Category Archives: Tips and tricks

best practices, Did you know, Solutions, successful implementation, support, TimeControl timesheet, timesheet, timesheet software, Tips, Tips and tricks

Check out our Timesheet Best Practices Solution Portal

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Timesheet Best Practices Solution Portal partial Over the last few weeks here at HMS, we’ve been doing some hard work assembling collateral, questions, answers, and other materials about the best ways to use a timesheet. We’re happy to finally reveal our new solutions portal for everything you need to know about timesheet best practices.

HMS Software employees are often asked for advice on the best practices for timesheet use, and many of these questions are not TimeControl-specific. This is why we’ve created a solutions portal with materials that will help you use timesheeting to its full potential.

We realize that timesheet usage is multi-faceted, so we divided up our efforts. Some timesheet usage recommendations are appropriate to the organization, and others are more focused on the individual. With this in mind, we divided the best practice information based on the end-user’s perspective and their information needs. You’ll notice that the solutions are categorized for use by the organization or the individual. This will make it easier so that you can quickly and easily find the recommended best practices you need.

One of the key new sections included in the best practices portal is the Timesheet Best Practices Q & A page. Ever wondered just how much time is too much to spend on entering your timesheet? Do you question just how much detail is productive in a timesheet? Or, perhaps you’re wondering if it makes sense to track the start and stop times of the day along with the durations for each task. We turned these types of timesheet questions we most often receive over to our technical staff. Their answers to these questions, and their timesheet expertise on these topics and more, are now available and ready to be shared with you.

There are many links, materials and collateral referenced by the Best Practices Solution Portal including white papers on how to increase resource capacity through better timesheet practices, guidance for executives on how a timesheet system can benefit the organization, videos of how to be effective with your timesheet system and even a blank timesheet process template for creating your own timesheet process.

Check out our new Timesheet Best Practices solution portal today! You’ll undoubtedly discover something some new information that can help you to get the most out of your timesheet.

To access the Timesheet Best Practices, visit timecontrol.com/solutions/bestpractices.

Alternate user, banked time, dashboard, hr timesheets, human resources, time and attendance, timecontrol, TimeControl 6.2, TimeControl Mobile, TimeRequest, Tips, Tips and tricks, vacation, Validation Rules

Manage your vacations with TimeControl

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It’s summer time and the vacation schedules are just about to get underway. Here at HMS we thought it would be a good time to share with you a free guide on how to use TimeControl to better manage vacations in your organization. TimeControl is 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.

vacations webcast 2 We’ve created a free webcast narrated by HMS Software’s President, Chris Vandersluis. It’s only a few minutes long and you can see some key functionality demonstrated that helps organizations manage vacations whether from an end-user or administrator perspective. Included in the webcast are discussions on:

The TimeControl Dashboard
The TimeControl dashboard includes a module by default which shows Vacation, Sick Leave and Personal time banks with indicators of how much time the employee has available in each bank, how much they’ve taken and how much is remaining. Just knowing how much time is left available to them lets employees plan their vacations better.

Managing Banked Time
TimeControl can also control banked time in a number of ways. TimeControl can be configured to accrue vacation as its earned so the bank of time increases each month. You can also track banked overtime if your organization has such a policy and track deposits of overtime into the bank and withdrawals of time off from the bank.

Vacation Approvals with TimeRequest™
TimeControl’s TimeRequest feature let’s the employee request approval for vacation right inside the timesheet itself. Then, once approved, the vacation is automatically inserted into the employee’s future timesheet.

Validation Rules
TimeControl’s Validation Rules let administrators determine what vacation rules are acceptable. You can restrict an employee from taking time that they’re not entitled to or, if you allow it, permitting time to be taken before it’s earned. These business rules have everyone who enters their vacation timesheet already complying with the organization’s policies.

Alternate User Functionality
We’ve thought of supervisors also. After all, managers and supervisors take vacation too! TimeControl’s Alternate User function lets a supervisor delegate their approval responsibilities to someone else while they’re away. (TimeControl still tracks who has actually done the approvals for proper auditing.)

TimeControl Mobile
Finally, if the vacation is going so well that you’d like to keep it going for another week, TimeControl Mobile is a part of every TimeControl implementation. Use your Smartphone to log into TimeControl from wherever you are and add a week’s vacation in your timesheet!

