Worksnaps now works with Pivotal Tracker API V5, the newest API release from Pivotal. Pivital Tracker API V5 is an entirely new version of the API. It has switched the format from XML to JSON and has some modifications and enhancements to the last version V3. Worksnaps has now made the integration work with both the new V5 API as well as the old V3 API. We strongly encourage users to connect with the Pivotal Tracker using the V5 end-point. This can be set in Profile & Settings >> 3rd Party Integration >> Pivotal. You can simply set the Pivotal URL field to be https://www.pivotaltracker.com/services/v5 (the old V3 URL is https://www.pivotaltracker.com/services/v3). Everything else should stay the same and the integration should work seamlessly.
Author Archives: fredsexton2014
Finding Quality, Cost Effective Remote Workers with High Speed Internet
Nowadays, thanks to faster Internet and improved online communications, more and more businesses are hiring remote workers. Many professionals are providing their services through remote jobs, which allow them to enjoy numerous benefits. Some of these include: a more balanced work and personal life, financial benefits (saving money on gas or fare), becoming more productive, avoiding traffic, and dealing with fewer office distractions.
Offering remote work also benefits employers. When quality remote workers are managed properly, those who employ them can also expect to reap huge benefits. Some of the greatest benefits that remote work can bring to employers include: improved workforce productivity, reduced carbon footprint, and becoming more eco-friendly.
Worksnaps Reaches over 80 Countries
We are excited to announce that Worksnaps service is now being used by users from more than 80 countries around the world. There is strong evidence that more companies are turning to remote workers to augment their workforce, and online work has spread to many places around the world. While we see that we have strong user base in the traditional IT outsourcing hotbeds such as India, the Philippines and many parts of Eastern Europe, we are delighted to find users from countries such as Madagascar, Kenya, Andorra and Fiji.
Meanwhile, we are also happy to realize that the time tracked on Worksnaps system has now exceeded 2 million hours. Back in January of this year, we reached the milestone of 1 million hours. It has taken us about 8 months to achieve the second million hours. We want to thank all the users, especially those who give us feedback, suggestions and constructive criticisms. We understand that the 2 million is just a number. The most valuable asset we have is our user community. We will continue to humbly listen to our users and enhance the product to better serve their needs.
Introducing our New Help Desk
In order to provide better customer support and user experience in the ticket process, we are happy to announce that we have upgraded our help desk system. We had been using OSTicket, an open-source ticketing system. OSTicket has been adequate in handling our customer issues and serving ticket workflow. However, with the growing customer base and the increasing demand for enhanced features such as streamlined email process, flexibility in customization and better integration with knowledgebase, we have chosen a new ticket system – Freshdesk. We met the Freshdesk team in this year’s Launch Festival in San Francisco. By talking with them in person, we were very impressed by their passion in providing the best customer service experience, something that we wholeheartedly share, let alone the comprehensive feature set in their product. We did a pilot run, simulated many use cases and tailored the system to our needs. We did run into a few bumps, but with their timely customer support, we were able to iron out the kinks easily. Now we feel that we are ready to move ahead to make Freshdesk as our new help desk system.
Telecommuting Made Easy – Learn how to Tackle and Deal with Productivity Drains
Telecommuting is getting a lot of attention lately. According to the Forrester Research, there are about 34 million Americans who telecommuted in 2009 alone. The report says that this will go up to about 63 million by the time that 2016 rolls in. Telecommuting can significantly improve employee recruitment efforts and other overhead costs. For telecommuters, this mean that they can work at home and save money in many areas, such as car repairs, dining out, travel expenses, clothes, etc.
However, having a telecommute job, whether it is on a part time basis or a full time job, is not without challenges. One of these problems is directly connected with productivity. So if you want to learn how to tackle and deal with productivity drains, here are some of the best ways to make telecommuting easier.
Continue reading
Worksnaps Now Works with Asana
We are excited to announce that Worksnaps now works with Asana. Asana is a popular task management tool with modern design, adaptability and robust set of features. It provides a excellent combination of simplicity and power for personal and professional or group tasks, accessible anywhere.
Where in Worksnaps can I find the integration with Asana?
After you log onto Worksnaps, you can go to Profile & Settings >> 3rd Party Integration. Then you will see the integration option Asana at the far right.
Comparing the Top Remote Time Tracking Applications
Remote work is on the rise, no one will argue with that. This has resulted in the birth of numerous tools that aim to help managers ensure productivity of their virtual employees. Two of the most popular remote time tracking tools are Worksnaps and Time Doctor.
If you are a manager or a business owner managing employees, it is important for you to ensure high productivity of your team. With a remote team it may be harder to ensure as of high productivity because you can’t keep as close tabs on everyone’s daily routine. Use of such time tracking tools is a great way for you to make certain (as best as possible) that your team is working on the tasks assigned to them. These tracking tools will help make sure that they are not spending their time lazily browsing the Interwebs, streaming videos unrelated to their jobs, or posting new Facebook statuses of their “easy new job working at home”. Not only do they keep your remote team more on task, more importantly they allow you to compare productivity of specific individuals and give feedback on how they are utilitizing their time.
Now that you know the importance of using such tools, you may already be wondering what are the differences between these remote time tracking tools. In order to answer this question, you should take the time to know more about them. Comparing them, their qualities, their features, and of course, their price will help you determine which of the two is the best fit for your business.
Continue reading
Worksnaps Offers its Product via Founder Institute’s Partner Program
Worksnaps is excited to offer its time-tracking product via the partner program of the Founder Institute. The Founder Institute is the world’s largest startup accelerator. It operates across 40 cities and 24 countries. The Founder Institute has launched more than 750 startup companies in 2013 and is now on pace to launch over 1,000 companies per year.
Worksnaps now works with Redmine
We are happy to announce that Worksnaps now works with Redmine. Redmine is a free and open source, web-based project management and bug-tracking tool. Its main features include a calendar and Gantt charts to aid visual representation of projects and their deadlines, multiple projects, issue tracking, and support for various version control systems.
Where in Worksnaps can I find the integration with Redmine?
People Tracking: How Mickey Mouse Does It Right
My family just got from our first Disney vacation. I can’t say enough about the employees and just how much they love their job. Whoever does their human resources is doing an outstanding job.
In addition to just having nice people, I was amazed by a number of additional things at Disney as well. Related though to my day job, the Fastpass technology they use was really cool, especially when we were able to go to the front of a 130 minute wait for Space Mountain. Essentially, Fastpass allows park goers to skip ahead of everyone else in line. In order to qualify for Fastpass though you must check in ahead of time at the particular ride for which you would like to skip waiting in the line. You are then given a ticket with a 1 hour time slot in which you are suppose to return at, normally 2-8 hours in advance. I believe presumably this would provide a more stable stream of riders to the more popular rides.
Worksnaps 
