All posts by chris.vandersluis

timecontrol

Microsoft and HMS extend their relationship for a 22nd straight year

silver_comp_2015Twenty-two years.  That’s how long HMS and Microsoft have had a formal technical alliance.   The recent certification by Microsoft of HMS as a Silver Certified partner in the Application Development and Project and Portfolio Management categories confirms that we’ll be pushing this into a 23rd year in 2018.

We couldn’t be happier.

HMS has been a member of a Microsoft partner program since the original Microsoft Project Solution Partner program when it started in 1995. The relationship between Microsoft and HMS is oriented around HMS Software’s TimeControl timesheet system and its ability to integrate with Microsoft Project, Microsoft Project Server and Project Online. The Microsoft Project development team and HMS have continued to work closely together all these years.

For this 2017-2018 season, HMS demonstrated to Microsoft its success integrating TimeControl with Microsoft Project and Project Server through actual client testimonials.  We have also had several HMS personnel pass Microsoft certification testing. Microsoft also ensured that TimeControl successfully passed external 3rd party testing for technology and standards compliance with Microsoft Technology.

HMS leverages a wide range of Microsoft technology to deliver both TimeControl and TimeControl Online, HMS Software’s in-the-cloud timesheet service.

To see how TimeControl and Microsoft’s technology work together, visit the TimeControl Microsoft Technology Portal where you’ll find numerous HMS resources including white papers, webcasts, PowerPoint presentations and more. The portal can be found at: www.timecontrol.com/use-cases/microsoft-portal.

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TimeControl and BrightWork

TimeControl and BrightWork have announced an integration between our products.  This brings collaborative project and portfolio management together with enterprise timekeeping in an exciting blend of functionality.

Integrating TimeControl with BrightWork brings the best in breed collaborative project and portfolio management together with auditable labor actuals. Now enterprise timesheets from TimeControl can work seamlessly with the BrightWork project management system. The bidirectional link was designed collaboratively with HMS and BrightWork team members to bring BrightWork project and task information to TimeControl, present that information to end-users who can provide their end of day or end of week updates on these tasks along with any other non-project timesheet information at the same time then sends the information back to BrightWork.

Included with all versions of TimeControl the BrightWork integration means not only updating tasks in the project management system but simultaneously accommodating requirements for auditable labor and cost information for systems such as Billing, Payroll or Job Costing.

For more information visit TimeControl.com/use-cases/brightwork.

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TimeControl Online is 6 years old and better than ever!

TimeControl Online is TimeControl’s Software as a Service subscription offering which launched in 2011.  At six years of age, it’s looking better than ever.

“HMS is committed to offering TimeControl both as a purchase for installation on-premise and as a subscription service in the Cloud,” explains HMS Software president Chris Vandersluis.

The online TimeControl service provides all the functionality loved by the on-premise version.  The code that is deployed for both situations is identical.

When subscribing to TimeControl Online, clients avoid having to purchase or configure hardware, networking, databases or worry about security, monitoring or anything other than simply using the timesheet.  HMS Software’s technical team handles the rest.

TimeControl Online started in 2011 as version 6.2.  It has gone through continuous updates and upgrades and is now in version 7.

For those who are using TimeControl on premise and are interested in switching to TimeControl Online, they can speak to their TimeControl representative at info@hms.ca and ask about a transfer credit towards their first year’s subscription.

For those who are considering TimeControl and aren’t sure whether to purchase for an on-premise deployment or subscribe online, our President, Chris Vandersluis has recently released a series of mini-webinars on the subject.  You can find them on his blog EPMGuidance.com.

For more information on TimeControl Online, visit timecontrol.net.

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HMS will be at PMI Westchester on Saturday, April 29th!

pmiwestchester_300x34.pngHMS will be on the road this Saturday at the 8th Annual PMI Westchester Professional Development Day which takes place April 29th at Manhattenville College.

HMS a Gold sponsor of the event and we will be there to give attendees a chance to talk to HMS personnel about their timesheet needs and see the latest of TimeControl, TimeControlOnline and TimeControl Industrial.

For more information on the conference, see pmiwestchester.org and if you’d like to make an appointment to speak to HMS personnel while you’re at the conference, contact info@hms.ca.

