Who it is for
For firms that record hours against projects
Okloq suits work that happens at the laptop and is accounted for per matter or project. Below, for each profession, what it delivers, and just as clearly where it still falls short.
Is Okloq right for your firm?
It fits if
- your matters or projects have a number
- that number appears in folder names, file names or email subjects
- your people work on Windows, in Word, Excel, Outlook, PDFs and the browser
- you want to record hours per matter or project, to bill them or to account for them
It does not fit yet if
- your firm works on Macs; the Mac version is in development and not yet available
- most work happens away from the laptop: on location, in court, on the construction site
- matters have no number and are known only by name
- you want to see what employees are doing; Okloq does not show that
Lawyers and legal professionals
The six minutes nobody writes down
If you bill in six-minute units, you do not lose time on the big documents but on everything in between: the quick email, the document you just read through again.
Some practice management systems have their own stopwatch for work inside the system. Okloq records what happens outside it: Word, Outlook, PDFs, Teams, the browser. The matter number in the file name or the email subject is enough.
- Rounding to six minutesWithout shifting the day total.
- ConfidentialityWindow titles, file names and subjects stay on the laptop. We only hold approved hours, and the description is deleted as soon as it is in your software. You can also switch off the suggested description.
- Type of work per programFor example Word for drafting documents and Outlook for correspondence; adjustable per line.
Where it falls short today
For the practice management systems used by Dutch law firms we have not found a public interface through which another program can deliver hours. Until there is one, the hours go to your accounts as a file or as an hours report. And if your firm mainly handles legal aid cases at a fixed fee, more accurate time recording brings no extra revenue; Okloq is then useful at most for your own insight.
Engineers and architects
The project number is already in the folder name
A firm that numbers its project folders neatly has already done the groundwork.
Okloq reads the project list from your folder structure, even when projects are grouped by year in a parent folder. When someone opens a drawing, a calculation or a report from a project folder, the time belongs to that project. Which program it is does not matter: Okloq reads the window title, and for Word, Excel and PowerPoint also the file path.
- Hours per project, per dayAlso usable as the basis for accounting for hours per project.
- Sending to project administrationTo Moneybird, Exact Online, Simplicate, Toggl Track, Harvest or Clockify as a time entry, or as a file.
- Internal hoursTime that belongs to no project can go to a single internal number.
- Fixed-price projectsBudgeted hours per project, with the status in the portal and in the day overview. That way you see during the work whether the budget will hold. The employee ticks extra work separately; it stays outside the budget and is invoiced by the hour. Budget per project.
Where it falls short today
Okloq measures time at the screen. Thinking on paper, meetings without a laptop and a site visit are not included. For a scheme that requires watertight time records, such as the Dutch WBSO R&D tax credit, Okloq is an aid, not a replacement for those records.
Accountants, tax advisers and consultants
Many clients and separate tasks in a single day
A tax return here, a question there, a set of annual accounts that stays on the pile. Reconstructing afterwards takes time and is rarely right.
Okloq lays out the day per client project, with the type of work. The employee checks it, corrects what is wrong and approves. The hours go on to the software you already invoice from.
- Hours or invoiceAs a time entry to Moneybird, Exact Online or Simplicate; as a monthly invoice or sales order to e-Boekhouden or SnelStart.
- A rate per employeeFor software that accepts invoices, you set the hourly rate per employee in the portal.
- A summary for the clientThe hours report as PDF, per month, with a summary per project.
Where it falls short today
If your firm works all day in a single online application, the window title often contains no client or project number. Okloq then does not recognise the project automatically; you assign that time to a project by hand in the day overview.
Within the firm
What it means for whom
The employee
Does not need to start a timer or reconstruct anything. Checks one list at the end of the day and approves. Decides what the firm gets to see.
The administrator
Sets up once where the projects are and what a number looks like. Invites employees with a pairing code and sees whether the hours arrive in your software.
The owner or management
Gets the hours per employee and project in your own software, without bringing in a tracking system that costs trust.
Get acquainted
Want to see what a day looks like with your own projects?
Okloq has not yet been released. In a demo we show the day overview, the portal and the route to your software, and discuss what still needs adding for your firm.