Few are aware that there are several types of timesheets, each serving its own purpose. For example, project timesheets are designed to help managers with project planning and monitoring. Grab our free project timesheet template for Google Sheets to be in control of your project resources and progress.
Download Google Sheets project timesheet template
Download Excel project timesheet template
Download PDF project timesheet template
What is Project Timesheet?
Project timesheet is a timesheet designed specifically for project tracking purposes.
Unlike traditional timesheets, project timesheets contain additional fields such as Client Name or Project Name so that managers could merge timesheet data into a single document and use it as a database for project progress monitoring.
Similarly, if compared to payroll timesheets, project timesheets usually don’t calculate employee payrolls according to their hourly and overtime pay rates.
So, project timesheets help managers see how efficiently their projects move along and adjust workloads to increase productivity without delaying the project or increasing the project budgeting.
Benefits of Using Project Timesheets
- Review project time expenses. You see exactly how many hours your team have invested in the project and review time expenses as sorted by employees, activities and time periods
- Increase project transparency. See what’s been accomplished and what’s not and how much resources have been invested. Sort data by employees to see what you pay them for.
- Improve project planning. Historical time tracking data allows managers to calculate average time expenses for similar tasks, helping them estimate activities and plan projects more accurately.
- Identify employees who lack necessary skills. See if employees are fit for their role, project or task, offer them training or make them responsible for other tasks and projects.
- Calculate employee payrolls. If you use Google Sheets or MS Excel project timesheet templates, you can always set up hourly and overtime pay rates, add a few columns to the timesheet and see payroll amounts.
- Control project expenses. See how much money different assignments cost your company. Investigate costly activities to identify ways to improve the time/cost/quality ratio.
How to Use The Template
- Copy template contents and paste it to your own Google Sheets document to use the template
- Fill out your and your manager’s name
- Set up your rate per hour if you are required or want to see task costs
- Click on a box in the Date column and choose the date using the pop-up calendar
- Fill out project, task and client names in the neighbouring columns
- Enter start and end time of your tasks in the next two columns and see automatically calculated task duration in a column on the right
- If you set up your rate per hour, cost for every task will be automatically calculated in the last column
Pro tip: As a manager, you can copy and paste project timesheets into a single document and use filtering to sort the data.
Project Timesheet Template vs. Project Timesheet Software
If you enjoy the functionality of our project timesheet template but you feel like you need more flexibility, accounting and analytics features, consider project timesheet software like actiTIME that is also free to use.
Automate Your Project Management Efforts
Excel and Google Sheets are reliable but time-consuming tools for managing projects. Instead, consider actiTIME — time and project management tool for businesses that automates time tracking, task management, billing and accounting.
Fill out your project timesheet on any device, assign estimates and deadlines, monitor project progress, compare estimated and actual time and calculate project cost in a few clicks. Explore all actiTIME features — start your free 30-day trial (no credit card required).
