New Time Clock & Scheduling Features

Visual Time Tracking and Enhanced Job Management

Published: December 30th, 2023

Just in time for the new year, we're excited to announce major updates to Shopflow's time tracking and scheduling capabilities. These features have been highly requested by our users and represent a significant leap forward in how you manage your shop's daily operations.

⏰ Revolutionary Visual Time Clock

Our new calendar-based time clock system transforms how your team tracks their time:

Calendar View Time Entries

Instead of traditional list-based time tracking, you can now:

  • See time entries visually on a calendar - instantly spot gaps in tracked time
  • Drag and drop to adjust time blocks - fix mistakes quickly
  • Color-coded by job or employee - understand workload at a glance
  • Week and day views - zoom in or out as needed

Improved Time Entry

  • Quick start/stop buttons for active jobs
  • Edit time entries inline without popups
  • Automatic user assignment for new entries
  • Better handling of overlapping time entries

📅 Enhanced Job Scheduling

Due Date Calendar

Our new job due date calendar provides:

  • Visual timeline of all upcoming deadlines
  • Drag-and-drop rescheduling
  • Color coding by priority or status
  • Integration with time tracking - see available capacity

Click-to-Add Jobs

Adding jobs to the schedule is now easier than ever:

  • Click any calendar date to create a new job
  • Quick-add from the calendar view
  • Automatic duration estimates based on job type
  • Smart conflict detection

🏷️ Workflow Template Improvements

We've enhanced our workflow templates with:

  • WorkOrder Tags - categorize and filter templates
  • Owner assignment in templates - pre-assign responsibilities
  • Better template organization - find the right template faster

📊 Hours Tracking & Display

Logged vs. Planned Hours

New visualization options help you understand:

  • Actual hours worked vs. estimated
  • Real-time progress indicators
  • Historical accuracy trends
  • Team and individual performance metrics

Automatic Hour Calculations

Behind the scenes, we've implemented:

  • Smart caching for faster hour calculations
  • Automatic updates when time entries change
  • More accurate job costing
  • Better resource planning data

🖨️ Improved Print Layouts

Based on user feedback, we've enhanced printed reports:

  • Better formatting for time-related fields
  • Cleaner layout for customer presentations
  • Print-optimized calendar views
  • Customizable print templates

🔐 Security & Access

Username-Based Login

We've switched from email to username-based login:

  • Easier for team members to remember
  • Better for shared devices
  • More secure for shop environments
  • Backward compatible with existing accounts

💡 Quality of Life Improvements

Small changes that make a big difference:

  • Feedback button added to login page
  • Links to Shopflow website from app
  • Full-screen job modals for better focus
  • Improved modal focus handling
  • Better archived job filtering

What Our Users Are Saying

"The visual time clock has been a game-changer for us. We can finally see where our time is going and identify inefficiencies immediately."

Sarah M., Canvas Creations Marine

"Being able to drag and drop jobs on the calendar makes scheduling so much easier. What used to take an hour now takes minutes."

Mike T., Coastal Canvas Works

Getting Started

All these features are now live in your Shopflow account. To get started:

  1. Check out the new Time Clock in the main navigation
  2. Explore the Calendar view for jobs
  3. Try dragging a job to reschedule it
  4. Set up workflow templates with tags

Need help? We've updated our documentation and created video tutorials for all new features. Access them from the Help menu in your dashboard.

What's Next?

This update lays the groundwork for even more exciting features in 2024:

  • Resource scheduling (equipment, work stations)
  • Capacity planning tools
  • Advanced reporting on time utilization
  • Mobile app time clock improvements

Questions about the new features? Contact our support team or schedule a personalized demo.