It’s a paraphrase from the hilarious 1986 movie Short Circuit but we’re talking of course about TimeControl, not a newly self-conscious robot. While all the news from HMS has been about TimeControl 6, we wanted to put in a good word for the ongoing support and availability of TimeControl 5. There will be many organizations who are keen to deploy the venerable TimeControl 5 and put off an upgrade to TimeControl 6 for the time being. TimeControl 6 is an exciting new interface based on an exciting new architecture but that alone is enough for some IT departments to ask to put off installing it. Many IT departments have a standard that insists that new versions be available for at least several months before they’re installed. Others will prefer the rapid keystroke response of an ActiveX compared to the HTML version of TimeControl. For organizations who need TimeControl Industrial, they’re still looking at a TimeControl Industrial 5 environment.

Of course existing clients who have TimeControl 5 deployed may need additional licenses and HMS will not force them to move to TimeControl 6 in order to have them.

TimeControl 5 will be supported for the foreseeable future. In fact, we have some clients who are still being supported on TimeControl 4 and this year we have a couple who have just upgraded from the old TimeControl 3, purchased originally in the 1990s.

So, if you’re looking to move forward with a purchase of TimeControl, you have the choice now of requesting us to ship TimeControl 5 or TimeControl 6. If you ask for TimeControl 5, you’ll automatically be entitled to your upgrade of TimeControl 6, ready to deploy whenever you are.