Tag Archives: payroll timesheet

timecontrol

Managing non-project hours in TimeControl

TimeControl is so often talked about as a project management tool that we sometimes forget how important it is to manage hours that aren’t part of a project at all.  One of the most powerful aspects of TimeControl is being able to be the timesheet that can track hours for tasks as well as all the non-project time.  This allows a timesheet to be entered that is complete.  It has all the hours spent in the organization for all purposes.

Unlike the timesheets that are included with many project management systems, TimeControl is designed to serve both Project Management and Human Resources at the same time. A TimeControl timesheet may have entries that are destined for updating tasks in a project but it might also have hours that are key for invoicing, for job costing, for vacation, sick leave and other entitlements and, of course, for payroll.  Only an auditable timesheet is suitable for these multiple purposes at once and TimeControl is designed with this in mind.

Aside from the obvious time and attendance functionality, there are numerous functions within TimeControl to support these many non-project processes they include:

  • TimeControl’s Banks management includes functionality to track time off, overtime, sick leave, banked overtime, vacation management, training time and more. This gives Human Resources powerful auditable tools for tracking entitlements that have been taken and time remaining for those categories.
  • TimeControl’s TimeRequest™ lets timesheet users request vacation or personal time off in advance and once approved, have that time automatically inserted right into their timesheet on the appropriate day.
  • TimeControl Accruals does automatic, auditable calculations of overtime, banked time, rate changes and keeps a traceable record of when time and extra earnings were earned.
  • TimeControl’s TimeRequest™ Wizard lets an administrator pre-approve days off for such as holidays for large groups of users and have those timesheet entries automatically appear in user’s timesheets on the appropriate day.
  • TimeControl’s business Validation Rules lets you configure the rules that are appropriate for using entitlements like vacation time or personal time off so that users don’t accidentally take sick leave on a weekend or vacation time that wasn’t approved or personal time off that exceeds the time in their bank.

The free TimeControl and Human Resources Portal has extensive information on the non-project use of TimeControl including white papers, webcasts, factsheets and video lessons to help you understand how TimeControl timesheets can play and important role far beyond your project management needs.

 

autofill, timecontrol

Timesheets by exception

autofill1.pngNot every organization expects all their staff to fill in a timesheet every single week.  Instead, theses salaried staff are instructed to fill in a timesheet only “by exception” meaning only if they were not at their intended post for the entire pay period.  If the employee has an exception such as a sick day, vacation, a day when they left early, etc.  they must then enter only the exception.

TimeControl can be used like this of course because if that is what your payroll system expects, then TimeControl export to the payroll system will have only the expected exceptions.

Ah, but if life were only that easy.

Here’s a much more difficult scenario:  Imagine an organization where some of the staff who are project oriented must fill out timesheets to account for their entire week and other non-project personnel will be asked to only fill in timesheets by exception.  Must there then be two separate timesheet systems?

Not at all.

TimeControl’s AutoFill functionality is designed to fill in where the exception timesheet leaves off.  Here’s how it works.

First, define who will be entering timesheets by exception.

Next, create a process that allows people who have exceptions to enter them by a certain time in the timesheet period.  For example on a weekly timesheet perhaps exceptions must be entered by noon on Monday.

Now run the AutoFill functionality and have it “fill-up” the timesheets for the people defined to the total number of hours per day that you define.

In this manner TimeControl will create blank timesheets and automaticall fill them in or add to the exceptions that are already there to fill in a complete timesheet.  Now the project staff who enter a complete task-based timesheet every week and the non-project staff who enter a timesheet only by exception will end up with a completed timesheet that can be reported on together, exported or analyzed together and, if you still need to send only the exceptions to the payroll system, that too can be filtered to send only the appropriate data.

TimeControl’s AutoFill is one of the more popular features for HR and Payroll adminstrators for the enormous time it saves by automating a simple function and allowing a single timesheet to replace multiple timesheets.

You can see more HR related functions in the TimeControl and HR use-case area of the TimeControl.com website.