Dear Time & Bill Users,
Thank you for the numerous emails that have reached me in the past few days. I am delighted to see how many of you have found this service helpful.
Due to the many inquiries, I would like to outline some options for tracking your work hours after Time & Bill.
Self-Hosting
“Time & Bill” is going open source, meaning the program will be made available to you via Github. I am still in the process of revising the repository to make it publishable. I need to check if there are any confidential data (API keys, etc.) in the code.
Once I have placed the code there, I will initially grant access to you, my customer base. The general public will only have full access later on.
Manual Installation
To manually install “Time & Bill,” you will need your own server with Java installed. The application is a “Spring Boot” application and can be started as a Jar file. The data is stored in a MySQL database.
Installation via Docker
“Time & Bill” will also be made available as a Docker image. However, there is no exact timeline for this yet. Since it’s open source, such a Docker image could become a reality relatively quickly.
What Costs Will I Incur for Self-Hosting?
Depending on whether you want to run the software in your office or make it publicly accessible, the costs will vary. In your own office, the costs are limited to your own hardware, electricity, and your own labor. For public access, you will need a server in a data center like Gandi or Hetzner.
For operation with a small team, it is quite possible to run a smaller server for around €40.
If you want to operate “Time & Bill” as a service and manage customers yourself, the costs could be significantly higher, and I would estimate around €150.
How Do I Access My Data if I Self-Host?
If you wish to host the system yourself, I will provide your data sets via SQL dump. If there is actual demand, I will look into how such a dump can be generated. Please let me know as early as possible if you need such a dump so that I have enough time to make the data available accordingly.
Is There an Installation Service?
In the “Time & Bill” community, there are some administrators who already support customers. Someone may offer to take on additional customers.
Alternatively, you can purchase a standard installation for a flat fee. In this case, you would need to provide the hardware, and I would handle the installation for you.
I only recommend this option for users who are willing to monitor and maintain this system themselves.
What About Mobile Applications?
The mobile applications will also be released. How exactly they will end up on your devices is not yet clear. Separate instructions will be provided for this. More information will be available as soon as I know more.
Support
Paid support can be offered for self-hosting by arrangement. Unfortunately, monitoring of ongoing operations is not possible.
I Don’t Want to Self-Host, What Now?
If you do not want to self-host, you should switch to another provider. There are several options available. If you want to switch to a provider with a similar philosophy, you might want to take a look at the Swiss company TimeStatement.
“TimeStatement” and “Time & Bill” are currently planning a way to migrate existing data sets to the other system. If you are interested in this, please send a short message to support@timeandbill.de.
Questions?
You can send your questions as usual to support@timeandbill.de.
