Time Vault

 

Time Vault iPad Time Tracker

 

Summary

Time Vault at its core is a Time Tracking application, but with an extensive list of features it is to become much more than a simple Hour Tracking app. Time Vault is an application created for the iPad that allows users of all backgrounds to record, track, and organize their day to day life or events all in one place. Time Vault lets users create a Log Book to keep track of hours and tasks or activities by either specifying a start and stop time or by entering a time duration. For the professional or business users they can also assign an hourly rate to the task to be able to create an invoice or report for work they have done or for work that they are having done.  Each Log Book can contain as many Milestones as they need, which serve as a way for grouping up tasks and jobs however a user see fit. Since a lot of people like to share and show off their iPads with friends and family members, Time Vault allows for the use of password protection to keep individual Log Books safe and secure while allowing several different users to have their own Log Book or to prevent prying eyes from viewing information that they shouldn’t be.

In addition to the individual protections offered to Log Books, Time Vault has a back-up and restore functionality that can assist or even prevent accidental data loss. When Auto-Backup is enabled, every time the application is started it will make a copy of the data, which can then be restored if necessary.

Since some people may want to manage or process their data through outside sources, Time Vault allows for the Exporting of data through various formats and methods. For the Business and Professional users, Time Vault also has an Invoice Creator which can allow you to create and send Invoices directly from the device without having to export to a separate word processor.

Main Menu

The Main Menu in Time Vault allows users to change various options, check out other offerings from Midnight Labs, and of course brings the users to the Select Log Book screen. Some users may also notice that the background clock face is fully functioning and should be set to the current time.

Log Book

A Log Book is where each user can add and track hours into tasks that they have performed so that they can be managed and organized. Time Vault provides its users with several Log Books so that they can decide what the best method of organization is. Some users may prefer to have all their work hours in one Log Book, where as others may chose to have a different Log Book for Job A, and Job B, and maybe another one for personal life. By providing several Log Books to work with Time Vault can accommodate several different users without each one having to share private data with each other.

Milestone

Each Log Book can contain as many Milestones as a user would like to add. At least one Milestone is required before being able to enter a new task. Each Milestone can be used however a user likes, whether it is by project milestones, or by treating a Milestone as a task category such as TV time, Movie time, etc. Milestones don’t restrict date ranges so multiple milestones could potentially be tracking hours and have tasks on the same date.

Task

Tasks are the meat of the application. Every time a user wishes to track hours they must create a new Task. Each Task has a name, description, Task Date, Start Time, End Time, or Duration, as well as an Hourly Rate if applicable. Since there is a lot of information to enter, there is a Wizard Mode that all new users can user, which can be disabled at any time. Users can also decide if they want to specify a start and stop time, or if they would like to enter a duration instead.

Usability

Because not everyone comes from the same background and skill set, we have included a help system that will point out a lot of the features in the application, as well as on the more complicated screens that require a lot of user interaction we have added a Wizard Mode. All these can be disabled in the options menu.

Data Options

Data protection and reliability is very important to us so Midnight Labs has tried our best and will continue to improve the options available to users. At present an auto or manual backup system has been put in place to prevent a total data loss from user actions or general operations. If Auto Backup is enabled, every time the application successfully starts up will create a backup file of the data. The user can then restore this in the options menu.

Export / Import Data

Several Export options and formats (XML, CVS, plain text) will be present to allow users to keep an external record through either the iTunes Data Sharing options, or by e-mailing the file to themselves. In addition to the various exporting options, we will be allowing users to import or transfer data from one application to another from multiple devices.

Invoice Creation

A big feature for the Business and Professional users will be the ability to create invoices based on their data that they can send out to their clients or employers. More information will be available soon!

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