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Whether you're a project lead, an individual project contributor, or an independent contractor, an important part of your job is tracking and reporting the time you spend on various project tasks. If you need advanced project management and time-tracking tools, your best bet is Microsoft Office Project 2003. But for a simple and efficient timecard, why not make use of what's already on your computer?

The Excel Timecard template

The Timecard template, included with your copy of Microsoft Office Excel 2003, can help you track your time quickly and efficiently. You just open the Timecard template from Excel and begin entering your information. The template is set up to display the days of the week, and automatically breaks out the hours you enter as daily, total, and total overtime hours, so you don't have to.

Open the Timecard template

The Timecard template is already available on your computer. To open it, do the following:

1. Start Excel.
2. On the File menu, click New. The New Workbook task pane opens on the right side of the screen.
3. In the New Workbook task pane, under Templates, click On my computer.
4. In the Templates dialog box, on the Spreadsheet Solutions tab, click the Timecard template, and then click OK.
5. On the File menu, click Save As.
6. In the Save As dialog box, select a location for the timecard in the Save in box, type a name for it in the File name box, and then click Save.

Fit the template to your needs

If the Timecard template doesn't communicate the information you need, you can easily modify it. Whether you report your time to a supervisor, to the payroll department, or directly to a client as an invoice, this flexible template can work for you.

In some cases, the default labels in the template — for example employee number or social security number — are not appropriate. You can easily change the labels to display information that fits your needs, such as employee type, project number, or task categories.

How?

Track project tasks and time

Your timecard is already set up for you to add project information. You only need to enter descriptions, account or project code information, and the billable time for each line item, and let the template do the rest.

An efficient and cost-effective solution

The Excel Timecard template is a great tool for tracking and reporting the time you spend on a project. Because the template is already on your computer, you can be productive and communicate your hours without incurring additional costs. Excel 2003, along with other Microsoft Office 2003 programs, offers hundreds of useful templates that can help you spend more time focusing on your deliverables, and less time figuring out complicated programs.