How To Archive

May 6, 2013

Time Clock MTS on the Network

You're probably aware you can use Time Cock MTS as a Network Time Clock but I had a bunch of good questions from a new user of the software today and I thought it might be worth repeating his questions and my answers here.

Question: I'm confused on the setup of the software. If I want Time Clock to be installed on a network, which versions of the software gets installed on the various comptuers. i.e. Lets say that I want the main database to be installed on my server, my employees will punch in/our on computer B and I want to administer the program on computer C, what do I install where?

Answer: Install the administrator software on Computer C. Use that to move your Time Clock MTS database to your server. Then install the Time Clock MTS Client software on computer B.

Question: Also, if there are 2 owners of the business, can both people run a version of the software but use the same login? Which version of the software needs to be installed? If these 2 people need to punch in/out also, is there another version that needs to be installed?

Answer: There's only one administrator login. The Time Clock MTS administrator program can also be used to clock in and out.

Question: Am I correct to say that the Administrator version is the version that contains the actual database where all the data is being collected?

Answer: No, it doesn't contain the data but it does install the database when you install it. It can be used to move the database to somewhere on your network so the data can be shared.

Question: If I wanted to run daily backups of the database data, which files would I need to backup?

Answer: You only need to backup the timeclock.mdb file which is what you move onto your server using the Time Clock MTS administrator program.

Question: You install the administrator, then move the database to the location on the server where all users can access it, then set up the client software on the other pc's that will clock in/out with the software. Is that the right sequence? I was always looking for 1 piece of info to start with - I was thinking that you started with a database which you installed on your server, then another piece of software that the administrator used and another for the staff to use. But it's only 2 bits of software, not 3. Is that right?

Answer: Yes, you're right it's two bits of software. Install the admin software on the computer you want to manage the software on and then use that to move the database to your server. Then install the clients on the computers you want those on and connect those to the file on your server. Here's some detailed instructions covering how to install the multi computer version of Time Clock MTS.

http://www.timeclockmts.com/weblog/archives/2010/01/setting-up-time-clock-mts-in-multi-user-mode-ms-access.html

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 2:57 PM | Comments (0)

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April 23, 2013

My Time Clock MTS Computer Has Died

I get several emails a week from Time Clock MTS users whose computers have died, been replaced, or (occasionally) been stolen. In each case these users want to know how to get Time Clock MTS onto their new computer. Most times they want to know how to do so without needing to purchase Time Clock MTS again. Here's the steps to take if you need to move Time Clock MTS to a new computer.

Find Your Registration Code

The first thing you'll need to do is find your Time Clock MTS registration codes. These can be entered into the trial version of Time Clock MTS that can be downloaded from our website to remove the trial limitations. If you cannot find your Time Clock MTS registration codes the you can retrieve your registration codes from here. If you can't find your registration codes that way then contact us and let us know your company name or the name of the person who made the original purchase and we'll find the registration codes for you.

Note that you'll need to have a current support contract with us for us to find your registration codes. This means you'll have to have purchased Time Clock MTS in the previous year or renewed your support when we emailed you 12 months after you made your purchase. If you're not sure if you've got a current support contract please please contact us with your company name and we'll let you know.

Download and Install Time Clock MTS

The next step is to work out if you need to install the Time Clock MTS Administrator Program or the Time Clock MTS Client Program. Once you know that you can head over to our downloads page and download the correct program to install. Installing is simple, just follow our installation guide.

Register Time Clock MTS

Once you've downloaded and installed Time Clock MTS it's time to register it with your registration codes. We've got a great video demonstration showing you how to register Time Clock MTS that will help you through the process. If your registration code is for an older version of Time Clock MTS (you'll be told this when you try to register Time Clock MTS with it) then you'll need to read this article about what to do when your registration code doesn't work in the latest version of Time Clock MTS.

Move Your Database from the Old Computer to the New Computer

If you're moving the Time Clock MTS Client program OR your Time Clock MTS data was not stored on your old computer then you don't need to move your database to your new computer. You can skip to the next point.

If you're moving the Time Clock MTS Administrator program AND the Time Clock MTS data was stored on your old computer and the file is still available then you'll want to move it to your new computer. You can work out how to do this by reading this guide on moving Time Clock MTS to a new computer.

Having Troubles? Contact Us

If you're having problems then please contact us and we'll see what we can do to help.

Note that you'll need to have a current support contract with us so we can help you through the process of moving your software to a new computer. If you're not sure if you've got a current support contract please please contact us with your company name and we'll let you know.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 8:19 AM | Comments (0)

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March 6, 2013

My Registration Key Does Not Work in Time Clock MTS V4

If you're a long time user of Time Clock MTS you might find that you have to re-install Time Clock MTS. This might be because your computer crashes, you get a new computer, or perhaps you just need to move Time Clock MTS to a new computer. If you didn't save the Time Clock MTS installation files when you purchased Time Clock MTS then you'll find that we do not provide old versions for download on our website. This means you'll have to download the latest version of the software. This can cause a problem because in November 2012 Time Clock MTS version 4 was released and a new registration key system was implemented. The result of this was that registration keys from versions of Time Clock MTS prior to version 4 no longer work.

If you try registering Time Clock MTS Version 4 with your old registration codes you're going to see a screen something like that above which says "Registration keys for Time Clock MTS prior to Version 4.0 no longer work. You'll need to purchase an upgrade to a newer version.". Despite what this says you might find that you can access a free upgrade to Time Clock MTS Version 4. You can see if you're eligible by clicking on the Obtain Version 4 Key button on the registration details screen (see the image below).

What to do Next

If you're not entitled to a free upgrade to Time Clock MTS V4 then you've got two options. You can either purchase an upgrade at a significant discount or you can downgrade Time Clock MTS to the last version 3 release where your registration codes will still work.

Purchasing an Upgrade

To purchase an upgrade at a discount please contact us and let us know your current registration details. We'll get back to you as soon as we can with a coupon code you can use to make your upgrade purchase. If you do purchase an upgrade you'll also be entitled to another year of email support.

Downgrading Time Clock MTS

Downgrading Time Clock MTS from Version 4 to the last release of Version 3 is fairly simple. You just need to have Time Clock MTS V4 installed on a computer and then visit the Version 3 Downgrade Installers Page. On this page you can download an installer for the Time Clock MTS Administrator program and the Time Clock MTS Client program to downgrade from V4 to the last release of V3. Note these installers will only work if you have Time Clock MTS V4 installed already.

Help I've Lost my Registration Key Completely

If you're trying to re-install Time Clock MTS altogether and you've lost your registration keys (for whatever reason) remember that you can retrieve them yourself on our lost registration keys page.

A Gentle Reminder

Remember that when you purchased Time Clock MTS it included an entitlement to a year of technical email support from us. If you're coming back to us several years after purchasing with technical support requests and you've chosen not to renew your support contract then you'll have to renew before we can help you. The cost is fairly nominal (20% of the initial purchase price or $20, whichever is higher) and realize that not only will we help you out with your immediate query but we'll help you out during the next 12 months with any other issues.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 12:53 PM | Comments (0)

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December 29, 2012

Time Clock MTS - Running a Payroll Report Video Tutorial

This is the first in what I plan to be a series of video demonstrations explaining how to use various features within Time Clock MTS. This video tutorial gives a brief explanation of the payroll report system within Time Clock MTS, the sorts of criteria that can be used to generate a report and the actual generation of a report. The report structure is then examined briefly as are the various formats that one of our time clock reports can be exported to. The video runs for just under 2 minutes.

Note that you must have the Adobe Flash player plugin for your internet browser installed to view this tutorial. You can download this plugin from Adobe. There is no sound in this video.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 3:48 PM | Comments (0)

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November 28, 2012

How to - Approve a Time Off Request

Employee time off requests in Time Clock MTS are a convenient and easy way for employees to request time off. The time clock administrator can then approve or deny these requests and automatically create time punches for the requested time off period. In previous Time Clock MTS How-To Articles I talked about setting up Time Clock MTS to allow employees to request time off, how employees place time off requests, and how the time clock administrator uses the time off request management screen. This article covers how an administrator approves a time off request.

1. The Administrator Time Off Requests Screen

To approve a time off request the time clock administrator must use the Administrator Time Off Requests screen. This is accessible from within the Time Clock MTS Administrator program via the Tools->Time Off Requests menu. You can see this screen above. To approve a request click on it in the list (it must have the PENDING status) and click on the Approve Selected button.

2. The Add Times for Time Off Request Screen

The Add Times for Time of Request screen (see above) is then displayed. This screen is used to create time punches for each of the days the employee has requested off. The screen allows users to select what days in the period to create punches for, and allows adjustment of the start and end time of each day in the time off period. Links are provided above the list to allow users to select different days during the period, for example, all the days, the weekdays, or the weekends.

3. Select the Times to Create

The first step is to select the days to create punches for. In this example we shall create a clock in and out for each day. To do this we can either check the boxes next to each day in the list or click on the Select All link. Note in the image above that all days have the checkbox next to them ticked. Note also that we've selected the last day in the period because we want to change the end time for this day (perhaps employees work a shorter day on Friday).

4. Adjust the Start / End Times

Once the day you want to adjust the time for is selected click the Adjust Start Time or Adjust End Time buttons as required. In this case we're going to adjust the end time to 3:00PM. This is done using the screen shown above. Click the Save Time button to save the change.

5. Create the Time Punches

In the screenshot above you can see that we're ready to go. All of the days we want to create punches for are checked and the end time for Friday has been changed to 3:00PM. We can now go ahead and create the time punches by clicking the Create Checked Times button. Time Clock MTS will now attempt to create punches for each of the selected days.

6. Check the Times

As Time Clock MTS creates (or cannot create) a clock in and out for each day the color of each day in the list will change and a message will be displayed alongside of each . Days that successfully have a clock in and out created will be green while those that do not will be red. Above you can see that we've created all of the time punches successfully for this time off request. We can now click the Exit button and we'll be shown the Approval Notes screen.

7. Enter Approval Notes

On this small screen (see above) we can add some notes to go along with the approval for the time off request. If the Create Employee Bulletin checkbox is ticked then the employee will be shown the approval notes via a popup bulletin the next time they clock into Time Clock MTS. Click the Approve Time Off Request button to proceed back the Administrator Time Off Requests screen. Note that at this stage you can still click the Cancel button to stop the approval process but any time punches created in the previous steps will not be deleted.

8. You're Done!

In the screenshot above we can see that the time off request now has a status of APPROVED. The time off request approval process is now complete.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 5:34 AM | Comments (0)

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November 27, 2012

How to - The Administrator Time Off Requests Screen

The Administrator Time Off Requests screen (see the screenshot above) is used by the Time Clock MTS administrator to manage all employee time off requests. This Time Clock MTS How-To guide takes users through the various functions of this screen.

The Administrator Time Off Requests screen can be reached via the Tools->Time Off Requests menu item from within the Time Clock MTS Administrator program.

