Time Categories

Time categories classify tools by the type of work they represent — such as Development, Design, Communication, Project Management, and more. They determine how time is grouped in the Time Categories section on the Dashboard and Profile pages, and the Communication category also decides which tools use the separate communication idle threshold. This guide explains how time categories work and how to adjust them when needed.

---

What Are Time Categories?

Every tool tracked by Intelogos belongs to a time category that describes the functional type of work it supports. Common time categories include:

• Development — IDEs, code editors, terminal tools (e.g., VS Code, IntelliJ, Terminal)
• Design — Creative and UI/UX tools (e.g., Figma, Adobe Photoshop, Sketch)
• Communication — Messaging, email, calls, and customer chat (e.g., Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Gmail, Zendesk, Intercom)
• Project Management — Planning and coordination tools (e.g., Jira, Asana, Monday.com)
• Documents — Writing and documentation (e.g., Google Docs, Notion, Confluence)
• Finance — Accounting and budgeting tools (e.g., QuickBooks, Sheets)
• Data & Analytics — BI tools and spreadsheets (e.g., Looker, Tableau, Excel)
• AI — AI tools and assistants
• Repositories — Code repositories and version control (e.g., GitHub, GitLab)
• CRM — Customer relationship management tools
• Calendar — Scheduling tools
• Marketing — Marketing platforms
• Support — Customer support tools
• Other — Tools that do not fit into a more specific category

These categories feed the Time Categories stacked bar chart and table on both the Dashboard and Profile pages, giving you a visual breakdown of how time is distributed across different types of work. Your organization can also add its own categories — see Custom Time Categories.

The Communication Category and Idle Time

The apps and websites in the Communication category use the separate communication idle threshold in your agents, so you can give calls and meetings more time before they're flagged as idle. Moving a tool into or out of Communication changes which idle threshold applies to it. See Idle Time for how the thresholds work.

---

Default Categorization

Intelogos already has most commonly used tools categorized out of the box. When your team starts using the platform, popular tools like VS Code, Slack, Figma, Jira, and many others will already be assigned to the correct time category. Support and chat tools such as Zendesk, Intercom, Freshdesk, Help Scout, RingCentral, and Mattermost are in Communication by default.

This means in most cases, the Time Categories chart on your Dashboard and Profile pages will show a meaningful breakdown without any manual setup.

---

When to Adjust Time Categories

There are two situations where you may want to change a tool's time category:

1. The Category Assigned by Intelogos Is Not Right for Your Team

Intelogos assigns time categories based on how tools are generally used across most organizations. But your team may use a tool differently. For example:

• Your team might use Google Sheets primarily for project tracking rather than data analysis — you may want it in "Project Management" instead of "Data & Analytics."
• A tool like Notion might be categorized as "Documents," but your team uses it primarily for project management.
• Slack might be defaulted to "Communication," but a support team may want it in "Support" since it is their primary support channel. Keep in mind that a tool moved out of Communication uses the regular idle threshold instead of the communication one.

In these cases, changing the time category ensures the Time Categories chart accurately reflects how your team actually spends time.

2. A Tool You Use Is in the "Other" Category

When Intelogos detects a tool that is not in its database — such as an internal application, a niche industry tool, or a custom web application — it will be placed in the "Other" category by default. The "Other" category is a catch-all for anything that has not been specifically classified.

If you see a significant amount of time in "Other" on your Dashboard or Profile, it is worth investigating which tools are there and assigning them to a more specific category.

---

How to Adjust Time Categories

Time categories can be adjusted from the Tools page. Changes apply organization-wide — time categories are not department-specific.

From the Tools Page

Location: Tools in the left sidebar (https://team.intelogos.com/tools)

1. Navigate to the Tools page from the left sidebar.
2. Find the tool you want to recategorize. You can:
   • Search by name using the search field in the top-right of the filter toolbar
   • Filter by Time category using the "+ Time category" filter button to find all tools currently in a specific category (e.g., filter by "Other" to see all uncategorized tools)
   • Sort by Time (default) to see the most-used tools first — prioritize categorizing these
3. In the tool's row, find the Time category column (the last column in the table).
4. Click the dropdown in the Time category cell — it shows the current category with a small chevron icon.
5. A dropdown menu opens listing all available time categories.
6. Select the appropriate category.
7. The change saves immediately — no separate save button is needed.

Tip: If the Time category column is not visible, click the column selector icon (grid/columns icon) in the top-right corner of the card and enable the "Time category" column.

Finding Tools in the "Other" Category

To quickly find and recategorize tools stuck in "Other":

1. On the Tools page, click the "+ Time category" filter button in the filter toolbar.
2. Select "Other" from the dropdown.
3. The table now shows only tools in the "Other" category.
4. Review the list and assign each tool to the appropriate time category using the dropdown in each row.
5. Sort by Time (descending) to tackle the most-used tools first — these will have the biggest impact on the accuracy of your Time Categories chart.

Changing an Existing Category

To change a tool that already has a category (e.g., moving Google Sheets from "Data & Analytics" to "Project Management"):

1. On the Tools page, find the tool using search or by browsing the table.
2. Click the dropdown in the Time category column.
3. Select the new category.
4. The change saves immediately and will be reflected on the Dashboard and Profile Time Categories sections.

---

Custom Time Categories

If none of the built-in categories fits a kind of work your team does, you can add your own. Custom categories are available across your whole organization.

Adding a Custom Category

1. On the Tools page, click the dropdown in the Time category column of the tool you want to put in the new category.
2. At the bottom of the list, click Add Custom Time Category.
3. Enter a Name (for example, "Client Success") and pick a Color.
4. Click Add Category. The new category is created and assigned to that tool, and it appears in every tool's Time category dropdown.

Managing Custom Categories

1. Open any tool's Time category dropdown and click Manage Time Categories at the bottom.
2. The list shows your organization's custom categories. Built-in categories can't be edited.
3. To delete a custom category, click its trash icon and then Confirm. Tools in that category go back to their default category.

---

Best Practices

• Prioritize by usage. Sort the Tools page by Time and focus on recategorizing the most-used tools first. Tools with little to no usage have minimal impact on the chart.
• Review "Other" periodically. As your team adopts new tools or internal applications are detected, they will appear in "Other." Check this category every few weeks.
• Match your organization's vocabulary. If your team needs a category the built-in list doesn't have, add a custom one rather than stretching an existing category. Ensuring the right tools are in the right categories keeps the data intuitive.
• Keep Communication accurate. Tools in the Communication category use the communication idle threshold, so make sure the call, chat, and support tools your team uses are there.
• Use the Time Categories chart as a guide. If the chart on your Dashboard or Profile shows something unexpected — like a large "Other" slice or "Communication" time that seems too high — drill into it by clicking the row in the Time Categories table to see which tools are contributing, and adjust as needed.
• Coordinate with team leads. If you are unsure how a tool is used across the organization, ask the relevant team lead before recategorizing.