Templates – Everhour Blog https://everhour.com/blog Project Management & Productivity Fri, 13 Sep 2024 13:53:36 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.4.1 https://everhour.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/cropped-favicon-on-green-32x32.png Templates – Everhour Blog https://everhour.com/blog 32 32 Employee Scheduling Templates: Create Perfect Schedules Every Time https://everhour.com/blog/employee-scheduling-templates/ Wed, 31 Jul 2024 14:53:00 +0000 https://everhour.com/blog/?p=30632 Knowing how to schedule shifts and shift planning are vital aspects of running a successful business, regardless of the industry. Properly managing schedules and allocating resources can greatly improve productivity, enhance employee satisfaction, and ensure smooth operations. In today’s fast-paced world, businesses are constantly seeking ways to simplify and streamline their scheduling processes. One solution that […]

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Knowing how to schedule shifts and shift planning are vital aspects of running a successful business, regardless of the industry. Properly managing schedules and allocating resources can greatly improve productivity, enhance employee satisfaction, and ensure smooth operations. In today’s fast-paced world, businesses are constantly seeking ways to simplify and streamline their scheduling processes. One solution that has gained popularity is the use of an employee scheduling template. 

In this guide, we will explore the benefits of employee scheduling templates and delve into various template options to meet different needs. So, let’s dive in and discover how scheduling templates can revolutionize your scheduling practices.

Understanding Scheduling Templates

Scheduling templates are designed to simplify employee scheduling by providing a ready-made layout, eliminating the need to start from scratch. These templates can be customized to suit the specific requirements of different industries and businesses. Using scheduling templates offers several benefits

1️⃣ Firstly, they save time and effort by providing a foundation for scheduling tasks. Instead of creating schedules manually, which can be time-consuming and prone to errors, templates allow you to quickly populate the necessary information.

2️⃣ Templates also ensure consistency in scheduling practices. By following a standardized format, you can maintain uniformity across schedules and minimize confusion among employees. This consistency contributes to better communication and improved organization within the workforce.

3️⃣ Another advantage of scheduling templates is their flexibility. They can be easily adapted to accommodate changing needs and evolving work requirements. Whether you need to adjust shift timings, add new team members, or modify the scheduling criteria, templates offer a convenient framework for making these changes efficiently.

4️⃣ Moreover, scheduling templates enhance collaboration and coordination among team members. With a shared template, everyone involved in the scheduling process can access and contribute to the schedule, reducing miscommunication and conflicts.

Overall, scheduling templates streamline the process of creating schedules, save time, maintain consistency, and foster collaboration, helping teams to bring their shift work to another level. 


Shifts by Everhour provides an intuitive solution for managing employee schedules with ease. From flexible scheduling options to mobile accessibility, it’s the ideal solution for optimizing workforce management in any industry.


Essential Scheduling Templates for Different Needs

Shift scheduling templates

Shift scheduling templates are specifically designed to meet the requirements of businesses that operate with shift-based employees, such as retail stores, hospitality establishments, etc. 

These templates provide a structured framework for assigning shifts, managing employee availability, and ensuring adequate coverage at all times.

1. Hospitality schedule templates

Hotels, restaurants, and other hospitality businesses operate in a dynamic environment with varying customer demands. Hospitality schedules often include sections for assigning shifts to front desk personnel, housekeeping staff, waitstaff, and other hospitality professionals.

The template typically includes sections for recording employee names, shift start and end times, and any specific notes or instructions.

When utilizing restaurant shift scheduling templates, consider factors such as employee availability, skill requirements for each shift, and regulatory compliance regarding work hours and rest breaks. 

simplify your scheduling with templates: a comprehensive guide

2. Healthcare schedule templates

In healthcare settings, scheduling is crucial for maintaining round-the-clock patient care. Healthcare schedule templates cater to the unique requirements of hospitals, clinics, and other medical facilities. They allow for the assignment of shifts to doctors, nurses, technicians, and support staff, ensuring adequate staffing levels at all times.

simplify your scheduling with templates: a comprehensive guide

3. Retail schedule templates

Retail businesses often have fluctuating demand and varying operating hours. Retail schedule templates offer a convenient way to manage the scheduling needs of sales associates, cashiers, customer service representatives, merchandisers, buyers, store managers, and other retail staff. 

simplify your scheduling with templates: a comprehensive guide

Employee availability templates

Managing employee availability is essential for effective scheduling. Employee availability templates provide a framework for recording and tracking individual employees’ time preferences and constraints. By understanding their availability, you can create schedules that accommodate their needs while ensuring proper coverage for your business.

simplify your scheduling with templates: a comprehensive guide

✨ Importance of managing employee availability

Employees have varying schedules, personal commitments, and preferred working hours. It is crucial to consider these factors when creating schedules to ensure that employees can balance their personal and professional lives. 

✨ Creating and using availability templates

Availability templates typically include sections for employees to indicate their preferred working days, preferred time slots, and any constraints or restrictions they may have. This information helps you make informed scheduling decisions and avoid conflicts.

To effectively utilize availability templates, establish clear communication channels with your employees. Encourage them to regularly update their availability and inform you of any changes in their schedule. This way, you can ensure accurate and up-to-date information when creating schedules.

Customizing availability templates to meet specific needs is important. Consider factors such as seasonal fluctuations, peak business hours, and individual employee preferences. By incorporating these considerations, you can create schedules that strike a balance between employee satisfaction and operational efficiency.


Cons of Using Excel Schedule Templates vs Specialized Apps

While Excel scheduling templates offer convenience and flexibility, they do come with certain limitations when compared to specialized scheduling apps. Let’s explore some of the drawbacks of relying solely on Excel for scheduling:

1️⃣ Limited automation: Excel templates require manual data entry and adjustments. This can be time-consuming, especially when dealing with large teams or complex scheduling requirements. Specialized scheduling apps often provide automation features that streamline the scheduling process, such as automatic shift assignments based on availability or predefined rules.

2️⃣ Lack of real-time updates: Excel templates lack real-time updates and synchronization capabilities. When changes occur in employee availability or shift assignments, manually updating the Excel sheet can lead to discrepancies and confusion. Specialized scheduling apps offer real-time updates, ensuring that all team members have access to the most current schedule information.

3️⃣ Difficulty in managing complex schedules: Excel may struggle to handle complex scheduling scenarios, such as managing overlapping shifts, rotating schedules, or handling multiple locations or departments. Specialized apps are designed to handle such complexities, providing intuitive interfaces and features tailored for diverse scheduling needs.

4️⃣ Limited collaboration features: Excel templates often lack robust collaboration features, making it challenging for team members to communicate, exchange notes, or provide feedback directly within the schedule. Specialized scheduling apps often offer built-in communication tools, task assignment features, and notifications to enhance collaboration and streamline workflow.

5️⃣ Reporting and analytics limitations: Excel’s reporting and analytics capabilities may be limited compared to dedicated scheduling apps. Specialized apps often provide comprehensive reporting features, allowing you to analyze key scheduling metrics, track employee performance, and generate insightful reports for data-driven decision-making.

While Excel scheduling templates can be a good starting point for simple scheduling needs, businesses with more complex requirements may benefit from investing in specialized scheduling apps. These apps offer advanced features, seamless automation, real-time updates, and enhanced collaboration, enabling businesses to optimize their scheduling processes and maximize productivity.

10 best employee scheduling software for 2023

Considering Alternative Solutions and Selecting the Right Scheduling App

While Excel templates have their limitations, there are alternative solutions available in the form of specialized scheduling apps. These apps are designed to address the challenges posed by manual scheduling processes and offer a range of features to streamline and optimize scheduling operations. When selecting the right scheduling app for your business, consider the following factors:

🧙‍♀️ Ease of use: Look for scheduling software that is intuitive and user-friendly. The app should have a clear and intuitive interface, making it easy for you and your team members to navigate and utilize its features effectively.

🔧 Automation and efficiency: Consider the automation capabilities of the scheduling app. Look for features like copy shift assignments, conflict resolution, and notifications to simplify the scheduling process and minimize errors.

💡 Real-time updates and synchronization: Choose a scheduling app that provides real-time updates and synchronization across multiple devices. This ensures that all team members have access to the most up-to-date schedule information, reducing confusion and miscommunication.

🤝 Collaboration and communication tools: Evaluate the collaboration features offered by the scheduling app. Look for features like tasks, messaging, and day notes to facilitate seamless collaboration and information exchange among team members.

🤹‍♀️ Customization and flexibility: Consider the level of customization and flexibility offered by the scheduling app. Look for options to tailor the app to your specific scheduling needs, such as setting up different shift types, defining rules for shift assignments, and accommodating unique scheduling requirements.

📄 Reporting and analytics: Assess the reporting and analytics capabilities of the scheduling app. Look for features that allow you to generate insightful reports, track key scheduling metrics, and analyze data to make informed decisions and optimize scheduling efficiency.

🔁 Integration with existing systems: Determine whether the scheduling app can integrate with your existing systems, such as payroll software or employee management platforms. Seamless integration reduces the need for manual data entry and ensures data consistency across different systems.

💁‍♀️ Customer support and updates: Consider the level of customer support provided by the scheduling app’s developers. Look for apps that offer reliable customer support channels and regular updates to address any issues and add new features based on user feedback.

By carefully considering these factors, you can select a scheduling app that aligns with your business needs, enhances scheduling efficiency, and improves overall productivity.


Employee Scheduling Template: Wrapping Up and Seeking Feedback

In conclusion, employee scheduling templates in Excel can provide a starting point for managing schedules, but they come with limitations when compared to specialized scheduling apps. The drawbacks of Excel templates include manual data entry, lack of real-time updates, difficulty in managing complex schedules, limited collaboration features, and reporting limitations.

To overcome these limitations, businesses can explore specialized scheduling apps that offer automation, real-time updates, collaboration tools, advanced reporting capabilities, and customization options. These apps can streamline scheduling processes, improve coordination among team members, and enhance overall productivity.

We would love to hear your feedback and experiences with scheduling templates and apps. Have you encountered any challenges or found success in using Excel templates or specialized scheduling apps? What features or functionalities do you find most valuable in a scheduling tool?

Thank you for joining us on this journey of exploring scheduling templates, their limitations, and the benefits of specialized scheduling apps. Stay tuned for more informative content and updates.

The post Employee Scheduling Templates: Create Perfect Schedules Every Time appeared first on Everhour Blog.

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Statement of Work Explained: Essentials of a Well-Crafted SOW https://everhour.com/blog/statement-of-work/ Thu, 27 Jun 2024 02:31:00 +0000 https://everhour.com/blog/?p=12703 No matter how massive or how simple, when entering into a contract with another business, a statement of work will be the initial binding guarantee and outline of how the work will meet established guidelines, standards, and expectations.  Because statements of work are detailed and thorough, creating one can seem a bit overwhelming. It may […]

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No matter how massive or how simple, when entering into a contract with another business, a statement of work will be the initial binding guarantee and outline of how the work will meet established guidelines, standards, and expectations. 