Creating a New Employee Time Off Request

Under certain circumstances it could be useful for administrators to be able to create new employee time off requests. This could simply be because the method of employees placing time off requests is handled outside of your time clock software or perhaps the administrator wants to create a number of employee clock in / out pairs quickly and easily. To create an employee time off request take the following steps.

1. Click the button.
2. Enter the details of the time off request on the add/edit time off request screen (see Figure 2 above). Care should be taken to ensure the correct dates are selected for the first and last day and that the time classification is set appropriately.
3. When the details of the time off request are correct click the Save Time Off Request button to save the time off request.

Editing an Existing Employee Time Off Request

1. On the Administrator Time Off Request screen (see Figure 1 above) click on the time off request to be edited and then click the button. Alternatively an existing time off request can be edited directly by double clicking on it in the time off request list.


2. The details of the time off request will then be displayed on the add/edit time off request screen (see Figure 2 above). Changes can be made as required on this screen. Note that an APPROVED or DENIED time off request can be moved back to PENDING status using this screen.


3. When the details of the time off request are correct click the Save Time Off Request button to save the time off request.

Deleting an Employee Time Off Request

1. On the Administrator Time Off Request screen (see Figure 1 above) click on the time off request to be deleted.


2. Click the button. Confirm the deletion of the time off request when prompted.

Denying an Employee Time Off Request

1. On the Administrator Time Off Request screen (see Figure 1 above) click on the time off request to denied. Note that you'll only be able to deny requests that are in the PENDING state.


2. Click the Deny Selected button.


3. The Deny Time Off Request screen will then be displayed (see Figure 3 above).


4. Enter any notes giving the reason for the denial of the request into the notes area. Check the Create Employee Bulletin checkbox to have the employee notified of the denial of their request via an Employee Bulletin.


5. Click the Deny Time Off Request to confirm the action or the Cancel button to cancel the denial process. Pressing either button will return the user to the Administrator Time Off Requests screen.
   

Approving an Employee Time Off Request

This process will be described in subsequent how-to article.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 12:14 PM | Comments (0)

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November 22, 2012

How to - Requesting Time Off

Employees who are recording time and attendance data with Time Clock MTS can request time off using the software. These requests are approved or denied by the time clock administrator and employees can be automatically notified via the Time Clock MTS Employee Bulletin System.

This Time Clock MTS How-To guide takes employees through the process making a time off request. Before employees can make a time off request the time clock administrator must have configured Time Clock MTS to allow employees to request time off.

1. Select the Employee Name

Select the employee name from the Time Clock MTS employee list (employee time off requests can only be made if you're using the Employee List Interface). Then click on the View My Information button and select the Time Off Requests option from the drop-down menu.

2. Click the New Time Off Request Button

You'll then be shown the Employee Time Off Request Management screen (see above). To place a new time off request click the button.

3. Enter the Time Off Request Details

Above you can see the screen used to enter your time off request details. You can enter a first day and last day as well as a start time and end time. So, if for example you wanted to take time off from 2 November 2012 to 9 November 2012 you'd enter 11/2/2012 to 11/9/2012 for your first and last day. If your normal work start time and end time is 9:00AM and 5:00AM you'd enter that for your start / end times. Conversely, if you wanted to request the morning off on 2 November 2012 you'd enter 11/2/2012 for your first day and last day and 9:00AM / 12:00PM for the start time/end time.

The Classification allows you to pick what type of time you want to take off. This could be Normal Time, Sick Time, Vacation Time, or Other time depending on how your Time Clock MTS software is setup.

The Employee Notes area can be used to enter a note that will be displayed to the administrator when they are considering your time off request.

The final display fields of interest are Status and Approval Notes. The Status lets you know if your request has been approved or not, while the notes contain any communication from your time clock administrator when they approved or denied your request.

4. Save the Request

To save your time off request click the Save Time Off Request button. You'll then be returned to the Employee Time Off Request Management Screen where your new time off request will be listed along with a PENDING status. The time clock administrator will be notified of your time off request and once approved or denied you'll be notified by an employee bulletin the next time you clock into Time Clock MTS.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 11:53 AM | Comments (0)

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How to - Allowing Employees to Request Time Off

Our employee timeclock software, Time Clock MTS, now allows employees to request time off. These requests are communicated to the time clock administrator who can then approve or deny the requests and (if required) automatically create time punches for approved requests. This can greatly streamline the time off request process and help reduce data entry errors.

This Time Clock MTS How-To guide takes you through the process of setting up Time Clock MTS to allow employees to request time off.

Note that employees can only request time off when you are using the Employee List Interface of Time clock MTS.

1. Log in as the Administrator

The first step is to log into the Time Clock MTS Administrator program as the administrator and go to the Tools->Options->Interface Settings screen (see the image below).

2. Check the Enable Time Off Requests Checkbox

When on the Interface Settings screen check the Enable Time Off Requests checkbox and click the Save button to save the changes.

3. Log off Administrator Account

Log out of Time Clock MTS administrator mode by using the File -> Log Off Of Administrator Account menu.

4. Employees Can Request Time Off

Employees can now request time off by selecting their name in the Employee List and clicking on the View My Information button and then selecting the Time Off Requests option from the drop-down menu. You can see what this looks like above.

That concludes this How-To article. For more help you should take a look at the Time Off Requests help topics.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 5:00 AM | Comments (0)

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November 20, 2012

How to Create Many Time Clock MTS Employees Quickly

Time Clock MTS has some features that allow you to create multiple employees for your time clock system quickly and accurately. This can significantly speed up the process of setting up Time Clock MTS for the first time as well as adding new employees to an existing system. It can also help to greatly reduce data entry errors when creating new employees.

This Time Clock MTS How-To Article takes you through the process of creating four new employee records using the Export Employee Data and Import Employee Data features within Time Clock MTS.

1. Export Your Existing Employees to Microsoft Excel

This process relies on you having some existing employees in your Time Clock MTS database and that you have Microsoft Excel installed on your computer. Log into the Time Clock MTS Administrator program as the admin and go to the Employee Maintenance->Export Employees menu (see the image above).

2. Confirm the Export Employees Action

Time Clock MTS will ask you to confirm the export employees action (see the image above). Click the OK button to proceed.

3. View the Exported Employee Data

A Microsoft Excel window will appear containing your existing employee data (see the image above). It is important to realize that Time Clock MTS uses the Employee Badge as the unique identifier for each employee. The consequence of this is if you change the Badge numbers of the employees in your exported data to new numbers and import that data back into Time Clock MTS it considers them to be entirely new employees.

4. Edit the Exported Employee Data

We're going to change the employee name column of each exported employee and (most importantly) give each one a new badge number. You can see what this might look like in the image above. You should note that at this step you could create copies of your employee data rows and create as many new employee records as you like, conversely you could delete export rows and create fewer new employees than you exported. The choice is yours. In this example we exported 4 employees and we're going to create four new ones.

5. Save the New Employee Data

The next step is to save the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that contains your new employee data. Note the location where you save it because you'll need to know the location in the following steps. In our example I saved the spreadsheet to a folder on my Windows desktop (see image above).

6. Import the New Employee Data Back into Time Clock MTS

While still logged into Time Clock MTS as the administrator go to the Employee Maintenance->Import Employees menu (see above).

7. Select the New Employee Data Spreadsheet

On the Import Employees screen (shown above) click the Import Employees button. This will allow you to navigate to where you saved your new employee data in Step 5. Once you've found it open the file.

8. Watch the Employee Import Process

Time Clock MTS will now import the new employee data from the spreadsheet. As it imports each employee a message will be displayed on the Import Employees screen telling you whether that employee was created successfully or not. When the process is complete the Import Employees screen may look something like the image shown above. Note that each new employee is reported as being imported successfully.

9. View Your New Employees

The final step is to exit out of the Import Employees screen by clicking the Exit button. When we are returned to the employee time clock we can see that the new employees are present on the employee list.

Important Note

If you happen to try to import an employee whose badge number matches the badge number of an employee that is already present in your Time Clock MTS database do not worry. The Import Employee process will not import that employee and leave your existing employee information intact.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 6:47 AM | Comments (0)

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November 10, 2012

Highlighting Employees on Your Time Card Software

Version 4 of our Timeclock Software includes a new feature to allow you to highlight employees on the employee list with a color. You can see what this might look like on the image above. You'll need to be using the Employee List Interface to see the effects of this in your time card software. Setting up Time Clock MTS to show background colors for employees is pretty simple. Here's how to do it.

1. Log into the Time Clock MTS Administrator program as the administrator.
2. Select the employee you want to change the background color for and then select the Employee Maintenance->Edit Selected Employee menu.
3. On the Employee Information Screen click the Choose Color button.
4. Choose a color from the color picking window that appears.
5. Click the Save Employee button to save the change.
6. When you return to the main time clock screen you should see that the employee is now highlighted with your selected color. Please note that while you have the employee selected in the list the highlighted color will not be displayed.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 8:49 AM | Comments (0)

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August 9, 2012

How to Move the Time Clock MTS Database

This Time Clock MTS How To Guide explains the process of moving your employee attendance database to a different location. This is useful if you do not want to store your valuable time clock data on your local computer but rather on your network server where the file is backed up and more secure.

1. Close All Time Clock MTS Clients

The first step is to close all Time Clock MTS client programs. If a client is still connected to the Time Clock MTS database you are trying to move then it will not be able to be moved.

2. Navigate to the System Options Screen

The next step is to log into Time Clock MTS administrator program as the administrator and go to the Tools->Options->System Options screen. On this screen we can see that the database location is on the local c:\ drive. To move this file click the Move button.

3. Select the New Database Location

Confirm the move action by clicking Yes on the screen above.

We'll then be shown a folder browser window similar to the one above. In our example we've prepared a network drive that we're going to move the Time Clock MTS to. It can be seen at the lower left of the above screenshot and is called "Time Clock MTS" and has been mapped to the X:\ drive. We should note that Time Clock MTS must have full/read write permissions on the folder that you're going to store the Time Clock MTS database in.

We're going to click on the new database folder now.

4. Save the New Location

Once the new location is chosen the folder browser window looks like the screenshot shown above. We're going to confirm the move by clicking the Save button.

The folder browser window will now close and Time Clock MTS will display a message similar to the one above informing us that the database has been moved. This message can be acknowledged by clicking the OK button.

We've now been returned to the System Options screen. We can see that the Database Location has been changed to our selected location.

Moving the Time Clock MTS database is now complete. Note that the next time you run any Time Clock MTS clients you'll be asked to connect to a database and you'll need to navigate to this new location on the client computers.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 11:44 AM | Comments (0)

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April 23, 2012

How to Report on Employee Tips

This Time Clock MTS How To Article covers how you can run reports on employee tips. There are three main employee tip reports in our tip tracking software and this how to article describes each in detail. Employee Tip reports can be run from the Reporting->Payroll Reports screen and you must be logged in as the Time Clock MTS administrator to access the reports. As is normal with most other Time Clock MTS reports you can run any of the tip based reports for a date range, one or many employees, or by department.

