Idle Time Detection & Time Tracking

Ango Hub keeps track of the time annotators and reviewers spend on their tasks.

In this page, we explain in detail how time tracking works in Ango Hub, and how you can set up Idle Time Detection in your projects.

Terminology

Tabs and Windows

Time Categories

There are two types of time shown in Ango Hub: active and idle.

Type	Description
Active	The tab is active, and the user is using the mouse or keyboard in the tab area (viewport.) The window can be active or inactive.
Idle	The window is active, the tab is active, the user is not using either the mouse or the keyboard. OR The window is inactive, the tab is active, the user is using the mouse but the cursor never hovers over the tab. OR The tab is inactive.

Exports and performance reports show active time. When idle durations are enabled for an export, idle time is included as well.

Time during which the browser tab is inactive counts as idle time.

How Time is Tracked

In Ango Hub, time starts being tracked when a user opens a task. When the user clicks Save , the time spent so far is saved on the task, and the timer starts again. When the user clicks Submit, the time saved on the task is added to its total duration for the completed stage.

This means that if you open a task, then quit it without saving or submitting, this time will not be counted as you were simply 'viewing' the task.

When a user first opens an asset, the active timer starts, indicated by the green dot in the top right of the screen:

If, however, the user is idle for a period of time set by the project manager (by default 300 seconds), the active timer stops and the idle timer starts, and the dot turns gray:

When the dot is gray, the active timer stops and the idle timer starts. As project manager, you can choose when to show the idleness notice, and thus, when to start considering your users as idle.

Changing the Idle Time Threshold

To change the duration after which you consider your project members as being idle, navigate to Settings -> General, then change the number, in seconds, under the Idle Timeout heading:

The Idle Timeout setting is available for standard Ango Hub projects. 3D MSFT projects do not show this setting.

Lastly, click on Save to save your settings.

Idle Detection Examples

Assuming a 5-second idle detection threshold.

Scenario	Durations
Open task Annotate for 15 seconds Save and quit.	Duration: 15s Idle duration: 0s
Open task Annotate for 15 seconds Save and quit. Open the task and don’t perform any annotation Quit without saving Enter the task again and perform annotations for 10 seconds Save and quit	Duration: 25s Idle duration: 0s
Open task Annotate for 10 seconds Change tab for 30 seconds (keeping the browser window active) Go back to the annotation and annotate for 10 more seconds Save and quit	Duration: 20s Idle duration: 30s
Open task Annotate for 10 seconds Do nothing for 30 seconds with the tab and window active Move the mouse and annotate for 10 more seconds Save and quit	Duration: 25s (20 seconds of actual annotation + 5 seconds idle detection threshold) Idle duration: 25s (30 seconds of actual idleness minus 5 seconds idle detection threshold)
Open task Annotate for 10 seconds Save and quit Open task again Be active, but don’t perform any annotation for 10 seconds Submit	totalDuration (in export): 20 seconds This occurs because saving keeps the task in its current stage and stores the time spent so far. When the user later submits the task, the saved time from both sessions is added to the task's total duration for that stage.
Open task Annotate for 10 seconds Change the foreground application for 30 seconds (keeping the tab open in the window, but with the window in the background) and never hover over the window. Go back to annotation and annotate for 10 more seconds Save and quit	Duration: 25s (20 seconds of actual annotation + 5 seconds idle detection threshold) Idle duration: 25s (30 seconds of actual idleness minus 5 seconds idle detection threshold)
Open task Annotate for 10 seconds Change the foreground application for 30 seconds (keeping the tab open in the window, but with the window in the background) and never hover over the window. Go back to annotation and annotate for 10 more seconds Submit Review the asset for 5 seconds Submit	In the export: totalDuration: 25s + 5s = 30s (review) stageDuration: 5s

Inspecting time spent on tasks

Other than the columns present in the Performance, Assets, and Tasks tabs, you may also inspect a single task's idle and active times, both for the stage it is currently in and as a total.

To do so, open the task you wish to inspect, and open the Task Info panel on the right side:

In the highlighted box, you will be able to inspect active and idle times, both for the current stage and for the totality of the task's stage history.