Category Archives: timecontrol

timecontrol

Timesheet Creation

TimeControl best practices, timesheet time saver, Chris Vandersluis, Christopher Vandersluis, Christopher Peter VandersluisSo many options in TimeControl are designed to simplify the data entry process.  Timesheet Creation is just one.

For timesheet administrators, the depth of functionality in TimeControl including its remarkable flexibility is a huge draw.  That’s not the same for end-users.  End-users typically view having to enter their timesheet as a necessary evil.  They’d avoid it if they could but if they have to do it, they’d like the process to be as quick and easy as possible.

That’s one of the reasons we created the Timesheet Creation function.  In its first few versions, TimeControl would ask users to create their next timesheet and then, depending on the options selected by the TimeControl Administrator and the end user, the timesheet would be pre-loaded with lines that were expected for that week.

Timesheet Creation allows the TimeControl Administrator to create the timesheets for end-users in advance.  This means, when they enter the system at the beginning of their week (or whatever their timesheet period is), the timesheet is already there, already pre-loaded with expected tasks and ready to be entered.

Not every organization wants to work that way but for many, it’s a small time-saver that pays dividends in a couple of ways.  First, everyone’s timesheet is created at the same time with the same options and that helps with consistency and a uniform user experience.  Next, if the end-users select the timesheet-entry screen to be their home-screen, what appears when they log into TimeControl is their current week’s timesheet, already created, already pre-populated with all the expected tasks already loaded.  This can serve to lower the resistance to doing the timesheet at all and can promote entering the timesheet quickly.  Finally, having the timesheet already created eliminates one possible step and one possible end-user error point.  The Administrators can create multiple timesheets in advance or even in the past if that is required.  The configuration of how many periods can be created is controlled in TimeControl’s System Preferences.  The Timesheet Creation also doesn’t need to be applied universally.  It can be constrained for certain groups or certain locations as the Administrator decides.

Of course, the end-user may have other tasks they did this week that were unanticipated.  Almost everyone does something in their week that wasn’t in the plan on Monday morning.  TimeControl will always allow users to add to the timesheet from any possible charge codes that are available to that user.

The savings of the Timesheet Creation function is perhaps only 30 to 60 seconds.   But think about that this way.  If you have 1,000 users, that 1,000 minutes a week that’s saved.  52 weeks a year means 52,000 minutes.  That’s a half a person-year in savings.  And that’s just from one possible feature in TimeControl.

We often talk about best-practices for both organizations and individuals using TimeControl.  You can find webcasts, papers and presentations on the subject in the Timesheet Best Practices section of our website at: www.timecontrol.com/resources/best-practices.

timecontrol

TimeControl receives Excellence in Enterprise Timesheet Solutions award

Business Honor, Excellence in Timesheet Solutions Award 2025, TimeControl, Chris Vandersluis, Christopher Vandersluis, Christopher Peter VandersluisWe are delighted to announce that Business Honor Magazine has awarded TimeControl its “Excellence in Enterprise Timesheet Solutions” award for 2025.  Business Honor featured TimeControl in an article on its website which has just published.  The article is available at: businesshonor.com/magazine/profile/timecontrol-timesheet-platform-financial-governance-environments.

In being interviewed for the article, HMS Software President, Chris Vandersluis explains that the award is the result of a full team effort of the TimeControl team at HMS Software.

timecontrol

The hidden richness of TimeControl features

TimeControl Period Generator, Flexibility, Chris Vandersluis, Christopher Vandersluis, Christopher Peter VandersluisSome parts of TimeControl are rarely seen.  Let’s take one of the most fundamental elements of the timesheet and how it’s created.  When you open your timesheet, you see a week at a time, right?

Not always.

When we released TimeControl version 1.0 back in 1994, the timesheet length was always 7 days.  We hadn’t encountered anyone where that was different.  But it didn’t take long before we did.

Some organizations have timesheets that are two weeks in length.  Some TimeControl Industrial clients do crew timesheets every day.  Some organiztaions do monthly timesheets or bi-monthly (that’s one timesheet from the 1st-15th, and a second timesheet from the 16th to the end of the month so the timesheet length is variable).

Can TimeControl have different period lengths?

Let’s make it more complicated.

Let’s say that part of the organization insists on weekly timesheets and another part of the organization insists on bi-weekly.  Impossible?  Need two separate TimeControls?

