HMS has released TimeControl 6.2 for both new and existing clients.
This version continues the 6th evolution of one of the world’s most popular timesheet systems. Since its initial release in 1984, TimeControl has been one of the most recognized timesheet systems for organizations who need a single timesheet interface to fulfill the multiple requirements of payroll, human resources, project management and finance.
Enhancements in TimeControl 6 new features, enhanced functionality and feature updates including the following:
TimeControl Mobile™ 
TimeControl Mobile is designed to work on popular smartphones like the Blackberry and iPhone. This is a web application that works with TimeControl as an extension of your existing implementation. As a mobile web-application there’s nothing to install. The user simply points their smartphone browser to the new /mobile directory of their TimeControl implementation and they are directed to an interface specifically created for the mobile device.
TimeControl Mobile includes functionality for adding, editing and deleting a timesheet, adding, editing and deleting timesheet lines. Even changing values for user defined fields is supported.
Just like the full web-based TimeControl, users who have pre-loading turned on or have defined personal pre-loaded charges will see them appear automatically in TimeControl Mobile when they create a new timesheet. This makes adding data very easy in the mobile device.If your TimeControl implementation is tied to a project management system like Microsoft Project or Primavera, your assignments could automatically appear when you create a new timesheet so you can update your activity hours in the field.
TimeControl Mobile works in both Portrait and Landscape mode. When the user flips their device from one orientation to the other, TimeControl immediately resizes the screen to take advantage of whatever space is available.
We’ve tried TimeControl Mobile on iPhones, Blackberry’s, Android and Windows 7 Mobile devices. Whatever your smartphone, there’s a good chance that TimeControl Mobile will work on it.
Filter details in Report headers
TimeControl now allows an option where the report headers will show the details of the filter you’ve selected. This means that selecting a date range or a particular range of data will be apparent from the values in the filter thus making it easier to ensure you’re looking at the right report data.
Improved table performance
We’ve made some huge improvements in table performance some of which have improved some table functions by as much as 500%!
Improved customized branding
TimeControl has allowed the client to insert their own image into the TimeControl login screen for some time. Now we’ve enhanced the ability for customized branding by providing a new image in the header of each TimeControl page.
Improved links with Microsoft Project Server
We’ve improved our TimeControl to Project Server link to take advantage of some of Project Server 2010’s capabilities. Now enterprise fields can be put into the charge code definition when linking and TimeControl will support the transfer of Sub-projects.
And lots, lots more… There are improvements and other minor enhancements across the system including in logs, reporting fonts, the timesheet list, the timesheet interface and drop down field descriptions.
TimeControl 6.2 is available immediately. TimeControl customers with existing current support contracts can download the new version from the Support/Updates area of the TimeControl website.
Category Archives: timecontrol
Leveraging TimeControl reports with Dynamic Filters
TimeControl is designed with a very powerful reporting system that works in conjunction with other elements of the system to allow many possible results from a simple configuration. The first area to think about when making reports available to users is within User Profiles where the data that this role of user can access is defined and if necessary constrained. Also, the Report security will determine what report formats or templates will be visible for each user. The combination of available reports, data and even fields defined in the User Profile will ensure that no one sees information in a report that they shouldn’t.
Once you’ve defined a report however, it’s a common request that the report only show a subset of the timesheet data. For example showing only the timesheets for a particular project, department or range of dates.
This is easily done using TimeControl’s “Dynamic Filters”. In a dynamic filter, we choose a field or combination of fields but instead of entering a value for that field, we use square brackets: []. This tells TimeControl to request the filter’s value at the time it’s used for a report or an export. Let’s say, for example, that you want to create a dynamic filter that only selects timesheet. We create a filter on the Posted Time Detail table that selects the Date Work Performed field, the Between operator and uses the square brackets to denote the value:
Now we save that filter and run a report on Posted timesheets. TimeControl asks us to fill in the value which we can do by double clicking the empty field or clicking the ellipses to the right of it. If the field is a date as in this example, we get a calendar. If it’s a possible list of values, the TimeControl shows the list:
Let’s take a more complicated example. Let’s say we want users to be able to select a project and a range of dates. We create the filter again on the Posted Time Detail and add both the Project Name and the Date Work Performed fields. For the values, we use again the square brackets []: 
When we run this report, we’re asked now to fill in all 3 of those values at the time the report is created:
We can make any combination of values, dynamic requests and macro-type field values in a single filter. For example, we could create a filter which automatically shows data for all of this year but asks only for the project value by using the [YEARSTART] value for Date Work Performed and the square brackets [] for the Project Name. The TimeControl Reference Guide contains examples of how to make such a Parameterized filter with a list of the parameter values.
Using combinations of these features makes for an easy to use system with a tremendous amount of power working for you in the background.
TimeControl 6.1 released
We’re very excited here at HMS to announce the release of TimeControl 6.1. This version extends the TimeControl 6 family into its next evolution with a range of new features and an even more options in the configuration and architecture
In the architecture department, TimeControl now embraces MySQL along with the existing support for Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle and Sybase as possible databases. In addition, support for mixed 32/64bit support has been improved. There are also updates to improve our link to Microsoft Project Server 2010 and in particular for mixed environments where both Project Server 2007 and Project Server 2010 must be linked to simultaneously.
