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January 31, 2011
Overtime Rate 2 Hours and Report Section Templates
Just recently a Time Clock MTS user picked up an issue with the Payroll Summary Report that he believed was due to a calculation error by Time Clock MTS. Here's the part of the report in question:
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Payroll Summary Report ... Printed Jan 26 2011 05:08:25 PM
Period: Jan 11 2011 to Jan 25 2011
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Employee: Smith, Janice
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Summary Information For: Smith, Janice
Total Work Time: 86.18 hrs
Total Holidays: 0.00 hrs
SSN: 888-88-8888
Regular Hours: 79.63 hrs @ $16.13 /hr = $ 1284.43
Daily OT Hours: 5.23 hrs @ $24.20 /hr = $ 126.57
Total Earnings: $ 1453.58
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On first glance it appears that Time Clock MTS has indeed made a calculation error with this employee. Notice that the Regular Hours and Daily OT hours do not add up to the Total Work Time figure and the Total Earnings Amount is more than the Regular and Daily Earnings Amounts. However, if we drill down a little we find that the Time Clock MTS user has configured his overtime settings to pay two tiers of overtime (OT and OT2) but there's no sign of the OT2 hours or earnings in the report. Now we can examine the Payroll Information Report Section Template on the Report Settings screen and we see the following:
Summary Information For: <FULL_NAME> Total Work Time: <T><TOTAL_WORK_TIME> hrs Total Holidays: <T><TOTAL_HOLIDAYS_TIME> hrsSSN: <SSN>
Regular Hours: <T><REGULAR_HOURS> hrs @ <NORMAL_RATE> /hr = <NORMAL_EARNINGS>
Daily OT Hours: <T><DAILY_OT_HOURS> hrs @ <OT_RATE> /hr = <DAILY_OT_EARNINGS>Total Earnings: <T><T><T><TOTAL_EARNINGS>
It's clear from this that this calculation error isn't an error at all, it's simply that the OT2 related fields are not being displayed in the report. So, we can make a few quick changes to the report section template and we get the following:
Summary Information For: <FULL_NAME> Total Work Time: <T><TOTAL_WORK_TIME> hrs Total Holidays: <T><TOTAL_HOLIDAYS_TIME> hrsSSN: <SSN>
Regular Hours: <T><REGULAR_HOURS> hrs @ <NORMAL_RATE> /hr = <NORMAL_EARNINGS>
Daily OT Hours: <T><DAILY_OT_HOURS> hrs @ <OT_RATE> /hr = <DAILY_OT_EARNINGS>
Daily OT2 Hours:<T><DAILY_OT2_HOURS> hrs @ <OT2_RATE> /hr = <DAILY_OT2_EARNINGS>
Total Earnings: <T><T><T><TOTAL_EARNINGS>
Now we can re-run the report and the payroll summary report for the employee looks a lot better:
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Payroll Summary Report ... Printed Jan 31 2011 02:38:02 PM
Period: Jan 11 2011 to Jan 25 2011
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Employee: Smith, Janice
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Summary Information For: Smith, Janice
Total Work Time: 86.18 hrs
Total Holidays: 0.00 hrs
SSN: 888-88-8888
Regular Hours: 79.63 hrs @ $16.13 /hr = $ 1284.43
Daily OT Hours: 5.23 hrs @ $24.20 /hr = $ 126.57
Daily OT2 Hours: 1.32 hrs @ $32.26 /hr = $ 42.58
Total Earnings: $ 1453.58
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Notice now that the total for hours and earnings now total up correctly!
Posted by at 1:19 PM | Comments (0)
Time Clock MTS Version 3.0.10 Released
Thanks to a pair of observant Time Clock MTS users a couple of small bugs were brought to my attention in the last few of days that have been fixed up in version 3.0.10 of Time Clock MTS which I've just uploaded . The first problem was with the calculation of overtime rate 2 hours (there are two daily overtime limits available in Time Clock MTS). On some occasions the OT2 hours from one employee could be carried over onto the totals for the subsequent employee. The second issue was a layout problem with the Add Multiple Times screen. The time classification and total for times 6 and 7 were swapped.
Posted by at 1:03 PM | Comments (0)
January 26, 2011
Job Tracking Reports
I got an email today from a user interested in the job tracking features of Time Clock MTS who wanted to know what job based reports were available within the software. Right now there's a few reports that are job specific.
1. The Job Punchcard Report - this report is basically a copy of the Punchcard Report with a couple of extra columns showing the job name and number that each clock in/out pair is associated with. If a time wasn't associated with a job then no job code is shown. This report is useful to examine the activity of employees on jobs on an employee by employee basis.
2. The Job Time Report - this report totals time employees worked on each job across the report time period. This report is useful to examine the time spent on each job on a job by job basis.
3. The Active Job Report - this report prints out a list of all active jobs along with their job codes. This report would be useful to print out and pin up next to your time clock stations so that your employees know what job codes to enter into Time Clock MTS when they need to track a job.
