Streamtime strives to embody project management software for creatives. This goal is reflected not only in its modern aesthetics, but in its functionality. Streamtime strays away from traditional PM software traits in favor of a process that reflects the working styles of its clientele.
If you are willing to adjust your practices, and let go of your traditional reporting techniques, then Streamtime can be a powerful tool that staff enjoy using.
Track to-dos, not timesheets
Streamtime’s most unique feature is its approach to timesheets; namely that there are none. Replacing timesheets is the intuitive ‘To Do’ board, the completion of which automatically logs time for you. Managers, or staff, can drag and drop tasks to organize their own daily lists of to-dos, yet get a visual representation of how long that expected work is going to take. To do’s can relate directly to project items (the source of invoices, quotes and WIP) or they can be created ad hoc. The time for one of these on the spot created to-do items is recognized within the project as ‘Extra Hours Tracked’ so you can easily gauge where your staff may have done some out of scope work.
Clear on capacity
Filling out a timesheet is as simple as dragging an item from ‘To-Do’ to ‘Done’. If the time taken isn’t the time planned, you can stretch the item in your chart as needed. The To-Do board is Streamtime’s selling point and you can see why. It clearly visualizes capacity of staff, makes time sheeting easy, and has the flexibility to work off quoted time or track all the small tasks needed to be done on a day to day basis. It could use a more complex integration with the jobs (the creation of sub items from the to-do list would be welcome), and it could cause a culture shock for a team used to traditional timesheets, but it is unique and useable.
For managers, Streamtime has a schedule feature, in which you can review to-do items across all staff or jobs. Flexibility in the drag and drop functionality and accessibility to create to-do’s on the spot with instructions that feed into a staff members individual to-do list, make this module a powerful tool for a manager that is conscious of how much work their staff have at any given time.
Quoting and invoicing
Quoting and Invoicing through Streamtime is job focused and based around Items. Items can be free typed, and you have the flexibility to choose whether an item is budgeted in total, or from the sum of the rates and hours of staff assigned to it. You can duplicate a quote, and its line items but due to the free-form nature of the system a lack of quote, job or invoice templates could become frustrating for businesses that operate with set pricing structures that vary little between projects.
Preparing quote, invoice and purchase order documents can be a mixed bag depending on your preferences. Everything in these documents can be freely edited, added to or re-ordered. This flexibility can be refreshing compared to traditional project management solutions, requires caution as it is all too easy to mistakenly change a price or remove a line item. Visually, the documents have templates that are only semi-customizable. Their presentation is worthy of any creative agency, but should you currently have highly customized documents, you won’t be able to re-create them fully in Streamtime.
Reporting options
Reporting is another example where Streamtime strays from the norm. Reporting comes in 3 main forms; inside the project, the dashboard & customizable list views.
From within the project you are given a graph of a projects process based on the actual vs allocated time. Paired with the graph is key metrics around budgets, invoiced and quote totals.
There are four dashboard options, likened to personality traits that filter that organize key information for that day. The information shown here is limited, and there is no customisation outside the 4 choices. The 4 choices are based on: in-depth analysis, top level information, staff capacity and budget vs actual. Unless one of the options is perfect for you, you won’t find much value in the dashboards.
Customisable lists
The real value is in the customisable lists. You can make lists of jobs, time, expenses, quotes & invoices. For each list, you can add in filters, and customize columns based on a generous range of data. Lists can then be saved as a favorite and exported to CSV. If time and care is taken to build an arsenal of favourite lists, Streamtime will provide the visibility you need to run your business.
Streamtime is a powerful project management software that bases its uniqueness on visualization and flexibility. Highly structured businesses with set project structures and processes will likely find there is too much freedom, and therefore room for error, with Streamtime’s approach. However, for smaller creative agencies where flexibility is essential, Streamtime would be a welcome solution.
Have questions?
We’d be happy to answer them or take you through features of Streamtime in more detail. Or, if you’re wondering if another solution might be better for you, we’ve also done the hard yards for you and taken a look at other project management platforms, including: Xero Projects, Harvest & Forecast, ActiveCollab, Zoho Projects, WorkflowMax, Scoro and Accelo.
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