Tag Archives: TimeControl

timecontrol

Supporting a hybrid workforce

TimeControl supporting a hybrid workforce, Timesheet, hybrid timesheet, Chris Vandersluis, Christopher Vandersluis, Christopher Peter VandersluisFor so many in the technical world, working remotely or in a hybrid environment has become commonplace.  Many of our staff work on a hybrid schedule here at HMS.  TimeControl is ideal for supporting this.

The flexibility of TimeControl allows almost any kind of data to be attached to or configured right into the timesheet interface.   For example, some of our clients require knowing where work was accomplished.  Was this work done from home or from our office?  Other clients need to know how many days an employee worked at the office and what days those were.

This is easily accomplished in TimeControl through timesheet user defined fields.  We can enter a new column for “work/home”  then give TimeControl only certain options such as “home” or “work” to allow a drop down list.  The list can be as long as you wish.  Alternately it could be left open so people could type in a location.

TimeControl hybrid support with home / work column

Once the data is collected, then reporting on it, filtering it or looking for discrepancies is as easy as can be.  The field doesn’t even need to be filled in by everyone.  You can hide such a field using TimeControl’s user profiles so it only appears for certain departments where the data is relevant.

Also, like all other timesheet data.  This type of field can be used for creating validation rules so you can make the field mandatory or create warning message for people out of compliance for your own internal hybrid practices.

If you are using TimeControl Online or TimeControl Industrial Online, our Software as a Service subscription in the cloud, then you already know your employees can access TimeControl from anywhere in the world either on the web or via our free TimeControl Mobile app.  If you are using an on-premise TimeControl then all you have to do is ensure that TimeControl is outward facing so it can be accessed while out of the office.

Flexibility allows TimeControl to be many things.

Supporting a hybrid workforce is just one.

 

timecontrol

The Timesheet Audit with TimeControl

Timesheet Auditability, TimeControl, Chris Vandersluis, Christopher Vandersluis, Christopher Peter VandersluisFor many organizations, there comes a time when the data in your timesheet becomes the subject of an audit.  There can be many reasons for this.  Perhaps there is a research and development tax claim and the government auditor wishes to reconcile the time you have recorded in timesheets against the task-by-task descriptions in the claim. Perhaps your organization is a publicly traded company and undergoing verification for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.  Perhaps there is a need to reconcile and validate the time taken by each employee for sick leave, vacation or personal time against the Human Resources department records.  Or, perhaps it’s just a validation of collected timesheets for some other internal process.  Whatever the reason, TimeControl was designed to support the auditing of its records.

TimeControl Administrators never fear a timesheet audit!

When something is woven into the architecture, we rarely think about it.  Auditing isn’t a “feature” or “function” of TimeControl.  There’s no Audit button.  The manner of collecting and verifying data has been thought about since the earliest days of TimeControl’s existence decades ago.  It is a part of everything in the product.

We take care to ensure the timesheet data is auditable in so many ways.  Once data is posted, for example, it can only be changed through our adjustment or Debit/Credit functionality which tracks who made the change, what change was made and exactly the date and time of the change.  We also track who approved a timesheet and when and the path of that timesheet from draft to released to rejected (if it was) to released again and finally to posted.  We track the work of Alternate Users to ensure that the audit trail isn’t obscured by someone doing timesheet data changes on behalf of someone else.  We also make sure that the data that is going into the timesheet is coming from lists of employees and charges that have been validated and tracked by design with referential integrity.

We have had many praises from both internal and government auditors for how effectively TimeControl gives them what they need to accurately report what happened with timesheet data.

You can find out more on the TimeControl Auditability story in the TimeControl Auditability white paper on the TimeControl website or, feel free to contact the TimeControl team to discuss your interest in timesheet auditability.

 

timecontrol

Timesheet Creation

TimeControl best practices, timesheet time saver, Chris Vandersluis, Christopher Vandersluis, Christopher Peter VandersluisSo many options in TimeControl are designed to simplify the data entry process.  Timesheet Creation is just one.

For timesheet administrators, the depth of functionality in TimeControl including its remarkable flexibility is a huge draw.  That’s not the same for end-users.  End-users typically view having to enter their timesheet as a necessary evil.  They’d avoid it if they could but if they have to do it, they’d like the process to be as quick and easy as possible.

That’s one of the reasons we created the Timesheet Creation function.  In its first few versions, TimeControl would ask users to create their next timesheet and then, depending on the options selected by the TimeControl Administrator and the end user, the timesheet would be pre-loaded with lines that were expected for that week.

