Time tracking in tickets is essential for teams that sell services by the hour and for managers who need to measure actual team effort.
ActualTime (TICGAL)
- Focus: measure real time spent by the technician on each task
- How it works: start/pause/stop buttons on the ticket task
- Data: actual vs estimated time per task
- License: free, open source
- Ideal for: measuring productivity and actual team effort
Contract Hours (NexTool)
- Focus: control hour consumption per service contract
- How it works: timer in the ticket timeline, linked to the contract
- Data: consumed vs contracted hours, balance, billing
- License: licensed NexTool module
- Ideal for: companies that sell hour packages and need client-facing reports
Comparison
| Aspect | ActualTime | Contract Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Timer | On the task | In the ticket timeline |
| Contract link | No | Yes (automatic) |
| Client dashboard | No | Yes |
| Billing | No | Yes |
| Consumption report | Basic | Detailed by period |
| Price | Free | Licensed |
When to use each one
- ActualTime: measure internal team effort, without billing needs
- Contract Hours: service contract management with clients, with balance control and reports
- Both: ActualTime for internal metrics + Contract Hours for external billing