Because statements of work are detailed and thorough, creating one can seem a bit overwhelming. It may require employing certain tools – such as the best time tracking software, for example. To help, we’ve broken down the details for you and put together this simple, easy-to-follow guide to the ins and outs of creating a statement of work.

The FREE template you can find below 👇👇👇

What is a Statement of Work?

A statement of work or SoW is a contract setting up the expectations for the project and aligning the team(s) involved. Details should clarify the price, timeline, deliverables, process, expectations of requirements, invoicing schedules, and much more, depending on the scope and breadth of your project.

Put simply, SoW is a document of agreement between a client and agency defining the details of what the project will include and what it won’t. 

A statement of work is among the first documents you’ll put together to assemble the framework of a project before entering the planning and execution stages. In essence- it’s the first detailed overview of your project. 

Everhour is the top time tracker for SMB teams, including software developers, marketers, designers, consultants, lawyers, you name it! Seamlessly integrating with popular PM tools, its user-friendly interface and customizable reports make it the ultimate time tracking solution. With dedicated support, our team is here to help you promptly and with a smile!

Why is a statement of work important?

Ultimately, a statement of work is about managing and documenting expectations. The guidelines laid out in the statement of work provide clarity, and detail, and will make sure everyone’s on the same page, avoiding conflict within the workings of the project. The sides and parties who should receive a statement of work are:

  1. The project leader will need the statement of work since it captures and defines every detail of building and maintaining the project.
  2. Contractors or collaborators outside your organization will use the SoW as a detailed compass for navigating the terms, deliverables, work details, schedules, and expected outcomes.
  3. Everyone involved with the contract, regardless of whether they’re bound and contracted. For instance, contractors who are still bidding on the project, or even vendors looking to contribute with product/services you may need to utilize. You may want to make sure that they understand and acknowledge the guidelines laid out in your SoW.

Statement of Work vs Scope of Work, Project Charter & Master Services Agreement

We’ve found that these terms are easily confused, or they’re used interchangeably (incorrectly), so we thought we’d include a short section here clarifying the differences. 

Statement of work vs. scope of work

If you are wondering what the difference is between a scope of work vs. a statement of work, it’s pretty simple:

The statement of work is an all-encompassing, detailed document outlining the goals, purpose, guidelines, deliverables, time requirements, costs, etc.

The scope of work is one section within the SoW describing in detail the projected outcomes of the project and the specifics about the job done to hit those outcomes. 

statement of work: what it is & how to create one for your project

Outlining the project scope helps nail down the project’s direction and make sure it stays rooted to its original goal. Projects will invariably change some, but a scope of work helps ensure that change doesn’t deviate too far from the path or grow out of control. You’ll find the scope of work detailed out more when we examine the SoW outline. 

Statement of work vs. project charter

The difference between a project charter and an SoW is that the project charter confirms authorization of the project, and contains the scope of work within it. In contrast, a project charter is a short, formal document confirming approval to start or continue a project. It’s usually drawn up after review by an investor or project initiator, and it states the purpose and key elements of the project. Learn more about a project charter and what it can do for you.

Statement of work vs. master services agreement (MSA)

An MSA covers a mutually consensual contract outlining the terms that govern future agreements or transactions between an agency and a client. The MSA’s purpose is to bind the parties involved to some simple terms in order to expedite the agreement of any future transactions quickly. The MSA should include and define as many terms as possible as generically as possible to avoid the need for repeated renegotiation so that all parties can better focus on the details.  

3 Different Types of SoW

The basic types of statements of work fall mainly into 3 categories:

1. Design/detail

This type of SoW outlines the buyer’s expectations and requirements for the flow of the project and is put in place to tell the supplier how the work’s completion should meet those expectations. Examples of these requirements could include quality control, measurements, materials, etc. The most critical point of this type of SoW is to make clear that since the contractor is required to follow the buyer’s explicit requirements rather than its own, the buyer bears the risk of performance.

Using a requirements-gathering template for this type of SoW is key, as it ensures communication regarding any questions and answers about the buyer’s requirements (a measurement of materials, quality, and requirements for the supplier’s process, just to name a few).

2. Level of effort/time and materials/unit rate

This type of SoW is a kind of one-size-fits-all version and focuses on the deliverables of work hours, as well as defining the materials required to complete the project.

3. Performance-based

This SoW defines the conditions of contracts measured on a performance-based work structure, including equipment supplied and the purpose of the work performed:

statement of work: what it is & how to create one for your project

The method of completion of the work is unspecified, giving the project manager the autonomy to decide how to complete the project successfully.

How to Write a Statement of Work

Since it captures and defines every detail of your project, it’s imperative that your statement of work is thorough and accurate. At the same time, it’s a good idea to keep it short and detailed to make it easy to follow. Sounds tough? Worry not! Here’s how to make it right:

  • Break up the project into phases. This way, you can get an idea of what each stage requires as you go, along with what SoW has to contain within each phase.
  • Define your goal and how you’re going to reach it. Present a detailed outline of deliverables. Then what it’s going to take to produce those deliverables? Expand on not only what is within the scope of the project, but what may be outside of it as well. 
  • Explain the purpose of your project in a way that will be crystal clear to all involved. The plan itself may be a dynamic process, but your clear, concise purpose won’t. This is the benchmark on how you’ll measure the project’s success. 
  • Set clear, simple, quantifying boundaries, so all parties understand the expectations of project completion. 
  • Based on the four points above, our scope of the project statement is to mutually determine expectations of the project’s range of requirements within the tasks of the project.
  • Make it short and sweet but still clear enough that there’s no room for misinterpretation.
  • Educate and validate! Make sure you know your SoW inside out. This way, your team, your client, and whoever else is on a need-to-know basis understands it too. Best practice: check-in throughout the project and provide bullet reminders of pertinent points to keep everyone on track.  
  • USE A PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOL! A good project management tool is a game-changer. It ensures you have all t’s crossed and i’s dotted in your SoW. 

🎓 PRO TIP: If possible, include a work breakdown structure in your SoW. It is super useful for breaking down larger projects into more manageable chunks. Consider using project management software to manage, organize, and track your tasks and their respective sub-tasks.

Using Everhour as an example, you can break down the budget spent by individual task, project phase, and even employee. Employees themselves can have a blanket hourly rate, or a specific project rate — making it easy to account for any external contractors you bring into your team. For longer projects and retainers, there’s also an option to track recurring budgets.

Statement of Work Outline

As with finishing any large task- breaking down a statement of work into detailed bits makes it infinitely easier to complete. The parts of your SoW will be proportionate to the size of your project. Let’s get into the major points of the project it should touch on. 

✔️ Introduction

The introduction gives a general explanation of the work and who is involved in the project. A standing offer will follow (a commitment to the project). This locks in the cost of products and/or services needed for the project. It also paves the way for a more formal, detailed contract.

✔️ Project purpose

This portion of the SoW describes the purpose of doing the project. What is it for? Why do you want to initiate the project? Be sure a strong purpose statement starts off the project purpose section and provides detailed answers to questions about objectives, deliverables, and returns on investment.

✔️ Scope of work

Here you’ll find detailed information on further completion of the project. You’ll include an outline detailing the required work, the processes used to complete the job, what time frame it will take to complete the project, and the utilization of resources to complete the project, such as tools, software, hardware, etc.

✔️ Where will the work be done?

Specify the project site if your team will be working from a central location, or details about the circumstances if they’re working remotely. No matter where your people are working, communication detailing their location, as well as any tools used on location is imperative. (Software, equipment, etc.)

✔️ Break down the steps outlined in the scope of work section into detailed tasks

This is the place to make sure your steps are clear and detailed, as laid out in the scope of work. Things like the specific work needed, processes to achieve completion, how long it will take to complete the project, and the required purchasable resources to complete the project.

Remember, breaking up each of these categories into phases or milestones will make it much easier to create detailed, quantifiable plans for each. to make sure everyone understands what it will take to complete each phase of the project. 

✔️ Create measurable milestones

Layout clearly how much time is available and scheduled to complete the project from beginning to end. Agree on a start date and a proposed finish date, then make sure detailed billable hours by day, week, month are available. This includes hours spent on detailing and recording billable hours and schedules!

Make any maximum amounts for billable hours for contractors and/or vendors clear here as well. This is the part where we’re dabbling in people’s paychecks- so specificity is paramount here. 

✔️ What are the deliverables?

Make a list of deliverables along with a clear, agreed-upon explanation of what is due and when. Details related to the “finished product” are helpful here- quantity, color, size, structure, etc. Whatever is required to satisfy the expectation of deliverables, be it physical, visual, or whatever – agree on its details and when it’s due.

✔️ Scheduling

This section includes a detailed list of the anticipated schedule for each and any parties involved in the project and begins with the expected completion of deliverables. The details of which vendor, contractor, etc. will hold responsibility for this when it will begin, the performance period, the development phase, the review phase, the implementation phase, the testing phase, and the timing of the close of the project. Depending upon the specifics of the project, there may be more or fewer scheduling phases.

✔️ Standards and testing

Define and list the industry standards required if applicable, as well as any adherence to testing requirements. Make it detailed. What do the standards clearly state? Measure the inventory of testing equipment, if any, and those persons involved in the testing process.

✔️ Obtain a clear definition of success

Define the expectations of the stakeholders involved in this project. What would they define as the successful completion of the project? Make sure this is clear to all parties.

✔️ Misc. requirements

Will anyone need to travel for this project? Detail that here. List any certifications or educational degrees required for the successful completion of the project (if any), and be sure to list specifically any equipment or resources needed. 

✔️ Payments 

Once the project budget is created- list and agree on the payment amounts, schedule of payments related to the project, and whether are payouts delivered upon completion or up-front. Will payment occur per milestone? Whatever payment plan suits the needs of all parties of the project requires agreement here.

✔️ Other, misc. 

Every project is different, and they don’t usually fit neatly in a box wrapped up with a bow. There are almost always ancillary details that don’t fall into the categories listed above. This section is the place to list them in detail. Examples of these could include budgets for travel pay, details around security, protection of proprietary information, etc. 

✔️ Closure

This piece is just as it says: final determination of the deliverables. Including the conditions of their acceptance, responsibility for the quality of deliverables, and determining involvement in delivery, review, and approval. The closure also includes an agreement by all parties regarding the final administrative duties. This ensures the project is approved, officially closed and archived.

Statement of Work Templates

An SoW template can be a lifesaver when it comes to designing and writing out a complete statement of work. The process is time-consuming! Because of the amount of detail it needs to include, using even a simple statement of work template will help you avoid leaving anything out. 

Click one of the links below to download a free, simple, easy-to-use SoW template. Our template is basic, providing the broad points an SoW should cover. This gives you the freedom to tailor it to the needs of your business. Also, it excludes those things you may not need.

The template will walk you through each step, making the process of creating the SoW faster and easier. It also documents the specifics of dates and timelines, helping your team stay on task. Reach your project goal successfully:

Here’s the link: Statement of Work Template

statement of work: what it is & how to create one for your project

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Is a statement of work a contract?
    Not by itself. It’s a document within the contract or part of a project’s contract laying out the landscape of the project.
  • Is a statement of work a legal document?
    Yes- since it’s within the contract, it’s a legally binding document.
  • Who creates the statement of work?
    The SoW passes through a few hands during its creation: A coordinator plans the categories that are to be included in the SoW. Next, an author(s) devise a draft. The SoW is then passed to a reviewer(s) who provides comments and potential changes needed. The editor coordinates with the reviewers to analyze their insights. He or she then either incorporates them into the SoW or disregards them depending upon the consensus. The final version of the document is then signed by both parties and passed on for implementation.