Timesheet Creation allows the TimeControl Administrator to create the timesheets for end-users in advance.  This means, when they enter the system at the beginning of their week (or whatever their timesheet period is), the timesheet is already there, already pre-loaded with expected tasks and ready to be entered.

Not every organization wants to work that way but for many, it’s a small time-saver that pays dividends in a couple of ways.  First, everyone’s timesheet is created at the same time with the same options and that helps with consistency and a uniform user experience.  Next, if the end-users select the timesheet-entry screen to be their home-screen, what appears when they log into TimeControl is their current week’s timesheet, already created, already pre-populated with all the expected tasks already loaded.  This can serve to lower the resistance to doing the timesheet at all and can promote entering the timesheet quickly.  Finally, having the timesheet already created eliminates one possible step and one possible end-user error point.  The Administrators can create multiple timesheets in advance or even in the past if that is required.  The configuration of how many periods can be created is controlled in TimeControl’s System Preferences.  The Timesheet Creation also doesn’t need to be applied universally.  It can be constrained for certain groups or certain locations as the Administrator decides.

Of course, the end-user may have other tasks they did this week that were unanticipated.  Almost everyone does something in their week that wasn’t in the plan on Monday morning.  TimeControl will always allow users to add to the timesheet from any possible charge codes that are available to that user.

The savings of the Timesheet Creation function is perhaps only 30 to 60 seconds.   But think about that this way.  If you have 1,000 users, that 1,000 minutes a week that’s saved.  52 weeks a year means 52,000 minutes.  That’s a half a person-year in savings.  And that’s just from one possible feature in TimeControl.

We often talk about best-practices for both organizations and individuals using TimeControl.  You can find webcasts, papers and presentations on the subject in the Timesheet Best Practices section of our website at: www.timecontrol.com/resources/best-practices.

multipurpose timesheet

Why a multi-purpose timesheet?

Multi purpose timesheet, TimeControl, Swiss Army Knife, Chris Vandersluis, Christopher Vandersluis, Christopher Peter VandersluisWe often speak to organizations who have experienced the madness and heartache of deploying multiple timesheets and finding that this has made them much less effective as a result.  For those who might have never had this experience, let’s talk for a moment about the benefits and drawbacks of using a multi-purpose timesheet like TimeControl.

How did we end up here?

First, let’s talk for a moment about how organizations deploy multiple timesheets.  Clearly no one wakes up one morning and says “I have a great idea.  Let’s deploy as many different timesheet systems as we can.”  No. This happens because timesheets are needed for so many disparate processes and each of these processes first checks to see if any existing timesheet systems in the organization will meet their needs and, if not, proceeds to acquire and deploy its own timesheet.

So the payroll system has a timesheet and they aren’t interested in changing it.  Billing has a timesheet too.  That’s different from the time and attendance timesheet used by payroll.  HR needed a timesheet but just for time-off; kind of a negative timesheet.  Project management needed a timesheet that would identify not just if you were working but what you worked on and for how long as well as how much time will be needed to finish off what you’re working on.  Other timesheets may have been deployed for field-data-collection, R&D tax credits, Government auditing requirements such as DCAA and more.  So, having 3, 4, even 7 or 8 different timesheets is not impossible.

Multi-purpose timesheet benefits

Choosing a multi-purpose timesheet like TimeControl brings numerous instant benefits.  First, it reduces the number of timesheets to maintain, manage and even reconcile.  In some organizations employees are asked to fill in 2, 3 or even 4 timesheets at the end of the week.  Now, they fill in one.  So employee satisfaction goes up.  It’s not that employees like filling in timesheets, even just one.  But, if you explain that they will be going from 4 timesheets to 1 timesheet, you end up with happy employees.

Next, there’s now one version of the truth.  When you look for time data, you don’t got to multiple systems.  We’ve seen organizations where the effort to reconcile the timesheet data from a time and attendance system with a project system is monstrous.  Multiple employees dedicated to trying to figure out how the time recorded in system one reconciles with system two is not an effective use of personnel.

Auditing become so much easier.  We’ve seen this in numerous situations and with numerous organizations where previously an audit might have been impossible, now the audit is not only possible but almost instant.  When all the data is being validated in the same place at the same time, the work of an auditor becomes very simple.

