Firm Management
2019 Review of Chrometa Time Tracking
Chrometa Time Tracking is well suited for professional services firms including accounting and CPA firms. Chrometa bills itself as a passive timekeeping system, putting a unique spin on time tracking by tracking all system time automatically without any
Mar. 15, 2019
From the 2019 review of time & billing management systems.
Chrometa Time Tracking is well suited for professional services firms including accounting and CPA firms. Chrometa bills itself as a passive timekeeping system, putting a unique spin on time tracking by tracking all system time automatically without any user input necessary.
Chrometa is designed to work on both Mac and PC operating systems, and also includes a mobile app that can track phone calls and texts on iOS and Android smart phones and tablets, with users sending the billable time entries from their phone directly to a timesheet, invoice, or billing system
Users can start to use Chrometa by simply installing the application to any device(s) that they wish to track time on. Once the application is installed, any activity that takes place on the device is automatically recorded once the user is logged into the system. Any activity is automatically recorded on a timesheet, which can be customized to suit the needs of the user.
Chrometa includes a time summary feature, which allows users to review all recorded entries, which include standard computer usage, emails, and web browsing. Users can assign specific time to a particular project or client, with entries categorized by either program or application used, and a browsing history is recorded as well in order to track research. Each document created is tracked separately, so documents can be assigned to multiple clients. Users have the option to review all recorded entries on the timesheet. Once the timesheet has been reviewed, it can be exported to a third-party accounting or billing application. There is also an option to create an invoice in Chrometa, which can be saved as a PDF, printed for mailing, or emailed directly to a client.
Users also have the option to manually assign recorded time to specific projects using the Move to Project option in Chrometa. New projects can be created on the fly, and users also have the option to move personal time recorded to a personal folder, which is where all non-billable time would be saved.
Users can also create keyword-based rules that will automatically categorize future time entries to specific projects, which eliminates the need to move recorded entries manually. This can save a significant amount of time for firms that typically bill the same clients or projects on a regular basis. The more rules that users create in Chrometa, the less data entry necessary. Once all time entries have been assigned to a specific project or client, or moved to the personal folder, the timesheet can be reviewed.
Chrometa is available in both a standard version as well as a team version, which allows multiple team members to enter time spent on a particular project, with users able to assign specific billing rates for each team member as well as each client.
Chrometa offers a variety of time activity reports, including an Unbilled Time report, which highlights time recorded but not assigned. Also available is a Time Spent by Project report, and a Time Summary report. All Chrometa reports can be exported to Microsoft Excel for further customization, and data recorded in Chrometa can also be exported for custom report creation. Chrometa timesheets can also be exported to a variety of third-party applications which include Clio, CosmoLex, Basecamp Classic, Basecamp Next, FreshBooks, QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Rocket Matter, PracticePanther, Tabs3, Teamwork, Timeslips, Harvest, Smartsheet, Xero, and Zoho. Chrometa also offers complete sync capability with Microsoft Outlook, Gmail, and Mac Mail, as well as Office 365.
Chrometa offers telephone, email, and chat support, and a short demo is available on the vendor’s website that those interested in the product can view.
Will not suited for everyone, Chrometa is a good fit for small to mid-sized professional services firms that are looking for an easier way to track time. Chrometa currently offers both Solo and Team Plans, with Solo Standard running $19 per user, per month, Solo Plus running $29 per user, per month, and Solo Premium running $49 per user, per month. The Standard and Plus plans work with up to six connected devices, with the Premium plan offering connectivity with an unlimited number of devices. Team Standard, Team Plus, and Team Premium plans are also available at the same cost as the Solo plans, with the Team plans including shared client, matter, and project capability. All plans include one hour of personal training time.