The Tip Summary Report

The Tip summary report (shown above) gives a day to day breakdown of tips for each employee. This includes a daily report on tips received directly, credit/debit card tips received, and tips paid out to others.

The Employee Tip Diary Report

The employee tip diary report gives full details of each entry made by the employee into their tip diary across the reporting date range. Totals are then displayed for each type of tip over the reporting period. This report is very similar to Form 4070A Employee's Daily Record of Tips which is available from the IRS.

The Employee Tip Diary Summary Report

The employee tip diary summary report produces a very easy to read summary of the employee tip activity over the selected reporting range. Totals are displayed for each type of tip over the reporting period. This report is very similar to Form 4070 Employee's Report of Tips to Employer which is available from the IRS.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 12:30 PM | Comments (0)

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April 18, 2012

How to Record an Employee Tip

This Time Clock MTS How To Article covers how employees can record a tip using the Time Clock MTS employee tip tracking system.

1. The first step is to log in as the Time Clock MTS administrator and enable tip tracking. This was covered in the how to article How to Setup Employee Tip Tracking.
2. Employees will now be able to see the Employee Tip Tracking button on the time clock. To enter a tip they should click this button and they'll be shown the Employee Tip Diary which can be seen in the image at the top of this article.
3. The Employee Tip Diary is used by employees to add, edit or delete employee tips. To add a new tip employees must click the Add Tip button.

The Add Tip Screen
4. The Add Employee Tip screen (shown above) allows employees to enter details of a tip or gratuity that they've received. The details of the tip (date received and cash or credit amount) are entered into the fields on the left side of the form. Data can be entered via a keyboard or via the numeric keypad on the right.
5. If the employee has paid out the tip to other employees they should enter an amount into the Tips Paid Out field and then select the employee(s) paid out to from the employee list box.
6. When the employee is happy with the details of the tip to be added they must click the Save Tip button and the tip will be added the employee's tip diary.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 9:50 AM | Comments (0)

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April 5, 2012

Union Bank Online Payroll Integration

We've just had a request from a Time Clock MTS user who wanted to export their time clock data to Union Bank Online Payroll. Here's the steps that need to be taken to produce a data file suitable for importing to Union Bank Online Payroll.

1. Map Employee Names and ID's Correctly

Time Clock MTS uses only one field for employee's names while the Union Bank Online Payroll system requires a first and last name. To get around this you must name your Time Clock MTS employees using the form LastName,FirstName. It is vital that you get the comma in between the last and first name. You can see in the image above that the employee is named Jones,Bill.

The second thing to ensure is that the Time Clock MTS employee Badge ID matches your Union Bank Online Payroll employee numbers exactly. If this is not done then the time clock data for that employee will not be able to be imported to your payroll system. Above you can see that the employee Badge ID is 1010, this must be the same as the Union Bank employee number.

2. Export Data Using the Pre-Defined Union Bank Online Payroll Export Format

The next step is to actually export the data. This is done from within Time Clock MTS on the Reporting->Data Export->Export Data screen (shown above). Use the selection boxes on the left to choose what employee data you want to export. The date selection buttons on the top right allow you to select the date range that you want to export time clock data for. When you are happy with both the employee selection and the date range click the Export Data button to start the data export process. When the export is complete a Notepad window will pop up and you'll see your exported data (see the image below). You can now save this file with the correct name and file extension required by Union Bank Online Payroll and import it into your payroll system.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 1:50 PM | Comments (0)

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March 6, 2012

Time Clock Software for Childcare Centers

It comes as a surprise to us when we look at the types of businesses that are using Time Clock MTS. It's a common misconception that time and attendance tools are only required if the company is a large one with hundreds or even thousands of employees. Contrary to popular belief, a good time clock system will come in handy for a huge variety of companies, both small and large. After some in-depth research into the different users of Time Clock MTS, it was discovered that about 150 different childcare and daycare centres use Time Clock MTS.

Of course, the time clock software can be used for tracking the employees' hours worked, overtime and vacations. However, the most interesting thing is the fact that you can also use the system to keep track of the parents and children entering the centre. Because you have a list of the children inside the centre, it will be very easy to make sure that everybody is safe in the event of a fire or other emergency. If parents clock their children in and out themselves, it will save time for other employees, thus helping the centre to run more efficiently.

It can be difficult to find quality time clock software for childcare centres, but Time Clock MTS can help provide you with the perfect system, just as it has for 150 other centres.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 7:25 AM | Comments (0)

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January 17, 2012

How to Setup Weekly Overtime

When running a business with several employees, one of the things you might need to do is setup weekly overtime. Time Clock MTS allows you to do this without having to worry about calculation errors. Once you've entered the required information, the time and attendance tool will work out the rest and help you to get an accurate and reliable calculation of all your employees' wages.

This Time Clock MTS How To Article is a step-by-step guide for setting up weekly overtime for your employees using Time Clock MTS.

1. Start off by logging in as the administrator. This can be done by selecting File -> Log In As Administrator menu.
2. Select Tools -> Options from the menu bar at the top of the window. Once a new window has opened, have a look down the left-hand menu and choose "Overtime Settings"
3. Check the box titled "Pay Weekly Overtime". You can then type in how many hours you want the employee(s) to work in the week before receiving overtime pay. For example, if you choose 40 hours, the employee(s) will be paid regular pay for the first 40 hours and then overtime pay for the hours worked after that.
4. Choose the employee for whom you want to set the weekly overtime pay. Select Employee Maintenance -> Edit Selected Employee.
5. Once the new window opens, select "Payroll Information" from the left-hand side and look for a box on the right-hand side labeled OT 1 Rate / hr. Type in the amount that you want the employee to receive for each hour worked overtime.

It's very easy to manage your employees and their payroll information using Time Clock MTS. An efficient time clock tool will come in handy for a lot of things and will help you to easily pay your employees with the assurance of having accurate calculations.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 12:26 PM | Comments (0)

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January 8, 2012

How to Setup Daily Overtime

If you've got several employees in your business who are receiving different amounts of hourly pay, it can be difficult to keep track of it all manually. Time Clock MTS is a simple and easy time clock system that helps you manage the information of all your individual employees.

Overtime is one of those things that's well-known for getting slightly confusing. However, with a effective and easy-to-use time and attendance tool, you can set the hourly overtime rate for each employee (even if it varies from one employee to another) and let the computer work out the rest!

This Time Clock MTS How To Article is a step-by-step guide for setting up daily overtime for your employees using Time Clock MTS.

1. Log in as the Administrator. You can do this buy choosing File > Log In As Administrator. Tap in your password and you're ready to go.
2. Once you're logged in, select Tools > Options. A new window will open and you'll see a list on the left-hand side. Choose Overtime Settings from the list.
3. Set the amount of hours the employees must work before receiving overtime pay. You can do this by checking the box next to "Pay Daily Overtime (OT Rate 1)" and then typing in the number of hours. For example, if you type "8" in the box, this means that the employee has to work eight hours before starting to receive overtime pay. Click the Save button to save the changes and close the Options window.
4. The final thing to do is to actually set the hourly overtime rate. To do this, start by highlighting the employee on the "Employees" list. Select Employee Maintenance > Edit Selected Employee. A new window will open and you should see a list of four different categories on the left-hand side. From this list, choose "Payroll Information". Look for "Hourly Payments" half way down the page on the right-hand side of the window.
   Type the hourly overtime rate in the box labeled "OT 1 Rate / hr" and click "Save Employee".

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 7:37 AM | Comments (0)

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October 25, 2011

How to Export Payroll Reports

One of the features that businesses look for when choosing an employee attendance tool is the ability to export data to other software programs. Many people that use a time clock system will often need to export data to spreadsheets, word processors and other such database packages. If this can be done easily, quickly and effectively, it will save time and hassle for the business. This Time Clock MTS How To Article covers the steps to follow if you want to create a payroll report and export it to another software program.

1. Open Time Clock MTS and log into your administrator account. Once you are logged in, go to Reporting -> Payroll Reports. This is the part of the time clock tool that allows you to control which reports are created. This is where you should go whenever you need to create any sort of report. You can create reports on employees, departments, shifts and many other things. If you don't want reports generated on all of the employees (or departments etc.), you can choose the ones you want to see reports about from a list.
2. Once you have opened the Report Configuration screen, you can choose what report you want to create (here is a Full List of Time Clock MTS Reports). You can select different employees, departments, shifts and employment types. Additionally, you can choose a specific date range and the type of report that you would like. You can choose the type of report by using the drop-down menu on the right-hand side of the screen. There are various other options on the screen that you can choose, for example, you can choose whether you want the company header to be displayed on the report, the employee details and any other information.
3. Now that you have chosen exactly what you want the reports to be about, you can go ahead and create it. To create the reports, simply click Create Report at the bottom of the screen. The report will appear almost instantly and will contain information such as the total hours worked, total vacation time and total earnings.
4. Once the screen containing the report has appeared, you can now export the data by clicking any of the buttons at the bottom of the screen, e.g. Export CSV.
   You can choose either Export CSV, Export Tab or Export Excel. Exporting the data takes a few seconds and exports the report(s) onto the software of your choice. You may also choose to print the report, which can be done by clicking Print.

Time Clock MTS has many features like this that make it an ideal time and attendance tool for both large and small businesses. By following the above steps, you can create reports for whatever you want and export it in a matter of a few seconds.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 11:34 AM | Comments (0)

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October 18, 2011

Comparing Time and Attendance Software - Part 2

Many businesses that are searching for useful and easy-to-use time and attendance software don't want to spend a great deal of money. You can download a free trial of the Time Clock MTS in order to try it out and see if you like it and if it works for your business. If you have three employees or less, you can continue using the tool for free; however, if you want to use it for more than three employees, you will have to consider buying the software.

When businesses are searching for the perfect time and attendance tool, they often want to know how the software operates. This is perfectly understandable, and we aim to provide as much information as possible about Time Clock MTS so that users are able to find out everything that they need to know before purchasing it. This is the second part of a two part series about how to compare time and attendance software and will explain certain aspects of sick time and vacation accruals, exporting data and updates and support that are available.

Are there sick time & vacation accruals?

For most businesses, it is very important to have a tool that caters for sick time and vacation accruals as it will help to prevent calculation errors which often cause the company to lose of money over a period of time. Because Time Clock MTS will work out most of these calculations for you, your business will not have to pay as many people to sort out the finances of the company. The sick time and vacations that employees are allocated will be worked out automatically once you have entered the details, and each employee will be able to see how many days they are allowed to have off work. Because they will have a much better understanding of their wages, work time and the way that the business operates with employees, the work place can run more smoothly.

Yearly accruals are allowed, as well as accounts for any employees who already have existing balances for any vacation pay which they have not yet received.

Can data be exported easily?