Multi-purpose timesheet challenges

It’s not all free benefits.  One of the challenges in deploying a multi-purpose timesheet for bringing multiple business processes together is that the people managing those processes have to communicate with each other.  This is often one of the longest parts of a deployment.  It is extremely common for us to have a meeting where Finance is represented including Payroll and Billing, Project Management is represented and the IT department is represented almost as a referee.  In many cases, the Finance people have never met the Project people.  These teams will have to strike a balance between what each business process needs.

Flexibility also carries its own work.  When you have a system which is as open architecture as TimeControl, you have to be responsible for what you design, configure and deploy.  We sometimes see an organization deploy our multi-purpose timesheet and once deployed, the team is disbanded.  Then, a year later, no one who is a part of the day-to-day operations of the timesheet understands the decisions that were made in its configuration.  Happily at HMS, we keep all those kinds of records and documents and more than once we’ve had to regroup the different parts of the organization to help explain why they made the configuration decisions they did and how that affects the different business processes involved.

Multi-purpose timesheets can make the difference

Some organizations decide that they just don’t want to mingle processes like Finance and Project Management and are willing to accept the costs and drawbacks of deploying multiple timesheet systems but for many, a multi-purpose timesheet can be the answer to so many challenges all at once.

vacation, vacation accruals

Do you know how much time is in the vacation bank?

It’s summTimeControl Detailed Vacation Bank Report, TimeControl, Enterprise Timesheet, Chris Vandersluis, Christopher Vandersluis, Christopher Peter Vandersluisertime and for many organizations, that means employees are taking advantage of the warm weather to take vacations.  For some, those vacations have been planned earlier in the year, for others, they are just making their plans.

TimeControl provides tools to track not just when employees took vacation but how much vacation time an employee has earned and how much they’ve taken throughout the year.

The Employee Bank is one of multiple banks of time within TimeControl that can be activated and monitored.  Time can be earned automatically within TimeControl using the Accruals module.  Alternately, if this is managed elsewhere, the banked time can be imported from outside sources such as the HR system.  Once earned, the banked time is visible to the employees in a report or a dashboard view.

When it’s time to take vacation, the employee selects a charge code for that in their timesheet either in advance or after their time off.  TimeControl then automatically deducts that time from the appropriate bank.

One of the most time-consuming parts of vacation banks for management are discussions with employees about how much time they’ve earned or taken but this too can be managed in TimeControl with the Detailed Employee Bank report.  For day-to-day operations, the report has a dynamic view which can be viewed and filtered instantly no matter how many employees there are.

Vacations are the most common but only one aspect of banked time off and scheduled time off.  TimeControl can also impose validation rules on TimeRequests for time off to ensure the rules are followed of time off requests vs. time in the bank.  Other banked time can also be tracked such as sick leave or personal time off.

You can find out more about how TimeControl manages time off requests and vacations at: www.timecontrol.com/features/vacation-approvals and more about accruals at: www.timecontrol.com/features/accruals.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions and the different places to get answers

Frequently Asked Questions, FAQ, TimeControl, Timesheets, Chris Vandersluis, Christopher Vandersluis, Christopher Peter VandersluisWith an enterprise system like TimeControl, questions are common.  TimeControl can be used in so many different ways and each deployment is unique.  So, as a client or even a prospective client, where can you get answers?

TimeControl’s extensive documentation.

There are documentation guides which are part of every TimeControl.  Your Administrator may not have given you access to all documentation files.  They include: User Guide, Reference Guide, Report Designer Guide, TimeControl Project Guide, BI Guide and API Guide.  You should be able to access these guides from within TimeControl at the top right of the screen under the “?” icon.

FAQs

Let’s start with the TimeControl Frequently Asked Questions section.  These are some of the most common questions we’re asked by prospective and new clients.  We’ve put those questions here and added our own most common answers.

Find out more at: https://www.timecontrol.com/support/faq.

TimeControl Blog

The TimeControl Blog is where we tend to write longer answers to questions.  Here is where we might talk about the specific way a certain feature can be implemented or to highlight a feature that some clients overlook because it wasn’t at the top of their priority list when they first deployed TimeControl.  We always list the latest features of new versions here but it’s also where we discuss or demonstrate different deployment tactics such as how to deploy TimeControl with entries in percentages instead of hours? Or how to handle multiple languages? Then your answer is probably in the blog.  Rather than scrolling through the hundreds of entries, just use the search bar to locate items of interest. There’s no cost or restriction to use the blog.

