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 mnemtsas at 6:11 AM | Comments (0)

Time Clock MTS Version 2.5.0 Released

Version 2.5.0 of Time Clock MTS was released today. While there isn't a large number of changes from the last release I feel that the number of new features that have been added since 2.4.0 and the large improvements in reliability justify the minor version update. Changes from the last release include:

  • Added department folder view to the employee list interface along with a new setting to turn this on. More on this in a subsequent blog entry.
  • Added mouseover highlights to employees on the employee list.
  • A few tweaks to the way the employee list interface works to ensure it is updated correctly when editing employees or changing program settings.
  • A default report is now selected on the Payroll Reports screen when first running the software.

Posted by mnemtsas at 6:03 AM | Comments (0)

October 29, 2009

Time Clock MTS Version 2.4.7 Released

I released a very minor update of Time Clock MTS today taking it along to version 2.4.7. There were two small fixes, one to a very minor rounding problem that could sometimes make durations in reports one second too short or too long. The other was an error a few people had seen when closing down the software.

A week ago I also released version 2.4.6 of Time Clock MTS that fixed up another error that occurred when closing down the software while logged in as the administrator. This was introduced in version 2.4.2 with the new employee list interface system that stopped the dreaded error 0 that I hadn't been able to fix for a long while.

Posted by mnemtsas at 4:05 PM | Comments (0)

October 21, 2009

Time Clock MTS 2.4.5 Released


The Job Punchcard Report

There was a very minor release of Time Clock MTS made yesterday (version 2.4.4) that fixed up an error that a very few people were seeing. Today I made another release that includes a new report, the 'Job Punchcard Report' which you can see above. This report is very similar to the Punchcard Report. It shows a list of all time punches for the employee over the report period plus the job worked on for each punch. A total for each job worked on during the report period is shown at the bottom of each employee section.

If you don't know what job tracking is in Time Clock MTS you should take a look at our job tracking time clock page for more information.

Posted by mnemtsas at 12:11 PM | Comments (0)

October 6, 2009

Time Clock MTS Version 2.4.3 Released

Just a minor release today fixing up an error introduced with the last version plus two other problems that a very few users were seeing. The refresh employee list button wasn't working correctly in the client version, employee bulletins were not being displayed correctly , and one user was getting a strange error message. All of these are now fixed up.

Posted by mnemtsas at 12:39 PM | Comments (0)

September 15, 2009

Time Clock MTS Version 2.4.0 Released

A fairly major release today fixing up some minor problems and adding a major new feature, job tracking. I'll do a detailed blog entry and static web site page on job tracking so I won't cover it in too much detail here. Stay tuned for more details on how this exciting new feature works. A brief list of the changes can be found below.

  • Added job tracking. This included a new job tracking screen on the Tools->Options screen, two new reports (the active job and job time reports), a new employee setting (job tracking requirements), and two new data entry screens, the job code screen and the switch jobs screen.
  • Various changes to stop Time Clock MTS grabbing the windows focus when it is not the active window.
  • Fix to web cam image capturing when using the keypad interface.
  • Moved the error text box on the keypad interface, it was partially hidden by another text field.
  • When you're logged in as the administrator you can double click on an employee in the employee list and be shown the edit employee details screen for that employee.

In the next few hours I'll have some more information posted about the new job tracking features.

Posted by mnemtsas at 11:30 AM | Comments (0)

June 30, 2009

Time Clock MTS Version 2.2.16 Released

A new release of Time Clock MTS today that adds a new report and a new report printing setting.

  1. The new report setting can be found on the Tools->Options->Report Settings screen. Called New Employee Page Break when set reports will print out with a single page per employee. When not set reports will be printed continuously with no page breaks.

    2. Departmental Wages Report
  2. The new report is called the Departmental Wages Report and is shown above. This report shows a simple break down of hours worked by employee, employees are sorted into departments and a departmental subtotal of hours worked is shown for each department. As usual you can access this report from the Tools->Payroll Reports menu.

Posted by mnemtsas at 8:30 AM | Comments (0)

May 3, 2009

What Computer is Your Employee Clocking in or Out From?