Being able to export data easily is often a feature required by businesses. Time Clock MTS has this feature, making it even more convenient and useful for the majority of companies. Data can be easily exported to payroll software using the tool, and further analysis can be carried out for anything that you need. All reports can be exported to Microsoft Excel or text files, depending which one is easiest for the business to use. You can export data for just one employee or a number of different employees. You can add your own custom export format by simply clicking a button when using the tool. Additionally, you can edit the export formats that you have already created.

Is the software regularly updated and supported?

Time Clock MTS is updated every two months or so. Every time it is updated, the software will usually contain new features for users to make use of and benefit from. Additionally, when it is updated, any bugs are sorted out and any issues and problems that users have reported can be resolved. The Time Clock MTS website provides many articles a lot of information for anybody who wants to know more about the software. New articles are always being added to the website, so you can read about the most up-to-date features.

Furthermore, email support is offered to anybody with questions that they cannot find answers to on the website.

Conclusions

We hope that the six factors we've discussed when comparing time and attendance software prove to be useful when you're doing your own evaluation. We've designed Time Clock MTS to be strong in each of the key areas and with more than 8000 companies using the software we're sure it would be useful for you!

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 5:39 AM | Comments (0)

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October 10, 2011

Comparing Time and Attendance Software - Part 1

Choosing the right time and attendance software for your business can be a difficult task. Employers and entrepreneurs are often looking for software that is easy to use, affordable and effective. As the employees will be using the software as well, it needs to be easy to understand in order that they can use it without difficulty. Affordability is another key factor, especially if the business looking to invest in the software has a low budget or is only a small business. A large number of businesses notice an immediate improvement after purchasing time and attendance software. It has a lot to offer both large and small businesses, and the tools have proven to reduce payroll errors and absences as well as motivating employees to turn up on time and work harder. Overall, quality time and attendance tools will assist the business in keeping more organized, and payroll, time and attendance data can be managed much more easily.

This two part article aims to cover six key points that must be considered when comparing time and attendance software.

Can you share data between time & attendance computers?

It is important to save data in the same place when managing employees' timetables and attendance records. This helps prevent data entry errors and stops a lot of calculation errors which could occur. Time Clock MTS enables employers to record and share their employees' time and attendance data easily and effectively between computers. Additionally, individual employees are able to clock in and out using their own computers rather than all of the employees using the same one. Nobody in the workplace will have to keep returning to one main computer or workstation in order to record, alter and share time and attendance data. As a result, it will save time and money for the business and will be easy to manage and hassle-free.

Do you need extra hardware?

Although time and attendance software is fairly modern and is being used worldwide each day by businesses of all different sizes, it is by no means technical and difficult to manage. While it is advanced software that has proven to be extremely useful to thousands of companies, it does not require extra components in order to work. The only thing you will need is an ordinary computer; there is no need for additional mechanical and electronic devices such as punch clocks. However, good computer time clocks are often compatible with bar code readers, magnetic card readers and fingerprints scanners.

If you want to set up Time Clock MTS with a bar code reader, you will need to find one that will plug into either the USB port or keyboard port of your computer. Once it is set up, you can give each of the employees an ID card with the bar codes printed onto them. This will enable each employee to access the software by scanning the bar codes.

Is Biometric Security an option?

In order to prevent employee fraud, many employers choose various methods of security. One of the most popular types of security which can be used in conjunction with time and attendance tools is biometric security. There is a biometric security option for anybody using Time Clock MTS. Fingerprint scanning hardware such as biometric scanners can be purchased fairly cheaply and can be used with Time Clock MTS to make it more secure and to avoid payroll fraud and other forms of employee fraud.
If you choose biometric security, employees will be required to scan their fingerprints each time they clock in or out. This means that each employee will only be able to clock themselves in and out (rather than other employees doing it for their colleagues). Biometric security and fingerprint scanning is the ultimate way to prevent employee fraud in the workplace and keep the business as safe as possible.

This article is continued in Comparing Time and Attendance Software - Part 2.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 1:16 PM | Comments (0)

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September 26, 2011

How to Pay a Given Weekday as Overtime

This Time Clock MTS How To Article will show you the four simple steps that you will need to follow in order to pay a given weekday as overtime using the Time Clock MTS tool. Using the tool, you can change the settings to pay your chosen employees overtime on certain days of the week. This is particularly useful if your employee's employment agreement, pay scale, or union agreement requires a certain weekday (typically Sunday) to be paid as overtime.

Here's the steps to follow to pay all time on a given weekday as overtime:

1). Make sure that you are logged into the administrator account, otherwise you will not have access to any of the settings and will not be able to edit employee information. If you have only just downloaded Time Clock MTS, you will need to create a password for the administrator account and log in once it has launched.

2). Next, you will need to set the overtime rates so that you are paying the correct amount per hour. This can be different for each employee. In order to set the overtime rates, select one of your employees from the list. Click Employee Maintenance->Edit Selected Employee->Payroll Information. You can then set it using the boxes labelled "OT 1 Rate/hr" and "OT 2 Rate/hr".

3). Click Tools->Options->Overtime Settings to pay a given day as overtime. To do this, select Employee Maintenance->Edit Selected Employee->Payroll Information and select the box next to the particular day that you want to pay as overtime.

Each employee can have different pay rate for overtime. You may decide to pay a small handful of your employees more overtime pay than others, and all this can be set by selecting the Payroll Information of each employee and setting it as you wish. You can also choose to pay certain days as overtime; if you choose this, the whole day will be paid as overtime and normal overtime limits do not apply. The whole day will be paid as the hourly rate that you have set for Overtime 1, regardless of how many hours during the day the employee works.

As you can see, Time Clock MTS is very useful if you have employees that are receiving various amounts of pay for the different hours that they work. Arguably the most useful feature of this tool is the fact that you can edit each employee's payroll information individually, so that you can alter the pay of one employee without it affecting the pay of any others.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 9:18 AM | Comments (0)

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April 30, 2011

Reporting on Employees Who Clock In Late

The recent release of Version 3.1.5 of Time Clock MTS included a new report that allows users to easily run a report displaying employees that have clocked in late for their shift. The output of this report can be seen above. Here's how to setup Time Clock MTS to allow you to use this report to track when your employees are clocking in late for their shifts.

1. For each different shift start time you need to track you'll need to create a shift in Time Clock MTS. You can do this on the Manage Shifts Screen. Made sure to set the shift start time to the time that you want to track.
2. Assign each employee to the shift that they work. You can do this on the Manage Employees Screen
3. Have your employees clock in and out using Time Clock MTS as normal.
4. Run the Late for Shift report on the Report Configuration Screen. The report can be run over one or many days, and run for one or many employees.
5. You can now interpret the report. It will give you a day by day list of the employees that have clocked in late for their shift. Each employee late arrival will be displayed along with the employee name, their shift name, the scheduled shift start, their actual arrival time, and the amount of time that they were late.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 1:10 PM | Comments (0)

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April 16, 2011

Barcode Attendance System

Time Clock MTS was designed to be a flexible barcode attendance system for small and medium sized businesses. Here's what you need to do so that you can use Time Clock MTS as your Barcode Attendance System.

1. Get a suitable barcode reader. Time Clock MTS requires a barcode reader that has a 'keyboard wedge'. This means that it can be plugged into either the USB port or old style PS2 keyboard port of your computer and output characters to your computer exactly the same as a computer keyboard.
2. Configure the barcode reader to put a return character at the end of each scanned barcode. Most readers do this by default but you might need to change the settings of the reader via the configuration software that comes with it.
3. Install and run Time Clock MTS. Log into Time Clock MTS as the administrator and go to the Tools->Options->Interface Settings Screen.
4. Change the Data Entry Mode setting to "Keypad".
5. Save the changes.
6. Log out of the administrator mode of Time Clock MTS and you should see the Keypad interface of the software (see the screenshot above).
7. Log back into Time Clock MTS as the administrator and create your employee records in Time Clock MTS using the Employee Maintenance->Add New Employee screen. Take note of each employee's Badge ID
8. Get your employee barcode attendance badges printed. The data encoded should be each employee's badge ID and no other data. Make sure that the barcode encoding you use is supported by your barcode reader.

Now that you've configured the software, setup your barcode reader, and printed your employee barcode badges you're ready to start using Time Clock MTS as a barcode attendance system. All you need to do is run Time Clock MTS in keypad interface mode and have it as the active Windows application. As employees scan their barcode attendance badges the employee badge id will appear in the badge number field on the screen and the clock in or out action will be triggered automatically. Note that if you've got employee PINs or employee notes activated then your employees will still need to enter this information via keyboard or touchscreen.

If you require more detailed instructions on setting up Time Clock MTS as a barcode attendance system then please take a look at this article, Time Clock MTS and Bar Code Readers.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 9:21 AM | Comments (0)

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April 15, 2011

Sunday School Attendance Software

At last count nearly 50 churches were registered users of Time Clock MTS and we know that many of these use Time Clock MTS to track student attendance at Sunday school. The tracking requirements for a Sunday school are not too dissimilar to that needed for regular school attendance software but it's worth some effort looking at how to use Time Clock MTS as Sunday school attendance software effectively.

Customize the User Interface

Using the Interface Settings Screen customize the main user interface to suit the Sunday school environment. Your students will likely be offended to be called employees, so change those labels to 'students', you might like to change the 'clock in' and 'clock out' to less work oriented terms too. I'd suggest 'Arrive' and 'Depart'.

Create Jobs to Track Lessons or Classes

If you want to track your student attendance to various lessons then I'd suggest making use of the job tracking features of Time Clock MTS. So, if for example, you had a series of lessons on the various books of the New Testament you could assign each a code and have your students clock in and out with this code as they attend each different lesson. At the end of the series of lessons you could offer those students who missed out catch up sessions. Determining who missed out is very simple, just run the Job Time Report.

Create Departments for Each Teacher

If you run a larger Sunday school you might find it useful to track student attendance by teacher. To do this create a department representing each teacher and assign students to each department using the Manage Employees screens. You could then easily see a class list for each teacher and report on attendance to each teachers class by simply running Time Clock MTS attendance reports on a department by department basis.

Record Sunday School Attendance

Using Time Clock MTS to record Sunday school attendance is quite simple. You could do it in two ways. The first is to provide a central computer (or computers) and to have your students check in when they arrive for a class and then check out when they depart. Alternatively if your classes are smaller you might have the teachers take attendance on a laptop or similar and check each student in when roll is called at the beginning of class.

Report on Sunday School Attendance

If you make use of the Employee Status Report you'll find that it's a super quick and easy way to check what students are attending your Sunday school classes. If you're wanting to track lesson attendance and you've made use of job tracking then the various job tracking reports will easily give you the information you need.

