We’re Canadian. It’s natural to be somewhat understated and modest. But that’s becoming tougher around the HMS offices lately lately thanks to some of the letters we’ve been getting from our clients. One of the more recent from Value Recovery makes us blush.
Jeff Riley, the Accounting Manager at Value Recovery says that not only did TimeControl meet all of their requirements for US Government DCAA compliance but that the product and service from HMS was “First Class”.
Thanks Jeff. We’ think you’re pretty darned first class yourself!
Value Recovery is a US-based firm that specializes in Asset Management and Recovery services for both the public and private sector. You can find out more about them at www.valuerecoverygroup.com and you can read Jeff’s letter to HMS in the TimeControl Client Testimonials page.
Category Archives: timecontrol
It’s a bird, it’s a plane… It’s a .. a… Tweet!
Yes, it’s true. HMS is about to embrace Twitter around here. We’re often on the leading edge of technology and in fact, HMS was an early explorer of Twitter. However, we weren’t an early adopter and we’ve now decided that with so much going on around here with new versions new customers, new collateral and new partners, that Twitter is the best way to keep everyone informed of what’s new so we’re evolving with the times!
So, stay tuned on the HMS and TimeControl websites. Over the coming weeks you’ll see the What’s New feed on the main page replaced with a live Twitter feed. And, if you’re already looking forward to our next tweet, you can follow HMS at: Follow @HMS_TimeControl
Testimonial from Murray and Roberts
HMS continues to receive wonderful accolades from its clients. One of our more recent is a letter from Murray and Roberts, one of South Africa’s leading engineering and construction companies. Murray and Roberts has been a TimeControl client since early 2012 and are clearly delighted if their letter is any judge. HMS is delighted to count Murray & Roberts among the satisfied clients in our TimeControl family. You can find out more about Murray & Roberts at murrob.com.
If you’d like to read their letter just click on Murray & Roberts Testimonial on the TimeControl website.
Meet HMS staff in London Ontario Friday, April 26!
If you are attending the PMI Southwest Ontario Chapter Chapter’s (SWOC) Symposium event on April 26th you will be able to meet some of the HMS staff in person! This annual event is being held at the
Lamplighter Inn & Conference Centre at: 591 Wellington Road, London, Ontario from 8am to 5pm.
If you are interested in meeting HMS staff in person or talking to us about TimeControl or other HMS Services and are in the area, then please let us know. If you are attending the symposium and would like to make sure we organize an appointment with you, please email Ken Edwards at ken.edwards@hms.ca or give us a call at our GTA office at 647-478-8332
For more information on the symposium, go to: www.pmiswoc.org
Free TimeControl Hosted Trial site update
We’ve had a free hosted trial site for TimeControl for ages. We’ve recently made some major changes to the site to improve the TimeControl timesheet evaluation experience for prospective clients.
Aside from putting the free hosted timesheet trial onto some hot new and highly performant hardware, we’ve also updated the data, upgraded the trial to our newest version 6.5 including the new TimeControl Report Designer and added and updated a range of evaluation tools for those looking for timesheets that are project-based.
Some of the key resources for evaluating TimeControl include:
The site has been populated with evaluation data so users can immediately log into the system and see data in all the main features. Users can instantly add a timesheet, approve that timesheet, do a report, do timesheet analysis and even post a vacation request. The look and feel of the TimeControl 6.5 timesheet system is highly intuitive. Evaluation users are given Administrator privileges so no part of the evaluation TimeControl system is restricted. Users should remember however that this data is open to anyone so it is not the place to post anything confidential. The Free TimeControl Hosted Trial site data is refreshed every night. Users registering for the evaluation will have access to the system for 2 weeks following which they must re-register to continue their access.
Users may register for the free Hosted TimeControl Trial at freetrial.timecontrol.com.
The evaluation site references the free TimeControl Online Learning Center which has a collection of videos showing the basic functions of TimeControl being performed. Each video is only 3-5 minutes long so it’s a fast and easy way to see how to add a timesheet, add a vacation request, edit an employee’s record, approve timesheets, report on time and more.
The TimeControl Online Learning center is now directly accessible from the TimeControl Trial site dashboard. The dashboard has been tailored for a trial and one of the things we’ve done is highlight learning and evaluation resources right on the front page.
