TimeControl started quite a long time ago.  By the time 1994 arrived and we had decided to publish TimeControl as a commercial off the shelf (COTS) timesheet system, we knew already that we would have to continue to work hard to update the product for technology that was changing dramatically even as we launched.

The first version of TimeControl was as a DOS product, a character-based interface.  That would be supplanted within the year with TimeControl version 2, with a Windows interface.  We were working on version 3 even as we launched that version.  TimeControl 3 featured support for client-server databases such as Microsoft’s SQL Server and the Oracle database.  Version 4 launched with one of the first ever browser-based interfaces for an enterprise product.  It was 1999.

Over the years, we have committed a portion of our development efforts to what we refer to internally as ‘infrastructure’.  It is, in our opinion, unavoidable.  The current term for this is ‘keeping a current technology stack’.  This is part of the cost of doing business.  There is a lot of technology to keep up with.

An enterprise product like TimeControl needs to support multiple databases and database versions.  These days we work with SQL Server, Oracle and MySQL.  Over the years there have been others.  Each of those products are also keeping up their technology stack.  They change all the time.  TimeControl also has to support different versions of Microsoft Server and different browsers including Chrome, Safari, Mozilla, Edge and Firefox.  Those too change all the time.  There are regular changes in malware protection, safety protocols and support for our product being used in our Software as a Service Online edition.  There is support for our free TimeControl Mobile App as well used by both Android and Apple iOS devices.   There are transportation protocols for data moving across the Internet that have to keep up with current standards to be more effective and safer.

TimeControl is well known for its links to Project Management tools like Oracle’s Primavera and Microsoft Project and Project Online.  These tools also change on a regular basis.

The very programming languages we use also change as do the interface controls we subscribe to in order to present different elements of our product.

TimeControl also including an Application Programming Interface (API) which allows other external systems to integrate to it without our intervention.  That too has to keep up with current language and protocol standards.

We’ve seen other products in our industry where, for whatever reason, the technology stack effort stalled.  Perhaps it was a short term plan to reduce costs and sell the company.  Perhaps the effort to update the technology stack was simply too challenging.  Those products quickly fell behind others in their category and, while not irrelevant, became harder and harder to sell, deploy and integrate.

That was never going to be us.

For TimeControl that means updating our underlying architecture all the time.  But, we don’t want to update in a way to make TimeControl unstable so we have to update that technology carefully as we do each major version.

I was noticing our most recent job posting for a developer which listed some of the technology we hope they will have experience in: C#, ASP.NET, Web API, RESTful services, Angular 4+, DevExtreme, OAuth/OpenID and, Bootstrap.  It’s quite a list and that’s not exhaustive.  Nor, do we expect we will find all of that in one person every time.

We haven’t even talked about changes that come about with modern desires like the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

We’re working on updating infrastructure in TimeControl now and I expect we’ll be doing it tomorrow and every tomorrow for as long as we can see forward.  Keeping up with the technology stack is one important way that TimeControl stays relevant.

Chris Vandersluis, the president of HMS Software has just posted an article on his EPM Guidance site about resource leveling.  It’s particularly timely as we get ready for the upgrade of TimeControl Project 8.6 in our TimeControl Online environment this weekend.

Resource Leveling was once all the rage in the project management industry but the software industry refocused on getting tools into the hands of individuals with the associated licensing and the ability of the resource leveling algorithms to deliver a meaningful picture was sidelined.

Take a look at the article on EPM Guidance at: www.epmguidance.com/2025/02/27/what-ever-happened-to-resource-leveling/.

Since the very first version of TimeControl, we have believed that no users should have to confront features in the product that aren’t for them. For a timesheet, you might think that’s silly. After all, how many features can there be?
Lots.
But in TimeControl’s User Profiles, Administrators and system designers can decide what elements of TimeControl to display to which users.
So long as some super-Administrator has access to the User Profiles, you can hide many of the features that you might not be interested in deploying at this time. This is a common practice for almost all TimeControl deployments over the last 30 years.
The result is that an end-user who perhaps just does their timesheet and nothing else can have everything else hidden. They won’t see the Tables or the Reports or the Tools or even the documentation unless that has been made available to them. This makes TimeControl incredibly easy to adopt for the end user.
But… This same ease of use can present a challenge over the long term.
On a regular basis an experience TimeControl user emails a request asking if we can help find a tool that would attach itself to TimeControl for some function only to reply that the very feature they are looking for is already in TimeControl.
Some clients have been using TimeControl for over 25 years and like any enterprise system, once it’s in place and doing what was originally intended, there is little effort expended on seeing how the use of the product can be extended or if the organization is using all that the system provides.
Not that we expect every user to read all our documentation but just to make this point, our reference guide has over 600 pages. The user guide, over 100. Our report designer guide is another 400+ pages and our BI Guide another 180+. The TimeControl Project Guide is another 100+ pages.
There are a lot of features that could be used in TimeControl, and no one deploys them all.
So, if you are a TimeControl client, we encourage you to keep an eye on what’s new in each TimeControl version and from time to time ask our staff to do a generic catch up training session as we might do for any new client. You can also look at the many video courses or sessions on the website or just keep up with this blog.
TimeControl may have the answers you’re looking for already in your hands.

As we near the end of a remarkable 2024, we’d like to take a moment to thank all of our clients, our colleagues and friends and wish you all a safe, healthy and happy holiday season.

HMS will have holidays hours over the next week as follows:

Tuesday December 24 HMS offices close at noon
Wednesday, December 25 – Office closed for Christmas
Thursday, December 26 – Office closed for Boxing Day in Canada
Friday, December 27 – Regular hours
Monday, December 30 – Regular hours
Tuesday, December 31 – Office closes at noon
Wednesday, January 1 – Office closed for New Year’s Day
Thursday,  January 2 – Office closed
Friday, January 3 – Office opens with regular hours