Programming Challenge: Small Business Time Tracking System (Jan 29, 2025)

Challenge:

Build a simple time tracking system that allows small businesses or freelancers to log work hours for projects and generate basic reports.

Basic Requirements:

✅ Start and Stop Tracking: Users can start and stop a work session.
✅ Project-Based Logging: Assign time entries to specific projects or clients.
✅ Daily & Weekly Reports: Summarize hours worked per project.

Bonus Features for Small Business Needs:

🔹 Invoice Generation: Convert time logs into invoices for clients.
🔹 CSV/Excel Export: Allow users to export time reports.
🔹 User Authentication: Let multiple users track their own hours.
🔹 Idle Time Detection: Automatically detect inactivity.
🔹 Mobile-Friendly Web UI: A simple frontend for easy access.

Example Implementation (Python + SQLite for Local Storage)

import sqlite3
import time

# Initialize database
conn = sqlite3.connect("time_tracking.db")
cursor = conn.cursor()
cursor.execute("""CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS time_logs (
                    id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
                    project TEXT,
                    start_time REAL,
                    end_time REAL
                )""")
conn.commit()

# Start tracking time
def start_tracking(project):
    start_time = time.time()
    cursor.execute("INSERT INTO time_logs (project, start_time) VALUES (?, ?)", (project, start_time))
    conn.commit()
    print(f"Tracking started for {project}")

# Stop tracking time
def stop_tracking(project):
    end_time = time.time()
    cursor.execute("UPDATE time_logs SET end_time = ? WHERE project = ? AND end_time IS NULL", (end_time, project))
    conn.commit()
    print(f"Tracking stopped for {project}")

# Generate a report
def generate_report():
    cursor.execute("SELECT project, SUM(end_time - start_time) FROM time_logs WHERE end_time IS NOT NULL GROUP BY project")
    results = cursor.fetchall()
    for project, total_time in results:
        print(f"Project: {project} | Hours: {total_time / 3600:.2f}")

# Example usage
start_tracking("Website Development")
time.sleep(5)  # Simulate work
stop_tracking("Website Development")
generate_report()