The TimeControl Online Learning center is now directly accessible from the TimeControl Trial site dashboard. The dashboard has been tailored for a trial and one of the things we’ve done is highlight learning and evaluation resources right on the front page.
HMS has put numerous resources and tools for choosing a timesheet into the Timesheet Buyer’s Guide. This solution portal includes materials such as a Return on Investment Calculator, an Evaluation Guide which leads users through TimeControl the Free Hosted TimeControl Trial site from registration through all the basic functions. The Guide has a click-by-click format with screen shots and descriptions of what users will see as they go through the system.
There are also references to numerous white papers, webcasts and more. The Timesheet Buyers Guide is free and does not require registration.
The Perfect 10 with IE10
Ok, maybe it’s not fair to compare Bo Derek with TimeControl but today’s topic is Internet Explorer version 10. As Windows 8 is making its way onto more and more PCs, IE10 has become more and more prolific amongst our users. In the last couple of weeks Microsoft has made IE10 available to a wide range of Windows 7 users as well and we have had numerous questions about TimeControl’s support of IE10.
If you are a TimeControl 6 basic timesheet user then you will likely find that TimeControl is supported without having to do anything new. Some of our tests have shown that under some conditions, you must turn on compatibility mode in which case you can add your TimeControl URL to your list of compatibilty sites to ensure that compatibility mode activates automatically for your site.
If you are a TimeControl Administrator, or someone who must use one of the few remaining ActiveX controls in TimeControl (such as for System Preferences) then you will have to ensure that IE10 is running in 32bit mode. Unlike IE9, Microsoft no longer ships two different Internet Explorer versions (32bit and 64bit). Both are contained in the same system. To turn on 32bit mode however isn’t obvious. If you are in a situation where you must run a TimeControl ActiveX, then you can turn it on in the Advanced Tab of your Internet Options. Scroll down to to “Enable Enhanced Protected Mode”, click it on and then click OK. Close all browser windows and restart and hey-presto! You’re in 32bit mode.
For most users this will not be required as it only applies to the handfull of users who must use one of those last few ActiveX Controls. If you have any challenges with IE10, please let TimeControl Support know at support@hms.ca.
Integrate TimeControl, Primavera and Hard Dollar Solution Page
With the release of TimeControl 6.5, organizations are now able to create a remarkably powerful project management environment by combinging the best of HMS’s TimeControl, Hard Dollar’s HD and Oracle-Primavera’s P6 all at the same time and we have created a TimeControl Solution Portal to give you access to resources on how this could help you with organizational efficiency.
Haven’t you ever wished you could take the best of the most popular project management tools and blend them together?
Now, thanks to TimeControl version 6.5, you can.
You can now integrate TimeControl or TimeControl Industrial with Hard Dollar’s HD and Oracle-Primavera’s P6 simultaneously to create one remarkably flexible and powerful environment. Hard Dollar is known for its strength in project cost estimating and cost control. It has been used for years in construction, engineering, utilities, mining and other industrial industries to create a rich definition of cost requirements for labor, material and equipment requirements for projects. Primavera is world-renowned for its project scheduling, project tracking and resource capacity planning functionality. TimeControl Industrial brings field data collection to a new level. TimeControl has been available since 1994 and is one of the world’s best known timesheet systems.
TimeControl and TimeControl Industrial have had the ability to integrate with Primavera since 1997. When Primavera users need to extend timesheet capabilities to meet financial requirements for not only job costing but also invoicing, payroll, HR and numerous government compliance rules, TimeControl is often the choice.
HMS and Hard Dollar created a technical alliance in 2012 to create the same kind of integration between TimeControl Industrial and Hard Dollar’s HD cost control system and while doing so realized that something remarkable was possible. There was already an integration between HD and Primavera’s P6 and the addition of TimeControl Industrial which already had the P6 integration itself meant that all the products could be combined together. The TimeControl/HD integration was designed with that requirement in mind and it has surpassed our best hopes for improved efficiency.
The bi-directional link between TimeControl and HD brings in job definitions and sends back the actuals on a day-to-day basis. The bi-directional link between TimeControl and P6 brings in activity and step definitions along with resource assignments and sends back not only the resource and financial actuals but also estimate to complete and Activity Step progress. TimeControl’s unique Matrix Approval Process for Labor Actuals™ means that data arrives already approved from both the organizational and project perspectives and is ready to use by Project Management, Job Costing, HR, Payroll and Finance.