Conclusions

Time Clock MTS wasn't really designed to be used as Sunday School Attendance Software, but as features have been added over the years it certainly has become flexible and useful enough to be used as such. With almost 50 churches currently using it in the role it clearly has something to offer with a customizable interface, flexible tracking options, and powerful reporting. All of this at a remarkably inexpensive price.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 9:39 AM | Comments (0)

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School Attendance Software

A quick browse through our customer database shows at the time of this post that 68 schools (not including colleges and universities) are using Time Clock MTS. It's safe to assume that some of these, at least, are using Time Clock MTS as school attendance software. I thought it would be useful to look at how you could configure Time Clock MTS to track and record the attendance of students within schools.

Configure the Time Clock MTS Interface

Above you can see the Tools->Options->Interface Settings screen. You can use the 'Main Screen Labels' drop down box to change the text shown on the main screen of Time Clock MTS. We originally designed this to allow users to translate the main screen into other languages but we are aware that some users are using it to make the software more user friendly to their particular business. If you're using Time Clock MTS as school attendance software then you can easily make it more student friendly by changing these terms. The image below shows what the result can be when making the software more school friendly.

Record Student Contact Information

The Manage Employees screens in Time Clock MTS allow you to record the student name, contact information, and alternate contact information. This is immediately useful if a school needs to contact a student, their parents, or notify someone due to an unexplained school absence.

Track Students by Class

Student attendance by class could be easily tracked using the departmental tracking features with Time Clock MTS. Simply create a department for each student class and then assign each student to the correct class using the Manage Employees screens mentioned above. You could then setup your Time Clock MTS clients to display only the students from appropriate class. Alternatively you could configure the student list to display in folder view and have an expandable list of classes and students that could be looked through very quickly and easily.

Track Daily Attendance

Time Clock MTS can be easily used to track the daily attendance of a student. Simply have them check in when they arrive for home class, or perhaps when they enter the school building.

Period Attendance

Using the Job Tracking features of Time Clock MTS you could easily configure the software to track student attendance by period. Simply create a job code for each subject and have students clock into each subject's period using the appropriate job code.

Report on Student Attendance

The Employee Status Report gives you a quick and easy way of reporting on student attendance. It's a simple matter to run this report and see what students are not at school for the day and then make contact with their parents to notify them of their absence. For more comprehensive reporting the Simple Attendance Report could be used to print off attendances by class or period and then distributed to teachers via noticeboard or email.

Conclusions

While Time Clock MTS wasn't specifically designed as school attendance software many of the features allow it to be used as such. The customizations available will make it easy to use for your students, while configuration options will easily allow you to track student attendance by class or period as well as allowing to store their contact details. Comprehensive and flexible reporting then allows for simple attendance tracking of your student population.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 7:09 AM | Comments (0)

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March 7, 2011

How to Report on Employee Tips in Time Clock MTS

This Time Clock MTS How To Article covers how to report on Employee Tip Tracking in Time Clock MTS.

Reporting on Employee Tips as an Employee or as the Time Clock MTS Administrator

An employee can report on their own tips from the employee time clock screen (shown in the screenshot above) by selecting their name from the employee list and clicking the Tips button. Note that employees may need to enter their PIN or scan a fingerprint to access their own tip diary. Employees being able to report on and print their tip diaries is a key requirement of the IRS who state explicitly that:

You can use an electronic system provided by your employer to record your daily tips. If you do, you must receive and keep a paper copy of this record.

The Time Clock MTS Administrator can report on any employees tips by logging into Time Clock MTS as the administrator. They can then select any employee from the employee list and click the Tips button to report on that employee.

Running a Report

Reports are run from the Employee Tip Tracking screen shown above. The Employee Tip Diary Report is run by clicking the Print Diary button. The Employee Tip Diary Summary Report is run by clicking the Print Summary button. It is important to note that the period that is reported on is the same as that selected on this screen. So if you're viewing the tip diary for the current month to date then any reports run will be for the same period.

The Employee Tip Diary Report

Seen above, the Employee Tip Diary report may be of a suitable format to constitute an employee tip diary and when this blog article was published contained all the information displayed on the IRS Form 4070A Employee's Daily Record of Tips. Note that regardless of other settings within the software (such as those not allowing employees to view or print their timecards) that employees can always print or export their tip diaries as per IRS requirements.

The Employee Tip Diary Summary Report

Seen above, the Employee Tip Diary Summary report may be of a suitable format to constitute a summary of tips received by an employee. When this blog article was published it contained all the information displayed on the IRS Form 4070 Employee's Report of Tips to Employer. Note that regardless of other settings within the software (such as those not allowing employees to view or print their timecards) that employees can always print or export their tip diaries as per IRS requirements.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 8:41 AM | Comments (0)

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How to Record and Edit Employee Tips in Time Clock MTS

This Time Clock MTS How To Article covers how to to use Time Clock MTS to record new tips received and edit existing recorded tips. Note that because of the critical need for employees to manage their own tip diary that both employees and the Time Clock MTS administrator can add, edit, and delete tips.

Enable Tip Tracking

Before anyone can add, edit, or delete tips the Time Clock MTS administrator must enable tip tracking. The process to do this is described in the Enabling Tip Tracking How-To article.

Tip Tracking as an Employee vs Tip Tracking as the Time Clock MTS Administrator

Employees and the Time Clock MTS administrator have access to exactly the same tools for adding, editing, and deleting employee tips. However, if you've got the Employee PIN feature or Employee Fingerprint Security turned on then these security features are applied when employees try to access the tip tracking features. The security features are not applied when Time Clock MTS is in Administrator Mode.

The Employee Tip Tracking Screen

Employee tips are managed from the Employee Tip Tracking screen which can be seen above. This screen is accessed from the Tips button on the employee time clock, a screenshot of which is shown at the top of this article. The employee tip tracking screen is basically an interactive tip diary. The time range that tips are displayed from can be selected from the time period drop down box. A tip can be edited or deleted by clicking the Edit or Delete link next to that tip. A new tip can be added by clicking the Add Tip button. The functions of the Print Diary and the Print Summary buttons will be covered in a subsequent How-To article.

Employees could use this screen to record their tips in a couple of ways. They could record each and every tip received individually, in which case their tip diary would contain a lot of entries but these would of course be summarized at reporting time. The alternate way is for employees to total up tips received during their shift and to just enter one summary tip that covers everything they received.

Adding or Editing an Employee Tip

When you add a tip or edit a tip you'll be shown the screen above. As with most Time Clock MTS screens users must fill in the details and click the Save Tip button to save the changes. The employee tip screen allows employees to record direct tips received from customers or other employees, tips received from credit or debit cards, and tips paid out to other employees as well as who those tips were paid out to. Numeric values can be entered in the value fields on this screen with either a keyboard or via the keypad buttons on the right of the screen. Things to note on this screen include the requirement for the employee to select the date the tip recorded was received, and that they must select who tips are paid out to if a value has been entered into that field. Note that Time Clock MTS automatically records the date that a tip was recorded and this cannot be changed.

Any tips added or edited while the Time Clock MTS Administrator is logged in will be flagged as such by the system. These tips will be marked with a "##" symbol on the Employee Tip Diary Report.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 6:04 AM | Comments (0)

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March 6, 2011

How to Setup Employee Tip Tracking in Time Clock MTS

This Time Clock MTS How To Article covers how to configure Time Clock MTS to allow your employees to record, track, and report on any tips they receive while working.

To enable employee tip tracking in Time Clock MTS just follow the steps below..

1. 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.
2. Go to the Tools->Options->Interface Settings screen and you'll be shown the screen at the top of this article.
3. Check the Enable Tip Tracking checkbox.
4. Select the Employee List Interface option from the Data Entry dropdown. Note that tip tracking does not curently work if you're using the keypad interface.
5. When you're happy with your selection press the Save button to save the changes.

The Employee Time Clock Screen
6. Logout of the Time Clock MTS administrator account and you should see the employee time clock screen looking like it does above. Note that the Tips button is now visible. Your employees can now start recording tips received by clicking this button.

We'll cover how to record and report on employee tips in subsequent how to articles.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 11:46 AM | Comments (0)

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February 19, 2011

Setting up a Second Administrator Computer - Updated

I wrote about setting up a second Time Clock MTS Administrator computer some time ago. Advances in the software means that the process is now a lot easier (actually its now just a matter of a couple of mouse clicks). The process of setting up a second administrator computer is shown below. Please note there are a couple of things to be aware of before you setup a second admin computer. Firstly, just one computer can actually be running the administrator version of Time Clock MTS at a time. Secondly, you need to purchase a license for each computer you want to install the Time Clock MTS administrator software on.

1. Make sure you know the network path to your existing Time Clock MTS database.

2. Install the administrator version of Time Clock MTS onto the computer you want to use as the second administrator computer.

3. Run the software, you'll be asked to enter a new administrator password (note that this password can be different to that used on your current Time Clock MTS system). Once you've entered the initial administrator password log into the software as the admin and you should see Time Clock MTS looking like it does in the image above.

4. Check what version of Time Clock MTS you have. You can do this on the Help->About menu (see the image above). If you're using a version of Time Clock MTS before V3.0.1 then you'll need to use the old method of setting up a second administrator computer. If you're using Version 3.0.1 or later then please proceed to step 2.

5. Log into Time Clock MTS as the administrator and go to the Tools->Options->System Options screen (shown above).

6. Click the Change button which can be found next to the Database Location text field.

7. Click the Yes button on the warning that pops up (see above).

8. In the Explorer window that appears navigate to the Time Clock MTS database that you want to use.

9. You'll now be shown the screen above confirming that you've connected to a different Time Clock MTS database.

10. Click the Save button and you'll be taken back to the main Time Clock MTS login screen. Note in the screenshot above that we're seeing some employees now that have been pulled from the existing database you connected to.

That process is a lot easier than the older method, but as always if you have any problems please Contact Us and we'll do our best to help you out!

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 9:46 AM | Comments (0)

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Show Hidden Files and Folders in Windows - Updated

This is an updated version of the Old Showing Hidden Files and Folders blog article with a new section added for Windows 7.

The default location that Time Clock MTS stores it's settings files and database is a folder that is usually hidden by Microsoft Windows. So, when we need to help you with software problems or perhaps you need to email us your database to reset your administrator password that you may not be able to find the files you need. This updated blog post aims to show you how to show hidden files and folders on your computer regardless of what version of Microsoft Windows you happen to be running.

Show Hidden Files and Folders in Windows 7

• Click on the Windows Start button, this is the round button on the lower left of your Windows 7 desktop.
• Select the Control Panel menu option.
• When the Control Panel opens click on the Folder Options link under the "Appearance and Personalization" link.
• Go the to View Tab of the Folder Options Window.
• In the "Advanced Settings" scroll box check the "Show hidden files, folders, and drives" radio button.
• Uncheck the box that says "Hide extensions for known file types".
• Uncheck the box that says "Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)".
• Now click the Apply button and then the OK button.