No.  Let’s talk about the TimeControl Period Generator

The Period Generate lets you create multiple timesheet periods.  There’s an automatic generator that lets you create those periods for years in advance and give them labels that match how you refer to those timeframes such as “Week 17, 2025”.  Once created, that collection of periods are attachable to each employee record.

There are many possible automatic period generation options: daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, bi-monthly or custom (meaning you can type in any sequential periods you need).  The period generator won’t let you create overlapping periods in one collection but otherwise you can have an array of different time spans.

You can create multiple periods so the challenge of some of the organization is weekly and the rest is bi-weekly is met right there.

But the Period Generate allows for much, much more.

TimeControl always stores the results of a posted timesheet in a daily format so it can be exported, integrated to other systems or reported on.

Some organizations have to do that exporting or reporting using different periods.

Let’s say you collect on a weekly basis but export on a bi-monthly basis for payroll and a monthly basis for Finance.  Or, let’s say you use a 13-month calendar (popular in some government projects where each month is exactly 4 weeks long to make up a 52 week year of 13 months). This could all be accommodated by the Period Generator.

It’s an elegant and rich part of TimeControl that almost no one outside the TimeControl Administrator will ever see.

 

timecontrol

Managing Missing timesheets

TimeControl Administrator, TimeControl, timesheets, missing timesheets, Chris Vandersluis, Christopher Vandersluis, Christopher Peter VandersluisAn enterprise timesheet system is so much more than just collecting timesheets at the end of the week.  There are countless features, functions and processes that lie beneath the surface from most users that allow the system to thrive.  Let’s take a look at just one timesheet situation that timesheet administrators all over must deal with and how TimeControl helps.

Let’s imagine that at the end of the week, not all the timesheets have been approved, posted and accounted for.  We have some missing timesheets!

With TimeControl we know this because of the Missing Timesheet report.  Supervisors and Administrators can quickly account for what timesheets might be missing and determine where they are.  There are a couple of options.

First, the timesheet might have never been created.  This might just need a gentle reminder to the employee to get their timesheet created.  But, perhaps this employee is away on sick leave.  In this case, someone in the Approval Release Path of the employee such as their supervisor might have to create it and post it.  Remember, even when someone other than the employee does the timesheet, TimeControl keep auditing control to know that the timesheet was created on behalf of the employee by the supervisor.

Let’s take a more complex problem.  The timesheet is missing but it was, in fact created and half-filled out.  But, the employee left the company in mid-week.  Now a supervisor can’t create the timesheet.  It’s already there.  But, they don’t have the ability to change the timesheet because it is ‘owned’ by the departed employee.  TimeControl handles this with the Change Ownership feature.  This allows an Administrator to move the timesheet’s ownership from one user to another within the Approval Path.  Once the timesheet ownership has changed, the person with the control over the timesheet can now complete it in an auditable fashion.

Perhaps the problem is that there is no one in the Approval Path available who can take care of that timesheet.  No worries.  TimeControl allows the Administrator to create an Alternate User to log into TimeControl as though they were the departed employee.  As the Alternate User, the timesheet can be completed and released for approval just as though that employee is still there and, in the background, TimeControl keeps track of who is really making those changes.

TimeControl Administrators have to handle cases like this every week to ensure that 100% of the timesheets are accounted for and that the data has been validated and sent off to the appropriate systems that are waiting for it.  Administrator features like those dealing with missing and orphaned timesheets is just part of what makes TimeControl so popular with timesheet administrators.

timecontrol

Branding TimeControl with your logo

Many organizations taken advantage of TimeControl’s flexibility to make it a little more like their own.  One way to do this is to put your own logo on the login screen and at the top of every TimeControl page.  These logos are added on the Administrator/System Preferences page.  Let’s see how to do this…

System Preferences

In the Company Information area of TimeControl, there is a place to add a graphics file for the top of screen logo and another for the login screen logo. Let’s add files right here.  We’ll use logos from our friends at EPM Guidance.

The Top Bar logo should be 300×45 pixels in size.  The login logo should be 300×100 pixels.  The files can be .png, .jpg or .gif.

