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TIMEFOX MAKES COMMUNICATING ON PROJECTS SIMPLE, AND KEEPS EVERYONE ON THE SAME PAGE

DataDog is a 7-person interactive marketing company based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It specializes in strategic planning and innovative online and offline strategies including data capture, list building, email and search engine marketing, and integrated multi-point marketing; creating powerful and effective interactive communications programs for its clients.

Three years ago, when DataDog's Johnathan Crawford decided to make the switch away from manual timesheets, he invested in a computer-based system. "Big mistake," he says, "It was terribly complex, hard to learn, difficult to use, and costly to run. It just wasn't right. We shelved it pretty quick when we found TimeFox."

Crawford found it simple and straightforward to set up the system and get everyone on board. "The team at FunctionFox were great coaches. They walked us through the program, answered all our questions, and they've continued to support us ever since. They respond right away if we have a problem, and we always get to talk to a real person - not a recording. We found TimeFox really easy to learn and very intuitive - we all loved it from the start."

DataDog began by using only TimeFox's time tracking functions. "The beauty of TimeFox is that it can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be," says Crawford, "At first, we just wanted to capture all our time during the day - both billable and non-billable – so we could see where to make improvements. Then we started using the reports."

Crawford uses TimeFox project reports to create invoices that show line by line what work has been done. For some clients, he also attaches the timesheets themselves to provide a detailed, hour-by-hour description. He says, "Clients don't question our invoices nearly as much when the timesheets are right there, explaining what we did when, and exactly how long it took. And if a question does come up, we have all the information we need to explain things."

DataDog staffers also love TimeFox's Project Blog. "We all jumped on it when we upgraded to TimeFox Premier," says Crawford, "It makes communicating about projects very simple and keeps everyone on the same page. It really has made us feel more like a team than ever."

Even after 3 years, DataDog is still finding new TimeFox functionality to help them boost productivity and profitability. "We just take it step by step," says Crawford, "I know there are still lots of nooks and crannies we haven't looked into.