The table functionality has been rewritten in its entirety to follow the TimeControl 6 multi-browser interface architecture. That’s right, you’re no longer required to use only Internet Explorer to manage your tables but can also use Chrome, Safari, Firefox or Mozilla. Of course, if you like Internet Explorer, we haven’t forgotten you as IE9 is now part of our testing cycle.
There is a whole new feature called “Personal Pre-load” which we think end users are going to love and updated features for emails, releasing timesheets, tools like charge delete and timesheet audit logs and much, much more.
To see more details on what’s included in TimeControl 6.1 go to What’s the latest on the TimeControl website. If you have a current TimeControl support contract or if you’ve purchased in the last year, then you can download the current version from the Updates area of the website.
Upgrade best practices
The HMS Software technical department gets calls almost every day from existing clients asking questions or for assistance in doing an upgrade. For some of these organizations, we find that upgrade practices are ad-hoc. These organizations don’t have a standard procedure for managing upgrades and are making their best effort to get to the lastest and greatest TimeControl version.
Here are a few lessons about upgrades that we have learned over the years that are common to almost all TimeControl users whether you are moving from version 6.0 to 6.1 or 4.6 to 6.1:
Back it up
You might think that everyone backs up their enterprise data but sadly that’s just not true. No matter how confident you are that your particular deployment of TimeControl will be seamless and instant, back up your data. In some cases, organizations with virtual servers can actually back up the entire TimeControl environment include the database server, the database itself and even the TimeControl instance. That’s fine. But don’t get started on an upgrade without backing it up first.
Look before you leap
This advice is often given to swimmers venturing outdoors into an unknown area. Diving into water that looks deep but turns out to be rock-filled or shallow can be dangerous. In the case of TimeControl, take a look at the Read-Me files, any What’s New in this version files and even the installation and upgrade guide before jumping into a new version. Just because a new version of TimeControl has an exciting new screen doesn’t mean that you need to upgrade right away. If your current TimeControl is happily operating then there is a disincentive to go through the effort of upgrading.
All the world’s a stage
”All the world’s a stage…” said Shakespeare (in As you Like It). In this case, I’m referring to staging your upgrade. Every enterprise system should probably have both a production instance and a staging or development instance. Your TimeControl licensing allows you to do this without extra cost. Establishing an instance of TimeControl that has everything your production configuration has (easy to do by copying the production database back to the staging instance) means that you can test out new updates before they’re made available to the end-users. That’s just a best practice for any enterprise system, not just TimeControl. This allows not only new updates but any configuration changes such as new filters, new reports, new validation rules to be tested out in advance. With a new version like TimeControl 6.0 where the architecture was significantly changed or 6.1 where core functions like table management underwent big changes, you’ll be able to ensure that your system will work just as it should before end users are exposed to it.
Do the whole upgrade
One of the most common upgrade problems reported to our technical staff from clients is finding that the client either skipped a step or didn’t finish the entire process. This is particularly true when clients are trying to upgrade through multiple versions and the client doesn’t let the Administration Transaction Server start and complete the update work in each version before moving onto the next. So, make sure you’ve complete all the steps to the update!
Be prepared to advance to the rear
Not every upgrade goes perfectly and for a wide variety of reasons. When you do your update, be prepared to retreat, regroup and try again. If that happens, HMS Technical support will be available to answer questions on what the issue was.
With a product that is in its sixth generation and 17th year on the market, we’ve seen a lot of updates and full upgrades over the years. If you’d prefer, HMS Consulting services is always available to help you get the very latest version up and running in your office!
Happy upgrading.
All new Solutions area for those using Excel timesheets
HMS has just released an all new Solutions Portal for those who are using Excel timesheets and know it’s time to graduate to a full timesheet system like TimeControl. Thousands of organizations every year create their first timesheet in Excel. And, why not? It’s easy to do, there are numerous free Excel templates available for download and The new solutions area contains a number of resources that will be of interest to those currently using Excel for timesheets and are considering a move to a timesheet application. Among the collateral on the portal is included:
- Moving from Excel timesheets to TimeControl Webcast
This webcast shows the benefits of moving from an Excel timesheet system to TimeControl and how easy and familiar TimeControl will be to those who have used Excel for timesheets in the past. The webcast shows TimeControl in action and discusses how TimeControl can import and export data directly with Excel. - Excel to TimeControl PowerPoint presentation
This slide presentation shows various free Excel templates and some of the benefits of moving from an Excel-based timesheet to TimeControl. - Excel to TimeControl factsheet
This all-new 4-page factsheet describes the ease of moving from Excel timesheets to TimeControl timesheets and highlights some of the functionality that may be missing from an in-house Excel-based timesheet system that can be found in TimeControl.
The Solutions area is free of charge and can be found at www.timecontrol.com/solutions/excel/.