A Few Final Thoughts

It really can’t be overstated how important it is to draft a clean, quality statement of work for any project. Set yourself up for success! First, understand what an SoW is. Next, what kind of SoW is right for your specific needs? Finally- understand how to follow the steps and the outline thoroughly. Using a template ensures you’ll get it right, and will help you reach your project’s goals. 

The post Statement of Work Explained: Essentials of a Well-Crafted SOW appeared first on Everhour Blog.

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Powerful Timesheet Template in Google Sheets: Customize for Seamless Project Tracking https://everhour.com/blog/timesheet-template-in-google-spreadsheet/ Thu, 13 Jun 2024 11:42:00 +0000 https://everhour.com/blog/?p=8249 No matter whether your staff is paid hourly, or you need to track their time for a project or another reason entirely, take a look at how you can do it quickly with free time card apps, online timesheet apps, or, quicker and more efficiently, with our free Google Spreadsheet timesheet template. Like a lot of […]

The post Powerful Timesheet Template in Google Sheets: Customize for Seamless Project Tracking appeared first on Everhour Blog.

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No matter whether your staff is paid hourly, or you need to track their time for a project or another reason entirely, take a look at how you can do it quickly with free time card apps, online timesheet apps, or, quicker and more efficiently, with our free Google Spreadsheet timesheet template. Like a lot of the best timesheet software for small businesses, it is completely free, and no registration is needed.

Here’s the link: Everhour Free Timesheet Template

simple but powerful timesheet template in google sheets

All you need to do is make a copy and start using it! Below are a few more details on its benefits and how to use it effectively. 

How to use this simple timesheet template

Here at Everhour, we’ve already helped over 3,000 businesses to track time and manage projects. You might have heard of our time tracker (if not, we welcome you to try it), but if you need to keep things simple – an efficient timesheet template is more than enough.

So, how it works:

simple but powerful timesheet template in google sheets
  • Make a copy of our Google Spreadsheet (the template itself isn’t editable);
  • Set the first date (for all other days, dates will be set automatically) and whether you need to include weekends;
  • Choose an appropriate layout: Weekly, Bi-weekly, Monthly;
  • Fill out time spent using hours and minutes (there is a cheat sheet to easily convert hours into decimal format);
  • Print the spreadsheet using the “File > Print” option in your browser. Even a monthly timesheet fits perfectly in A4 format. Just skip any other page, except the first one, to avoid printing notes, etc.
  • Download your spreadsheet in the format you need by choosing “File > Download as…”. Choose your required format, and simply click “Save”;
  • Done! 

Why use Google Spreadsheet vs. MS Word or PDF?

  • Documents can often get lost easily on the local drive;
  • Downloadable templates are not always cross-platform compatible and they apparently require additional software to use;
  • When filling out a template in MS Word or PDF there is no way to use formulas, therefore you have to do all the calculations manually, which may lead to errors;
  • When using a downloadable template, the layout may become distortable making your timesheet unreadable;
  • Google Spreadsheet helps you avoid mentioned issues, but of course, those are not the only benefits you’ll discover.

Everhour is the top choice for small businesses and small to mid-size teams of 5 to 50 members, including professionals like software developers, marketers, designers, consultants, lawyers, you name it!

Seamlessly integrating with popular project management tools like Asana, Trello, and Jira, its user-friendly interface and customizable reports make it the ultimate time tracking solution for small and mid-size teams.

With dedicated support ensuring you receive timely assistance, our team is here to help you promptly and with a smile!


More free tools

  • Time card calculator: Online calculator with clock-in, clock-out, breaks, and overtime pay. Easy to fill and print your weekly or bi-weekly timesheet.
  • Weekly timesheet: Track time spent on specific tasks or activities. Useful for planning, client reporting, billing, and payroll.
  • Invoice generator: Invoice promptly or send your clients an estimate with a professional-looking invoice template. Include a link to pay the invoice online.
  • Time-blocking templates: Time-blocking planner templates you can download in PDF and print out or make a copy of our Google Spreadsheet and customize them for yourself.

All in all, Google project management tools can bring wonders to your workflow!

The post Powerful Timesheet Template in Google Sheets: Customize for Seamless Project Tracking appeared first on Everhour Blog.

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Free Professional Google Docs Invoice Template for Your Business https://everhour.com/blog/invoice-template-google-docs/ Thu, 04 Apr 2024 18:09:00 +0000 https://everhour.com/blog/?p=13012 Let’s say you are looking for a simple, professional-looking invoice that comes together in a matter of minutes. Then you have come to the right place. Pick up your copy of the invoice template for Google Docs below — as well as some tips for using it to your advantage! What makes this Google Docs […]

The post Free Professional Google Docs Invoice Template for Your Business appeared first on Everhour Blog.

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Let’s say you are looking for a simple, professional-looking invoice that comes together in a matter of minutes. Then you have come to the right place. Pick up your copy of the invoice template for Google Docs below — as well as some tips for using it to your advantage!

What makes this Google Docs invoice template stand out is that it is:

✅ free;
✅ professionally designed;
✅ very easy to plug your own information and numbers into.

Of course, you could write your invoice from scratch, but why bother? This free template does all of the heavy lifting for you! Make sure you check out the best time tracking software to make sure every minute counts!

Everhour is the top time tracker for SMB teams, including software developers, marketers, designers, consultants, lawyers, you name it! Seamlessly integrating with popular PM tools, its user-friendly interface and customizable reports make it the ultimate time tracking solution. With dedicated support, our team is here to help you promptly and with a smile!

Simple Invoice Template for Google Docs

If you need a solution that’s simple but looks uber professional, you just can’t go wrong with this template. It allows you to quickly fill in all the basic information that should be included when invoicing clients. The best part? Once you’ve filled in the blanks, the calculations will be done automatically!

All you need to do is make a copy of this Google Sheets invoice template and start using it. Here’s the link: Free Invoice Template Google Doc

free professional google docs invoice template for your business

Here is how to use it, step-by-step:

  1. Make sure you’re logged into your Google account.
  2. Make a copy of our Google invoice template (Choose “File > Make a copy”)
  3. Make it yours! Replace the default fields in the template with your own information: your logo and company name, contact information, invoice date, due date, and PO number. Then, fill in the client information.
  4. List the services you have provided, the number of hours worked on each, and the rate of pay. You will see that the subtotal for each service, the subtotal for all services, and the amount due will be calculated automatically.
  5. Make sure everything lines up and make any final changes you’d like. Once you’re finished editing, you’ll want to download it in the format you need. Choose “File > Download as…”. Choose your required format (I recommend PDF to freeze the formatting in place), and simply click “Save”.

Free Online Invoice Generator

Depending on your industry and the complexity of the services you provide, you may want to opt for something slightly more sophisticated. The good news is: we have you covered!

Here is the link: Free online invoice generator

free professional google docs invoice template for your business

How it works:

  1. Easily customize the layout, add or replace any section you wish;
  2. Change the currency or translate your invoice with one click;
  3. Save your customized invoice template for later use inside your browser and never have to create an invoice from scratch again;
  4. Include a link to pay the invoice online (so that your client can pay it quickly and easily).

On top of it all, this is easily one of the best invoice generators out there in terms of design and ease of use. If you’re always looking for better, faster, more efficient ways to take care of your paperwork, you can’t go wrong with it!

free professional google docs invoice template for your business

📱It’s mobile-friendly. You can fill out the invoice or estimate from your phone, save it as a PDF and attach it to an email, chat message or print it right away. No third-party apps are needed!

Invoice Based on Tracked Time and Expenses

Here at Everhour, we specialize in time tracking with auto-generated, error-free timesheets… and automated invoicing. That’s right: our software automatically adds billable time and expenses into your invoices. Your clients receive timely, professional, and transparent bills every single time!

And make sure to try out some Google project management tools that can easily ease your pain when figuring out your workflow!

More Free Tools

free professional google docs invoice template for your business
Timesheet Template Using Google Spreadsheet

You might have heard of our time tracking software, but if you need to keep things simple, this timesheet template is more than enough!

free professional google docs invoice template for your business
Time Card and Timesheet Calculator

Best to report time spent on specific tasks or activities, projects or clients during the week. It also counts overtime and double overtime.

free professional google docs invoice template for your business
Time Management Worksheet for Accurate Time Blocking

Time blocking planner templates you can download in PDF and print out or make a copy of our Google Spreadsheet and customize them for yourself.

The post Free Professional Google Docs Invoice Template for Your Business appeared first on Everhour Blog.

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ClickUp Templates 2024: The Best Project Management Templates https://everhour.com/blog/clickup-templates/ Thu, 04 Apr 2024 17:11:00 +0000 https://everhour.com/blog/?p=29493 Project templates are some of the best time savers when it comes to keeping your workflow on track. If you’re looking for the best project management templates that you can use on various tools and software, look no further than ClickUp project management templates. ClickUp templates are pre-made, pre-formatted, or preset sheets that are designed […]

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Project templates are some of the best time savers when it comes to keeping your workflow on track. If you’re looking for the best project management templates that you can use on various tools and software, look no further than ClickUp project management templates.

ClickUp templates are pre-made, pre-formatted, or preset sheets that are designed to help you quickly set up your projects and tasks. All you need to do is to select a template that fits your project best, fill it with the information needed in your project and you’re good to go. From project planning to task organization, ClickUp has everything you need. However, not all templates are created equal, and not all of them are suitable for your specific project.

In this article, we’ll list down different ClickUp templates that you can use for your project in 2024 and talk about how you can use these free templates to revolutionize the way you handle your projects.

Why You Need ClickUp Templates

clickup templates

Templates are a great way to ensure that your entire team has a streamlined workflow process. Imagine you don’t have a template for project status tracking. Every time someone on the team needs to create a status report, they would have to manually create one and send it out. Not only is the process unnecessarily time-consuming, but it’s also inefficient.

Luckily, there are many free templates available, like those found in Microsoft’s full Office suite. In fact, you’re probably already familiar with Microsoft Word project management templates, also known simply as an MS Word project management template. You can see them every time you open up MS Word – they’re a project plan template doc you can select to give your document some structure right from the get-go.

There are many other project plan examples in Word, program plan template Word, and project management template Word, some of which you can even get from the Internet just by looking up ‘project plan template free download’. That said, although these free MS project templates–or even MOCHA project management templates–are good, they’re not always the best. If you need a simple project management plan template, Word may be enough, but if you’re dealing with larger, more complex projects, then you’ll need something more.

That’s where ClickUp comes in: it offers a wide range of templates that are easily customizable and can be used for any type of project.

And customization is one of the platform’s strongest suits. ClickUp makes it super easy to create a unique template just for you, more than any project planning template Word can offer. It can be as simple or complex as you need it to be, depending on the project at hand.