It's worth noting that Job Punchcard Report and the Job Time Report can be run for just a single job by selecting a job name/code from the Choose a Job dropdown on the Report Configuration screen. This enables you to see the activity on a single job over the report period very quickly and easily.
Posted by at 9:41 AM | Comments (0)
January 22, 2011
Time Clock MTS Version 3.0.9 Released
I've just released a new version of the software fixing up a couple of errors that a helpful user identified for me today. The first, fixes up a hard crash seen on the Time Breakdown Report and the Simple Attendance Report when the time format was set to HH:MM:SS rather than decimal hours. The second fix was to overtime calculations where the "pay day as overtime" setting was set for a weekday AND the daily overtime limit was exceeded. The final fix was to the simple time report that could display an incorrect normal hour total when the daily overtime limit was exceeded and the times for the day were classified as OTHER.
Posted by at 8:04 PM | Comments (0)
January 21, 2011
Time Clock MTS Version 3.0.8 Released
A new version of Time Clock MTS (V3.0.8) has been released today fixing up a problem with the Paid Holidays Affect OT setting that can be found on the Time Clock MTS Overtime Settings screen. The setting worked fine when it was switched on but unfortunately it didn't turn off when the box was unchecked. For those of you that were wondering what the setting does then perhaps it is best explained by an example:
Bob Smith works 9 hours a day in the four days leading up to Christmas Day. He has a paid holiday on Christmas day and is credited with 8 hours of pay for that day. Bob's workplace pays weekly overtime after 40 hours of work.
Scenario 1 - Paid Holidays Affect Overtime is OFF - in this case a payroll report for Bob for the week of Christmas Day will report 44 normal hours worked (no overtime). In fact for Bob to earn any overtime he'd need to work over 40 hours in just the 4 days leading up to Christmas, the credited holiday hours do not affect OT calculations at all.
Scenario 2 - Paid Holidays Affect Overtime is ON - in this case a payroll report for Bob for the week of Christmas Day will report 40 normal hours worked and 4 hours of overtime. When the setting is turned on the holiday hours are included in overtime calculations
Posted by at 2:37 PM | Comments (0)
January 20, 2011
Employees Printing their Own Timesheets
If you've ever uninstalled Time Clock MTS then you would have noticed that a web based survey pops up in your browser window asking you why you're uninstalling the software. This is a valuable tool for you to tell us about bugs in the software that we are not aware of or to work out if there's an annoying aspect to the software that a lot of people are bothered by. We've found the results of these surveys extremely useful but from time to time we get an uninstall survey response that tells us that a particular user decided not to purchase the software because they believe the software doesn't do something it actually does. Most of the time when I get one of these responses I'll pop up a blog entry covering the topic. Today the following feedback came in from an uninstall survey:
wish the employee could print out their timesheets without being log in as admin because as admin you can change time which I do not like....this is the reason I uninstalled and did not buy
Of course you can configure the software to allow employees to print their own timesheets without having them log in as the administrator and here's how to do it:
- Setup Time Clock MTS to allow employees to view their own timecards, you can learn how to do this in the employees viewing their own timecards how-to guide.
- Check the Employees Can Print Timecard check box on the Interface Settings screen.
Posted by at 1:15 PM | Comments (0)
January 17, 2011
Salaried Employees and Work Hours Reported
The Report Settings Screen
A couple of times this year I've had questions from Time Clock MTS users who thought that the actual hours worked for salaried employees was reported incorrectly on various Time Clock MTS reports. The mis-understanding arises because of two factors:
1) Time Clock MTS allows you to track the clock in and out times of salaried employees BUT....
2) Time Clock MTS calculates the actual work hours of salaried employees on a pro-rated basis of elapsed calendar weeks or months across a report period.
In a nut shell this means if you've got a salaried employee whose salary period is weekly, you've got your work week set to 40 hours, and you run a report for two weeks then the reported work hours for that salaried employee will be 80 hours. Regardless of the hours actually worked by the employee.
You can see the actual hours worked by a salaried employee by editing the Employee Summary and Payroll Summary section templates on the Report Settings screen. Edit these templates to include the
Posted by at 3:33 PM | Comments (0)
What Does the Least Quantity Checkbox on the Payroll Settings Screen Do?
The Payroll Settings Screen
There's an innocuous check box on the Payroll Settings screen labelled "Least Quantity". Some Time Clock MTS users have been asking some questions about what it does. It's actually pretty simple. If you've got report time rounding turned on and the least quantity check box is ticked then it will do the following at report generation time:
1) All clock ins will be rounded UP to the nearest unit set in the Report Time Rounding dropdown box.
2) All clock outs will be rounded DOWN to the nearest unit set in the Report Time Rounding dropdown box.
The practical upshot of this is that the elapsed time for clock in/out pair is minimized. There's a three things to be aware of if you're wanting to use this setting. Firstly, it wont work unless you have a time unit set in the Report Time Rounding dropdown box. Secondly, like all report time rounding in Time Clock MTS the rounding is applied at report time only, the actual recorded times for the clock in/out are stored accurate to the nearest second. Finally, and a big caveat on this one, is that you should be careful that your local payroll laws allow for this sort of report rounding, there are many that do not.