The Time Location Report

One of the most common forms of employee time clock fraud is buddy punching. This is simply when one employee clocks in or out for another one. Time Clock MTS has a number of methods built into it to help you reduce or eliminate this practice including fingerprint security, image capturing, and employee PINs. Version 2.2.12 saw a new feature added to the software to help further eliminate buddy punching.

When an employee clocks in or out Time Clock MTS now records the Computer Name and Network MAC address along with the time record. Each computer on your network will have a unique computer name and the network cards in these computers all have a unique MAC address. Armed with these two pieces of information you or your network admins can determine exactly which PC an employee clocked in or out from. To give you this information in an easy to read format there's a new report, the Time Location Report. You can run this report in the same way as you run all the other Time Clock MTS reports, from the Report Configuration Screen. An example of this new report is shown above. Each time recorded for the employee has it's own line and each time shows the computer name and MAC address of the computer the employee clocked in or out from.

So, if each of your employees is supposed to clock in and out from their own PC, and you suspect someone is clocking in or out for someone else, then this new feature can help you detect this practise. Just run the Time Location Report and you can see quickly and easily where an employee is clocking in or out from!

Posted by mnemtsas at 9:46 AM | Comments (0)

March 7, 2009

Fingerprint Time Clock Software

Did you know that Time Clock MTS has recently integrated biometric technology into it's software? With the use of a U.are.U fingerprint scanner by Digital Persona you can now feel more secure in the knowledge that your employee time and attendance data is more accurate than ever.

These scanners can be obtained from Californiapc.com and it's as simple as plugging in the scanner to your usb port. It's simple to setup employees and enroll their fingerprints into the software for clocking in and out, just look at our flash tutorial.

Using fingerprint technology incorporated into the time clock software you will eliminate buddy punching or misuse by your staff. Time Clock MTS fingerprint time clock software has to be the best biometric time clock software available at very reasonable cost to your business. You can download the trial version and see how it works for you FREE.

Posted by mnemtsas at 8:01 AM | Comments (0)

February 5, 2009

Time Clock MTS 2.2.0 Released

A new version released today. One small fix to stop a constant slow down of the software over time and one major new feature. The major new feature is the integration of Time Clock MTS with a Fingerprint Scanner. This is the last word in employee security and along with the other security features in Time Clock MTS should help you to eliminate buddy punching and payroll fraud completely.

The software will only work with the Digital Persona U.are.U 4000 and 4500 fingerprint scanners. Currently I am not selling the hardware but Digital Persona recommended I use California PC as a supplier for the scanners. The price they offer is good and they should provide you with good after sales service. To get the software running with a Digital Persona scanner try taking a look at the using Time Clock MTS with a fingerprint scanner help topic.

As always please email me if you have any questions or problems.

Posted by mnemtsas at 7:02 AM | Comments (0)

February 4, 2009

Time Clock MTS goes Biometric!

Within the next few hours version 2.2 of Time Clock MTS will be released. The key feature in this new version is integration with Digital Persona fingerprint scanners that you can purchase from California PC. By using a fingerprint scanner with Time Clock MTS you'll pretty much eliminate payroll fraud and buddy punching. I bet that most companies will recoup the cost of the software and scanners in just a few weeks, with the ROI over a year likely to be in the hundreds of percent.

If you want to read more about Time Clock MTS will work with a fingerprint scanner then there's that page on the main site. Stay tuned, new release due out shortly!

Posted by mnemtsas at 4:22 PM | Comments (0)

January 21, 2009

Time Clock MTS Version 2.1.12 Released

A quick release today fixing up a couple of problems introduced in the new version yesterday and fixing up another problem with reports that I have been trying to track down for a while.

  • Fix to divide by zero error that occurred when running a report that included sick/vacation accrual data. Only occurred when an employee was assigned to a sick or vacation accrual scheme with a zero 'accrues every time period' setting.
  • Fixed up an error introduced to the calculation of working hours in the last version (did not effect payment amount)
  • Fixed up a problem with the 'always pay salary' setting that was added in the last version.

