ArchiTime is an ArchiCAD Plug-in for the Analysis of Time Management Statistics. How often have you asked yourself how much time you or your colleagues have spent in front of the computer designing a particular project?
This type of information is of great value for determining the time – and, hence, the costs – required to develop a project and for evaluating how the ArchiCAD program is used and what influence this has on the total costs of work performed.

Such figures can be used for statistical and informational purposes as well as for assessing the costs of inputting data into the computer, which is one of the primary factors in determining your prices.

ArchiTime, which is launched automatically each time you work on a project, keeps track of the operations carried out based on element type and function performed. It also tracks the time spent in each work session, broken down by worksheet window and work day. When the project is completed, ArchiTime provides a detailed summary report of the data collected (including explanatory graphs) that can either be printed or saved in text format for further processing in spreadsheets or by dedicated programs.

No effort is required on the user’s part; ArchiTime goes unnoticed, working discreetly in the background and requiring no interaction unless you request information.

The ArchiTime commands are included in a Tool Palette that is available for the entire duration of the project. The first two buttons can be used to interrupt or restart monitoring of the time spent on your project. If you accidentally forget to restart the Plug-in, a warning message will automatically appear reminding you that ArchiTime has been paused and that any additions or modifications to the project will not be tracked.

The third button allows a summary report of the monitoring information to be viewed in text format. The contents of this window, as with all ArchiCAD text windows, can either be printed or saved in text format and opened with other programs.

The fourth button opens the formatted report window, a special ArchiTime window in which the data collected from the monitoring process is displayed in graphical format. Since the graphical format is an Object, its appearance can be customised using the fifth button on the tool palette.

The user interface of the settings window is similar to ArchiCAD windows and can be used to select the font type, font size and pen colour. The remaining options can be used to activate or deactivate the visualization of certain types of information in the summary report, such as the time spent working in the individual worksheet windows or a list of operations performed on ArchiCAD elements, as well as information pertaining to the visualisation of the graphic report.

The last ArchiTime function can be used to compare the reports from different projects, allowing statistical evaluations to be carried out regarding work performed. In this manner, ArchiTime helps you get a clear idea of how ArchiCAD is being used by indicating the worksheet windows you use the most, the tools you are most comfortable working with, and those you find to be less user friendly.