Access the TimeControl Blog at: blog.timecontrol.com.

Online Training Videos

We record a lot of training videos.  Many are short 5 minute demonstrations of how to use a particular TimeControl feature.  Some are longer webcasts. But a scroll of the TimeControl Online Learning Center can often reveal results you weren’t expecting.

Find out more at: https://www.timecontrol.com/resources/online-training/timecontrol-8.

YouTube

While we post our videos internally on the TimeControl website, we also post them on YouTube where you can use YouTube’s functionality to create sub-titles in the languages of your choosing.  Our YouTube channel is at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-I21bjwfIq9JEioRUV8kLQ.

The TimeControl website

The resources on TimeControl.com are extensive including slide shows, white papers, factsheets and more.  Just use the Search feature to look for information of interest.

The website is at: https://www.timecontrol.com/.

timecontrol

Oracle has confirmed that HMS Software will be part of the Oracle Partner Network for a 28th year

Oracle and HMS Software have confirmed that they have extended their technical alliance for a 28th consecutive year. Oracle Partner Network, Chris Vandersluis, Christopher Vandersluis, Christopher Peter Vandersluis

This is one of the longest lasting technical alliances in the IT industry.  The two companies started working together in 1997.

HMS sought out two technical alliances in 1997, one with Oracle to support TimeControl’s new ability to store data in an SQL database such as Oracle’s and another with Primavera to support the integration between the TimeControl timesheet system and Primavera’s extensive project management system. The intent of the alliance was to provide superior support to Oracle and HMS Software’s mutual clients.

The relationship and alliance has extended and deepened over the years.  That started with Oracle purchasing Primavera in 2008 and those two lines of integration and support were extended.    TimeControl now supports multiple Oracle products including NetSuite, JD Edwards and MySQL.

The intent of the alliance has not changed.  The beneficiaries are the same as they were back in 1997,  a superior level of support and integration for our mutual customers.

Some of the many TimeControl’s value-added benefits when linking with Oracle-Primavera include:

  • The multi-functionality and auditability of TimeControl that allows it be used for project management, HR, payroll, invoicing, job costing and government compliance all at the same time
  • Support for multiple rates per employee
  • Automated business rule validations
  • Automated workflow
  • Vacation management
  • Missing timesheet notification
  • Simultaneous support for multiple versions of Primavera
  • The free TimeControl Mobile App for smartphones and tablets supporting both iOS and Android
  • Matrix timesheet approvals with HMS’s unique Matrix Approval Process for Labor Actuals™
  • With TimeControl Industrial, the Crew Timesheet and Materials and Equipment field data collection

To read the recent press release on this relationship, visit TimeControl.com/resources/newsroom/press-releases/2024-05-15. For more information on how Oracle and HMS Technologies work together, visit the Oracle/TimeControl Portal at: Oracle.TimeControl.com or contact HMS at info@hms.ca.

 

TimeControl Project

TimeControl Project 8.6 includes some impressive new features

With the upgrade of all TimeControl Online users to version 8.6, those with access to TimeControl Project can enjoy some significant new features.

Resource Capacity Planning enhancements

Resource Capacity Planning, TimeControl, TimeControl Project, Chris Vandersluis, Christopher Vandersluis, Christopher Peter Vandersluis
This Resource Capacity Portfolio View shows total effort and availability with both the schedule and resource load showing.

It’s the most commonly asked question about all project systems, “Can you help me figure out what the future looks like for our projects?”

In TimeControl Project 8.6, we’ve changed how resources are defined and allocated in two ways: First, you can now define a level of resource availability in the Resource Table.  You can work in person-days or hours per day or FTE or whatever units of measure are appropriate for you.  In the Task detail screen from the GANTT or Board Views, you can make an assignment also with a level.  The second feature change is that not only Labor resources can be used but also Role resources.

This shift to allowing resources that are not individuals is huge for portfolio views.  Now you can define in a unit of measure both the availability and the requirement for the resources in question and, using a task-based view with one-task per project, you can create a GANTT view showing resource capacity with under/over loads.

Update timesheet from task details view

The most requested new feature for TimeControl Project Agile Board users.  While working on a task taken from an Agile Board, users asked if there was a way to update their timesheet directly from that view.  Many tactical level users, spend all day with a TimeControl Agile Board View open so they can see their list of tasks and priorities.  With previous versions of TimeControl Project, when the end of the day arrives, the user would need to close that Board View, open their timesheet and transpose the times from whatever tasks they were working on into the timesheet lines.