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HMS Software and Oracle extend their technical alliance for a 20th consecutive year

Our relationship with Oracle started from several places at once back in 1997.  HMS became an Oracle Technical Partner that year because of the then-new support of the Oracle database by TimeControl 3.  We were very excited that year to announce that TimeControl was officially a client-server product.  Ah, the good old days.  That same year in that same version of TimeControl, we announced our new link with Primavera’s project management product, P3.  Shortly after that Primavera released P3 for the Enterprise (P3e) and our timing was such that TimeControl was the first product of any kind to link to that new product.

In 2008 those extended relationships blended together when Oracle purchased Primavera.  By then we had other relationship with Oracle products as well with support for MySQL and links to JD Edwards and Oracle E-Business Suite.

Fast forward to 2017.  Oracle and HMS have announced that HMS will be an Oracle Gold Partner from 2017 to 2018 making this the 20th consecutive year of our technical relationship and we couldn’t be prouder.

“This relationship is an example of the win-win that technical alliances are supposed to deliver,” explained our President, Chris Vandersluis.  “Oracle is able to extend the functionality and expertise to their clients through HMS and HMS is, in turn, able to get privileged access to Oracle’s technology and staff.  The clients we have in common benefit from this relationship as do both companies.”

The evolution of TimeControl has been able to take advantage of this relationship with ongoing support of multiple database versions and products in the Oracle family as well as links between TimeControl and Oracle EBS, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards and, of course, Oracle-Primavera P6 Professional and Oracle-Primavera EPPM. Announcements have been made in just the last few weeks about new functionality in the links between TimeControl and Oracle-Primavera EPPM.

Some of TimeControl’s value-added benefits when linking with Oracle-Primavera include: multiple rates per employee, automated business rule validations, automated workflow, missing timesheet notification, simultaneous support for multiple versions of Primavera, both a browser and mobile/tablet interface and matrix timesheet approvals with HMS’s unique Matrix Approval Process for Labor Actuals™.

HMS is delighted to be celebrating our twentieth year as an Oracle Partner and look forward to our relationship continuing for many years to come.

For more information about TimeControl and how it links to Oracle technologies, visit the TimeControl Oracle Solution Portal at: http://www.timecontrol.com/use-cases/oracle-portalor contact HMS at info@hms.ca.

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TimeControl Case Study – March Consulting

Here at HMS we are blessed to have the clients we have. Our long standing relationships is one of the key motivators for our staff and there is little that will get our team more excited than hearing that a client is using our software in a way that has made a difference for them.

So it is great to see a new case study on the TimeControl website by one of our clients.

March Consulting is a Canadian engineering firm based in the province of Saskatchewan and they can be working on 20 or more projects at a time.

“I’ve implemented a lot of software throughout my career and now I use TimeControl as my gold standard,” Peter Smithen, Project Services said. “This was the best implementation I’ve ever completed.”

You can read the whole story at TimeControl.com/why-timecontrol/case-studies/march or to see more case studies, go to: TimeControl.com/why-timecontrol/case-studies

 

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TimeControl fix for Google Chrome

On March 9th, Google released version 57.0.2987 of Chrome.  With the release of the new Chrome version, here at HMS we started to notice odd issues in different parts of TimeControl during our QA testing process.

In the last few days, the cause of those issues has become apparent.  The new version of Chrome caused one of our most-used control modules to display erratic behavior.  The control affected was our grid control and it is used all over TimeControl.  Users on other browsers never saw any of these issues, it was only with Chrome and only with the most recent version.  HMS has already identified and fixed the problem.  

If you are using TimeControl 7.1.0 or 7.0.0 and have current maintenance, you’ll find an update at TimeControl.com/support/updates.  

TimeControl 7.1 sites can update to 7.1.0.3.
TimeControl Industrial 7.1 sites can update to 7.1.0.3.
TimeControl 7.0 sites can update to 7.0.0.11.

If you are still using TimeControl or TimeControl Industrial 6
TimeControl 6.10 sites can update to 6.10.1.30.
TimeControl Industrial 6.10 sites can update to 6.10.1.30

Users experiencing these difficulties can switch to an alternate browser such as Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari until their systems can be updated.