Show Hidden Files and Folders in Windows Vista
• Click the Start button
• Then click on Computer
• Press the ALT key
• Select the Tools->Folder Options menu
• Click the View tab
• In the Hidden files and folders frame select Show hidden files and folders
• Uncheck the Hide protected operating system files (recommended) option
• Click Yes to confirm
• Click OK

Show Hidden Files and Folders in Windows XP
• Click Start
• Open My Computer
• Select the Tools ->Folder Options menu
• Click the View tab
• In the Hidden files and folders frame select Show hidden files and folders
• Uncheck the Hide protected operating system files (recommended) option
• Click Yes to confirm
• Click OK

Show Hidden Files and Folders in Windows 2000
• Open My Computer
• Select the Tools -> Folder Options menu
• Click the View tab
• In the Hidden files and folders frame select Show hidden files and folders
• Uncheck the Hide protected operating system files (recommended) option
• Click Yes to confirm
• Click OK

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 9:45 AM | Comments (0)

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January 7, 2011

How to Allow Employees to Create New Jobs

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.

1. 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.
2. Go to the Tools->Options->Job Tracking screen and you'll be shown the screen at the top of this article.
3. Check the Allow Employee Job Creation checkbox.
4. 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 By Mark Nemtsas at 9:40 AM | Comments (0)

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November 4, 2010

Using Time Clock MTS with MySQL

By default, Time Clock MTS uses a Microsoft Access database as a backend database to store its' data. If you purchase the Enhanced Database Support option when you buy Time Clock MTS you can have it use a more robust database management system such as Microsoft SQL Server or the open source (and free) MySQL. This blog entry takes you through the process of setting up Time Clock MTS with MySQL, which claims to be the worlds most popular open source database system.

Step 1 - Install and Configure MySQL
Install and configure MySQL and create a database for Time Clock MTS to use. This is beyond the scope of this article, all you should need is available from the MySQL Website.

Step 2 - Create the Time Clock MTS MySQL Table Structure
If you're a trial user of Time Clock MTS or a licensed user who purchased the Enhanced Database Support option then you can use Time Clock MTS to create a MySQL script to create the Time Clock MTS table structure. Here's how to do that:

• Log into Time Clock MTS administrator software as the administrator and go to the Tools->Generate MySQL Script menu (seen in the image above). If you can't see this menu then you are not in the Time Clock MTS trial period or you did not purchase the Enhanced Database Support Options.



The Time Clock MTS MySQL Database Script


• When you run the Generate MySQL Script menu item Time Clock MTS will create a MySQL script that can be used to create the required Time Clock MTS table structure in MySQL. You can see this script in the image above.


• Once you've got the script you can then run it against your MySQL database in the tool of your choice. Here we use the MySQL Workbench but you could run this script using the MySQL command line or whatever your MySQL administrative tool of choice happens to be.

Step 3 - Preparing Computers to Connect to the MySQL Database

On most Microsoft Windows computers it is necessary to install some drivers to allow them to connect to and communicate with a MySQL Database. Here's what you'll need to do.

• Go to the MySQL Website and download the MySQL Connector / ODBC 5.1.7.


• Install this driver on EVERY COMPUTER that you plan to use the Time Clock MTS administrator program or client program on.

Step 4 - Connecting Time Clock MTS to the MySQL Database

The next step is to connect Time Clock MTS to your MySQL database. Initially this is done from the Time Clock MTS administrator program which you should have downloaded and installed already. Once you've done that follow the steps below.

• Log into Time Clock MTS as the administrator and go to the Tools->Options->System Options screen (shown above). If your screen doesn't look like this then you're logged into the Time Clock MTS client and you need to install the administrator software.


• Enter the name of your MySQL Server, the name of the MySQL database, and the name of a MySQL user and their password. Note that the MySQL user Time Clock MTS uses must have permissions to add, edit, and delete both data and database tables.



Testing the Connection


• Now you need to test that Time Clock MTS can connect to the MySQL database correctly and that the structure is correct. To do this click the Test MySQL Connection button. If the settings you entered are correct and you've set up your MySQL server correctly then you'll be shown a Connection OK message (shown above).



Connecting to the Database


• Once you're sure Time Clock MTS can connect to MySQL without problems it's time to select MySQL from the Database Type dropdown and click Save. Then you should get a message telling you that Time Clock MTS has connected to your database server (see above).



Verify Connection


• Now you need to shut down Time Clock MTS and re-start it. Once you've done that you can verify that you're connected to the MySQL database by going to the Help->About screen and look at the bottom of the screen, you'll see that you're now connected to the correct database (see above).


• The final step in the process is to install your Time Clock MTS clients and connect them to your MySQL Database. You'll do that with the Database Connection Wizard when you first install and run the Time Clock MTS Client

That concludes the process of connecting Time Clock MTS to a MySQL database back end. At this time it's worth noting a few things.

Notes

1. No data is transferred from the Access backend to the new MySQL backend. None at all. So when you first move to a MySQL backend you're starting from scratch.


2. If when you go to the System Options screen the database server fields and so on are obscured by a text box informing you that you are not licensed to use MySQL (or SQL Server for that matter) as a backend for Time Clock MTS then it's because....well... you're not licensed to use them. You'll need to Contact Us to talk about upgrade options.


3. If you receive a hard crash or access violation when you first run Time Clock MTS after you've connected to MySQL then you should download and install the latest version of MDAC for your particular flavor of Microsoft Windows. This can be downloaded from the Microsoft MDAC Downloads page.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 12:45 PM | Comments (0)

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September 29, 2010

I Haven't Forgotten My Administrator Password, I Just Want to Change It!

It's a common misconception that the only way to reset your Time Clock MTS password is to use the File->Reset Administrator Password menu. But this menu is for resetting forgotten administrator passwords. If you still know your password and just want to set it to something different here's what to do.

1. Log into the Time Clock MTS Administrator program as the administrator using your password.
2. Go to the Tools->Options Menu.
3. Go to the System Options Screen (shown in the image above).
4. Enter your new password into the Admin Password field.
5. Confirm your new password by typing it again into the Re-Type Password field.
6. Save the password by clicking the Save button.

Once you've done that your Time Clock MTS administrator password will be set to the new value and you'll have to use the new password to log into Time Clock MTS as the administrator.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 10:39 AM | Comments (0)

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January 17, 2010

Setting up Time Clock MTS in Multi User Mode - MS Access

Time Clock MTS can be run on a single PC, allowing one PC to be used for all collection of time and attendance information plus all reporting and software configuration. It can also be used in multiple client mode which allows you to administer the software from one PC and collect time and attendance information from one or more other computers on your network. This blog entry gives detailed instructions on how to setup Time Clock MTS to run in multiple client mode when you're using the standard back-end database.

1. Choose a computer on your network that you want to administer Time Clock MTS from and generate and print reports from.
2. Install the normal Time Clock MTS program (download from here) on the chosen computer.
3. Using the System Options page of Time Clock MTS move the Time Clock MTS database somewhere on your network. This network location must be visible to each computer you wish to use as a clock in / out station. You must also make sure that any computer that is going to use Time Clock MTS has full read/write/execute/delete permissions for the network location.
4. Choose the computers that you want to use as clock in / out stations.
5. Install the Time Clock MTS Client (download from here) on each of these client computers.
6. Run the Time Clock MTS client on the chosen client computers. The first time you do so you will be asked to locate the Time Clock MTS database you moved in Step 3 above.
7. Use the computer with the main Time Clock MTS program on it to configure the software with your employees and payroll rules.
8. Get your employees to start using the Time Clock MTS Client program to clock in and out of the software.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 11:16 AM | Comments (0)

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Moving the Time Clock MTS Datafile to a New Computer

You may find that you need to move the Time Clock MTS data file manually to a new computer. This could happen because your computer has crashed or because you've setup the software temporarily on one PC and then want to move it to a production computer for actual use. This blog entry describes a couple of ways that you can do this.

First some terminology.

Source PC: The computer you want to move the data from.
Destination PC: The computer you want to move the data to.

Method 1 : Using Time Clock MTS to move your Database

1. Share a directory on the Destination PC you can access from the Source PC. You will need to allow full read/write permissions on this directory because you're going to be copying a file there.
2. Run Time Clock MTS on the Source PC and log in as the administrator. Go to the Tools->Options-> System Options Menu.
3. Move the database to the shared directory on the Destination PC, you can find more information on how to do this in the System Options Help Topic.
4. Install Time Clock MTS on the Destination PC.
5. On the destination PC open the file timeclock.ini in Windows Notepad. If you've got Windows Vista or Windows 7 this file will be in the directory c:\ProgramData\Time Clock MTS\, on Windows XP it will be in the directory C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Time Clock MTS\. Note that you may need to Show Hidden Files and Folders to see this directory whatever version of Windows you happen to be using.
6. Once you've got the file timeclock.ini open in Windows Notepad look for an entry called DatabaseLoc and enter the path to the timeclock.mdb file you placed in the shared directory you setup in Step 1 above.
7. Run Time Clock MTS on the Destination PC, you should now be connected to the database you setup on the source PC.
Method 2 : Manually Moving the Database
1. Install Time Clock MTS on the Destination PC.
2. Copy the file timeclock.mdb from the Source PC. If you've got Windows Vista or Windows 7 this file will be in the directory c:\ProgramData\Time Clock MTS\Database\, on Windows XP it will be in the directory C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Time Clock MTS\Database\. Note that you may need to Show Hidden Files and Folders to see this directory regardless of what version of Windows you happen to be using.
3. Paste the file copied above into the appropriate directory on the Destination PC replacing the file that is there. If you've got Windows Vista or Windows 7 this directory will be c:\ProgramData\Time Clock MTS\Database\, on Windows XP it will be c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Time Clock MTS\Database\. Note that you may need to Show Hidden Files and Folders to see this directory whatever version of Windows you happen to be using.
4. Run Time Clock MTS on the Destination PC, you should now be connected to the database you setup on the source PC.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 10:26 AM | Comments (0)

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November 17, 2009

Showing Department Folders on Employee List Interface


Employee List with Department Folders

Version 2.5.0 of Time Clock MTS included an interesting new feature that allows you to split the Employee List Interface into departmental folders. This can be extremely useful if you have a lot of employees or if you have separate Time Clock MTS client stations located around your business on a department by department basis. In the screenshot above you can see how the employees are split up by department and that the department groups can be expanded or collapsed as required. Time Clock MTS will remember which departments you have expanded or collapsed when you restart the software so you can setup (for example) a single Time Clock MTS Client to just display the employees from a single department.

Turning on the department folder view of Time Clock MTS is very easy. Just login as the Administrator and then go to the Tools->Options->Interface Settings page. When you're on this screen check the Dept. Folders on Employee List checkbox and then click the Save button to commit the changes. When you return to the employee list you should see that it is now split up by departments. Of course you'll need to have some departments defined and have assigned your employees to the departments.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 6:11 AM | Comments (0)

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September 15, 2009

Tracking Jobs in Time Clock MTS

A lot of businesses either want to track employee costs based on what tasks they're working on, or perhaps on a customer based project by project basis. In Time Clock MTS we call this 'job tracking'. This Time Clock MTS How To Article describes how to easily setup Time Clock MTS to track jobs and then leads you briefly through the process of how an employee would log their time against a job as they use Time Clock MTS.


