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October 30, 2008
Lost Time Clock MTS Registration Codes
Time Clock MTS users, for whatever reason, whether it be change of staff, lost emails or just simply time passing can sometimes lose their Time Clock MTS registration codes. In some other cases the automatic emails we send out containing registration codes can go astray (perhaps caught up by spam filters or ignored by accident). Either way you need your license code if you need to re-install the software on new PC or keep using it after your trial has expired.
Typically people email me asking for their license code, and unfortunately sometimes this email consists of nothing more than 'I've lost my license code, please send it to me again'. And that's it. No company name, no transaction reference, no nothing. In these cases I either need to go back and do a manual search of our systems looking for a sale made to that email address or I have to reply asking for more information. Of course this is fine, but it leads to delays that are a waste of time and money. So to avoid these delays did you know you can retrieve your own Time Clock MTS registration codes? And it's a very easy thing to do!
All you need is your original purchase transaction reference from your receipt or invoice that was generated when you purchased Time Clock MTS. Then you can go to our Retrieve Time Clock MTS Registration Code page. Here you can just enter your transaction reference and your registration code will be emailed automatically to the email address you used when you purchased Time Clock MTS.
Posted by mnemtsas at 7:42 AM | Comments (0)
October 20, 2008
Time Clock Software Security
Even though it's been mentioned here several times before it's well worth mentioning the security features of Time Clock MTS designed to prevent employee fraud. Here's an email I received recently:
"We have found that our employees are able to manipulate their time by simply changing the computer time. Once they change the time on the computer it changes the time on the MTS time clock thus allowing them to clock out early and leave but yet the timesheet is showing them out at a later time. How is it this software allows that? Is there a way to stop it?"
This can of course be addressed by Time Clock MTS. The possible solutions in order of preference are:
- Turn on the internet time synchronization feature. This way the clock in and out times are completely un-related to the PC system clock.
- If 1. is not possible setup the PC with a system policy requiring Windows Administrator permissions to change the system time.
- If 1. and 2. are not possible then turn on the 'admin password required on software startup' feature and check the 'do not allow system clock changes' checkbox. In this case, users cannot change the system clock while Time Clock MTS is running, and while they can stop the software they cannot re-start it without the admin password. The administrator can then check the PC system time before allowing Time Clock MTS to re-start.
If you want to learn about more of the security features within Time Clock MTS take a look at the Security Features of Time Clock MTS weblog post or at the security features help topic in our online help file.
Posted by mnemtsas at 1:00 PM | Comments (0)
Time Clock MTS Version 2.1.6 Released
A minor release today fixing up a few problems and improving the way that paid holidays function.
- Payroll report total hours are now calculated from rounded daily values rather than raw daily values. This fixes up some rounding errors that could lead to the weekly total being slightly different to the amount if you totaled up the daily amounts. The difference was small (usually only 0.01 of an hour).
- A 'last week' time selection has been added to the Edit Times period drop down.
- The punchcard report now shows time notes. If the clock in time has a note, that will be shown, if there is no clock in time note and there is a clock out time note, that will be shown.
- Holidays can now be set to a specific date in a given year or can be set as recurring. Recurring holidays are those that occur on the same date every year (such as Christmas), non recurring holidays would happen on a different date every year (such as Thanksgiving or Labor Day).
- The holidays list displays some extra info, such as whether the holiday is recurring and what year it is set for.
- The holidays add/edit screen will now display non latin characters (such as cyrillic or Japanese) properly.
Posted by mnemtsas at 12:38 PM | Comments (0)
October 13, 2008
Time Clock MTS Version 2.1.5 Released
A new release today containing some improvements to the new error reporting started in version 2.1.4. The release also contains some fixes and improvements to reports and some other minor changes.
- If an error is raised on the keypad interface (such as a note being invalid, or an invalid clock in/out) then the employee badge number is cleared from the text box.
- The new error text message is now cleared when a new employee is selected or a new badge number is entered.
- The warning messages on the time note entry screen (zero length note or note equal to badge number) are now displayed in the new error status area.
- All report periods are now selected on rounded times rather than absolute times. Previously this was not the case, so while payment amounts were correct sometimes activity could be missing from a report.
- Accruals in the accrual section on reports are now to the end date of the report rather than the run date of the report.
- <SICK_TIME_OWING_PERIOD> and <VACATION_OWING_PERIOD> added to the accrual report section.
- Fix to report configuration screen where the hide employee summary section check box was not re-enabled after the payroll summary report was selected.
- Removed employee summary section entirely from the simple wages report (didn't make sense having it there anyway).
- Enlarged the section field selection box on the report settings screen.
Posted by mnemtsas at 11:12 AM | Comments (0)
October 9, 2008
Time Clock MTS Version 2.1.4 Released
A minor release today containing one small fix, some error checking, and improvements to the software to make it easier to use with touchscreens. The list of changes includes:
- Camera images are now captured on clock in/out via keypad interface.
- Clock in / out errors are now displayed as a status message on the screen rather than a popup box.
- A check is now made when adding time note, if the note is not added correctly then the created clock in/out is rolled back and an error raised.
Posted by mnemtsas at 11:04 AM | Comments (0)
October 3, 2008
Time Clock MTS Version 2.1.3 Released
Version 2.1.3 of Time Clock MTS was released today containing fixes to several reports and some other minor fixes to rarely occurring bugs. Today's release includes the following changes:
- Fixed up the simple wages report, some content was not being displayed correctly on the report.
- Fix to the punchcard and detailed punchcard reports. Both of these reports were not displaying any data from the last day of the selected date range. The hourly totals and pay calculations were correct though.
- Fix to sick time and vacation time report sections that were occasionally displaying the incorrect totals.
- Catch for an error that very rarely happened when a text box was selected on the employee maintenance screen.
- Fix to an unhandled error that happened when the main application window refreshed and the report configuration screen was open.
Posted by mnemtsas at 8:42 PM | Comments (0)
Free Time Attendance Software
I've mentioned it several times before (here, here , and here) but it's worth mentioning again because I still get people asking where the free version of Time Clock MTS is.
The free version of Time Clock MTS is just the normal version of Time Clock MTS subject to a few restrictions. Firstly, you can install it on one computer only. This means no clients, and it means collecting information from one location only and administering the software from the same location. The second restriction is that you can only track three employees while using the software in free mode. If you're a bit unclear about the difference between employees and clients try taking a look here.
So, if you're a small business, perhaps just starting up and want some time attendance software to track yours and your employee's time....why not give the free version of Time Clock MTS a go? It's easy to use, produces the reports you need and can grow with your business.
Posted by mnemtsas at 10:14 AM | Comments (0)
October 1, 2008
On Clients and Employees
One of the more common things people get confused with Time Clock MTS is the difference between Employees and Clients. For example, a common misconception is that if you want to track 20 employees then you'll need 20 clients. In most situations this is not the case.
A Client is simply a PC that has the Time Clock MTS Client software installed on it. A client can be used to collect time and attendance information and store it in the central Time Clock MTS Database.
An Employee is the core piece of data that is tracked within Time Clock MTS. Generally any Time Clock MTS Client can be used to track information for any employee that happens to be in the database.
OK so given that, what exactly does, for example, a 10 Client License of Time Clock MTS give you as a user? Well, it allows you to install the Time Clock MTS Administrator program on one PC so that you can administer the software and run reports from it. It also allows you to install the Time Clock MTS Client on up to 10 other computers so you can collect time and attendance information from them. Finally, it allows you to track and manage up to 75 Employees in the Time Clock MTS database.
I hope that helps to clear up this misconception!
Posted by mnemtsas at 7:49 AM | Comments (0)