Now, the timesheet can be updated right from a task detail view by clicking update timesheet.  If the View is “task” based and the task is associated to a charge code, then the timesheet will appear and a line will have been automatically added with the charge code identified and a column with the relevant task number shown.  That line plus any others can be updated at the same time.  The user can then return to the task detail view and move on with their day.

There is an article that may be of interest on this subject in HMS Software’s President, Chris Vandersluis’ EPM Guidance Blog.  It is entitled: Whatever happened to resource leveling?

 

Article

HMS President named top 10 iconic leaders of 2024

Industry Chronicle Magazine, Chris Vandersluis, Christopher Vandersluis, Christopher Peter VandersluisIt’s highly flattering to me to find myself once again being written about.  This is, no doubt, thanks to the 40th anniversary of HMS and my 40 years leading the firm.  Industry Chronicle Magazine has named me One of the Top 10 iconic leaders of 2024.

As flattering as this is, a leader is no one without a team to lead and I have one of the best teams in the software industry.  The TimeControl marketing, sales and development team are remarkable and while not the largest team in the market, they serve clients who are among the largest organizations in the world.  You need only look at some of the case studies and testimonials on the TimeControl website to see some of them.

If you read the article, you’ll see it’s not really about me.  It’s about the 30 year success of TimeControl and the team that built it.

So, this honor is really theirs.  To my team and all the clients, colleagues and family that are a part of our TimeControl world, I say thank you.

Chris Vandersluis
President, HMS Software

Read the aritlce in its entirety at: IndustryChronicle.

timecontrol

Best in Class or All in One

TimeControl Best In Category, Best in Breed, Chris Vandersluis, Christopher Vandersluis, Christopher Peter VandersluisWe’ve been asked to talk about this topic numerous times since the mid 1990s when the first ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) packages were expanding at a rapid rate.

“Is it better”, we were asked, “to select the best of each category of software or instead, to select one package that can do everything at once?”

The conversation would become known as All-in-One vs. Best-in-Class.

The answer from us is always the same.  We see the desire for both Technical management and Finance management to get one system that will do everything.  The advantages on paper are easy to display: The all-in-one product is *already* integrated.  It is only one package to maintain, not multiple.  So, it must be the best choice… Right?

Except it’s often not.

Our answer to people who ask about this is always the same.  It’s the best choice to go with an all-in-one solution so long as it does what you need.  If it doesn’t then very quickly you will end up where you started, with multiple timesheet systems.

And that is incredibly costly.

Over the years, it has happened from time to time that a client informs us that they won’t be using TimeControl anymore.  Their Finance Department has changed or a new CFO has arrived with experience of different tools at previous organizations.  The company will “change directions” we’re told and TimeControl, while working fine, will be retired.

Our response to this is always positive.  “If your new solution does everything you need, then we wish you good fortune,’ we say.

In situation after situation, we get a call 3, 6, 9 months later  “Um, we were a little hasty in moving off of TimeControl,” we’re told.  It turned out that the alternate solution doesn’t actually do everything we were already used to and the person who is noticing the gaps the most turns out to be our CFO.”

“No worries,” we explain.  “We’ll work at getting your system back up and running with whatever updates you might need.”

It’s not that people can’t figure this out in advance.  The problem with a timesheet system is that it’s often taken for granted.  After all, employees use their timesheet for 5 to 10 minutes a week.  It is in the background of their experience.  But TimeControl is an enterprise timesheet which often has many links with other tools and multiple processes in the organization.  The administrators appreciate the complexities of the overall system and, if they’re still involved, so do the people who deployed it.  But it’s an easy part of a corporate system to not pay much attention to as you’re making a sweeping systems change.

It’s not always the same thing with each client.  Often it’s the multiple layers of the approvals process that a new tool doesn’t support. Sometimes it’s a simultaneous link with Payroll on one side and a project management tool like Primavera on another.  Other times it’s the degree to which the flexibility of TimeControl has been employed to meet multiple internal needs at the same time.

And TimeControl can flex.

So we don’t stress too much when a client says they’re looking at alternates other that to be certain that it’s not because there is something in TimeControl the client isn’t happy with.  That we respond to in a very different way.

After all, happy clients are what has made HMS and TimeControl so successful for decades.

To find out more about TimeControl and how it links with ERP systems like SAP and Oracle, see the TimeControl.com/use-cases/links-to-erp page.