Posted by mnemtsas at 6:34 AM | Comments (0)

January 20, 2009

California Overtime Regulations Part 2

In part 1 of configuring Time Clock MTS to comply with Californian Overtime Regulations I covered how to setup the software to calculate this sort of overtime automatically. In this second part I'll cover how it is displayed in reports.


Report Template Changes to Show Overtime Rate 2

Modifying Report Templates

If you have only just started using Time Clock MTS then you will not need to modify your reports to display overtime rate 2 as the software will have set it up by default. You can therefore ignore this part of this article. However, if you are an existing user of Time Clock MTS upgrading an old version of the software to a newer version that supports the Californian Overtime Regulations then you will need to modify the Payroll Information report section template. In the image above you can see the relevant section that I have added to the report section template. I have added this immediately under the line that was already there that displayed the overtime rate 1 information. The line I have added is:

Daily OT2 Hours: <T><DAILY_OT2_HOURS> hrs @ <OT2_RATE> /hr = <DAILY_OT2_EARNINGS>

Basically this displays the heading 'Daily OT2 Hours:' along with the actual hours worked at overtime rate 2, the rate of pay for overtime rate 2 (which should be set to double time) and the earnings at overtime rate 2. If you don't understand what the report section templates are then you should take a look at my posts on customizing Time Clock MTS reports in part 1, part 2, and part 3.


Overtime Rate 2 Report Date in Payroll Summary Section

Viewing Overtime 2 Payment Amounts in Reports

If you choose to display the payroll summary section in a report (or run the payroll summary report) then you will be shown the new overtime rate 2 payment information as per the image above. You can see in this example that the employee is entitled to 1 hour of overtime at overtime rate 2 which is set to double the normal rate.

So, that's all there is to it. It is very simple to configure Time Clock MTS to comply with the Californian overtime regulations. Doing so will give you significant productivity improvements come payroll calculation time, and will help to you do reduce and eliminate payroll errors. As always please email me if you have any questions.

Posted by mnemtsas at 2:23 PM | Comments (0)

California Overtime Regulations Part 1


Employee Settings to Suit California Overtime Regulations

California has it's own set of peculiar regulations for payment of overtime to employees. They are reasonably complex and are tedious when you have to apply and calculate them manually. As of Version 2.1.11 Time Clock MTS is now fully compliant with these regulations saving you a lot of time calculating your payroll and overtime pay. You can read about these regulations in detail on the Californian Department of Industrial Relations website. The relevant section of the page that applies (given that an employee is not subject to an exemption or exception) is:


1. One and one-half times the employee's regular rate or pay for all hours worked in excess of eight hours up to and including 12 hours in any workday, and for the first eight hours worked on the seventh consecutive day of work in a workweek; and

2. Double the employee's regular rate or pay for all hours worked in excess of 12 hours in any workday and for all hours worked in excess of eight on the seventh consecutive day of work in a workweek.

Thus overtime can be split into two parts:

  1. Daily Overtime: hours worked between 8 and 12 in a single day are subject to 1.5 times the normal rate of pay. Hours worked in excess of 12 hours in a single day are subject to 2.0 times the normal rate of pay.
  2. Seventh day overtime: If an employee works for the first 6 days of a work week then they are eligible for overtime if they work on the seventh day of the work week. The first 8 hours of work on the seventh day are subject to 1.5 times the normal rate of pay. Hours worked in excess of 8 hours are subject to double the normal rate of pay.

Overtime Settings to Suit California Overtime Regulations

Setting up Time Clock MTS to comply with these regulations is simple. Firstly, you must edit the employee payroll information for each employee that is to receive overtime. In the first image in this post you can see an employee configured with overtime rate 1 set to 1.5 times the base rate of pay, and overtime rate 2 to double the base rate of pay. Once this is done for each employee you can then move on to the global overtime settings.

The second screenshot in this post shows Time Clock MTS configured to calculate overtime as per the Californian stipulations. Daily over time rate 1 is set to trigger at 8 hours and over time rate 2 is set to trigger at 12 hours. Weekly overtime is turned off and the calculation of overtime is set to daily overtime only. Lastly, the seventh day overtime setting is checked and the limit set to 8 hours.

