Category Archives: TimeRequest Wizard

TimeRequest Wizard

TimeControl’s TimeRequest Wizard is truly magical

TimeControl has long had the ability to allow employees to request time off in the future using the TimeRequest feature.  Employees make a request for time off for an event such a vacation or expected sick leave and that goes to their supervisor for approval much like a timesheet would.  Then, once approved, that timesheet entry including the number of hours involved, the charge code and the rate code are automatically inserted into the appropriate timesheet.  If, for some reason, the employee goes to work on that day, they can just overwrite the entry with other timesheet lines.

An extension to the TimeRequest function is the TimeRequest Wizard.  This module allows an administrator to add pre-approved TimeRequest timesheet lines to many employee’s future timesheets at once.  It is most typically used for entering statutory holidays such as New Year’s Day or Christmas.

The TimeRequest Wizard has recently been enhanced with some great new features.

Administrators can set up different TimeRequest Wizard entries and then save them for later updating.  This means that one TimeRequest Wizard entry could be made for example for all the holidays in the US and associated with a filter for US-based staff then a different TimeRequest Wizard entry could be made for all Canadian holidays and associated with a filter for all staff based in Canada.

Since TimeRequest Wizards are now saved, they can also now be recalled and edited.  This provides an easy way for TimeControl administrators to onboard new staff with future holidays and to offboard staff so there is nothing still pending for their timesheets in the future.

The TimeRequest Wizard is an easy way for administrators to save a ton of time.  You can see the online lesson of the TimeRequest Wizard in action on the TimeControl Online Training page at:  timecontrol.com/resources/online-training/timecontrol-8.

banked time, dashboard, hr timesheets, human resources, TimeControl Timesheets, TimeRequest, TimeRequest Wizard, timesheet reporting, Validation Rules

Managing Holidays with TimeControl

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The holidays are upon us and here at HMS when we think of Holidays, we think of what Payroll and Human Resources people need to do to properly account for them in the TimeControl timesheet. TimeControl includes functionality that is perfect for managing holidays that will be taken by many staff people and assisting those personnel with entering the appropriate line item in their timesheet.

TimeRequest Wizardclip_image002
The TimeRequest Wizard is a great function which is typically made available only to Administrators. It to add entries into future timesheets and approve those entries in advance. The function is extremely simple to use. Administrators select a date in the future and then enter the description, number of hours and the charge and rate code that are appropriate for the upcoming holiday. Then the Administrator selects which users should get this timesheet entry. Once the Administrator confirms the entry, TimeControl creates a pre-approved TimeRequest which will automatically create an entry for each of those users in the future timesheet with the properly entered number of hours and charge code already done.

TimeControl Administrators often enter the entire year’s holidays in advance for the entire staff early in the year. Using the TimeRequest Wizard means fewer errors in entry during holidays for those who are entitled to the time off.

Some of the challenges which the TimeRequest Wizard’s functionally overcomes include:

How to manage different holidays for different groups?
The TimeRequest Wizard can create future entries for any filtered or selected group of employees. Perhaps you have US Thanksgiving for the American staff and Canadian Thanksgiving for those in Canada. No problem. The Administrator simply selects different filters for different groups.

What if someone unexpectedly works on the holiday?
No problem. The TimeRequest has been pre-approved and will pre-load into the employee’s timesheet but the employee can overwrite or delete that line should they wish. The TimeRequest entry simply provides them an entry that is pre-made for them, not something that they can’t undo when the time to do their timesheet comes along.

Other functionality that is important for HR and Payroll managers at this time of year includes:

Managing vacation and Personal-time-off (PTO) banks
Around the holidays it’s quite common for some staff people to want to take additional time off from their vacation or Personal-time-off banks. TimeControl supports up to 9 separate banks of time by default. In an employee wants to put additional time on their timesheet for vacation or personal time, they can make a TimeRequest to get approval and then TimeControl’s Validation Rules can check to make sure the employee still has enough time in their time-off bank.

Links to external systems
TimeControl has been designed to link to external systems such as HR and Payroll systems or services so your Holiday and time-off data can get to the right place without having to retype.

Powerful reporting and dashboarding
TimeControl’s reporting and dashboarding options lets us show summary and detailed reports for holidays booked, holidays taken as well as any additional time taken.

clip_image003TimeControl Human Resources Solution Portal
To find out more about TimeControl and how it can help with your Human Resources (HR) requirements as well as other business challenges, visit the TimeControl HR Solution Portal at www.timecontrol.com/solutions/hr. You’ll find a webcast, and screen shots and you can even see a webcast of the TimeRequest Wizard in action.