Tracking Time in Asana: A Fast and Intuitive Method

Effective time tracking lies at the heart of successful project management. In fact, it feels almost impossible to improve productivity without a proper time tracking app.

If you use Asana as your project management tool, you might as well use its native time-tracking feature to track the time spent on different tasks. However, as Asana’s time tracking is relatively cumbersome and has limited features, many Asana users look for alternatives.

Tired of time tracking in Asana? Uplift your time tracking with Timeular

The most accurate and effortless time tracking solution for teams!

Try Timeular for free

Does Asana have time tracking?

Yes, Asana provides a built-in time-tracking feature. It allows you to estimate tasks’ duration and report actual time spent on Asana tasks. You can add a new time entry either manually or with the timer.

In Asana, you can also generate reports about your team’s productivity. The insights are nevertheless limited, as you’ll learn further in the article.

How to enable time tracking in Asana

To enable the time tracking feature in Asana, take the following steps:

1. Open your Asana account and go to your Asana project.

2. Find and click the “Customize” button in the top right corner.

3. Add the field “Time your work”.

From now on, you will be able to track the estimated time and the actual time spent on a task. To record time of your tasks, you need to click on the start timer each time you start working on them. Pretty cumbersome, huh? No worries, there is an Asana integration that solves it.

The limitations of tracking time in Asana

Although it seems convenient to use the timer built in Asana, in fact, this feature has many limitations which can lead to inaccuracy in billable hours tracking, imprecise invoices, and time wasted on building timesheets. Let’s take a closer look at some of the biggest drawbacks of the native Asana time tracking:

• You can only record time by manually clicking the start timer. This leads to errors and inaccurate timesheets.
• Asana time tracking is available only for Advanced, Enterprise and Enterprise+ customers. If you have a Personal or a Starter subscription, you must find alternatives to log your time (more on that below).
• Time tracking in Asana is too expensive for smaller teams: $24.99 per user/mo.
• You must enable time tracking for each project manually.
• There’s no distinction between billable hours and non-billable hours, leading to inaccurate invoices and lower clients’ trust.
• Asana lacks integrated budget tracking features, making it difficult to keep project budget in check, assign billing rates, measure profitability, and control deadlines with time budgeting.
• Time estimations are done at a task level, not a member level or a project level, impeding single users from doing personal estimates.
• Reports are limited as they do not provide advanced filtering or sorting options. If you want to view time tracking data based on specific criteria such as team members, tags, or custom fields, you may not have the flexibility to do so.
• There is no timesheet feature. Hence, you have to chase your teammates for detailed time logs.
• Absence of custom reminders that might help your team to start-stop tracking or take a break.
• No keyboard shortcuts are enabled to start and stop the timer or switch tasks easily. Your team will lose time opening Asana every time to track time.

But there is a way to simplify and boost Asana time tracking

Timeular is an intuitive and easy way to track a large variety of projects!

Heather M., Senior Graphic Designer

If you are looking for a simple, smart, and affordable time tracking integration with Asana, Timeular has got you covered. It’s comprehensive productivity software for teams, offering a wide range of features tailored to managing time and projects successfully:

It’s easy to use

Having to open Asana to track time when switching from one task makes the workflow so clunky. Also, it is a waste of time! With Timeular, your team can track time using multiple effortless methods: automatically, with Quicktrack (keyboard shortcuts), by flipping the physical tracker or by manually adding time entries to the calendar view at the end of the day.

Automatic time tracking

If you forget to start the timer or switch activities, there is no hope lost. Thanks to automatic time tracking, Timeular will record which apps, websites, and tools you use during the day.

Your data is 100% protected and is stored in your computer, not in the cloud. It means no one can access it but you.

Physical time tracker

To strengthen their time tracking habit, teams can decide to pair Timeular software with its award-winning physical time tracker. The 8-sided dice is a visual reminder that sits on a desk. Customize it, and assign each side to a specific task (one side is a Joker). To start tracking time, just flip it to the side. The Tracker can track up to 1,000 activities with just 8 sides.

Actionable reports and automated timesheets

Asana time reports are limited to two dimensions at a time. For example, you can’t see at a glance how much time each team member worked on a given project. In Timeular, you can.

Time reports in Timeular are generated automatically for every member of your team. As a space supervisor, you’ll have a complete overview of every team member’s report. You can combine multiple filters to generate custom views. Also, you can export your reports to PDF, XLSX, or CSV. You’ll never chase a timesheet again!

Automated billable and non-billable hours tracking

With Asana, your team can’t track billable and non-billable time; they can do it with Timeular. Distinguishing between billable vs. non-billable activities will improve your invoice accuracy, maximize profits, and reinforce clients’ trust.

Set hourly rates to each team member or task and track billable hours automatically. This feature provides detailed information about work hours and the actual time worked on Asana projects.

Clear time budget views

In Asana, your team can’t record how many hours are left for a project or a client. In Timeular, the budget feature is dedicated precisely to help teams to track the time spent on specific projects and clients, as well as to measure projects’ profitability.

Work time, leave, and overtime tracking

Allows teams and individuals to track overtime and any leave type. This is possible both for full- and part-time workers, and includes over- and minus-hours. It’s an easy method for adding and monitoring all leave requests from the whole project team!

Custom reminders

If your team forgets to track time one day, they might give inaccurate estimates by guessing how much time they need for a task. In Timeular, every team member can receive custom reminders to start and stop tracking.

Tired of time tracking in Asana? Uplift your time tracking with Timeular

The most accurate and effortless time tracking solution for teams!

Try Timeular for free

How to track time in Asana with Timeular

You can easily connect Timeular with Asana via Zapier. A Zapier subscription is not required; it’s free for up to 100 integrations.

Here are the steps you need to follow:

1. Sign up for Timeular to start your free 30-day trial
2. Sign up for Zapier
3. Ensure you have your Asana credentials at hand
4. Create a new Zap where the Trigger is “New Task in Project in Asana” and the Action is Create Activity in Timeular
5. To connect Timeular with Zapier, you need an API key and a secret API; find them in Timeular > Settings > My account > API > Create a new API key
6. Set the ZAP live, and you’re all set to track your Asana task in Timeular.

Timeular is a great way to keep track of tracked time! I have reduced the time needed to report my project time which has allowed me to spend more time working on project tasks vs. administration.

Ivan S. Implementation Consultant/ Project Manager

Wrap-up

In conclusion, effective time tracking is crucial for successful project management, but Asana’s native time tracking feature has limitations that can hinder productivity and accuracy. The consequences of these limitations include inaccurate billing, tight budgets, unreliable invoices, and overpromising to stakeholders.

However, Timeular offers a simple and effective solution to overcome these hurdles and integrate seamlessly with Asana. Timeular provides an intuitive and user-friendly solution for team time tracking. It offers clear budget views, billable vs. non-billable time tracking, app context tracking, and calendar integration. With versatile report functionalities and actionable insights, Timeular empowers teams to manage projects more effectively.

Compared to Asana’s time tracking, Timeular stands out in ease of use, detailed reports, improved billing accuracy, time budget tracking, and the physical Tracker. By integrating Timeular with Asana through Zapier, users can enjoy a seamless experience and track time effortlessly. Make the switch to Timeular and improve your team’s time tracking experience.

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