To say it simply, the benefits of using free ClickUp templates are countless: saving time, keeping organized, and most importantly keeping your sanity intact. You can have a template for anything you need – weekly tasks, social media scheduling, or even one-on-one meetings.

And if you want to track your progress inside ClickUp, take advantage of one of the best time trackers out out there – Everhour, that works perfectly with ClickUp 😉

Everhour is the top choice for small businesses and small to mid-size teams of 5 to 50 members, including professionals like software developers, marketers, designers, consultants, lawyers, you name it!

Seamlessly integrating with popular project management tools like Asana, Trello, and Jira, its user-friendly interface and customizable reports make it the ultimate time tracking solution for small and mid-size teams.

With dedicated support ensuring you receive timely assistance, our team is here to help you promptly and with a smile!

Best ClickUp Project Management Templates

As we mentioned before, there are a thousand different templates available on ClickUp. So, which one should you use? Here are some of the best ClickUp templates that can help you kickstart your 2024 projects!


ClickUp Agile Management Template

clickup templates 2023: the best project management templates

If you need something more specialized, then the Agile Management Template is perfect for you. This template can greatly help teams who utilize agile methods of project management, such as scrum, kanban & sprints.

While agile can be quite overwhelming to beginners, this template makes it much easier to dive right in and get started. It contains all the essential components of agile project management, so you won’t have to worry about missing out on any important tasks.

It also features multiple views designed to help you work faster. For instance, there’s a project management board layout that shows all the project tasks in a simple, easy-to-understand format.

With this ClickUp template, you can easily focus on the tasks that need to be done and get your project done quickly and efficiently without any hiccups.

💡 Features:

  • 8 views: Projects, Kanban, Getting Started Guide, Roadmap, Intake Request, Backlog and Sprints Tips, List, Board
  • 13 ClickApps and 2 Automations, including Sprints, Time estimates, Milestones, Priorities, and Tags
  • 30 statuses and 2 custom fields

ClickUp Scope of Work Template

clickup templates 2023: the best project management templates

Projects also benefit greatly from having a scope of work document. This can help you make sure that you and the rest of your team are on the same page when it comes to project goals, timelines, deliverables, and expectations.

Without it, tasks can be confusing and projects can become disorganized. You may have to spend more time trying to fix what could’ve been avoided in the first place, had you created a detailed plan containing the full scope of work that needs to be done.

That’s why the Scope of Work Template is such a great new project template. This project manager timeline template makes it much faster to create a Scope of Work document with ease, thanks to its guided sections.

It also serves as a project goals template. By adding all essential details about your project, you can reduce the risk of misunderstandings and miscommunication, therefore saving a lot of time.

💡 Features:

  • 6 custom sections: Overview, Administration, Background and Goals, Timeline and Milestones, Deliverables, Approvals

ClickUp Agile Scrum Management Template

clickup templates 2023: the best project management templates

If you’re managing a team that makes use of Scrum methodology, you can use this template to keep everyone on track. It’s an IT project template designed to help you and your team plan, execute and review all aspects of your Agile project in an organized fashion.

This Click Up template comes with everything you need to standardize your entire process, including sprint reviews, product delivery, and quality assurance checking.

It also includes 6 custom fields, which you can use to track any additional information that your team needs. This template is ideal for Agile Scrum teams who seek out benefits, such as increased productivity and efficiency.

💡 Features:

  • 6 view types: Welcome, Process, 2 different Boards, and 2 different Lists
  • 13 ClickApps including Sprints, Points, Custom fields, Milestones, Time estimates, and Multiple assignees
  • 30 statuses and 1 custom field
  • 14 custom tags

ClickUp Project Management Dashboard

clickup templates 2023: the best project management templates

If you want a template that will allow you to not just monitor your project’s progress but also provide you with all the important details needed to make informed business decisions, this template is the right one for you.

With ClickUp’s Project Management Dashboard, you can easily keep track of all your project metrics such as budget, timeline, team workload, development, and more. Project managers and leaders can also view all the data they need in this project team template, making it easier to make essential decisions.

One of the best features of this specific project organization template is the Workload View, which shows the work assigned to each team member during the selected time period. This allows project managers to get a quick overview of who’s doing what within the project timeline.

This makes it one of the best ClickUp templates free for managers who want the best for their projects.

💡 Features:

  • 7 view types: Getting Started Guide, Activities, Board, Capacity Planning, Team Performance, Calendar of Activities, Project Gantt
  • 4 statuses and 8 custom fields, including Planned Cost, Issue Level, Project Phase, Remaining Budget, and Duration

ClickUp SOP Template

clickup templates 2023: the best project management templates

SOP refers to Standard Operating Procedure. It’s basically a document that outlines all the steps needed to carry out certain tasks within your organization. Compared to the Scope of Work, an SOP is more detailed as it goes into specific steps, processes, and procedures needed to complete a task.

ClickUp offers a free project plan template that you can use to quickly create a detailed SOP document for your entire team. They can then use this document as a reference when they need to carry out specific tasks, ensuring quality and consistency across the board.

Even better, this project notes template is designed in an easy-to-understand format and includes fields for providing a summary and a breakdown of key elements. It doesn’t matter if it’s your first time creating an SOP document – with Clickup’s SOP Template, you’ll be able to get the job done as fast as lighting.

💡 Features:

  • Concide 1-page format

ClickUp Project Management Schedule Template

clickup templates 2023: the best project management templates

There are plenty of free project schedule templates on ClickUp, but if you want the best, then ClickUp’s Project Management Schedule template is the perfect choice.

The Project Management Schedule template helps you break down your project into different views, allowing you to see your project in all its entirety. This way, you can see exactly what you need to do in order to complete the project as soon as possible, and without sacrificing the quality of your outputs.

You’ll also be able to manage your project workflow using this template, as it allows you to set and track specific milestones. Again, this will help ensure that your project is completed as quickly and as efficiently as you can. It’s certainly one of the best ClickUp templates free to any user.

For a more individualized template, you can also check out ClickUp’s Schedule Blocking Template. You can have each member create one for themself, allowing you to easily view their availability for the project.

💡 Features:

  • 6 view types: Getting Started Guide, Project Phase, Risks & Issues, Timeline, Status Board, Gantt
  • 5 statuses and 6 custom fields, including Contributor/s, Progress Rate, Project Phase, and Risk Level

ClickUp Project Deliverables Template

clickup templates 2023: the best project management templates

A project deliverable refers to any task, product, or service that needs to be completed and delivered by a specific deadline to reach the project’s goals. Understandably, these can get pretty hard to track at times, especially when the project is huge and complex.

Of course, any project manager knows the significance of delivering the project’s requirements at the end of a successful project. Incomplete deliverables can cause serious problems that can potentially affect the project’s timeline, budget, and even end-user satisfaction.

Fortunately, ClickUp has you covered with this Project Deliverables Template. This free project calendar template allows you to easily keep track of all goals that need to be achieved, their deadline, and the people or organizations involved in meeting them.

You can also set up automated reminders in this project plan document template so that you won’t miss a single one. Thanks to this project plan free template, you can ensure that your deliverables are completed right on schedule.

💡 Features:

  • 6 view types: Client Board, Getting Started Guide, Status Breakdown, Project Gantt, Project Lifecycle, Team Bandwidth
  • 6 statuses and 6 custom fields, including Cost, Development, and Project Coordinator

ClickUp Content Calendar Template

clickup templates 2023: the best project management templates

If you’re managing a content team or a marketing team, you’ll need to have an effective content calendar to keep your team organized.

This Content Calendar is another free project calendar template that helps you plan, track and measure the performance of every piece of content created by your team. It’s a robust program management template that allows you to easily define tasks, set reminders, and track deadlines for your projects straight on ClickUp.

The template can be customized to manage various types of content from the planning stage to the publication stage. It’s suitable for teams of all sizes and contains comprehensive features that help you manage the whole content creation process.

With this project plan template free for all, you can manage the workload more efficiently and ensure that everyone is on the same page.

💡 Features:

  • 6 view types: Timeline, Workflow, List, Channels, and 2 Calendar views
  • 8 statuses specific to content-related projects, such as Open, Concept, Ready, Closed, In Development, In Review, Published, and On Hold
  • 5 custom fields: Publication date, Link, Channel, Category, and Shared URL

ClickUp 1:1 Meeting Template

clickup templates 2023: the best project management templates

One-on-one meetings are essential to any team or organization, as they allow managers to check in with their team members and ensure that everyone is working towards the same goals.

ClickUp’s 1:1 Meeting Template can make the process of having and tracking these meetings easier than ever.

This template allows you to set up a weekly meeting schedule, establish agendas, define topics for discussions, set goals and objectives, and track notes from the one-on-one meetings. You can even add fun GIFs and other visual objects such as a project management table to make it more engaging yet still informative.

You can also use this program management template to review performance, set goals for future meetings, and track follow-up items. This makes it easy to stay on top of team members’ progress and make sure they’re feeling supported.

💡 Features:

  • 3 pages that you can customize and duplicate, including a page entitled “1:1 Roles & Expectations”

ClickUp Roadmap Template

clickup templates 2023: the best project management templates

Projects tend to get complex and hard to manage over time, especially if you’re dealing with multiple stakeholders. That’s why having an effective project management system is essential.

Luckily, with this free Project Roadmap template, you have all the necessary tools to make your project successful, regardless of its size or complexity. This is especially true if you’re managing a product development team, which typically requires a combination of agile and traditional project management techniques.

As group manager premade fields are available to you anytime. This project list template allows you to determine goals, create strategies, assign tasks, set deadlines, track progress, and collaborate with other members.

You can also include all the timelines and production stages in this project notes template, ensuring full transparency and accountability.

💡 Features:

  • 5 view types: Gantt, List, Workload, Calendar, Board
  • 5 statuses and 4 custom fields, including Progress, Sprint, Team, and Type

ClickUp Task Management Template

clickup templates 2023: the best project management templates

Excellent task management is key to success for any team. After all, tasks are the bread and butter of any project. Without individual tasks that make up a project, it would be impossible to move forward.

ClickUp’s Task Management template makes sure that everyone knows what they’re supposed to do, and when it’s due. It’s a comprehensive project list template that’s way better than any other project management templates PDF out there.

This free project assignment template allows you to define, assign, and group tasks, as well as visualize them based on their status, priority, or department. It also enables teamwork by providing the whole team a place where they can coordinate task scheduling, assigning, and completion across different members.

Instead of spending hours revamping your current task management system, just take advantage of this project assignment template and have your team up and running in no time.

💡 Features:

  • 5 view types: Timeline, List, Department, Workload, Important tasks
  • 5 statuses and 2 custom fields, including Progress and Department

ClickUp Marketing Template

clickup templates 2023: the best project management templates

Marketing teams need to be organized and have clear project goals in order for campaigns to go smoothly. Without a proper project management system in place, it can be pretty difficult to stay on track and make sure that all tasks for the team are completed in a timely manner.

Program management tools and templates can help solve this issue. On that note, ClickUp’s Marketing Team Operations Template is a great way for project managers to keep track of the entire marketing team’s workflow.