Creating and Editing Jobs

Step 1 : Defining Jobs

Firstly 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. Once you've done this go to the Tools->Options->Job Tracking screen, where you'll see the screen above. To create a new job just click the new job button and you'll be shown the screen below.


Creating a Job

To create a job give it a unique numerical job code, give the job a name, and if you like a description. If you do not have your own job numbering system Time Clock MTS will automatically assign each new job a unique job code. You can also disable a job to prevent employees booking time to that job. This might be useful if you're just setting your system up, or your customer isn't paying you for that job anymore, or perhaps your internal budget for a project has been exceeded.


Employee Details

Step 2 : Deciding Which Employees will Use Job Tracking

The next step is to decide which employees will have to use job tracking and how they will use it. Select an employee on the employee list and go to the Employee Maintenance->Edit Selected Employee screen (which you can see above). On the employee information screen use the job tracking drop down box to define how an employee will use job tracking. They can either not use it, use it optionally (they can choose not to enter a job code when they clock in) or must use it (they must enter a job code when they clock in).


Entering a Job Code

Step 3 : Employees Entering Job Codes

Entering job codes for employees couldn't be any easier. When employees clock in they'll be shown the enter job code screen above. Employees need to enter the job code for the job they want to book the time to either via keyboard or via the numeric buttons on the screen (with a mouse click or via a touchscreen). Time Clock MTS will try to auto complete the job code for the employee and show the job details so that the employee is sure he or she is booking their time to the correct job. It would be very useful to have printed out the Active Job Report and have this next to your Time Clock MTS computers so that the employees have a readily available list of the jobs they can book time to.


Switching Jobs

Employees can quickly switch jobs by clocking out of Time Clock MTS (via either the employee list or keypad screens of Time Clock MTS). The screen above will be shown to employees where they can either clock out or switch jobs. If they switch jobs the enter job code screen will be shown again and the employee can enter a new job code and switch to a new job.

Step 4 : Reporting on Jobs

The Job Time Report provides the Time Clock Administrator with all the information they'll need to understand how time is being booked to jobs. It shows a break down of each job defined in Time Clock MTS, and how much time each employee has logged against each job.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 2:59 PM | Comments (0)

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August 26, 2009

How to Prevent Employees from Stopping and Starting Time Clock MTS


Preventing Employees from Stopping and Starting Time Clock MTS

A fairly common method of defrauding computer time clocks is to stop the time clock software running, change the computers' system clock, and then restart the software and record a fraudulent clock in or out. To prevent this Time Clock MTS includes a feature to prevent employees from stopping and restarting Time Clock MTS without the intervention of the Time Clock MTS administrator. This Time Clock MTS How To Article covers how to prevent employees from stopping and re-starting Time Clock MTS.

To prevent employyes from stopping and re-starting Time Clock MTS just follow the steps shown below.

1. 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.
2. Go to the Tools->Options->Security screen and you'll be shown the screen at the top of this article. Select the require password setting from the dropdown. The options are to require password on program start, program end, or both. The most secure options are program start or program start AND program end. Just selecting program end is not particularly secure because Time Clock MTS could just be stopped using the Windows Task Manager.
3. When you're happy with your Require Administrator Password setting press the Save button to save the changes. Now, depending on what setting you've selected the Time Clock MTS administrator password will need to be entered on program start, stop, or both.

It is worth noting that this setting is most effective at preventing employee time clock fraud when used in conjunction with the Prevent System Clock Changes feature.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 2:41 PM | Comments (0)

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Preventing System Clock Changes


Preventing System Clock Changes

There are several features in Time Clock MTS designed to prevent employee fraud. One of these allows you to prevent system clock changes while Time Clock MTS is running, and thus prevent employees from simply changing the system clock to tamper with their clock in and clock out times. This Time Clock MTS How To Article covers how to prevent system clock changes while Time Clock MTS is running.

To dis-allow system clock changes in Time Clock MTS while it is running just follow the steps shown below.

1. 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.
2. Go to the Tools->Options->Security Settings screen and you'll be shown the screen at the top of this article. To get Time Clock MTS to prevent system clock changes while it is running just check the Do Not Allow System Clock Changes checkbox.
3. When you're happy the change press the Save button to save the changes and Time Clock MTS will now monitor the system clock for any changes.

It is worth noting that Time Clock MTS does not actually prevent the system clock being changed, it will however prevent any employee clocking in or out if it detects that the system clock has been changed by more than a few seconds. It is also worth noting that this feature is only really useful if it is teamed up with the 'Require Admin Password' setting. This means the admin password will need to be entered on software startup, software shutdown, or both.


Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 2:28 PM | Comments (0)

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August 25, 2009

Setting Up Automatic Employee Breaks


Setting Up Automatic Employee Breaks

In some cases it may be more efficient to automatically assign a break period to an employees' payroll information rather than getting them to clock in and out at lunch break for example. Time Clock MTS can account for this by allowing you to allocate an automatic break period to your employees. This Time Clock MTS How To Article covers how to setup automatic employee breaks.

To setup automatic employee breaks in Time Clock MTS just follow the steps shown below.

1. 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.
2. Go to the Tools->Options->Payroll Settings screen and you'll be shown the screen at the top of this article. To setup automatic breaks you must determine how long an employee must work before a break is applied and how long the automatic break will be. You can apply breaks after 1 to 8 of consecutive hours worked (in half hour increments). The length of the break applied can range from 5 minutes to 90 minutes (in 5 minute increments). To apply an automatic break check the Automatically Apply Breaks checkbox and select the appropriate break length and work period from the drop down boxes.
3. When you're happy with your automatic break setup press the Save button to save the changes and the next time you run a report the times will be rounded.

It is worth noting that Time Clock MTS does not create a clock in / out pair for the automatic break, it is simply applied at report time.


Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 2:44 PM | Comments (0)

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How to Round Report Times


Setting Up Report Rounding

While Time Clock MTS records all clock in and out times to the nearest second it can be useful to round the times for reporting purposes. There are several reasons why you might like to do this, but the primary reason is that your overtime policy may require overtime to be of a certain length before it can apply. Rounding could therefore be used to exclude overtime from payroll calculations if an employee was to clock in just a few minutes early or just a few minutes late every day. This Time Clock MTS How To Article covers how setup report time rounding.

To setup report time rounding in Time Clock MTS just follow the steps shown below.

1. 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.
2. Go to the Tools->Options->Payroll Settings screen and you'll be shown the screen at the top of this article. There are 4 different rounding options, the nearest minute, nearest 1/10th of an hour (6 minutes), nearest 15 minutes and nearest 30 minutes. To select one just choose it from the Report Time Rounding dropdown box.
3. Check the least quantity box if required. When this option is selected all clock in times will be rounded up and clock out times will be rounded down to the nearest time increment selected from the rounding drop down box.
4. When you're happy with your selection press the Save button to save the changes and the next time you run a report the times will be rounded.

It is worth noting that Time Clock MTS uses standard rounding to round report times. So, if for example, you've got rounding set to 15 minutes the following case would apply. Any clock in from 8:00:01am to 8:07:29AM would be rounded down to 8:00AM. Any time between 8:07:30AM and 8:14:59AM would be rounded up to 8:15:00AM. Of course this does not apply if the Least Quantity setting is checked.

Another thing to note is that report rounding occurs at the time of reporting only, the actual clock in and clock out times are maintained at their original accurate to the nearest second value that was recorded originally.


Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 2:16 PM | Comments (0)

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August 20, 2009

Re-Enabling an Employee in Time Clock MTS

As I've mentioned previously it is possible to disable an employee in Time Clock MTS to prevent them from clocking in or out. However, you may find that you need to re-enable these employees so they can start using the software again. This Time Clock MTS How To Article covers how to re-enable a Time Clock MTS employee who has been disabled.

To re-enable an employee in Time Clock MTS just follow the steps shown below.

1. 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. You can easily see which employees are disabled on the employee list when you're logged in as the administrator, they have a gray status icon next to their names in the employee list.

Re-Enabling an Employee
2. Go to the Employee Maintenance->Re-Enable Employee Menu.

Re-Enabling an Employee
3. You'll be asked to confirm your action, once you've done so the employee will be re-enabled.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 9:31 AM | Comments (0)

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August 19, 2009

Checking Who is Currently Clocked In

It is is important that a supervisor be able to see at a glance who is currently clocked in for work and who is not. Time Clock MTS provides this information visually via the Employee List (people clocked in have green status icon, people clocked out a red). However, if your employee list is long or you need a paper print out there is a better way of viewing this information. This Time Clock MTS How To Article covers how to quickly and easily generate a report to see who is currently clocked in or out of Time Clock MTS.

To view a report showing who is clocked in or out of Time Clock MTS just follow the steps below.

1. 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.

Checking Who is Currently Clocked In Step 1
2. Go to the Reporting->Current Status Report Menu

Checking Who is Currently Clocked In Step 2
3. You'll now be shown the Current Status Report. This report is simple to understand, it is split into two main areas, employees clocked in at the top, and employees clocked out at the bottom. The time of the last action for each employee is displayed next to their name. The report can be exported or printed easily by just clicking the appropriate buttons at the bottom of the reporting screen.

That's all there is to it, if you require more information you may like to take a look at the Current Status Report Help Topic.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 10:20 AM | Comments (0)

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August 18, 2009

Printing a List of Time Clock MTS Employees

As a Time Clock MTS administrator it can be useful to have a printed list of all the employees currently in the system. This Time Clock MTS How To Article covers how to quickly and easily generate a report showing a list of all employees and their pin numbers.

To view a report showing all employees currently stored in Time Clock MTS just follow the simple steps below.

1. 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.

Print an Employee List Step 1
2. Go to the Reporting->Employee ID Report Menu

Print an Employee List Step 2
3. You'll now be shown the Employee ID / Badge Number report. This report is simple to understand, it just shows a list of all employees in Time Clock MTS sorted alphabetically along with their badge numbers and PINs. The report can be exported or printed easily by just clicking the appropriate buttons at the bottom of the reporting screen.

That's all there is to it, if you require more information you may like to take a look at the Badge Number Report Help Topic.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 10:52 AM | Comments (0)

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June 15, 2009

Deleting an Employee from Time Clock MTS

From time to time it may be necessary to delete an employees' Time Clock MTS account. Most likely this would be be because the employee has left the company and you no longer have any need for their time and attendance records to be reported on in Time Clock MTS. This Time Clock MTS How To Article covers how to delete a Time Clock MTS employee.

To delete an employee in Time Clock MTS just follow the steps shown below.

1. 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.
2. Click on the employee in the employee list that you want to delete.

Deleting an Employee
3. Once you've selected the employee go to the Employee Maintenance->Delete Selected Employee menu. This is shown in the image above.