If you are not using Chrome in your organization, you do not need to update at this time.  If you have any questions about this update, please contact us at: support@hms.ca.

If you do not have a current technical support contract, please contact info@hms.ca.

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What’s new with TimeControl’s link with Oracle-Primavera?

Version 7.1 of TimeControl includes an additional link type that will be of great interest to those who use Primavera’s Enterprise Portfolio and Project Management (EPPM) system.

integration_puzzlepieceHMS has maintained links between TimeControl and Primavera since 1997 when we made the first link with P3.    Since we never throw anything away here.  We still have that link in TimeControl though P3 hasn’t been sold in some time.

The newer versions of Oracle-Primavera come in two flavors:

Primavera Professional

This version is designed to work in a stand-alone fashion for those users who must strap on a laptop and work in the field.  We often say that these Primavera users might not have access to the Internet because they’re building the internet out in the wilderness but, for whatever your reason, if you need to work independent of the corporate network, this is the version to install on your computer.  Primavera Professional installs with its own optional database system.

Primavera EPPM

This server-based version installs on a web server and is then accessed via your browser.  The server-based software integrates with the web server and corporate database to deliver integrated project management and portfolio management functionality.

TimeControl already includes links to both Primavera Professional and Primavera EPPM which work at the database level.  These existing links are highly effective and have been used by many organizations for years but the new version of TimeControl brings a level of capability that is beyond what is possible with older versions.

With the Web Services link, TimeControl will be able to make a link with Primavera EPPM using the Web Services provided by Primavera EPPM.  This link is highly configurable, just like the database-based link but because it using Web Services, it will also work just fine when your Primavera EPPM is not implemented on premises.  When organizations use TimeControl Online or subscribe to Primavera EPPM from an in-the-cloud service, TimeControl will still be able to create and maintain an automated link.

The availability of the TimeControl Web Services Link to Primavera EPPM does not mean we will be abandoning the database-to-database link.  This will be kept in the product for the foreseeable future to ensure we have a working link to Primavera Professional and to be used when TimeControl and Primavera EPPM are implemented together on premises and large volumes of data will be transferred.  A database to database link is always going to be a little faster.

So the TimeControl Web Services Link is a new extension to our many system links and one which holds great promise for those looking to work more with subscription service enterprise systems.

For more information on TimeControl’s links with external system, see the TimeControl Use-Case pages.

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Creating your Rate Structure in TimeControl – an updated white paper

Rate functionality in TimeControl is so extensive that it can be overwhelming to the uninitiated.  TimeControl has the capacity for an unlimited number of rates, numerous rate values for each rate code, filtering to show some rates for some conditions and rate calculations that can be updated through Accruals and other mechanisms within TimeControl.  TimeControl Industrial includes additional functionality for Extended labor and non-labor rates.

There is a tutorial within the TimeControl Reference Guide and we have taken this content and turned it into a white paper on the TimeControl website so it is more easily accessed by existing and prospective users as they consider how they’d like TimeControl to cost the entries in the timesheet or materials and expenses areas.

TimeControl can serve to cost the same line in a timesheet one way for payroll, another for billing and yet another for project management.  Take a look at Creating your TimeControl Rate structure at TimeControl.com.

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Design your Timesheet Approvals

TimeControl has the most extensive set of controls for creating timesheet approvals in the industry.  We created the term Matrix Approvals for timesheets over 20 years ago.  TimeControl’s approval mechanisms allow an organiztion to create numerous approval paths for the different aspects of their organiztion.  There are automated approvals using TimeControl automated Validation Rules and Workflow.  There are unlimited organizational approvals and even line-by-line approvals.  In version 7.1 of TimeControl even more rich functionality has been added to the approvals area with the new Line Item Approval mechanism.  If you are designing your own approval process you’ll want to look at the TimeControl white paper Creating Your Approvals Process which talks about all aspects of the approval mechanisms.  This paper has recently been updated to include information on the Line Item Approval Process.

Take a look at the updated Creating Your Approval Process white paper at: TimeControl.com/pdf/whitepapers/tc6_creatingapprovals.pdf.   For more information on our other white papers, check out TimeControl.com/resources/whitepapers.