This project management website template can be easily customized to suit each team’s individual needs and it allows managers to develop team OKRs, onboard new members, manage resources, keep track of meetings, and of course, assign responsibilities.

By adding this template to your project management system, you will be able to effectively manage your team and their workload, freeing up more time for creativity and strategic thinking.

💡 Features:

  • 6 view types: Marketing Wiki, Welcome!, Organizational Chart, Meeting Minutes, Team Docs, List
  • 6 ClickApps, such as Custom fields, Dependency warnings, and Multiple assignees
  • 17 statuses, including Open, In Progress, Cancelled, and In Review

ClickUp’s Social Media Template

clickup templates 2023: the best project management templates

Social media campaigns can have wildly different needs from traditional marketing, which is why it’s important to have a dedicated social media project management system.

ClickUp’s Social Media Template allows project managers to monitor, track, and measure each campaign to yield the best results for the project.

This project manager timeline template includes a Social Media calendar, which allows managers to coordinate posts, schedule influencer collaborations, and determine the best times to post on different social media platforms. You can even embed Twitter feeds into the template so that you can easily keep track of what people are saying about your brand.

The template makes it much easier for managers to make instant adjustments to get better results. Team members, on the other hand, can view the calendar to look for upcoming tasks, assign themselves to relevant tasks, and collaborate with their colleagues.

It’s basically similar to what’s included in a typical project management file or a project planning form, except it’s centered around social media-related projects.

💡 Features:

  • 5 view types: List, Board, Calendar, Embed, Doc
  • 1 automation and 19 statuses, including Scheduled, In Progress, Gathering Assets, and Ready to Publish

Leveling Up Your Project With ClickUp Templates

As you can see, ClickUp templates are powerful tools for streamlining and simplifying your project management process. Leveraging the platform’s customizable views, templates, and integrations allows you to take your project management system to the next level and maximize efficiency. With these templates, there’s practically no limit to what you can achieve. You can edit each one to make it suit your needs exactly, or you can use them as-is.

Plus, you can integrate popular tools like Everhour time tracking for ClickUp to further enhance the efficiency of your project. Everhour is one of the leading time tracking integrations for ClickUp as its time-tracking functions make it much easier to keep track of time spent on tasks and quickly adjust schedules. This allows managers and members alike to save time and effort and ultimately get the job done faster and better.

Now you can say goodbye to spending hours and hours coming up with the best way to make a plan – with ClickUp templates and Everhour time tracking, you can start your project with confidence and get right to work!

The post ClickUp Templates 2024: The Best Project Management Templates appeared first on Everhour Blog.

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Jira Templates: Harness Their Power & Streamline Every Process in Your Project https://everhour.com/blog/jira-templates/ Thu, 04 Apr 2024 16:50:00 +0000 https://everhour.com/blog/?p=29967 In a fast-paced working environment, time is of the essence. The ability of project managers to quickly set up and organize projects for their staff is crucial for maximizing productivity, delivering exceptional results, and ensuring a smooth collaboration between all the team members. Thanks to the Jira project management tool and its library of pre-configured […]

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In a fast-paced working environment, time is of the essence. The ability of project managers to quickly set up and organize projects for their staff is crucial for maximizing productivity, delivering exceptional results, and ensuring a smooth collaboration between all the team members. Thanks to the Jira project management tool and its library of pre-configured templates, millions of businesses worldwide rely on the software and its flexible features to stay on track.

In this article, we’ll walk you through:

  • The most commonly used Jira templates
  • How to customize Jira templates to meet your project’s needs
  • How to create a Jira template from scratch
  • Take a brief look at the Jira marketplace and its template libraries
  • Best practices for using Jira templates to make the most of them
  • Jira integration capabilities with other apps and software

But before we get into any of that, let’s look at what Jira templates are, their purpose, and how your business can benefit from using Jira moving forward.

What Are Jira Templates and What Is Their Purpose?

jira templates

Jira workflow templates are pre-configured project setups designed to help you and your team to streamline the tasks and responsibilities for a project right off the bat. The purpose of Jira templates is to save time, improve efficiency, and ensure consistency across all of your projects.

In other words, rather than starting each project from scratch, you and your team can leverage Jira templates to quickly establish a standardized project structure that aligns with the specific requirements of your project. For example, if your project is to do with issue resolution, using an issue template on Jira is a great idea. That way, no time is wasted in capacity planning or figuring out how to set everything up for a smooth workflow.


Everhour is the top choice for small businesses and small to mid-size teams of 5 to 50 members, including professionals like software developers, marketers, designers, consultants, lawyers, you name it!

Seamlessly integrating with popular project management tools like Asana, Trello, and Jira, its user-friendly interface and customizable reports make it the ultimate time tracking solution for small and mid-size teams.

With dedicated support ensuring you receive timely assistance, our team is here to help you promptly and with a smile!

Benefits of Using Jira Templates

There are many benefits to adopting Jira and using its many pre-defined templates as part of your workflow. Some of the most notable advantages to you and your team include:

  • You and your team will save a lot of time
  • Workflows will remain consistent, making your team more efficient over time
  • Human error will be brought down to a minimum
  • Productivity will sky-rocket
  • Your workflow and processes will become scalable and more flexible
  • Improved visibility and reporting

As you can see, besides the initial learning curve that you will have to go through, there are no drawbacks to adopting Jira templates. So if you want to stay competitive and work smarter, not harder, Jira templates are a great place to start.


Commonly Used Jira Templates

If it’s your first time using Jira, you might be surprised by the sheer amount of Jira plugins and templates that you and your team can start using right away. Most people use Jira for bug-tracking, agile development, and task management. However, it can be used for so much more than that. So it’s important that you browse through the templates to find the one that best works for you and your team. That said, in the section below, we’ll go over four Jira template examples that are most commonly used by users from all over the world.

Scrum Board Template

jira templates: harness their power & streamline every process in your project

Scrum Boards give teams a visual way of managing processes and tracking progress. Jira has a specific Scrum Board Template that you can use for tracking bugs. The template gives you an instant and comprehensive view of your project’s progress, allowing you to always stay on top. After reviewing it closely, it is clear why it’s one of the leading Jira task templates on the market.

Bug Tracking Template

jira templates: harness their power & streamline every process in your project

Jira truly excels as a bug-tracking platform. And one of the most popular Jira templates for tickets is the Bug Tracking Template, which makes reporting bugs and assigning corrective actions easily. Bugs will be a problem with any software, which is why it’s best to spot them right away so the team can work on potential solutions to the problems. That way, you can ensure that all users have a positive experience with your software, website, or app.

Kanban Board Template

jira templates: harness their power & streamline every process in your project

Agile management is a great approach to software development. A great way to streamline this process is a Kanban board. The Jira Kanban Board Template is great for producing work-in-progress and keeping the project moving forward. This way, you won’t have as much of a hard time keeping up with schedules and maximizing your team’s capabilities.

General Service Management Template

jira templates: harness their power & streamline every process in your project

It’s important for your team to be able to manage service requests right away. Whenever a client or user runs into an issue, they need to find answers as soon as possible. With the Jira General Service Management template, it will be much easier to answer service requests and create a comprehensive knowledge base where users can find all the information they need. It’s arguably the best Jira issue template out there.

Content Management Template

jira templates: harness their power & streamline every process in your project

All software needs a good selection of content that informs, entertains, and helps its users. This Content Management Template gives you full control of your content life cycle. The template gives you a visual workflow and instant tracking, so you always know what stage of content development or release your team is in. Content management is an essential process for all software development teams, and this template makes all of that much easier.


Customizing Jira Templates

Jira templates instantly make things easier for your entire team. But to make the most out of any given template, you can tweak it to the specific needs and requirements of your project. That way, all the data and metrics that are being tracked are in-line with your team’s approach to completing any given project. Let’s take a look at how you can tailor Jira templates to your project to maximize the app’s benefits.

The best way to use Jira templates is by tailoring them to your project. There are three main options for teams looking to customize their templates: field configuration, workflow adjustments, and permission settings.

🔨 Field configuration

Jira can display various fields for team managers and members to view whenever they open the platform. To maximize your template, it’s important that you tweak and configure the fields according to your needs. You can choose what information Jira captures and displays on the platform and you can customize them as much as you need. If you’re looking to ensure that the Jira template works for your project, the first thing you will need to tweak is the fields.

🔁 Workflow adjustments

A workflow is basically the life cycle of an issue on Jira. You can tweak workflows to include the different statuses that an issue will go through, transitions between statuses, and other aspects to align the workflows with your project’s stages and processes. Your workflows should reflect the way you want the project to progress, so make sure to tweak the workflows before presenting them to your team.

👍 Permission settings

Jira templates come with their own unique permission settings. This basically sets who can perform certain actions and who can’t. Every project has its own setup and permission requirements. This is why it’s important to tweak the permissions of the Jira template according to your project’s workflow. That way, everyone can work on whatever tasks are required without running into unnecessary roadblocks or people making changes that they shouldn’t be making in the first place.


Creating New Jira Templates

Another way to streamline your workflow with Jira is by creating your own templates. If you have many recurring or similar projects with your team, creating Jira templates that work for your needs can be a huge help. When you create your own templates, you don’t have to do any further customization when starting a project.

Instead, you can just choose whichever template you created for a certain type of project and get started in a matter of seconds. The best part is that Jira templates are really easy to make. In fact, you’ll be able to create a template that you can use for endless projects in just a few minutes.

Log in to the instance

To create a template, you need to have the appropriate admin access and permissions, so to start, you must first log into your Jira instance. Once you’re logged in, you can select the project for which you would like to create the template. From there, click on project settings before proceeding to the next step.

Create a new issue type

Once on the project settings, you can click the button to create a new issue type. After doing this, you can set all the details of the issue, including descriptions and fields. It’s essential that you make the fields and descriptions general and flexible while also tailoring them to your team’s needs.

Configure the workflow

Next up, you need to configure the workflow of your Jira template. That way, once the template starts to be used by your team, every aspect of the project is handled in the best and most efficient way possible.

Setup screen schemes

Once the workflow of the template has been configured, the next step is setting up the screen schemes. Screen schemes define which screens are used for different operations within Jira. Examples of operations can include creating, editing, or viewing an issue. To set them up, locate the “Issues” section on the Jira Administration page and click on “Screens” right under it.

From there, click on “Add Screen.” This will create a new screen for you. Once the screen has been created, you need to associate it with a screen scheme. Then, simply provide a name and description for each new screen scheme you add.

Test the template

Once you’ve set up the entire template, the next step is to test it and make sure that it works just the way you want it to. There’s a chance that you will need to adjust or tweak certain aspects of a template before you can use it for your projects. Instead of finding solutions when using the template, you can test it prior to starting your project. That way, you can fix any issues and roadblocks before they arise mid-way through your project.

jira templates: harness their power & streamline every process in your project

Jira Marketplace and Template Libraries

As Jira is one of the most popular project management software out there, you best believe that the Jira marketplace and the many template libraries offer you a wide range of templates to choose from. When you go through the Atlassian marketplace, you’ll find both paid and free templates.