TimeControl Branding System Preferences, Chris Vandersluis, Christopher Vandersluis, Christopher Peter Vandersluis

Here are the results

Login Screen Logo

TimeControl Branding, Login logo, Chris Vandersluis, Christopher Vandersluis, Christopher Peter Vandersluis

Top Bar Logo

TimeControl Branding, Top Bar, Chris Vandersluis, Christopher Vandersluis, Christopher Peter Vandersluis

 

timecontrol

Chris Vandersluis now included in the Marquis Who’s Who in America Directory

Marquis Whos Who, Chris Vandersluis, Christopher Vandersluis, Christopher Peter VandersluisWith so much going on at HMS Software we don’t always pause to recognize one of our own.  Following the 40th anniversary of HMS Software’s founding and the 30th anniversary of the launch of TimeControl, HMS was approached by the Marquis Who’s Who in America.  This is an exclusive invitation-only directory of recognizable people in the USA.

Marquis Who’s Who invited Mr. Vandersluis to be in their directory and in May confirmed the placement. We are very proud of Mr. Vandersluis and his accomplishments.

You can read the Who’s Who press release here: https://www.24-7pressrelease.com/press-release/522518/marquis-whos-who-honors-chris-vandersluis-for-expertise-in-software-technology.

timecontrol

It’s back to ABC’s – We mean Activity Based Costing!

Activity Based Costing, ABC, Enterprise Project Management, TimeControl, TimeControl White Paper, Chris Vandersluis, Christopher Vandersluis, Christopher Peter VandersluisIt’s Activity Based Costing week here at HMS and we’ve got a bunch to talk about.

Activity Based Costing is hardly new.  It has been a part of project management for as long as there has been project management.  If you want to change a part of your new building, you need to know what the change will cost for that particular activity.  You can’t make an informed decision about project changes without knowing what the estimate of that feature cost you in the first place.

TimeControl was designed since its inception as an activity based system and with the powerful rates functionality built into TimeControl, the associated costing features are extensive.

We’ve just produced a new White Paper called Activity Based Costing Using TimeControl which looks at how you can use those extensive costing features to deploy Activity Based Costing from numerous perspectives.

At the same time, there is an article on Chris Vandersluis’s EPM Guidance Blog site on the ABC’s of Activity Based Costing.

timecontrol

TimeControl webinar in french – en francais!

Webinar, TimeControl, Idexia, timesheet, feuilles de temps, Chris Vandersluis, Christopher Vandersluis, Christopher Peter VandersluisHMS is a bilingual company and, from time to time we get the opportunity to do a webinar or other public presentation in french.  Working our partners Idexia, we have organized a TimeControl webinar for July 18th in french.  The invitation is below.  We’ve sent invitations to our Quebec-based contacts but if you are a french speaking person or know a french speaking person who would like to attend, please give them this invitation.

Réservez votre place pour le webinaire TimeControl, une solution de Logiciel HMS!

Optimisez la productivité de votre entreprise avec TimeControl, une solution puissante et flexible pour la gestion des feuilles de temps.

Conçue ici même au Québec par Logiciel HMS pour s’adapter aux environnements complexes, TimeControl vous permet de suivre le temps de vos ressources, de gérer les coûts et de renforcer le contrôle de vos projets – le tout en un seul endroit.

Si vous cherchez une alternative aux feuilles de temps de Project Server ou Project Online, ce webinaire est pour vous.

Fonctionnalités clés :

✅ Saisie du temps multi-projets
✅ Intégration avec les principaux ERP, systèmes de paie et logiciels de gestion de projets
✅ Validation automatique des feuilles de temps
✅ Suivi des coûts et des ressources en temps réel
✅ Conformité aux exigences des crédits d’impôt pour la recherche et le développement

Venez assister à notre webinaire gratuit afin de découvrir TimeControl, une solution de feuilles de temps qui s’intègre à une multitude de solutions de gestion de projets, notamment Project Server, Project Online et BrightWork ainsi qu’aux principaux systèmes financiers, incluant SAP et Oracle.

Déjà implantée à travers le monde et au Québec dans différents secteurs d’activités, incluant des organismes gouvernementaux, TimeControl est une solution multilingue hautement configurable afin de s’adapter à vos processus internes.

Lors du webinaire, vous verrez la puissance et la flexibilité de la solution TimeControl.

Ce webinaire est réalisé par Logiciel HMS, éditeur de TimeControl et leur partenaire intégrateur, Idexia.

Au plaisir de vous y voir!

