Tracking time on a project

[Matt Leach]

I have a database that has a notes database attached to it that is viewed through a portal. This database is used for a help desk so they record their notes as they are on a call

The notes database records the creation date, time, user, followed by the users note.

What i would like to do is keep track of the length of the call using the notes. I know i can do this by creating a timestamp for the start of the call, a timestamp for the end of the call and have a 3rd field that will calculate the difference which will work, but i have come across a snag.

If a user is entering a note and needs to go back and look at something on the record that requires them to click out of the note, it is going to ask them so save the note, if they do this, they can save, do what they have to do and go back to the note. The problem is, the duration is no longer valid.

Is there any other way of accomplishing this?

Thanks

[bcooney]

I once wrote a Help Desk database, and came up with the idea of a child table of start/end date times in order to allow a tech to suspend a call. Many times a customer wouldn't get back or would say, "how about Wed?" In those cases, we really didn't want to keep the clock ticking--as it would look as if the resolution time took longer than it really had (and they were judged by resolution time).

So, a child table of times with a selection list of "Suspended by Client", "Waiting for Part", etc. was our solution. Calc and subject out the sum of the suspended durations.

[Matt Leach]

Thank you for the reply, i will see if that solution will work for this database