In the next installment I'll cover modifying the Time Clock MTS report section templates to display the new payment amounts covered by overtime rate 2.

Posted by mnemtsas at 11:51 AM | Comments (0)

November 27, 2008

Resetting the Time Clock MTS Administrator Password


Reset Administrator Password Screen

One of the most common questions we get is from users who have lost track of what their Time Clock MTS administrator password is. This could be because they've not used the software for a long time, because of a change of staff, or perhaps simply because they've forgotten what the password was. Previously we had to reset the password for users and this meant they had to email their Time Clock MTS database to us. With the release of Version 2.1.8 of Time Clock MTS this will (hopefully) be largely a thing of the past.

Two password reminder questions have been added to the software which allow you to reset the password yourself. These reminder questions are set either when you first install the administrator software or from the Tools->Options->System Options screen. When you need to reset the password you can do so in the administrator software on the File->Reset Administrator Password menu. You'll be shown the screen above.

If you answer both questions correctly (and I mean EXACTLY the same as the initial answers including case sensitivity) then you'll be able to reset the administrator password. How the password is reset depends on how your copy of Time Clock MTS is licensed.

  • You are operating in trial mode or free mode: when the password is reset Time Clock MTS contacts our web server. The web server sends a new password back to the software and you'll be told directly what the new password is.
  • You are have purchased the software BUT have not received your license code yet: when the password is reset Time Clock MTS contacts our web server, the web server sends a new password back to the software and you'll be told directly what the new password is.
  • You are a registered Time Clock MTS user: when the password is reset Time Clock MTS contacts our web server. The web server sends an email to the email address used to make the original purchase. Time Clock MTS will then tell you what email address the password has been sent to. This is a much more secure method and one of the advantages of purchasing the software.

The one thing to realize with resetting the password is that you must have answered the password reminder questions to be able to use this new function. If you haven't answered them then you're stuck with resetting your administrator password the old way. If you need instructions on how to do this take a look at our support forum.

Posted by mnemtsas at 2:36 PM | Comments (0)

Time Clock MTS Version 2.1.8 Released

I've released a new version of Time Clock MTS today. All of the new features are focused on improving the usability of the software.

  • I've added two administrator password reminder questions. You can either answer these when you first install the software or on the Tools->Options->System Options screen.
  • An administrator password reset screen has been added on the File->Reset Administrator Password menu. You can use this screen if you've answered the password reminder questions mentioned above.
  • Added links to various help topics on the Time Clock MTS website on various screens. For example, added a link to the software registration tutorial on the Help->Registration page.
  • Added a link to the online help on the Help menu. This is a work-around for users who don't seem to be able to view the integrated help.
  • Expanded the contents of the tips file.
  • There is now a link to the integrated help file installed in the program shortcut menu when you install the software.

I'll be doing a more comprehensive post on the reset password feature later today. Stay tuned!

Posted by mnemtsas at 8:02 AM | Comments (0)

November 7, 2008

Stopping Employees Clocking in Too Early

In Version 2.1.7 of Time Clock MTS a new feature was added that allows you some control over when employees can and cannot clock in. You can configure this while logged in as the administrator on the Tools->Options->Shifts page (see the shifts help topic for more information). Click the new shift button and you'll be taken to the Add/Edit shift screen as shown below.


The Add/Edit Shift Screen

At the bottom of this screen you can see the new setting Restrict First Clock in to XX before shift. All you need to do is make a selection of None, 1 minute, 6 minutes, 15 minutes, and 30 minutes from the drop down. Obviously if you select none then there will be no restriction on when an employee can clock in. However, if you select one of the time limits then any employee assigned to that particular shift will be prevented from clock in any earlier that the chosen limit before the shift start time. So, for example, in the shift above, any employee will not be able to clock in any earlier than 7.30AM.

There is one restriction on this, the clock in must be the first one of the day for the restriction to take effect. I'll work on enhancing this in the next release.

Posted by mnemtsas at 9:12 AM | Comments (0)

August 5, 2008

Customizing Time Clock MTS Reports - Part 3

In part 2 of customizing Time Clock MTS Reports I covered some of the report sections and data fields used to customize the reports in the software. In this third part I'll cover the remainder of the report sections and data fields.

