Guest Post :: Review of Easy Time
EasyTime [ + & - ] by Mark K. Funke
About two months ago I entered PC hell. My four year old XP machine started giving me random memory access error messages that just didn't sound good, most of the attachments coming into my email inbox ended up corrupted, and to top it all off, the server no longer recognized any of the tape drives. That was it. I needed a new system. My office-mate had updgraded all his machines to Vista with the usual horror stories. I instead blew $4,000 at the Apple Store, and I was up and running fairly quickly.
Unfortunately, I had not researched the question of billing software for Macs. With my XP machines dead or dying, I really didn't have much time to think about it. I did about 4 hours of research and concluded that EasyTime from Bright Light Software looked the best for me. I downloaded it, spent perhaps 30 minutes with it, and immediately paid the $99.00 registration fee. I didn't have much of a choice, as billable work was stacking up.
After one month of using EasyTime, I have listed my current thoughts below, mostly in comparison to Billings from Marketcircle, which I also briefly thought about purchasing.
Positives about Easytime:
- I love the simple interface. It's easy and fast to enter time and a description. One of my complaints with Billings is that it seems cumbersome to quickly add new billed time and new lengthy descriptions in your slips. With Billings there are too many "clicks" required to finalize the slip - not so with Easytime. This was probably my biggest selling point. I have a habit of meticulously and quickly tracking my time.
- Similarly, the setup with new cases, and clients and the general layout of the program is easy to use, and IMHO better than Billings. I like the idea of the color coded invoice tracking.
- As a law specific application, the Retainer billing function makes more sense than Billings.
- The developer is extremely responsive and helpful in fixing any problems you may have. That's just absolutely awesome!
- I like the report function and the simplicity of many of the reports; similarly I like the way it saves PDFs of your past invoices in the support directory.
Negatives about Easytime:
- Starting with the website where you download the program and all the way through the general interface of the program - it's not as, shall we say "refined" as Billings or as pretty. Mac users like pretty; I want pretty.
- Some of the program functions, such as postage tracking, organizing files for individual clients, etc. appear useless to me. They aren't well-refined enough to use. For example, I doubt anyone uses the "schedule phone call" function. I believe that it's way easier just to use iCal. I suppose those functions are slightly beta, and I am waiting for a more comprehensive approach in version 2.0.
- The the simple and the standard invoice form is just fine, but the customization is somewhat lacking. It would be nice to have 5-10 sample invoice forms that come with the program. In general, I like the concept of "pretty invoices" as Billings has, but the Billings invoices are a little too childlike for me. I would like better designed invoices, but with a professional look. Perhaps it would make sense for the developer to hire a graphic designer to design a few invoices.
- The user manual is not complete. The program is very intuitive, which is good. It's easy to use, but the user manual could be more specific. There are several buttons and functions that I have no idea what they do or where to even look up that info.
If you are a current or past EasyTime user I would love to hear your thoughts on the software. I can be reached at mark@funkelaw.com.
Mark K. Funke is an attorney in Seattle, Washington, whose practice emphasizes commercial real estate transactions.