Réservez votre place dès maintenant :

📅 Mercredi 18 juin 2025
🕚 De 11h00 à 12h00
🤩 Gratuit
💻 En ligne

JE M’INSCRIS

Pour en savoir plus : www.idexia.com | 1 877 880-8771 | info@idexia.com

www.timecontrol.com | 514-695-8122 | info@hms.ca

timecontrol

The TimeControl Deployment Process

Deployment meetings and TimeControl QuikStart, Chris Vandersluis, Christopher Vandersluis, Christopher Peter VandersluisWith an enterprise product as flexible as TimeControl, how to deploy the system is as important as the functionality it contains.  HMS has been deploying enterprise project management and timesheet systems for over 40 years and TimeControl itself for over 30, so we bring some experience to the process.

There is no need to have HMS help with a TimeControl deployment.  The system will be fully functional on the first day the client gets access whether that is for TimeControl Online or TimeControl on-premise but leveraging our experience can make the implementation go quite a bit faster and avoid the risks of forgetting an important step.

If we are commissioned to assist, one of the first things we’ll do is set up one or more design sessions.  The number of sessions and the length of those sessions is completely dependent on the client.  We usually start with the list of requirements that were given to us during the sales process.  That starts the groundwork of what TimeControl will have to deliver.  Our design sessions start with a product overview given by one of our experienced deployment personnel.  They will go over the major points of functionality then delve deeper into the requirements themselves.  This keeps the focus on what the client is trying to solve but also ensures that we don’t miss talking about what other functionality in TimeControl might be useful either in the first phase of deployment or later.

We use our QuikStart program to condition the conversations.  There is a brochure for the QuikStart and slides to help during design sessions, but that is really guidance, not a single formula.

We have lots of questions for the client and usually this means after a first session, the client will need a break of a few hours or a few days to do homework.  Some questions might seem obvious but then need thought and discussion before the system can be configured.  “How long should a timesheet be?” is a common one.  “Is that for everyone or will some people have different lengths of timesheets?”  “Who will approve timesheets?”  “Will you track costs and if so is that just for one requirement or multiple?” “Are there auditability requirements for the DCAA or Research Tax Credits?” “What about line-item approvals?” “What reports does the system need to produce and do you have examples already?” “Will you be tracking start/stop times?” “Will you be tracking expenses?” “What external systems will TimeControl be linked to?” “Are the people representing those systems here on the design call?” “Who will be the TimeControl Administrator(s)?”

And so on…

When the answers are all in, we have to work backwards from outputs to inputs just like you learned in Systems Analysis 101.  If, for example, a report will be needed by location, then we have to make sure the location of work is represented in the user defined fields per task.  If there is a need to do a report of costs spent by department, then we know that employees will have to have a department field defined and a list of departments to choose from. We’ll also need to have rates set for costing at either internal cost, external billing rates or both.

When the exercise is complete, we assemble a design document and the client gets a chance for a final read-through before signing off.

Then it’s time for the client to go find some data.  Given the different requests, we assemble a template spreadsheet for Projects, Charge Codes, Rates, Users, and Employees as well as approval paths.  The spreadsheets will have in them the fields that were defined as needed for the different requirements of the system.

Once received, HMS pumps that data into the client’s TimeControl and turns it over for testing to the client prior to going live.  Sometimes there are changes.  It’s possible that something looks different when the client sees it live from how they imagined it in the design meetings. Those changes are usually very quick to make.

Then it’s a wrap.  Usually the client will roll out to a select group of users first and if they already have a timesheet system have that group work with both systems in parallel before making the “go live” decision for all users.

The length of time for the entire process varies greatly depending on the number of users, the number of external systems which will be integrated with TimeControl but most of all by the level of clarity by the client of what they need TimeControl to do.  It can last 2-3 days or several months.  It wouldn’t be surprising for a client with several thousand licenses to engage HMS for 3-4 weeks of work to be delivered for a 12-16 week period.

There can be further phases once the deployment is complete but usually for the existing functionality, there’s nothing more to configure for the foreseeable future.  We keep track of the documentation we create for the system and the client is responsible for creating their own process documentation and maintaining it internally.

If you would like more details on how TimeControl is deployed, you can go to https://www.timecontrol.com/resources/services/consulting or contact HMS at https://www.timecontrol.com/contact.