by kathryn@timeclockmts.com | Dec 29, 2009 | New Releases, News
I’ve released a new version of Time Clock MTS today that fixed up a small problem with the Job Time Report. Occasionally it would not show the last time from the reporting period. There’s also been some detailed debugging code added to the Internet Time Server update procedure and more debugging code added to try to determine the reason for an error that one user reported yesterday.
I’ve also included one other fix to a problem that may not even be a problem. Some of our other products (namely Timesheets Lite and Timesheets MTS have been experiencing crashes due to broken Windows Scripting installs on Windows XP Service Pack 3. I’ve put in some code to catch this error if it is happening in Time Clock MTS.
by kathryn@timeclockmts.com | Dec 28, 2009 | New Releases, News
I’ve released a new version of Time Clock MTS today that tweaks a couple of major areas of the software, the capturing of images by camera feature and the getting the time from an internet time server security option. The details of the changes can be found below:
- When Time Clock MTS contacts our web servers to check if there is a new version available it now times out the check after 5 seconds rather than 60 seconds.
- Completely re-worked the way any attached cameras are accessed by Time Clock MTS when using the options page. Now the cameras are only accessed when you’re on the Camera Settings page. Also, a warning message is displayed during the delay while the cameras are being connected to. This should significantly speed up the loading of the options page.
- Changed the tips form so it no longer prevents access to the main application screen.
- Added a button to the Welcome Screen that takes users to the employee PIN tutorial when they first run the software.
- Dropped two servers (nist1-ny.WiTime.net and nist1.uccaribe.edu) from the internet time server list that were not working any longer, and added three new ones that are working.
- Changed the internal frequency that Time Clock MTS checks the selected internet time server to just under 15 minutes. This means there must be at least 5 failed time checks before Time Clock MTS will prevent clock ins or outs.
- If at least one successful check of an internet time server has happened since Time Clock MTS started running it will no longer lock out users if the time server cannot be contacted again.
- Fixed a bug with the time server code where the previous checked time could sometimes be returned when checking the time again.
- Fixed a bug within the time checking code that could result in multiple calls to the time server.
- Made sure that the internal time server checking process timer started even when the checking process failed on starting up Time Clock MTS.
All of these changes should prevent some errors that some users have been seeing and will make running the software a much easier and smoother process.
by Mark Nemtsas | Dec 28, 2009 | News, Tips and Tricks
In the last week or so a number of Time Clock MTS users have reported problems with the nist1-ny.WiTime.net Time Server in New York when using it to set the internal Time Clock MTS time. Investigations have confirmed that this server is no longer responding to calls for the NTP time so I’ve replaced it on the list of available time servers on the Security Settings page of Time Clock MTS. One of the other servers was not working too so I’ve deleted that and added three new servers that are confirmed to be working.
The three new servers are:
utcnist2.colorado.edu in Colorado
nist1-dc.ustiming.org in Virginia
nist1-chi.ustiming.org in Illinois
If you don’t want to upgrade Time Clock MTS then you can just use one of these server addresses in the Custom Time Server option of Time Clock MTS. If you do want to upgrade you’ll need to upgrade to Time Clock MTS Version 2.5.3. If you don’t know how to upgrade Time Clock MTS then take a look at our Upgrading Time Clock MTS tutorial.
by kathryn@timeclockmts.com | Dec 11, 2009 | New Releases, News
I’ve just released Version 2.5.2 of Time Clock MTS containing some reporting fixes and an enhancement to the job tracking system. Details of the changes can be found below.
- Added the employee job creation setting. This allows employees to create new job when they are logging times against a job. This could be useful if your employees use pre-numbered job or service sheets and only record one or two times against a job. It will help to minimize administrative overhead and the need to have jobs pre-defined.
- Fixed up the column formatting on the Simple Wages Report.
- Fixed up the Job Punchcard Report, which was dropping off the last days times from the job totals.
- Tried to fix up the invalid characters some users have been seeing when they export their reports to Excel.
- Fixed up a problem with the departmental folder display of the employee list. When an employee was selected and the list was automatically refreshed the employee was unselected.
by Mark Nemtsas | Dec 11, 2009 | News
You may or may not be aware that there’s a Time Clock MTS newsletter that gets emailed to interested subscribers every month or three. It usually just contains a re-hash of the Time Clock MTS goings on in the period prior to the publishing of the newsletter. It also many contain exclusive offers to subscribers and news of upcoming developments concerning the software. It’s simple to subscribe to the Time Clock MTS newsletter and given that there’s only been 8 issues in 18 months it wont be clogging up your inbox! You can see a sample of the newsletter below.
Welcome to the fourth edition of the Time Clock MTS Newsletter. These newsletters are released every couple of months and will keep you up to date on what has been going on with Time Clock MTS and how it can be used to help your business run more smoothly.
Resetting Your Own Administrator Password
Version 2.1.8 of Time Clock MTS added a feature that allows you to reset your own administrator password if you happen to forget it. This new feature requires you to answer a couple of password reminder questions. Once answered correctly the Time Clock MTS software contacts the Time Clock MTS webserver for a new password, resets the password, and emails you with your new password. The password is emailed to the address used when you purchased the software. You can read more about this new feature here: https://www.timeclockmts.com/weblog/archives/2008/11/resetting-the-time-clock-mts-administrator-password.html
Stopping Employees Clocking In Too Early
A common problem you face as an employer is employees clocking in too early in an effort to get some overtime. Time Clock MTS can restrict employees clocking in too early for a shift and help you stop this overtime manipulation from happening. All you need to do is create shifts for the employees and set the shift up to restrict clock ins before the shift start. Then using the employee maintenance screen assign employees to the appropriate shift. When an employee now tries to clock in too early they will be shown a message and will not be able to clock in. You can read more about this here: https://www.timeclockmts.com/weblog/archives/2008/11/stopping-employees-clocking-in-too-early.html
New Report Fields Available
After reading the weblog posts about modifying Time Clock MTS reports (https://www.timeclockmts.com/weblog/archives/2008/07/customizing-time-clock-mts-reports-part-1.html a Time Clock MTS user requested a couple of new fields that he could add to the report templates. These fields are and . These give the amount of time owing to the employee up to the end of the period for which the report is run. In contrast the fields and give the time owing to the current date.
Integrating Time Clock MTS with Payroll Software
I am planning to add some new export reports that will allow Time Clock MTS data to be exported directly to some of the more popular payroll software packages (such as Quickbooks or Paychex). To help me decide which to do first I’d be interested in hearing back from you about what payroll software you use. Please email me at general@timeclockmts.com and let me know!
That’s it for this issue of the Time Clock MTS Newsletter. As always please contact us if you need any help or advice regarding Time Clock MTS.
Till next time,
The Time Clock MTS Team