To see the free webcast, visit the TimeControl HR Solutions page at http://www.timecontrol.com/solutions/hr/. The webcast is available in the Webcasts area at the bottom of the page.

rate codes, Techniques, Tips and tricks

Project Specific Rate Codes

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Rate management is one of TimeControl’s most popular capabilities. Each hour worked on the timesheet can be calculated against a rate value according to the rate table. The end user selects a rate code on the timesheet and as the timesheet is posted, TimeControl calculates the costs.

Each rate code has two values, which are most commonly use for the internal or direct cost of the employee and the external or billable cost. TimeControl supports an unlimited number of codes which allows for many combinations. One of the most common requests is to track project specific costs.

Because there are an unlimited number of charge codes possible for each employee, the amount calculated for each hour of work can be different for each project and for each employee. For a client with a lot of projects, the number of possible rate codes that could be chosen by an employee, could become quite extensive. TimeControl provides a function that minimises the effort required to choose the correct rate code and that increases the accuracy of the entry. This function allows a project- specific rate code to appear when the project is chosen. This rate code will take precedence over any employee defaults that have been specified in the Employee table. To use this configuration, first add the project-specific rate code to the Labour Rate Table as a Global ate code type. This is a requirement for using the project-specific rate function. If you desire an employee-specific project costs, then add a rate with the same rate code value but as an employee specific rate. TimeControl will always select the most specific rate code applicable with that rate code value. So, for example, if the rate table has a rate code called “Std” for Standard rate and that is a Global Rate of $50 and a rate code called “Std” which is an employee specific rate for John, then when John does his timesheet, TimeControl will assume that the “Std” for John is the correct code.

Once the Global rate has been created, then go to the Project Table, and locate the project for which you’d like this rate code to be specified. On the Project Details tab select the project specific rate code.

Note that only global rates can be selected.
Selecting the “required” button will ensure that only this rate can be selected on a timesheet when this project is selected.

When the project is added as a line item to an employee’s timesheet the project specific default rate code will be automatically selected. If a matching employee rate type has been created, the employee rate value will be calculated. The project rate code will take precedence over the default rate code specified in the Employee Table.

In this example, the P_SPEC rate was added automatically to the DA Project line item.

Assignment Filters, best practices, PM Links, timecontrol, Tips and tricks

TimeControl charges restricted by assignment

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By default, TimeControl allows users to see every possible project and every possible charge code in the system. There are, however, a number of features within TimeControl to restrict what projects and what charges each employee should be allowed to choose from.

In the TimeControl Employee Table, the administrator can declare a pre-defined filter to apply to the project selection and charge selection that will be applicable to each employee as they enter their timesheet. Popular filters include “only projects which are open” and “only charges which are open” or “only charges with a start date within 2 weeks of today”. These kinds of filters are relatively easy to create.

There is another request that we hear from time to time from those with experience in popular project management systems. These systems often constrain the timesheet to only accept charges from the employee’s assignments. This makes more sense when project resource scheduling is being done at the individual level which may not be the case for many environments. But, where individual assignments are identified, these project systems will present or show only those records for which the employee has a valid assignment.

Can TimeControl provide the same kind of functionality?
It can.

First, when TimeControl is linked to a project management system, we provide the option to bring in all the resource assignments. It’s not a requirement but when the option is selected, a table is loaded which is attached to the Resource Table. This data is called the “Preloading list” and shows all resources attached to a task back in the project system. Within TimeControl we can add or remove from this list manually. The list can be used for pre-loading but we can also take advantage of the list to make a filter that can constrain both the projects and charge codes that can be seen by each employee.

Project Filter
First, let’s make the filter for the Project List. Add a new filter, give it a name like “Project Assignments only” and select the Project table. The filter we want to make can’t be created from the standard field menu so clear the “Always generate the SQL when saving” option and click on the SQL tab. Now copy and paste in the follow SQL command:
SELECT TCPROJ.PRJ_KEY FROM TCPROJ WHERE ((PRJ_NAME = ‘ADMIN’) OR (PRJ_KEY IN (SELECT DISTINCT CHR_PRJ FROM CHARGE WHERE CHR_KEY IN (SELECT DISTINCT CRS_CHR FROM CHRRES WHERE CRS_RES = (SELECT EMP_RES FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE EMP_KEY=%TSH_EMP%)))) AND TCPROJ.PRJ_STATUS <> ‘Closed’)
Save the filter, go to the Employee table and select this filter in the Project Filter field.