Getting 2 copies of TimeControl going at once
In older versions of Internet Explorer, you used to be able to keep two copies of TimeControl running at a time. For supervisors and administrators this can be very attractive. They might want to be looking at charge code items in the table as one user for example while in another screen they do approvals. In IE8 and other more recent versions, this doesn’t at first seem to be possible. This is because Internet Explorer caches sessions to be more performant in displaying a website.
Not to worry, the old capabilities are still there. What you need in IE is a “New Session’ rather than just a new tab or new window. A new session looks like a new window but is, in fact, a whole new instance of IE running at the same time.
To do this, start up your first instance of TimeControl then go to the File Menu (You might need to press ‘Alt’ to see it. Now select “New Session” and a new window of IE will appear and allow you to relogin as someone else to TimeControl at the same time.
Installing TimeControl 6 on a 64 bit server with Oracle 11g+
We’ve encountered an unusual condition when clients are installing TimeControl 6 on a 64 bit server with the very latest Oracle 11g. Most 64 bit installations go forward without incident but, if you are installing your TimeControl on a 64 bit server and you are using Oracle 11g or later
Because TimeControl’s architecture now includes elements that are both in 64 bit and 32 bit. When TimeControl is installed on a 64 bit server and the Oracle 11g or higher driver is installed, you will need to do some specific configuration in order to have the TimeControl Transaction Server (TTS) (in .Net) connect through the 64bit Oracle supplied driver and the TimeControl Administration Transaction Server (ATS) connect through the 32bith Oracle supplied driver.
Do this you will need to create multiple Oracle homes by installing Oracle 32bit and Oracle 64 bit client. For more information on installing and configuring multiple homes please refer to Oracle documentation.
First, install both the:
* Oracle 32 bit Client Software (minimum Runtime installation) and the; * Oracle 64 bit Client Software (minimum Runtime installation)
Next, create an environment variable called TNS_ADMIN to point to the location of your tnsnames.ora file. For more information on creating environment variables, refer to your Oracle documentation.
Now update your tnsnames.ora file to have the connection information for your Oracle data.
Now you’re ready to install TimeControl or run the TimeControl database configuration tool.
Take a look at the new TimeControl R&D Tax Credit Solution Portal
HMS has just published a collection of new tools and resources for those organizations which do Research and Development Tax Credits. R&D tax credit programs are offered by governments all over the world including the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and throughout the EU. Virtually all R&D tax credit programs require documenting what eligible work was done and who did it and that’s one reason TimeControl is often part of the R&D reporting environment. If your organization does an R&D tax claim then our new Research and Development solution page includes a range of new tools that you may find of interest:
There’s a new white paper on how R&D tax claims work and how you can configure TimeControl to help overcome the “Triangle Audit” that is often how R&D tax claims are reviewed by the particular jurisdiction.
There’s a new webcast talking and R&D tax claims and a demonstration of TimeControl 6 already configured to do R&D reporting. The reports we used in that webcast are available for download from the MyTimeControl Plugin library on the timecontrol.com website in the Support area.
There is a new case study of how TimeControl is being used at EXFO in Canada for their R&D reporting requirements.
There are slides, links to online resources in numerous countries, slide presentations, other white papers and fact sheets. You can even try TimeControl for free on our Free Hosted TimeControl Trial site.
The new TimeControl R&D Tax Credit Solution Portal is at www.timecontrol.com/solutions/randd.
It’s the holidays–Here’s how to deal with absences in TimeControl
With the holiday season approaching, it’s a good time to talk about how to handle timesheets for people who will be away. TimeControl has several options for dealing with absences whether they are planned in advance, or unplanned.
Unplanned absence
If an employee is absent and the timesheet for the week in question has not been started, the employee’s supervisor can create the timesheet and enter the time data on their behalf. The supervisor uses the Add Timesheet function and selects the employee from the Employee List in the Create Timesheet dialogue box. TimeControl is designed to allow supervisors in an employee’s approval path to enter timesheets for them.
If the timesheet has already been started, we have a couple of choices, a supervisor or designated replacement can log in on behalf of the employee by using the alternate log in function. An alternate log in can be specified for any employee from the User Table / Other Information tab. This allows someone to be the delegate of someone else. When setting an alternate log in, you also must set an expiry date. When a user logs in as an alternate for an employee, the audit trail records that the alternate has made the entries, as opposed to the original employee. This function is an easy way for a supervisor to complete a timesheet for an employee who has an unplanned absence or for another supervisor to approve the timesheets of a supervisor who is absent.
There is another option to managing timesheets that are already underway. A supervisor or administrator can use the Change Ownership function to move the control of a timesheet from one user along the approval path to their supervisor to have the timesheet completed and approved.
Planned absence If the absence is planned, TimeControl’s new TimeRequest function allows users to request approval for various types of time including vacation or time off. The employee enters the type of time-off, dates and hours requested and then submits the request to the supervisor. Once the TimeRequest has been approved, it is maintained in a queue and will automatically appear in that employee’s timesheet when it is created.
TimeControl 6 Solutions Overview
Tc6 solutions
View more presentations from CVandersluis.