Now, you don’t have to pay for templates if you want to use Jira. In fact, the Atlassian library offers a bunch of great free templates that could be precisely what your project needs. However, certain paid templates come with very specific features that can greatly benefit your project, so make sure you pay close attention to what each template features.

To decide which Jira template is best for you, we recommend referring to your project. From there, you’ll be able to determine what you need from the template, what fields are necessary, and the best visualization for your strategy. Once you do this, you can rest assured that you’ll have a much easier time choosing the best template that you and your team can use.

✨ Popular template libraries for Jira users

If you’re looking for a specific type of template but still want to explore your options, you should explore Atlassian’s template libraries. These libraries are compilations of various templates designed for specific projects and purposes. Some of the best and most popular template libraries you may want to check out include:

  • Jira automation template library
  • Jira project management template library
  • API libraries
  • Integration libraries

Best Practices for Using Jira Templates

There’s nothing wrong if you have a hard time using Jira templates the first time you try them. You’ll definitely experience a learning curve when adopting Jira, especially when you start utilizing any of their templates.

This is why there are a few best practices that we’d recommend you should follow to make the most out of Jira right from the beginning. These include:

💡 Focus on flexibility & consistency

One of your main goals when using Jira templates is remaining consistent, especially in how you perform actions and finish issues. That said, doing so requires a bit of flexibility with your template. To fully utilize a Jira template, you need to tweak it so that it fits the exact needs of your project. This is why you need to choose scalable templates that are easy to tweak for your project without being a time-sink.

📛 Clear and consistent naming

You need to assign the right names for your Jira templates. When you have a consistent naming system, you’ll have a much easier time navigating through your templates and choosing the best one for your team. Even if you have different versions of your templates, make sure to keep the names consistent so that they’re easy to find. 

🔧 Regular maintenance

Whether you’re using Jira task templates, workflow templates, issue templates, or any other, regular maintenance and updates are essential to keep the templates functional. You can’t avoid the chance of your workflow and processes changing over time, so your templates need to reflect that. This is why regular maintenance and testing of your Jira templates is essential if you want to prevent hiccups in your team’s workflow.

🏋️‍♀️ Continuous improvement

In line with the last tip, we highly recommend practicing continuous improvement when using any type of template on Jira. When you develop a culture of continuous improvement in your team, you’ll constantly innovate new ways to handle tasks and make your employee’s life at work a whole lot easier. No Jira template is perfect (even the Jira epic templates), so keeping continuous improvement in the back of your mind will do wonders for your and your team’s productivity.

Integration with Other Tools and Systems

Aside from being a fantastic project management software, the reasons for adopting Jira as part of your workflow don’t end there. Jira is one of the most compatible and integratable platforms out there. You can integrate the software with the large majority of mainstream and small software that you are most likely already using – be it for communication or something entirely different. Some of Jira’s most notable integrations include:

Everhour

how to configure jira time tracking: native & everhour time trackers

Everhour is one of the leading time trackers on the market that is commonly used for Jira time tracking. It integrates with Jira seamlessly and offers a robust set of features, making it a popular choice for teams that are looking to accurately track and manage their time spent on Jira tasks and projects.

By connecting Everhour to Jira, you and your team can effortlessly log your time in Jira, create detailed timesheets, generate insightful reports, and effectively plan and allocate resources. And thanks to Everhour’s intuitive integration with Jira, you can streamline your workflow while gaining valuable insights into your project’s timelines and resource utilization.

Bitbucket

jira templates: harness their power & streamline every process in your project

Bitbucket is a Git-based code hosting and collaboration tool. On top of that, it’s specifically optimized to work well with Jira. So, if you already use Bitbucket in your operations, you’ll have a very easy time integrating it with Jira and making both tools work in sync.

Slack

jira templates: harness their power & streamline every process in your project

Slack is one of the most popular workplace communication tools and is used by millions every single day. Its global popularity is mostly due to how efficient, simple, and powerful it is at keeping your team airtight, even if your entire team works remotely. Slack is perfect for sending updates, reminders, and communicating with your team. You can easily integrate Jira with Slack, so you can tackle bugs head-on while ensuring that the entire team is on the same page.

Confluence

18 best notion alternatives to boost your productivity

Confluence is another collaboration and documentation tool made by Atlassian – the same company that stands behind Jira. By integrating Jira with Confluence, you can seamlessly link project documentation, requirements, and development tasks to maximize efficiency at the workplace.

Conclusion

Using a predefined template on Jira is essential for any team. When you find the right template and configure it to your project’s needs, it will not only save you and your team a lot of time, and make processes more efficient and organized, but it will dramatically reduce human error.

As a result, whatever project you’re working on, once you have a solid foundation thanks to using a Jira template, every process from start to finish will be butter-smooth, giving you and your team an easier time.

The post Jira Templates: Harness Their Power & Streamline Every Process in Your Project appeared first on Everhour Blog.

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Weekly & Biweekly Timesheet Template With Lunch Breaks (Spoiler: 100% Free!) https://everhour.com/blog/free-weekly-timesheet-and-timecard/ Thu, 04 Apr 2024 15:54:00 +0000 https://everhour.com/blog/?p=8290 If you want to manage and track your time efficiently, you will need special tools. Since we are in this line of business (you might have heard of our time tracker, wink-wink), we decided to make something useful to a large number of users. Absolutely free and without any marketing tricks. In that case, why not […]

The post Weekly & Biweekly Timesheet Template With Lunch Breaks (Spoiler: 100% Free!) appeared first on Everhour Blog.

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If you want to manage and track your time efficiently, you will need special tools. Since we are in this line of business (you might have heard of our time tracker, wink-wink), we decided to make something useful to a large number of users. Absolutely free and without any marketing tricks.

In that case, why not try a timesheet? Thankfully, we got you covered. Stop the music – a free weekly timesheet template, at your service!

Online Time Card Calculator

Here’s the link: Online Time Card Calculator

time card calculator and timesheet: weekly, biweekly, with lunch breaks

Use the best free time card app, Everhour, and our free time card calculator to fill in clock-in and clock-out time, breaks and time off. Calculator counts overtime (1.5х) and double overtime (2х) based on entered values. Furthermore, you can set an hourly rate and see the total sum owed for hours worked. You can fill in the details quickly and print or download the template as a PDF through the browser, or save it in CSV.

How the time card calculator works

time card calculator and timesheet: weekly, biweekly, with lunch breaks
  • The first day: Start by choosing the reporting period first day.
  • Weeks: Switch from weekly to bi-weekly (how you submit timesheets).
  • Days in a week: Set the timesheet to show either only the working week or the whole week, including the weekend.
  • Break deduction: Choose how to enter break times. It can be either a fixed amount of time for breaks or an exact interval — lunch break, for example.
  • Copy: Add the data to the first line. Afterward, you can use the “Copy” button to quickly fill out the template with the values equal to the first day.
  • Payroll: Enter an hourly rate and currency symbol (e.g. €, $, £) to get the sum owed for hours worked. If you don’t need to see the overtime calculated and don’t want to include these details in a printed version – just leave these fields empty.
  • Extras: At the bottom, enter your name and any extra details in a footnote field. For example, you can make a placeholder for the name and the signature of your supervisor.
  • Export: Click the Print button to print or save your timesheet as a PDF through the browser means, or save it in CSV.
time card calculator and timesheet: weekly, biweekly, with lunch breaks

📱It’s mobile-friendly. You can fill out the template from your phone, save it as a PDF and attach it to an email, chat message or print it right away. No third-party apps are needed!

Everhour is the top choice for small businesses and small to mid-size teams of 5 to 50 members, including professionals like software developers, marketers, designers, consultants, lawyers, you name it!

Seamlessly integrating with popular project management tools like Asana, Trello, and Jira, its user-friendly interface and customizable reports make it the ultimate time tracking solution for small and mid-size teams.

With dedicated support ensuring you receive timely assistance, our team is here to help you promptly and with a smile!

Weekly Timesheet Template

Here’s the link: Online Timesheet Template

time card calculator and timesheet: weekly, biweekly, with lunch breaks

Use our online weekly timesheet to report time spent on specific tasks or activities, projects, or clients during the week. It also counts overtime and double overtime based on values entered for each day. Might be useful for reporting to clients, billing, or payroll.

How weekly timesheet template works

time card calculator and timesheet: weekly, biweekly, with lunch breaks
  • Data: Fill out the lines to define the type of work performed. For example, they can be “task + project”, “project + client”, “project + notes” or any other details you need to put down.
  • Rows: The ‘Add a row’ button adds an extra line to the existing list if you need to fill in more lines. At the end of each line, you can see the trash bin icon, which will remove the line from the timesheet.
  • Days in a week: Set the timesheet to show either only the working week or the whole week, including the weekend.
  • Pay: Set an hourly rate and the currency symbol (e.g. €, $, £) to get the sum owed for hours worked. If you don’t need to see the overtime calculated and don’t want to include these details in a printed version – just leave the fields empty.
  • Extras: At the bottom, enter your name and any extra details in a footnote field. For example, you can make a placeholder for the name and the signature of your supervisor.
  • Export: Click the Print button to print or save your timesheet as a PDF through the browser means, or save it in CSV.
time card calculator and timesheet: weekly, biweekly, with lunch breaks

📱It’s mobile-friendly. You can fill out the template from your phone, save it as a PDF and attach it to an email, chat message or print it right away. No third-party apps are needed!

Weekly Timesheet Template in Google Sheets

If you prefer a Google Spreadsheet template, no problem. Just make a copy of our template (the template itself isn’t editable) and that’s it – Google Sheets time tracking ready for you!

Here’s the link: Free Timesheet Template In Google Docs

time card calculator and timesheet: weekly, biweekly, with lunch breaks

How Weekly Timesheet Template in Google Spreadsheet works

time card calculator and timesheet: weekly, biweekly, with lunch breaks
  • Make a copy of our Google Spreadsheet (the template itself isn’t editable);
  • Set the first date (for all other days, dates will be set automatically) and whether you need to include weekends;
  • Choose an appropriate layout: Weekly, Bi-weekly, Monthly;
  • Fill out time-spent using hours and minutes (there is a cheat sheet to easily convert hours into decimal format);
  • Print the spreadsheet using the “File > Print” option in your browser. Even a monthly timesheet fits perfectly in A4 format. Just skip any other page, except the first one, to avoid printing notes, etc.
  • Download your spreadsheet in the format you need by choosing “File > Download as…”. Choose your required format, and simply click “Save”;
  • Done! 

If you’re interested in furthering your knowledge on timesheets, you can take a look at our list of the best timesheet apps and best time tracking apps!

The post Weekly & Biweekly Timesheet Template With Lunch Breaks (Spoiler: 100% Free!) appeared first on Everhour Blog.

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Modèle de Feuille de Temps Google Sheets Simple Mais Puissant https://everhour.com/blog/fr/modele-de-feuille-de-temps-google-sheets/ Thu, 04 Apr 2024 15:08:33 +0000 https://everhour.com/blog/?p=37943 Peu importe si votre personnel est rémunéré à l’heure, ou si vous avez besoin de suivre leur temps pour un projet ou une autre raison, jetez un œil à la façon dont vous pouvez le faire rapidement avec des applications de pointage gratuites, des applications de feuilles de temps en ligne, ou, plus rapidement et […]

The post Modèle de Feuille de Temps Google Sheets Simple Mais Puissant appeared first on Everhour Blog.

