Windows Phone Thoughts: Trackin' My Time...a Review of BOnTime v1.6.1

Settings? We've got Settings!
As with any application of this type, there needs to be options to change it to suit individual requirements. BOnTime provides three screens of options from the Edit/Settings menu.


Figure 7: BOnTime's General settings

The General Settings screen lets you select how duration will be accepted and displayed. I won't go into describing it here, since it's well documented in the Help file provided. Suffice to say that there are lots of options for recording duration which makes things a lot easier. It also lets you select if you want your profile included with the exported report file. There is only one profile provided which includes your company name, your name, address, city and country, and is accessible from the Edit/Profiles menu. I was surprised to see that state/province were not included.

The Tree Options settings allow you to set up what will be displayed in the hierarchical tree structure on the main Timer screen.


Figure 8: Tree Options settings

Again, I won't go through all the options here, since they are described well in the Help file. Ones to note however, are the Rebuild treeview on settings update selection, which supposedly lets you choose if you want to have the Tree view reconstructed after you change the settings. Currently, this option will not 'stick' if it is selected. After talking to Darryl at BSystems, he's agreed that this setting will probably be removed in the next version, as the decision to rebuild the tree structure is made automatically by BOnTime, based on what's been changed. The other option to know about on this screen is the Don't Show Summaries. Typically, summary information regarding the selected Client, Project, or Task is shown just below the job input portion of the Timer screen. Calculating this summary information can slow down movement between Clients, Projects or Tasks on slower processors, so this option has been provided to allow you to turn off those summaries.

I mentioned the last setting screen, Reports, previously in the Reporting section. Report templates allow you to select which fields from the database will be included, and in what order, when you do a export from the BOnTime database.


Figure 9: Creating a Report Template

Installation
The .zip file supplied by BSystems for BOnTime version 1.6.1 contains the .Net Compact Framework, MS SQL Server CE2.0, BOnTime application (.exe file) and a text file of instructions. The instructions are for the 1.5 version, but will work just fine for 1.6.1. BSystems also sent me a Reviewer's Guide which I'd suggest to them should be included in the release package. There's a wealth of really helpful information in the Guide, as well as a good overview on how BOnTime works and how to get the most from it.

The files provided are .CAB files, so once they've been extracted from the .zip, you will need to copy them to your Pocket PC using Activesync or some other file transfer mechanism. As with other applications I've reviewed recently, BSystems is not using the ActiveSync standard installation routines, opting instead for self-installing applications which you run from your Pocket PC. While this has some advantages in terms of packaging and direct availability to download to your Pocket PC, it means you lose some flexibility in determining where you want the application to be installed. Once you execute these applications on your Pocket PC, they determine where BOnTime will be located - there's no ability to have it installed on a CF or SD card.

As most will have heard numerous times by now, you only need to install the .Net Compact Framework if you're running Pocket PC 2002. The Windows Mobile 2003 ROM already contains the .Net Compact Framework.

The MS SQL Server should be installed and your Pocket PC given a soft reset, before installing the BOnTime application. Although this is not explicitly described in the installation text, I found things went much cleaner when I included the extra step -- otherwise, BOnTime may produce a message saying that MS SQL Server is required to be installed. Also, be aware that although the MS SQL Server .CAB files will delete themselves after completing their install, the BOnTime module will not. After you've successfully installed the application, you'll need to go back to the location of the original .exe file and delete it.

Gotchas
Is it perfect? Not yet, but I give BSystems a lot of credit for getting BOnTime this far. It's not easy coming up with an application that will meet every consultant or contractor's needs, but I think BOnTime is a good start. Here are some things to watch for (which I'm sure BSystems will address in upcoming releases!):

• The interface still needs some work (e.g. Calendar gadget showing duplicate dates; input methods obscuring the Enter button, Export dropdown showing SQL files not CSV, Settings not always working, etc.).
  
• You can't select more than one item in the filters on Reporting tab. If you wanted to get reports on two clients, you have to select them all, then edit in the .CSV file produced.
  
• There's no way to tell BOnTime to install to anywhere other than the programmed location.
  
• There's no way to move the database to a CF or SD Card, or to other non-volatile memory locations.
  
• When inputting duration, it would be great to have an interface similar to the one PocketInformant uses for duration of appointments.
  
• It would be cool to be able to also record expenses associated with a Job.
  
• You can't move items (Projects, Tasks, Jobs) between the next higher levels (e.g. if you recorded the Job under the wrong Task).
  
• It would be great to be able to produce reports with summary totals at the Task, Project or Client levels.

Where to Buy
BOnTime is available from Handango for $14.95 USD. [Affiliate] A trial version which will work for 15 days is also available there.

Specifications
BOnTime is supported on all ARM processor-based devices running Pocket PC 2002 or Windows Mobile 2003. It requires .Net Compact Framework and MS SQL Server CE which are included in the package. BOnTime takes 416K of memory and MS SQL Server CE takes 1605K.

Conclusions
So, will I use this instead of my Outlook Calendar? It's kind of a toss-up at the moment. I've gotten very used to being able to record time as appointments in either the desktop or Pocket PC version of Outlook and having them synchronize automatically. But I detest the clutter it creates in my calendar. I guess it will be a case of getting into the habit of using BOnTime instead. It certainly simplifies entry of time recording and produces output in formats which don't require as much 'interpretation'. Maybe this is one of those situations where "Do something 60 times and it becomes a habit" holds true. I'll let you know.