Category Archives: timecontrol

FAQ: How do you choose what kind of timesheet is right for you?

This is a great question and one that is asked all too rarely. Most people don’t even consider that there might be more than one kind of timesheet.

When prospective clients call us and ask about TimeControl, our first question is “What kind of timesheet are you looking for?” The most popular timesheet type is time and attendance.

If all you need to do is collect time for payroll, then this would be right for you. There is a simple time and attendance timesheet available with every major ERP and Finance system in the market today. Payroll systems are less concerned with what did you work on and more concerned with when were you at work?

Next most popular would be a Time and Billing timesheet. For professionals who need to invoice their time, this is critical. It’s not just when were you at work, it’s what client did you do work for and what is the rate we charge you out at for that client and that work? Time and Billing timesheets are less concerned with what tasks were you working on or when you were at work and more concerned with the right rates for the right time and right client.

Project update timesheets are designed to progress tasks planned in the project management system but have less interest in complex payroll rules or invoicing rates.

Flexible timesheet systems like TimeControl are somewhat more rare as they cater to multiple needs at one time.TimeControl can be used for payroll, HR exceptions like sick leave or vacation tracking, billing and project updating all at the same time.

TimeControl Mobile on IPhone

We’re the Swiss Army Knife of timesheets and our motto around here is Semper Gumby (always be flexible). For your own decision, it’s good to determine what the timesheet data could be used for, what systems it could integrate with and, most importantly, avoiding implementing multiple timesheets when one might do.

For more on TimeControl flexibility, visit www.timecontrol.com/features/flexibility.

FAQ: Can I access TimeControl from my tablet or mobile phone?

You certainly can. We released mobile interfaces for TimeControl as part of TimeControl 6.2 in June 2011 to work on your smartphone and tested them with iPhones, Android, Blackberry and Microsoft Mobile devices.

The interface still requires a connection to the Internet and access to your TimeControl (not all organizations allow their TimeControl to be viewed from outside their network). In fact, HMS did extensive research on a mobile version back in 1999 and 2000 for the Palm Pilot. (Remember those?) But the technology we needed wouldn’t catch up for another 10 years.

TimeControl Mobile on IPhone

If you’d like to try TimeControl Mobile right now, you can do so on the TimeControl Trial site. Register for the site at timecontrol.com/free-trial then once you receive your log-in information, point your browser to tc6eval.timecontrol.org/mobile and use the log in information we emailed to you.

You can get more information on TimeControl mobile right here on the website at www.timecontrol.com/features/mobile.

We’ve been updating our FAQ

keyboardfaq_300x225We’ve been updating our Frequently Asked Questions this year but it occurred to us that people who check the Blog for the many technical answers that are included here might not think to look there.  So we’ll be cross-posting the FAQs onto the blog here over the coming weeks.

You can see the FAQs at www.timecontrol.com/support/faq and we’ll continue to keep that section of the support database up to date even while we cross-post here.

TimeControl 6.9.2 Hardware Requirements

The most common technical questions we receive for soon to be TimeControl clients or clients who are about to upgrade their TimeControl are about hardware, software or operating system requirements.

“What browsers do you support?” or “What versions of Windows do we need?” or “How much memory is required?” are all common questions.  These are all answered in the TimeControl Hardware Requirements document which is a section of the Installation Guide.

You can see the TimeControl 6.9.2 Hardware requirements at: www.timecontrol.com/support/updates/6/9.1/tc69hardwarerequirements.pdf.

We’ll try to keep this post updated as new versions are released.

 

HMS named Gold Partner by Oracle

For the 18th year, Oracle and HMS have renewed their technical partnership with Oracle naming HMS once again as an Oracle Gold Partner for the 2015-2016 season.  HMS is delighted to count Oracle among our key technical alliances.  Oracle_GoldPartner_300x80The relationship is one of the longest standing technical partnerships of its kind in the industry.

The HMS alliance with Oracle has many different aspects.  Back in the mid 1990’s, HMS started alliances with Oracle because of HMS’s support for the Oracle database and links to other Oracle software.  HMS also forged an alliance in 1997 with Primavera and joined the Primavera Partner program because of the links between HMS Software’s TimeControl’s and Primavera’s project management software.  When Oracle purchased Primavera many years later, these two initiatives became part of a much richer relationship.”

The TimeControl timesheet system now supports many different products that have become part of the Oracle family including the architectural support for the MySQL database and as links between TimeControl, Oracle EBS, PeopleSoft and JD Edwards. We work regularly with Oracle to support our mutual clients.

The Oracle Partner program in which HMS has been named as a Gold Partner again this year is designed to allow software publishers such as HMS to work directly with Oracle to more effectively bring products and services to each other’s clients.  Thanks to our status in the Oracle Partner program our integration with Oracle-Primavera P6, for example, can be tested on pre-release versions.

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 Oracle Primavera, both a browser and mobile/tablet interface and matrix timesheet approvals with HMS’s unique Matrix Approval Process for Labor Actuals™.

We value our relationship with the Oracle team and are very proud to be an Oracle Gold Partner this year and for many years to come.

