Bill Tillman Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 I've been tasked with setting up some method of tracking the amount of time a designer spends working on a drawing. As I understand it there is some method for this built-in to AutoCAD but I will have to do more research on this. I was wondering if anyone else out there has a proved method of accurately tracking the amount of time a drawing is worked on...preferably automated process which the users simple need to just continue working and this will work in the background. The caveat with this is that I don't want to track how long a user has a drawing file opened. We all know that you could open a drawing file in the morning and only work on it for 15 minutes but if you leave it open all day, the report will show 8 hours spent on it. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated. I'm thinking that I could use .NET or even just LISP to prompt the user to begin the counter and then they would need to stop the counter as well. But the more I can leave the users out of this the more accurate the reporting will be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murph_map Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 Take a look at this and tell them Murph sent ya. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 The caveat with this is that I don't want to track how long a user has a drawing file opened. We all know that you could open a drawing file in the morning and only work on it for 15 minutes but if you leave it open all day, the report will show 8 hours spent on it. That is exactly what AutoCAD does so obviously you want to start looking elsewhere for a solution. This discussion has come up a few times in the past. You might want to check out similar threads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackBox Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 Take a look at this and tell them Murph sent ya. ... You beat me to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackBox Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 Bill, The issue is not new, but there's been no change in the 'gotchas' that kill most attempts. One cannot account for an undefined metric... Take for example, the definition of 'work being done in a drawing'. What is defined as time to be counted, and time not counted? Creating entities? Any time that is not Idle? What about deleting entities? If I 'work' in a drawing for 3.5 hours, and then proceed to select all and hit delete before a Save, there is no resultant production value, but there was work put in... Without a solid metric by which to account for this, and other scenarios, I see no way for an ad-hoc initiative being successful. How is time accounted for if one opens another drawing as read-only for reference... Time is spent researching, comparing, etc. to ensure that the work done in another drawing is accurate, but the time was in a read-only drawing, etc. ... Definitely not the simplest development issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackBox Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 (edited) If your boss just wants you to account for the time spent not doing 'something' (given an assumption that doing something means being productive)... Then I'd start by hooking the Editor.PointMonitor Event, and start a Timer... Using the Editor.PointFilter Event to pause your Timer, so-to-speak. This will not account for the issues noted above, and those implied but not mentioned, but it's a start. To see the Events mentioned in action, turn on the MgdDbg plug-in's Events. Edited May 31, 2013 by BlackBox Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackBox Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 To see this in action, turn on the MgdDbg plug-in's Events. For those that don't already have MgdDbg, you can get the .bundle here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Hughes Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 ... You beat me to it. Well the both of you beat me to it (I'm a late riser - what can I say?) - thanks for the mention. Bill, Black Box brings up some valid concerns you might wish to keep in mind. Much of what he talks about are taken into consideration with CadTempo. In particular time spent in read only drawings for reference purposed. CadTempo will record that time along with other file types such as Excel spreadsheets or Adobe pdf files. I'll be glad to answer any questions you have via email. Edit: To your concern about user interaction CadTempo is fully automatic and does not require the user to do anything (except work). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackBox Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 Well the both of you beat me to it (I'm a late riser - what can I say?) - thanks for the mention. Bill, Black Box brings up some valid concerns you might wish to keep in mind. Much of what he talks about are taken into consideration with CadTempo. In particular time spent in read only drawings for reference purposed. CadTempo will record that time along with other file types such as Excel spreadsheets or Adobe pdf files. I'll be glad to answer any questions you have via email. Edit: To your concern about user interaction CadTempo is fully automatic and does not require the user to do anything (except work). Let's call it 'Business Owner' privilege... You know, right up there with Lox and Bagels, and a Bloody Mary to start the day. It's easy to recommend a good product, Patrick... Especially so, when the Owner is such a great guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Tillman Posted May 31, 2013 Author Share Posted May 31, 2013 Thanks everyone and I hear you. This topic has come up many times in my managerial career. Thank God I'm just a lowly freelancer these days. Still the management here wants to start tracking engineering hours more explicitly. And they are taking the "view from space" approach were as myself and the department heads have to make our focus at the street level. For the moment I have thrown together a small VB.NET program that pops up a window with four independent stopwatches which all work independently of each other. They like this but this means the users have to be diligent about clicking in and out of the timers. I also told them about CADTEMPO and they got quite excited about that too. I think we're going to have some more discussions on this later today and decide on a plan. I am pushing for the CADTEMPO solution...why reinvent the wheel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackBox Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 *Wonders if there's a commission if Bill's employer buys* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Tillman Posted May 31, 2013 Author Share Posted May 31, 2013 *Wonders if there's a commission if Bill's employer buys* That would be nice, because we'd need at least a dozen seats. Plus, we just got word today they want to hire two more detailers. Sad for me, because it means I have to give up this big corner office and move back out into the trenches. No sweat, as long as my invoices keep getting paid on time. This gig has lasted almost 18 months now and there is more to come they tell me. To be honest, my commission comes from being part of building something that's never been done before, which is what they told me when I first took the assignment. But if I could perhaps make a little on the side, it won't hurt my feelings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackBox Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 That would be nice, because we'd need at least a dozen seats... I was only kidding with Patrick, someone whom I've had the pleasure of speaking with outside of the forums... My comment was made entirely for the purposes of levity. ... And congrats on the success with that employer, Bill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Hughes Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 It's easy to recommend a good product, Patrick... Especially so, when the Owner is such a great guy. Aw sheesh, you're making me blush. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Hughes Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 Levity or not I've got some ideas in that regard - just haven't fully implimented them as yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackBox Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 Aw sheesh, you're making me blush. The last public compliment I intentionally offered someone (sometimes they're given accidentally in my haste)... Was back in 2010, to Alan if memory serves... Like Microsoft, I strive to issue a new one every three years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Hughes Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 I strive to issue a new one every three years. Sounds like my update schedule Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murph_map Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 I was only kidding with Patrick, someone whom I've had the pleasure of speaking with outside of the forums... I had an outside the forums chat or 2,3, 100 with Patrick as well. I'm still waiting on the beer he was going to fax me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murph_map Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 As a off topic somewhat, my full time gig now (outside the cad world) is a mechanic for a boat rental unit. We also have customers that come back after a long weekend complaining about the boats not starting or running right. Little do they know we have hour meters on them and when we tell them "You ran it for X numbers of hours, so it must of ran ok, you are NOT getting a refund.", they duck their tails and leave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Hughes Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 ... I'm still waiting on the beer he was going to fax me. So you're saying this never got through to you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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