered project remains highlighted. This means that the "clock" is running for this project until the highlight is removed. Also note that in the middle window at the bottom of the screen you see a reminder of the project settings for that project, an uppercase D to indicate that you enabled the Datebook entries option and lower case t i to indicate that Time logging and Ignore were disabled. You can toggle each of these functions by tapping the appropriate letter but, for now, leave them as originally selected and tap the project so that the highlight is removed.
Tap the empty slot immediately below ABC Plastics and enter "XYZ Realty" for the name and select only the Datebook option as above.
Lastly, you want a catch-all entry for monitoring internal tasks so open the next available slot and enter "Admin Tasks" as the name and leave Create datebook entries unselected as you do not want to clutter your Datebook with non-billable entries and select Ignore this project. This prevents the time elapsed for this project/task from contributing to the total time elapsed counter which you want to indicate only billable time.
With these preliminaries out of the way we are ready to proceed with the day's work.
A Day in the Life of a Consultant
Your first task for the day is to work on a dead computer that someone from XYZ Realty brought in the day before. After opening Titrax you tap the XYZ Realty slot to start the clock. You quickly confirm that the power supply is dead and needs replacement so after switching to the pilot Address Book applet to get the phone number, you call the client to give a quote of the parts and labor. After receiving their okay you return to Titrax (note that the XYZ project is still on the clock) and tap the note icon for the project. You then enter the Repair Order number for this job, enter a date stamp and time stamp with a brief notation about the quote and permission from the client. After pressing OK you will find that the note icon now appears different from the others. Depending on how you use the program as a whole, this feature can be used in different ways. To help remind you of tasks pending resolution for this project or just to keep from confusing notes from an old project for this client from a new one.
Before completing the Power Supply replacement you receive the first phone support call of the day. You tap the first available empty slot and enter "Phone Support" for the name and select Ignore This Project. You keep this new project highlighted while answering the caller's questions. After completing the call you return to the XYZ machine so you tap that project accordingly (simultaneously stopping the clock on "Phone Support").
Soon after returning to the XYZ system you complete the work and follow-up tests so you phone back the client, notify them of the completion and learn that they are having random errors on their network. You promise to stop by with this machine later this afternoon and you amend the note associated with the project to reflect this follow-up call. You then tap XYZ so as to take it off the clock.
A few minutes earlier your Pilot beeped to remind you to prepare for an onsite consult scheduled for 10:30 at ABC Plastics. You highlight "Admin Tasks" while gathering all of the tools & test parts you may need. You briefly untap "admin" when you stop to get your obligatory morning Caffeinoccino and then proceed on to the appointment.You charge a flat fee for travel so you don't need to put ABC on the clock until you arrive there.
You spend a couple of hours there doing a needs analysis for the new computer lease that will be coming up next month but it isn't until you get back to the car that you find that you still have "Admin Tasks" highlighted. With "Admin Tasks" still highlighted you bring up the Commands pop-up menu and select Shift Time.
You will see the total time currently allocated to the current project ("Admin Tasks"). You select the destination project to shift time to by the drop-down menu labeled Shifted project. You arrived at ABC at 10:25 and it is now 12:30 so you keep pressing the down arrow on the screen until a total of two hours has been shifted.Once you commit the changes you can enter whatever info you feel appropriate into the note for ABC Plastics, then you make sure all projects are un-highlighted while you attend to the task of Lunch.
After lunch you return to the shop and start researching the problem that XYZ reported earlier. You spend 25 minutes sifting through various vendor cdrom-based and internet-based resources and print out your findings. It isn't until you are about to load up the machine you fixed earlier that you realize that you forgot to put XYZ on the clock while researching the issue. As no project was currently selected (because of lunch) you tap XYZ Realty, bring up the Commands menu and select Change Time. You then add 25 minutes to the total using the digit counters and shift up button and then change the current project to Admin Tasks while you finish preparing to go to XYZ.
On arriving at XYZ you change the current project accordingly and amend the project note to indicate your current tasks. Armed with the printouts you quickly resolve and explain the issue to the client, charge them the on-site rate for this visit plus the in-shop rate for the preparatory research and change the current project to Admin Tasks once again.
On the way back to the shop you stop by to get your afternoon Caffeinoccino (while off the clock of course). You then proceed to follow up on administrative tasks and responding to phone support calls as they arise.
Just as the workday is closing you untap the current project, bring up the Commands menu and select Save All. Go to the Titrax category you created in MemoPad and you will see a new Titrax log for today's date. The way in which we selected the properties for the projects should result in the "total time" being equal to the total number of billable hours for the period covered and the total of all "project times" being equal to the number of hours worked. You will notice also that the contents of the project notes are saved here as well and that the format of the log is in a colon delimited format that could be easily imported into another database or spreadsheet application.
As there are no projects being carried over into tomorrow, you bring up the Commands menu and select Clear All which resets all time elapsed counters and project notes (otherwise you would select each completed project, bring up Commands and select Clear leaving the unfinished project with its data intact.
With judicious use of the Project Properties options and the Program Options you have a great deal of flexibility in arranging how to keep track of your work. Although this tutorial was intended to help familiarize you with the main features of the program you probably will not get the best use of the program for your own work unless you experiment with the various options in the course of doing your work.