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Peu importe si votre personnel est rémunéré à l’heure, ou si vous avez besoin de suivre leur temps pour un projet ou une autre raison, jetez un œil à la façon dont vous pouvez le faire rapidement avec des applications de pointage gratuites, des applications de feuilles de temps en ligne, ou, plus rapidement et efficacement, avec notre modèle de feuille de temps gratuit sur Google Spreadsheet. Comme beaucoup des meilleures solutions logicielles de feuilles de temps, c’est entièrement gratuit et aucune inscription n’est nécessaire.

Si vous vous demandez comment faire une feuilles de temps dans Google Sheets, voici notre explication!

Voici le lien: Modèle de feuille de temps Google Docs Everhour gratuit

Modèle de feuille de temps simple mais puissant dans Google Sheets

Tout ce que vous avez à faire est de faire une copie et de commencer à l’utiliser! Ci-dessous, vous trouverez quelques détails supplémentaires sur ses avantages et comment l’utiliser efficacement. 


Everhour est le choix numéro un pour les petites entreprises et les équipes de petite à moyenne taille de 5 à 50 membres, comprenant des professionnels tels que les développeurs de logiciels, les spécialistes du marketing, les designers, les consultants, les avocats, et bien d’autres encore! De plus, Everhour offre une intégration transparente avec Google Sheets pour faciliter la gestion et le suivi des feuilles de temps – Google Sheets, vous permettant ainsi d’optimiser la productivité de votre équipe.

En s’intégrant parfaitement avec des outils de gestion de projet populaires tels que Asana, Trello et Jira, son interface conviviale et ses rapports personnalisables en font la solution ultime de suivi du temps pour les petites et moyennes équipes.

Avec un support dédié garantissant une assistance rapide, notre équipe est là pour vous aider avec le sourire!


Comment utiliser ce modèle de feuille de temps Google Sheets simple

Ici, chez Everhour, nous avons déjà aidé plus de 3 000 entreprises à suivre le temps et à gérer les projets. Vous avez peut-être entendu parler de notre suivi du temps (sinon, nous vous invitons à l’essayer), mais si vous avez besoin de rester simple – un modèle de feuille de temps Google Sheets gratuit efficace est plus que suffisant.

Voici comment cela fonctionne:

Modèle de feuille de temps simple mais puissant dans Google Sheets
  • Faites une copie de notre modèle de feuille de temps Google Sheets (le modèle lui-même n’est pas modifiable);
  • Définissez la première date (pour tous les autres jours, les dates seront définies automatiquement) et indiquez si vous devez inclure les week-ends;
  • Choisissez une mise en page appropriée: Hebdomadaire, Bi-hebdomadaire, Mensuel;
  • Remplissez le temps passé en heures et minutes (il y a une aide mémoire pour convertir facilement les heures au format décimal);
  • Imprimez la feuille de calcul en utilisant l’option “Fichier > Imprimer” de votre navigateur. Même une modèle de feuille de temps mensuelle pour Google Sheets s’adapte parfaitement au format A4. Passez simplement les autres pages, sauf la première, pour éviter d’imprimer des notes, etc.;
  • Téléchargez votre feuille de calcul dans le format souhaité en choisissant “Fichier > Télécharger sous…”. Choisissez le format requis, et cliquez simplement sur “Enregistrer”;
  • C’est tout!

Pourquoi utiliser Google Spreadsheet vs MS Word ou PDF?

  • Les documents se perdent souvent facilement sur le disque local;
  • Les modèles téléchargeables ne sont pas toujours compatibles avec toutes les plateformes et nécessitent un logiciel supplémentaire pour être utilisés;
  • Lorsque vous remplissez un modèle dans MS Word ou PDF, il n’y a aucun moyen d’utiliser des formules, vous devez donc effectuer tous les calculs manuellement, ce qui peut entraîner des erreurs;
  • Lorsque vous utilisez un modèle téléchargeable, la mise en page peut être déformée, rendant votre feuille de temps Google Docs illisible;
  • Google Spreadsheet vous aide à éviter les problèmes mentionnés, mais bien sûr, ce ne sont pas les seuls avantages que vous découvrirez.

Plus d’outils gratuits

  • Calculateur de feuille de temps: Calculateur en ligne avec entrées et sorties, pauses et rémunération des heures supplémentaires. Facile à remplir et à imprimer votre feuille de temps hebdomadaire ou bihebdomadaire.
  • Feuille de temps hebdomadaire: Suivez le temps passé sur des tâches ou des activités spécifiques. Utile pour la planification, les rapports clients, la facturation et la paie.
  • Générateur de factures: Facturez rapidement ou envoyez à vos clients un devis avec un modèle de facture professionnel. Incluez un lien pour payer la facture en ligne.
  • Modèles de planification par blocs de temps: Modèles de planificateur par blocs de temps que vous pouvez télécharger en PDF et imprimer ou copier dans notre feuille de calcul Google et les personnaliser selon vos besoins.

En fin de compte, les outils de gestion de projet Google peuvent faire des merveilles pour votre flux de travail !

The post Modèle de Feuille de Temps Google Sheets Simple Mais Puissant appeared first on Everhour Blog.

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Accurate Time Blocking with Time Management Worksheet https://everhour.com/blog/time-blocking-templates/ Thu, 04 Apr 2024 11:33:00 +0000 https://everhour.com/blog/?p=11289 Looking to become more productive and reconsider your daily routine? But a to-do list turns out to be not very effective? Do you often over-schedule and only get 2-3 tasks done out of the 10 you planned for the day? If so, have you ever tried employing the best time tracking software? Or a time […]

The post Accurate Time Blocking with Time Management Worksheet appeared first on Everhour Blog.

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Looking to become more productive and reconsider your daily routine? But a to-do list turns out to be not very effective? Do you often over-schedule and only get 2-3 tasks done out of the 10 you planned for the day?

If so, have you ever tried employing the best time tracking software? Or a time blocking technique? Time blocking app?

In this article, you’ll discover how to make all your planned-for-the-day tasks manageable, how to organize your time effectively, and how to digitize your diary with this time blocking technique.

FREE template you can find below 👇👇👇

Time Blocking Templates

A very important thing in time blocking is to choose the best block schedule template for your needs. You can select between paper-based, non-specialized, and specialized time management worksheets for daily use. Let’s have a look at their pros and cons.

1) How to use Google Calendar for time blocking?

Online you can find a variety of free time blocking apps that provide a wide range of functions. But the most popular and simple way is time blocking with Google Calendar

time management worksheet for accurate time blocking

Before implementing this, it’s important to think of the most important categories of the work you do. Here are some general areas:

  • Business Development,
  • Client Work,
  • Content Writing,
  • Marketing,
  • etc.

Open your Google Calendar and add a new calendar for each of your categories. Don’t forget to color-code each calendar to make the different blocks stand out. After that, record and add everything to the calendar.

Generally, we are the most effective in the morning, so schedule any client work and other important things in the morning. Then fill up the afternoons with other stuff, depending on what you’ve got going on.

Don’t forget to look at the bigger picture. Is there something that might need more or less attention? And make sure you keep some blank space for when additional issues and tasks inevitably pop up.

Keep it open in the background during the day, and switch to your normal work in Asana, Trello, Jira, or whatever you or your company use.

time management worksheet for accurate time blocking
Google Calendar and Asana + Everhour integration

When you’ll see that the allocated time is coming to an end – make sure it does not seriously affect your plans, otherwise, try to reschedule your day.

A time tracking app, like Everhour, will allow you to analyze and set accurate time boundaries in the project work and keep track of budgets, while time blocking with Google Calendar will organize your time into a smooth and consistent timetable.

Everhour is the top time tracker for SMB teams, including software developers, marketers, designers, consultants, lawyers, you name it! Seamlessly integrating with popular PM tools, its user-friendly interface and customizable reports make it the ultimate time tracking solution. With dedicated support, our team is here to help you promptly and with a smile!

2) Paper-based templates

Paper-based templates aren’t very practical. You’ll make lots of corrections to them, especially at the revision and re-planning stage. You can’t sync a paper-based worksheet, or search it, or easily re-order it. What you see is what you get and that’s it. Although, if you prefer the old-school style way of doing things, you might just find them to your liking!

There are many reasons that paper-based planners have been around forever. They are easy. They are straightforward. And they just work. Often, the simplest solution is the best.

time management worksheet for accurate time blocking
Image source: diaryofajournalplanner.com

3) Time blocking planner templates [FREE]

Here are six time blocking planner templates you can download in PDF and print out, or easily fill out in Google Spreadsheets.

💡One little tip. If the technique works pretty well for you, you can print out the time blocking planner on heavy card stock, laminate it and use whiteboard marker pens. This way you can re-use it over and over again.

Daily Time Blocking Template

time management worksheet for accurate time blocking

15 Minute Daily Planner (PDF)
Google Spreadsheet


Weekly Time Blocking Template

time management worksheet for accurate time blocking

5 Day Weekly Planner (PDF)
7 Day Weekly Planner (PDF)
Google Spreadsheet


Monthly Time Blocking Template

time management worksheet for accurate time blocking

1 Month Planner (PDF)
Google Spreadsheet


What Is Time Blocking?

Time blocking, also known as time boxing, is a time management technique that helps you organize, prioritize and schedule all your tasks and activities using blocks. You can plan for a whole day, week, or even month with this technique. 

These blocks implement the idea of time limits and are quite flexible in terms of deadlines, meaning you can always re-evaluate your tasks.

There is no definite answer who was the inventor of the time blocking technique. The practice of time scheduling has always been applied by people in one form or another. What is known for certain is that time blocking has always been used by great thinkers.

time management worksheet for accurate time blocking

Elon Musk works an eye-watering 80–100 hours a week, but he also keeps an incredibly regimented schedule, breaking his days down into 5-minute increments so every moment is planned out.

Bill Gates does the same. Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan meandered through his day in comparatively idle 15-minute chunks. Entrepreneur extraordinaire Gary Vaynerchuk, on the other hand, claims to plan his days “down to the second.”

While big names have always used it, there is no big secret here. The idea of time blocking is simple. This efficient time management practice encourages:

  1. Division of all your time into blocks
  2. Assignment of time limits to every task
  3. Block revision after completing tasks or not meeting deadlines
  4. Use of special apps and calendars for smooth time block revision

How Time Blocking Works?

Below are simple steps and useful tips to follow to create a great time blocking schedule:

Plan and prioritize

At this step, you gather and prioritize all of your tasks. The following tips will help you do it more effectively.

  • Think of and write down all the tasks you need to do on a piece of paper. Now, you have a great to-do list. But don’t stop here.
  • After you’ve gathered all of your tasks, it’s time to prioritize. For this, take another piece of paper and write out the most important tasks. They can be the ones you have to do daily. For example, answer emails, communicate with your work team or clients. Then add those that have close deadlines. After filling in those that have distant deadlines. Finally, add all the rest.
  • To prioritize exactly, use time management techniques, such as The Alps Method or The Eisenhower Decision Matrix. Find more useful techniques here.
  • Don’t try to put all the tasks in one day; it’s better to shorten your schedule to a maximum of 5 tasks a day. Otherwise, you’ll slip into multitasking, which is never good for your productivity or accuracy. Read about some more time management pet peeves and how to avoid them.