Posted by at 3:12 PM | Comments (0)
January 13, 2011
Time Clock MTS Version 3.0.7 Released
I released a new version of Time Clock MTS today that included a fix for vacation and sick time accruals that carried the balance forward yearly AND had an accrual limit set. Basically the maximum accrual limit was being tested AFTER deductions for sick or vacation time were being applied. This meant that in some cases the available sick/vacation balance would be wrong. This has now been fixed up. Thanks must go to the Time Clock MTS user who was trying to setup a particular Yearly Vacation Accrual Scheme that highlighted this problem.
Posted by at 2:57 PM | Comments (0)
January 11, 2011
When I buy Time Clock MTS is it a one time fee or do I have to renew yearly?
A fairly common question I get from prospective users is whether purchasing Time Clock MTS is a one time thing or is a yearly renewal required? Here's the answer:
- When you buy Time Clock MTS you get a lifetime license to use the software you buy and one year of email support and software updates.
- Once a year has elapsed since the purchase of Time Clock MTS you'll receive an email allowing you to renew your email support and software update contract for a further year. The cost of this is 25% of your initial purchase or US$20, whichever is higher. Of course you don't have to renew but you wont be eligible for support nor will you be able to receive updates to the software that might include new features or bug fixes.
That's all there is to it. There's no need to renew your support every year if you don't want to, Time Clock MTS is very reliable and has enough flexibility to support most businesses right now. However, some companies like the surety of email support and the chance to access new features and bug fixes as they become available.
Posted by at 7:53 AM | Comments (0)
January 9, 2011
Time Clock MTS Version 3.0.6 Released
I've just finished uploading the first release of Time Clock MTS for the year. It includes a couple of minor fixes, tweaks to reports, and added a new report. The details of the changes are shown below.
- Total rows have been added to the Simple Wages Report and Time Breakdown Report. This is one of the first examples of cross pollination of ideas between our Web Time Clock system, Online Time Clock MTS and the desktop program Time Clock MTS. A user of the online system suggested the change to similar reports there and I've made the same change to the desktop product.
- A new report, the Detailed Punchcard with Full Notes Report has been added. This is the same as the regular Detailed Punchcard Report but shows the full text from all time notes rather than just the first 60 characters.
- The mouse cursor now turns to an hour glass when exporting reports to MS Excel to give an indication that something is happening.
- A fix has been put in place to stop Excel throwing an error when the new window is clicked while a report export process is underway.
Posted by at 1:42 PM | Comments (0)
January 7, 2011
How to Allow Employees to Create New Jobs
Job Tracking Setup Screen
Generally you'd want a time clock administrator to setup new jobs for the Time Clock MTS Job Tracking System but sometimes it's useful to allow employees to create their own jobs on the fly during the work day. If you work from daily job sheets that have many small jobs that might just run to a few hours you would quite likely find this useful because of the lower administrative overheads. This Time Clock MTS How To Article covers how to allow your employees to create new jobs.
To allow employees to create new Time Clock MTS jobs just follow follow the steps shown below.
- Log into Time Clock MTS as the administrator. How you log in as the administrator was covered in this Time Clock MTS How To Article.
- Go to the Tools->Options->Job Tracking screen and you'll be shown the screen at the top of this article.
- Check the Allow Employee Job Creation checkbox.
- When you're happy with your selection press the Save button to save the changes.
Once checked employees entering a new job code when clocking or switching jobs will automatically create new job with that job code. Of course the time clock administrator will need to then name and manage the jobs appropriately via the Tools->Options->Job Tracking screen.
Posted by at 9:40 AM | Comments (0)
2010 The Year in Review
At the end of the first week of 2011 it's probably about time I spent a few minutes looking back at 2010 and what's happened with Time Clock MTS during the year. We averaged one new release of Time Clock MTS during the year, as always concentrating on fixing up problems as they are found by Time Clock MTS users and adding features that are the most commonly requested. The biggest release of the year was in October with Version 3 being unleashed and containing a lot of new tweaks and enhancements to make the software easier to use while being more flexible to suit more and more businesses.
The number of companies using Time Clock MTS continued to grow during 2010 with the total number of companies growing by around 25% in total and now numbering several thousand. We're still seeing some effects of the GFC on our sales with 2010 being pretty flat compared with 2009. This is particularly apparent in our sales in the United States but 2011 has started off very well and perhaps there's a new air of confidence in business circles. Let's hope so for all our sakes, I think the lingering effects of the GFC should be put behind us and the time to move forward has come.
2011 promises to be an interesting year, we have many plans for Time Clock MTS as well as the on-going development of Online Time Clock MTS. The goal is to mirror the functionality of Time Clock MTS in the online version and to provide a good level of data interchangeability. The first step in this will allow people to move seamlessly from one version to the other. The longer term goal is to allow the two systems to operate together, so you could allow your employees to clock in and out via a web interface while running reports and configuring the software from the desktop admin software.
I'll draw this entry to a close here. I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and wish you all a fruitful and happy New Year!
Posted by at 8:14 AM | Comments (0)