Deleting an Employee
4. You'll now be shown the Delete Employee screen. Deletion of an employee can only be reversed by our support staff so a confirmation procedure is required to delete an employee. On this screen to confirm the deletion of the employee just type DELETE into the text are in capitals.
5. Once you've entered the confirming DELETE into the text box just click the Delete Employee button to delete the selected employee.

Once deleted an employee will not be able to clock in or out. Their time records will no longer be available for reporting purposes and the employees name will no longer appear on any lists within the software. Note that an employee can be un-deleted by Time Clock MTS support staff, just contact us for more information.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 3:13 PM | Comments (0)

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June 11, 2009

Disabling an Employee in Time Clock MTS

From time to time it may be necessary to temporarily disable an employees' Time Clock MTS account. This could be because the employee has left the company and you want to maintain their payroll records in the short term for reporting purposes. Or it could be to stop an employee clocking in and out for administrative reasons. This Time Clock MTS How To Article covers how to temporarily disable a Time Clock MTS employee.

To disable an employee in Time Clock MTS just follow the steps shown below.

1. 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.
2. Click on the employee in the employee list that you want to disable.

Disabling an Employee
3. Once you've selected the employee go to the Employee Maintenance->Disable Selected Employee menu. This is shown in the image above.

Disabling an Employee
4. You'll now be shown the Disable Employee screen. Despite the fact that you can easily re-enable an employee you still need to go through a confirmation process to disable an employee to stop it happening by accident. On this screen to confirm the disabling of the employee just type DISABLE into the text are in capitals.
5. Once you've entered the confirming DISABLE into the text box just click the Disable Employee button to disable the selected employee.

Once disabled an employee will not show in the employee list nor will they be able to clock in or out using the keypad interface. Note that disabled employees will be displayed in the employee list when you're logged in as the administrator. Their attendance data will also still be available to payroll reports.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 3:26 PM | Comments (0)

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Copying an Employee in Time Clock MTS

Typically in most companies there will be groups of employees for whom the same payroll and overtime rules apply. To speed up the creation of such employees in Time Clock MTS it is possible to copy an existing employee record to easily create a new one. This Time Clock MTS How To Article covers how to copy a Time Clock MTS employee.

To create a new employee by copying a existing employee just follow the steps below.




1. 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.


2. Click on the employee in the employee list that you want to copy.



Copying an Employee


3. Once you've selected the employee you want to copy go to the Employee Maintenance->Copy Selected Employee menu. This is shown in the image above.



Copying an Employee


4. You'll now be shown the Add Employee screen with all the details from the copied employee filled in already. The only differences will be the name and the employee ID / badge number. All you need to do is set the name to the correct name for the employee and assign them a PIN.


5. Once you've done these couple of things to your satisfaction just click the Save Employee button to create the new employee record.



That's all there is to it. To get more detailed help on what each field on each employee sub page does consult the online help file.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 2:20 PM | Comments (0)

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Adding an Employee to Time Clock MTS

For an employee to be able to clock in and out of Time Clock MTS you must create an employee account that they can use. This Time Clock MTS How To Article very briefly covers how to create a Time Clock MTS employee.

To create a new employee in Time Clock MTS just follow the steps show below.

1. 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.

Adding an Employee
2. Once you're logged in go to the Employee Maintenance->Add an Employee menu. This is shown in the image above.

Adding an Employee
3. You'll now be shown the Add Employee screen. This screen is split into 4 sub pages, the Employee Information page, the Payroll Information page, the Contact Information page, and the Tax Information page. The only things you must enter to create a new employee is the employee's full name, a unique badge ID, and a PIN (or password) for the new employee.
4. Once you've setup the employee to your satisfaction just click the Save Employee button to create the new employee record.

That's all there is to it. To get more detailed help on what each field on each employee sub page does consult the online help file or click on the links show in Step 3 above.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 2:07 PM | Comments (0)

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June 9, 2009

What is the Keypad Interface?


Keypad Interface

Time Clock MTS provides two different interfaces to allow employees to clock in and out. The first of these is the Employee List interface designed to be used with a computer mouse, the second is the Keypad interface designed to be used with a touchscreen or input device such as a bar code read or magnetic card reader. This Time Clock MTS How To Article covers the keypad interface.

The Keypad interface is selected by the Time Clock MTS Administrator on the Tools->Options->Interface Settings page (read about it in the help file). The keypad interface comprises two main areas. The keypad (which can be used with a computer mouse or touch screen) on the left, and the entry text box and employee status area on the right. To use the keypad interface to clock in or out an employee simply enter their employee ID (or badge number) using the keypad and clicks Enter when they are ready to clock in or out. Time Clock MTS will clock the employee in or out depending on what their last action was. When they are successfully clocked in or out the details of the action will be displayed in the status area.

The real advantage of the Keypad interface is that it can be used with data readers such as bar code readers or magnetic card readers. All you need to do is encode your barcode badges or magnetic cards with the Time Clock MTS employee badge ID's and scan in the data. The data reader will populate the entry text box with the employee Badge ID and at the end of the data read (usually) a data reader sends the return code (the same as pressing the return key on the keyboard). This will press the Enter button on the Keypad interface and clock the employee in or out.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 1:56 PM | Comments (0)

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What is the Employee List Interface?





Employee List Interface

Time Clock MTS provides two different interfaces to allow employees to clock in and out. The first of these is the Employee List interface designed to be used with a computer mouse, the second is the Keypad interface designed to be used with a touchscreen or input device such as a bar code read or magnetic card reader. This Time Clock MTS How To Article covers the Employee List interface.

The Employee List interface is selected by the Time Clock MTS Administrator on the Tools->Options->Interface Settings page (read about it in the help file). You can see what the employee list interface looks like above. The screen is split into two main sections, an alphabetically sorted list of the active Time Clock MTS employees on the left, and the clock in / out buttons and current employee status area on the right.

The sorted employee list contains a line for each active Time Clock MTS employee along with a status icon next to each name. An employee with a green icon is clocked in and with a red icon clocked out. To save on network traffic the Time Clock MTS Client only maintains the status icons for each employee for 60 seconds before the icons all change to gray. As you select an employee in the list the status light will update automatically showing you the most up to date status for that employee. The clock in / out buttons on the right side will be enabled or disabled depending on the status of the selected employee, so an employee that is clocked in will only be able to clock out and vice versa. The status of the employee will also be updated showing the time and date (and any note) for the last action performed by the selected employee. At the bottom of the employee list is a light blue search box that allows you to enter a few letters and be quickly taken to that employee in the employee list. This is a quick way of finding employees if you have a very long employee list.

On the right hand side of the screen the employee selected in the employee list can clock in or out using the Clock In or Out buttons. The current date and time is shown below the Clock In / Out buttons. If the Time Clock MTS administrator has enabled it, the employee may also be able to view their own time cards by clicking the View My Information button. Note that on the Time Clock MTS Client there is an additional button entitled 'Refresh' that will update the status icons in the employee list. The status area shows the name of the currently selected employee and the details of the last action that employee performed.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 1:11 PM | Comments (0)

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Logging in as the Administrator

To access payroll reports and to be able to configure Time Clock MTS you must be using the software in Administrator mode. This Time Clock MTS How To Article covers how to log into Time Clock MTS as the administrator and thus access the Administrator mode.


Logging in as Administrator

When Time Clock MTS is operating in Normal mode and you want to log in as the administrator you must use the File->Log in as Administrator menu as shown in the image above. Once you've selected this menu item you'll be shown the Enter Administrator Password screen as shown below.


Administrator Login Screen

Your administrator password was set by you when you first installed Time Clock MTS. Remember that is is cASe SenSITive and that you (or someone else with administrator access to Time Clock MTS) may have changed it. Once you've entered the password correctly and clicked the Login button you'll be logged in correctly and Time Clock MTS will be operating in Administrator mode. If you've forgotten your password then you'll need to reset your administrator password.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 12:09 PM | Comments (0)

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What is Administrator Mode?


Time Clock MTS in Administrator Mode

Time Clock MTS operates in two main modes. Normal mode, which is used by employees to clock in and out, and Administrator mode, which is used by the administrator to configure the software and run payroll reports. This Time Clock MTS How To Article covers administrator mode.

You can get into the Time Clock MTS Administrator by logging in as the administrator via the File->Log In As Administrator menu (this will be covered by an up-coming How To Article). Once you're logged in as the administrator you'll have access to all the menus in Time Clock MTS. In the image above you can see that all menus are enabled. Note that in the Time Clock MTS Client, most of these menus are not available. While you're operating Time Clock MTS in the Administrator mode you can perform all of the reporting and maintenance functions of the software, a short list of the sorts of things you can do follows. Please note that this is by no means a full listing of all the things you can do within Time Clock MTS!

• Create, edit, disable and delete employees using the Employee Maintenance page.
• Setup fingerprint security for employees using the Employee Maintenance page.
• Run payroll reports using the Report menu.
• Search, backup, and restore the Time Clock MTS database using the Tools menu.
• Setup employee bulletin notices using the Tools menu.
• Configure the software using the Tools->Options menu.
• Access help resources and register the software using the Help menu.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 11:33 AM | Comments (0)

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What is Normal Mode?

Time Clock MTS operates in two main modes. Normal mode, which is used by employees to clock in and out, and Administrator mode, which is used by the administrator to configure the software and run payroll reports. This Time Clock MTS How To Article covers normal mode.


Employee List Interface in Normal Mode

The normal mode of operation in Time Clock MTS is the mode in which it will operate almost all of the time. By far the most common activity that will be carried out in the normal mode of operation is employees clocking in or out. A key indicator that Time Clock MTS is currently in normal mode of operation is that all the menus at the top are disabled apart from the File menu and the Help menu. When operating in Normal mode with the employee list interface enabled Time Clock MTS will look like the image above. Note that most of the menus are disabled. Using the employee list interface employees may also be able to view their own time cards and you can see the last activity each employee carried out.


Keypad Interface in Normal Mode

When using the keypad interface employees can only clock in and out using the numeric keypad. There are no other activities available to them while operating in normal mode. You can see what the keypad interface looks like while operating in normal mode in the image above. Note again that most of the menus are disabled.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 10:55 AM | Comments (0)

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June 4, 2009

Time Clock MTS How To Guides

I'm in the process of creating a new 'how to' guide for Time Clock MTS. This will be very different to the current Help File that is available online and that ships with the software. The current help file is what I'd called 'screen based'. It describes each screen and what each element on the screen does, but it doesn't really tell you directly how to do perform a given task in Time Clock MTS. The new 'how to guide' will be very task based, and any new user to the software should be able to use it to learn how to perform almost any task within the software. You'll be able to see the how to guide here in the weblog. I've created a master index on the site that categorizes each how to guide entry so that you can find what you need to do more easily. You can view the How to Guide Master Index here. I'll try to add one article a week to this guide.

Posted by By Mark Nemtsas at 10:46 AM | Comments (0)

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