Unite your tasks into time blocks

This stage is important as you assign time intervals to your tasks. For this you need:

  • Define the most productive part of your day, when you are the most concentrated, energetic, and creative. You can do it in the form of a game. For example, the Circadian Rhythm or Time Squared games can help you analyze your working day and understand how you allocate your time. 
  • Schedule your most important or unpleasant tasks for the morning, the faster you complete them, the better you’ll feel during the day. This can give you the power to handle all the rest of the tasks faster.
  • Set your time intervals wisely. At first, this activity may seem tough as different tasks require different time intervals. You can start with standard 60 mins for every task and then track the time for each completed task to become more precise in the future.
  • If your tasks are too big, it’s worth dividing them into smaller ones. This will keep you from becoming demotivated when you are not able to finish everything on time.
  • Finally, as you’ve set the start and end time for each task, add them to your time blocking calendar and move on to the next step.

It’s time to act!

You’ve drawn up your first time blocking schedule. Now, it’s time to try it out.

  • Start your work at the 1st blocked task at a set time and finish it accordingly. If you’ve not managed to meet your self-set deadlines, don’t panic! The next step will have all the instructions in case this happens.
  • Keep tracking time for every block you work on, for now, you need statistics. Analyze which tasks take you more time and less time. You can keep it on a piece of paper, using a free time card calculator or with an integrated time tracker.
  • If working in time blocks makes you tired quickly, an alternative method is the Pomodoro technique. Check out some of the best Pomodoro apps – they’ll help you divide your working time more evenly, giving you the breaks your mind needs.

Revise, re-plan and re-plan

This step makes your time blocking schedule more adaptable to unforeseen circumstances and flexible with burned deadlines.

  • You’ll never define the length of your time blocks with 100% accuracy. This is because of many reasons, such as unexpected work errors, various delays, or just simple tiredness. That’s why there is the opportunity to revise all your planned tasks and put them in a new set of blocks.
  • Revise and re-plan your schedule when you have part of your tasks completed. Throughout the day the priority of your tasks can change and you should be prepared for it. Especially if you work in a fast-paced industry.
  • It’s much easier to use special apps for schedule revision as it will look much neater than a time-blocking planner made on a piece of paper where you will need to cross out parts and add others in. After a while, it’ll look pretty messy.

Why Time Blocking is Good For You?

Your work becomes your priority

When you arrange your tasks in time blocks, you start with the most urgent ones, devoting the most of your time and attention to them. At the same time, you learn to estimate and allocate time in advance for your long-run projects.

Great estimation skills are important for creating an excellent schedule. And such thorough planning makes you highly focused and with practice you’ll start completing your tasks before the settled time, allowing you to pursue the most ambitious goals.

time management worksheet for accurate time blocking

You become realistic about your working potential

Those who’s just stepped on a path of productive time management usually make the same mistake: they overestimate their capabilities.

This means that they try to accomplish all the tasks in one day without realizing the real workload, possible distractors, or contingencies.

If you’re a beginner at time management, at the start, you can effortlessly boost your work-time potential with different time management and productivity apps.

Dividing your tasks into smaller pieces, adding more time for a task than you think you need, and reserving time for breaks (it’s not a luxury; it’s essential) is the strategy of a wise planner.

All this can be easily learned by practicing the time blocking technique.

You make your brain work better

Our minds need time intervals to focus and complete a task. For productive and concentrated work, our brain usually takes us about 30 mins to tune into it. Time blocking employs effective time management techniques for that purpose. 

It also minimizes the risk of distraction by telling you that it’s time to work right now. Your brain knows that in a certain period of time there will be that desired break and becomes more focused on the task at hand.

time management worksheet for accurate time blocking

When you complete a task, you release your mental tension and that gives you an uplifted feeling – the feeling of success!

Time Blocking – What to Take Away?

Now, that we’ve uncovered the mysteries of time blocking, what should you take away? Here are our 3 key points:

  1. Time blocking is perfect for organizing and setting your tasks by priority, allocating them by dates in your paper or digital calendar, and having a vision for long-term projects.
  2. Time blocking is effective and quite flexible when it comes to deadlines. It helps you to stay on track even if you’re overdue on all your set time limits and things aren’t going to the original plan.
  3. This technique is ideal for those who are just thinking of starting using time management in their work. It’s also great for those who’ve already tried some methods of time management and haven’t found a suitable solution yet.
everhour
All-in-one time management system for your team

Estimate tasks, set budgets, customize reports – direct in your project management tool.

✔️ Asana time tracking
✔️ Trello time tracking
✔️ Basecamp time tracking
✔️ Jira time tracking
✔️ GitHub time tracking
✔️ ClickUp time tracking
✔️ Monday time tracking

The post Accurate Time Blocking with Time Management Worksheet appeared first on Everhour Blog.

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Balance Sheet Template: Easy Solutions for Financial Tracking [+Free Download] https://everhour.com/blog/balance-sheet-template/ Thu, 04 Apr 2024 08:40:00 +0000 https://everhour.com/blog/?p=12596 You’ve probably heard that half of all small businesses fail during the first five years. The question is: how do you avoid their fate? How can you predict and resolve financial issues before they collapse your business? Have a balance sheet. The balance sheet is essentially a financial statement that captures all assets and liabilities […]

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You’ve probably heard that half of all small businesses fail during the first five years. The question is: how do you avoid their fate? How can you predict and resolve financial issues before they collapse your business? Have a balance sheet.

The balance sheet is essentially a financial statement that captures all assets and liabilities of an organization at a specific point in time. Your balance sheet presents and helps you gain insight into:

  • What your company owns as well as what it owes
  • How much has been invested into your company
  • What is your business’s net worth

Creating a comprehensive balance sheet can seem like a daunting task, but worry not! Below you will find all you need to understand:

  • How do balance sheets work , why they are so important, what tools you need to work around it (for example, the best accounting software)?
  • Can you learn how to read a balance sheet (and actually understand it)?
  • How to create your own based on a simple balance sheet template?

What is the Purpose of a Balance Sheet?

Mainly, balance sheets are created for the purpose of reviewing the company’s financial status. Among other things, this can be useful if you want to:

  1. Analyze your business growth. A great balance sheet will have details of the current and previous years. It makes it easy to monitor the growth of your business.
  2. Mitigate growing concerns on time. Many businesses do not realize that their business cannot stay afloat until it’s too late. If your assets to liabilities ratio is below 1:1, you should find ways to increase your revenue.
  3. Determine your creditworthiness. Banks and other lenders will use your balance sheet to evaluate if you qualify for additional credit. Positive net worth can get your credit application approved.

A Free Balance Sheet Template

If you want to grab a simple balance sheet template and use it right away, you’ve come to the right place. The template below comes with all essential financial ratios. Ideal to suit the needs of small business owners!

free balance sheet template for your business

Note that this are View-only Google Sheets files. You cannot edit it directly. So make a local copy first and then edit the template. Before doing so, please make sure you’re signed in to your Google Account!

free balance sheet template for your business

Now that you have the template to get you started. How do you fill it out? And what exactly does the balance sheet show, anyway? Worry not: we’ve got all the answers.

What Does the Balance Sheet Show

For you to better understand how to make a balance sheet, let’s look at the standard elements of the business balance sheet template. 

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1. Current assets

These are items with a lifespan of less than a year and are easily convertible into cash. They show your business’s ability to finance daily business operations. Current assets include:

free balance sheet template for your business
  • Cash — This includes cash-in-hand, checks, and non-restricted bank accounts.
  • Accounts receivables — This is money owed to your business, such as outstanding invoices.
  • Inventory — Inventory includes finished products, work-in-progress goods, and raw materials.
  • Prepaid Expenses — These are costs that you have paid but not used, or simply, expenses paid in advance.
  • Short-term Investments — These are safe assets that are easy to convert to cash, such as debt securities.

2. Fixed (long-term) assets

Fixed assets cannot bring in cash easily and are not disposed of within the accounting year. They show the business’s ability to fund future needs. Long-term assets may include:

free balance sheet template for your business
  • Long-Term Investments — These are investments that you will hold for over a year, such as bonds and notes.
  • Property Plant and Equipment (PPE) with the Depreciation Offset — They include machinery and equipment, real estate, fixtures and fittings, and furniture used to produce goods and services.
  • Intangible Assets — These are assets that are not physical in nature, such as trademarks, patents, and intellectual property.
  • Other assets, e.g. deferred income tax (this results from differences in income recognition between your business’s accounting methods and tax laws). Record an overpayment under “other assets”, and an underpayment under “long-term liabilities”.

3. Current liabilities

They are amounts that should be paid to creditors within a year using the current assets available. Current liabilities include:

free balance sheet template for your business
  • Account Payables — These refer to the amounts you owe to suppliers.
  • Short-term Loans — Are loans you take to support the business’s working capital needs and fall due within a year.
  • Income Tax Payable — This is tax liability due to the government within the year.
  • Accrued Salaries and Wages — Salaries that have been earned by your employees but not paid.
  • Unearned Revenue — This is money you have received but are yet to deliver the goods or services.
  • Current Portion of Long-term Debt — Add any loan principal that falls due within the year.

4. Long-term liabilities

This section includes obligations that are not due within your business’s operating cycle or in the next year. They show the business’s capital structure and its debt-to-equity ratio.

free balance sheet template for your business

5. Owner’s equity

This section shows what you own. It’s the amounts that are left over after the liabilities are subtracted from the assets. Owner’s equity consists of:

free balance sheet template for your business
  • Owner’s Investment This is your capital contribution to the company. It can include shareholder’s investments.
  • Retained Earnings These are net earnings reinvested back into the business instead of paying out as dividends.

Here you have it: a summary of all the standard balance sheet elements. At its core, it’s actually pretty simple: assets on one side, liabilities + owner’s equity on the other side, balancing out.

Here’s a handy visualization by Investopedia:

free balance sheet template for your business

Frequently Asked Questions

  • How do you know if a balance sheet is correct?
    Your balance sheet is right when the sum of the assets equals the total liabilities and equity.
  • Is a balance sheet the same as an income statement?
    No, a balance sheet lists the assets, obligations, and owner’s equity of your venture while an income statement indicates the total revenues and expenses, and reports a net profit or loss.
  • What is a classified balance sheet?
    It is simply a more detailed and in-depth version of a balance sheet. It categorizes your business’s assets, liabilities, and equity into further classifications of accounts and contains subtotals for each category.

The Bottom Line

Ensuring your balance sheet is well done will help you to always know the financial position of your business. Consequently, it will be easier for you to make major decisions in an informed, rational way.

Feel that you needed one yesterday? Get started today with our hassle-free balance sheet template!

The post Balance Sheet Template: Easy Solutions for Financial Tracking [+Free Download] appeared first on Everhour Blog.

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