Charge Restrictions
Ok, now here’s the Charge filter. Add a new filter, give it a name like “Charge Assignments only” and select the Charge table. Once again the filter we want to make can’t be created from the standard field menu so clear the “Always generate the SQL when saving” option and click on the SQL tab. Now copy and paste in the follow SQL command:
SELECT TCPROJ.PRJ_KEY FROM TCPROJ WHERE ((PRJ_NAME = ‘ADMIN’) OR (PRJ_KEY IN (SELECT DISTINCT CHR_PRJ FROM CHARGE WHERE CHR_KEY IN (SELECT DISTINCT CRS_CHR FROM CHRRES WHERE CRS_RES = (SELECT EMP_RES FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE EMP_KEY=%TSH_EMP%)))) AND TCPROJ.PRJ_STATUS <> ‘Closed’)
Save the filter, go to the Employee table and select this filter in the Charge Filter field.

Before you scramble off to make this the default for all your users, you’ll want to consider a few questions:
How often do people do work on activities to which they were not originally assigned? How good was the original plan? If people typically work on activities to which they weren’t assigned, you’ll need to do a lot more updating of the Preloaded list or linking to an updated project schedule with assignments in order for users to be able to complete their timesheet.

Is there an administrator available that can update the preloaded list as required? They’ll need to be available for sure near the end of the work week to quickly update possible entries.

Does the work and procedures that are necessary to keep this list maintained, add more or less work than the alternatives? It’s important to think of the ROI. Clients often ask for this option with the thought that it will reduce inaccurate data. If, however, there is so much effort maintaining the assignment list accurately, it may outweigh the benefits.

Frustration of users may be high if they can’t find their charge codes, resulting in bad data. If a user can’t find the right charge and can’t reach the administrator to make sure it’s in their assignments, then they might choose any charge in order to complete their timesheet. If that happens, Administrators may spend more time reassigning charged time through Debit/Credits to fix bad data.

On the other hand, if assignments are generally quite stable then limiting choices in this way may reduce user confusion in choosing the right charges.

Remember too that if the data is in the pre-loading table either through manual input or automatically by linking to a project management system and transferring the assignments, then the timesheet can be pre-loaded with the correct assignments when it’s added. That may be enough to encourage correct data without having to restrict it to absolutely these charges.

Think about the pro’s and con’s and test out the new filters with a small number of users before deciding to adopt it wholesale.

64bit, timecontrol, Tips and tricks

What about TimeControl in a 64 bit environment?

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With more and more people asking about TimeControl in a 64 bit environment, I thought it might be worthwhile to talk about it.

When people ask whether TimeControl works in a 64 bit environment, we have to take a moment and ask what part. There are several elements of TimeControl to consider.

  • If we’re talking about the data itself running on a 64 bit database server, the answer is Yes. TimeControl is happy to connect to a 64 bit database server.

  • If we’re talking about the client workstations within Internet Explorer, then the answer is also Yes. The TimeControl ActiveX controls are 32 bit controls but Microsoft loads a 32bit version of Internet Explorer by default in a 64 bit operating system and TimeControl is perfectly happy there.

  • The TimeControl ATS middleware itself does work in a 64 bit environment but the COM Server which provides the menu to the IIS (Internet Information Services) webserver is 32bit only so our instruction to clients is to install the TimeControl Server on a 32bit server operating system.

  • What about a 32bit Virtual Server running in 64 bit hardware? This works just fine for the TimeControl ATS and both VMWare and Virtual PC are very effective in managing TimeControl in this way. If you only have a 64 bit server available, then creating a Virtual Server running Windows 2003 or 2008 on that machine and installing the TimeControl ATS there is a perfectly viable solution.

In TimeControl 6 we’ve already made allowances to support both 32bit and 64bit servers as we have eliminated the COM Server. This will result in different installations depending on which server you’re installing onto.