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

MCAP’s IT department is using TimeControl Online for cost tracking

As anyone who uses TimeControl knows, we’re highly committed to our client’s satisfaction so you can probably imagine how excited we get here in the office when one of our clients shares mcap_150x150how  TimeControl is making a difference in their organization.  We’ve just published a case study done by our clients MCAP who deployed TimeControl Online in 2011.  MCAP is a large independent financing company based in Canada. MCAP was considering upgrading a large internal project and portfolio system but instead made a strategic decision to implement TimeControl due to its flexibility.

Previous systems seemed inappropriately sized for MCAP’s needs but TimeControl was able to focus attention on the aspect of project controls that MCAP needed most.  With multiple projects, multiple locations, multiple project managers, a flexible time tracking tool that could adapt as MCAP evolved was a must.

MCAP elected to subscribed to the TimeControlOnline service in the cloud rather than install TimeControl internally which allowed MCAP’s IT department to avoid making their own chargeback timesheet another internal system they’d need to manage.

You can read the story that came from the interview of Barbara McDonald, MCAP’s Senior Director of IT in the MCAP case study at: www.timecontrol.com/why-timecontrol/case-studies/mcap.

To see other case studies on how organizations are becoming more effective by implementing TimeControl, go to www.timecontrol.com/why-timecontrol/case-studies.

See HMS in Rochester on May 14

You can meet our TimeControl team at the PMI Rochester Professional Development Day in Rochester, NY on Thursday, May 14. We will have personnel on hand to show off Rochester PMI PDDthe latest version of TimeControl and TimeControl Industrial and to answer any questions. If you are in the Rochester area and want to see us in person, please let us know at www.timecontrol.com/contact.

See PMI Rochester for more details.

 

HMS and Microsoft renew their technical alliance

We’re delighted to announce that HMS and Microsoft have renewed their technical alliance .  HMS has been a Microsoft certified partner for 12 years now but our relationship is much longer.  We’re very proud to enjoy our 20th anniversary as a Microsoft solutions partner.

HMS became an inaugural member of the Microsoft Project Solution Partner program in 1995.    The link between the first version of TimeControl and Microsoft Project prompted the Microsoft Project team and HMS to work together then and ever since.”

TimeControl has had an integration with every version of Microsoft Project since 1995 and with Microsoft Project Server since it was first launched in 2002.  In 2006 Microsoft named HMS a “First to Market” partner for our work integrating TimeControl with Project Server.

This year we have renewed our Microsoft Partner certifications in both the Application Development and Project and Portfolio Management.  To qualify for these programs, HMS has had to demonstrate success integrating TimeControl with Microsoft Project and Project Server with client testimonials and to have multiple HMS personnel pass Microsoft Project and Project Server testing.  In addition, HMS had TimeControl successfully pass external 3rd party testing which is part of the Microsoft Partner Network program.

Microsoft technology is used to deliver both TimeControl and HMS Software’s in-the-cloud TimeControl Online service functionality but what technologies are used can vary from client to client. Windows Server is the platform for the server and some clients will combine that with Microsoft Project or Project Server, SharePoint or SQL Server.

We’re highly committed to the Microsoft relationship because it enables us to provide the best possible solutions to our clients.

We’ve create a portal to help you identify which Microsoft technology you can take advantage of when using TimeControl.  The Portal includes links to many different HMS and Microsoft resources including white papers, webcasts, PowerPoint presentations and more.  The portal can be found at: www.timecontrol.com/use-cases/microsoft-portal.

To try TimeControl for free on the HMS Software hosted trial site go to: freetrial.timecontrol.com or talk to HMS about your timesheet needs at www.timecontrol.com/contact or info@hms.ca.

Testimonial letter from Sandoz

sandoz_250x66We appreciate our clients every day so you can imagine how excited we get when a letter thanking us for our work arrives from a client.  Sandoz, a Novartis company is a world leading pharmaceutical firm.  Six years ago, one of Sandoz’s divisions in Canada deployed TimeControl to help with R&D tax credit tracking.  A great letter we recently received from Marianne Raiche of Sandoz tells the story.  You can read it for yourself at: www.timecontrol.com/why-timecontrol/testimonials/sandoz.  A list of other testimonials is available on the new testimonial and case study area of the TimeControl website at: www.timecontrol.com/why-timecontrol/testimonials.

New White paper: choosing the ideal timesheet length

ChooseTimesheetLength_150X194With the advent of TimeControl version 6.9, Administrators can now configure TimeControl to have timesheets other than a 7 day week.  Of course exports from TimeControl could already be of different intervals.  It has been common for years to have a weekly integration with the project management system but a bi-weekly link to payroll. Timesheets could now be 14 days long (bi-weekly) or bi-monthly or monthly or quarterly or custom length.  But with all that flexibility comes some decision making that has to be done.  How long should the timesheet ideally be?  We discuss the decision and give some guidance on how to select wisely for your own organization in the white paper “Choosing the Ideal Timesheet Length”.  It’s on the TimeControl website at: www.timecontrol.com/pdf/whitepapers/tc6_choosingtimesheetlength.pdf.  For a complete list of white papers in the new White Paper Resources area, go to: www.timecontrol.com/resources/whitepapers.