It’s the best of not just both but all three worlds. A blend of the best in world class performance from the leaders in project management systems.
For more information on combining TimeControl Industrial, Hard Dollar’s HD and Oracle-Primavera’s P6 into your winning combination, see our Solution Portal at industrial.timecontrol.com/solutions/tchdp6/
For information on TimeControl Industrial, go to industrial.timecontrol.com or contact HMS Software at info@hms.ca, or call us toll free at (877) 699-8463 (International +1 (514) 695-8122).
Year end Clean up of Data
The end of the calendar year is approaching and many TimeControl users wish to clean up their data in preparation for the year ahead. We will be posting a series of blog entries that look into the specifics of doing some yearend cleaning of the TimeControl data. Our focus will be primarily on the table data.
Our recommendation is to track down any missing timesheets and encourage your employees to complete them. If you are missing timesheets for former employees, you can use the Alternate Login to complete any missing timesheets for former employees or for employees who are unavailable to complete their own timesheets. You can set an Alternate User in the User Table.
Once all timesheets are accounted for and posted, the clean- up can commence. A good place to start is with the User Table. User Table entries, because of the relational nature of the data, cannot be deleted. For any former employee or employees who will no longer need to login to TimeControl, go the User Table and check the “User Inactive” flag. This flag will block the user from login in but will maintain any historical data related to the user. If this user appears in an approval path, the timesheet will no longer stop there for approval but will instead move on to the next supervisor. This frees up the license for re-use by a new user. When you make a user inactive, don’t forget to apply the change.
Most Administrators will not want to look at users who are no longer active and TimeControl can help with this by allowing a display filter to be applied so the when the table is loaded the inactive users are not shown. This can be done using the table filter on the right hand menu bar. If you wish to apply such a filter as a standard, it can be implemented in the Users Profiles under the Tables Security tab.
HMS President Chris Vandersluis to Speak at Hard Dollar Customer Roundup
Our president, Chris Vandersluis, will be speaking in Scottsdale, Arizona at the Hard Dollar Project Cost Management Roundup. This annual event, taking place October 15-18, brings together contractors, owners and EPCMs from the construction, mining, oil and gas, STO and power and process industries. Hard Dollar, the publishers of the project cost control software of the same name will provide four days of thought leadership, industry trends and case studies from industry experts and customers.
Chris will be sharing his knowledge and expertise on Field Data Collection and Project Cost Management. He will also use this opportunity to demonstrate the new link between HMS Software’s TimeControl Industrial and the Hard Dollar project cost control system which is the result of a Technical Alliance partnership with Hard Dollar announced earlier this year.
Don’t miss this opportunity. Join Chris on Wednesday, October 17th at 1PM at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort.
Watch our quick YouTube video where Chris give you more details on this Hard Dollar event:
For more information on Chris and other speakers who will be present, visit the Hard Dollar Roundup Speakers page.
If you would like to organize meeting Chris while he is in Scottsdale to talk about the link between TimeControl Industrial and Hard Dollar, please contact
Kelly Motafferi at kelly.motafferi@hms.ca.
Our Most Popular Video on our YouTube Channel: TC & SharePoint… But Why?
We took a look at our rather extensive library of YouTube videos and noticed that one in particular is significantly more popular than the rest: the video demonstrating TimeControl’s integration with SharePoint.
Not surprising, when you think about the worldwide popularity of Microsoft SharePoint. With close to 100 million business users, it’s an important and powerful part of day-to-day functioning of so many organizations as their intranet or collaboration platform.
Did you know TimeControl can be installed within your preexisting SharePoint environment? With TimeControl, there is no need to leave the SharePoint platform to fill out your timesheet. Here at HMS our long-standing relationship with Microsoft means we’ve worked alongside SharePoint since its creation. The integration of the 2 means that adding TimeControl as your company’s timesheet will be easy and avoid the headache of an interrupted user experience.
With close to 1000 views, our TimeContol & SharePoint video is worth the informative 13 minute investment of your time.
Check out our TC & SharePoint brochure
For a TC & SharePoint Power-Point PDF printout, click here:
For even more information, go to our complete solutions portal for everything TC & SharePoint
In other news…
Don’t forget TimeControl 6.5 is scheduled to release in October! We’re on our way to wrapping up final details as we have already begun testing the code here at HMS. Stay tuned.