Employee Summary Section


  • Full Name - the name of the employee as set on the Employee Information Screen

  • Total Work Time - the total hours worked by the employee for the report period

  • Total Holidays Time - the total public holiday hours for the employee for the report period

  • T - inserts a TAB space, used for alignment and formatting purposes

Employee Accruals Section


  • Sick Time Taken Period - the sick time taken by the employee for the report period

  • Sick Time Taken Fiscal - the sick time taken by the employee for the current fiscal year

  • Sick Time Taken All Time - the sick time taken by the employee since they were employed

  • Sick Time Owing - the current sick time owing to the employee

  • Vacation Time Taken Period - the vacation time taken by the employee for the report period

  • Vacation Time Taken Fiscal - the vacation time taken by the employee for the current fiscal year

  • Vacation Time Taken All Time - the vacation time taken by the employee since they were employed

  • Vacation Time Owing - the current vacation time owing to the employee

  • T - inserts a TAB space, used for alignment and formatting purposes

Payroll Information Section


  • Full Name - the name of the employee as set on the Employee Information Screen

  • Total Work Time - the total hours worked by the employee for the report period

  • Total Holidays Time - the total public holiday hours for the employee for the report period

  • SSN - the social security number of the employee as set on the Payroll Information Screen

  • Regular Hours - the number of hours worked by the employee during the report period that were paid at the normal rate

  • Daily OT Hours - the number of hours worked by the employee during the report period that were paid at the daily overtime rate

  • Weekly OT Hours - the number of hours worked by the employee during the report period that were paid at the weekly overtime rate

  • Normal Rate - the normal rate of pay

  • OT Rate - the overtime rate of pay

  • Normal Earnings - earnings during the report period at the normal rate of pay

  • Daily OT Earnings - earnings during the report period at the daily overtime rate of pay

  • Weekly OT Earnings - earnings during the report period at the weekly overtime rate of pay

  • Total Earnings - the total earnings for the report period

  • T - inserts a TAB space, used for alignment and formatting purposes

In the fourth and final part of this series on customizing Time Clock MTS reports I'll show some example report section templates and what these look like in the actual printed reports.

Posted by mnemtsas at 8:44 PM | Comments (0)

July 17, 2008

Customizing Time Clock MTS Reports Part 2

In part 1 of customizing Time Clock MTS Reports I covered the basic structure of reports and how you could customize them. In this second part I'll cover some of the Report Sections and the Data Fields that are available to each. If you dont know what a Report Section or Data Field is then go back and take a look at Part 1 of this topic.

Report Header Section


  • Report Name - the name of the report that is being run

  • Period Start - the report start date

  • Period End - the report end date

  • Report Time - the date and time the report is run

  • Shift Filter - the shift the report is filtered on (if applicable)

  • Employee Filter - the employee(s) the report is filtered on (if applicable)

  • Department Filter - the department the report is filtered on (if applicable)

  • T - inserts a TAB space, used for alignment and formatting purposes

Company Header Section


  • Company Name - the company name as set on the Display Settings page

  • Company Address - the company address as set on the Display Settings page

  • T - inserts a TAB space, used for alignment and formatting purposes

Employee Details Section

Employee Header Section

In Part 3 of this series I'll cover the remaining report sections.

Posted by mnemtsas at 11:39 AM | Comments (0)

July 9, 2008

Customizing Time Clock MTS Reports Part 1

Version 2 of Time Clock MTS included a complete re-work of the way reports functioned, and allowed you do configure the appearance of reports to suit your requirements. In this weblog entry I'll cover the basic elements of customizing reports, in subsequent entries I'll take a look in detail each aspect of doing so.

Report Structure
Each Time Clock MTS report has the same basic structure, this is best illustrated by the following simple diagram.

<Report Header>
<Company Header>

<Employee Header>
<Employee Details>
<Report Data>
<Employee Summary>
<Employee Accruals>
<Payroll Information>

The first 2 report sections are displayed once per report, the last 6 sections are displayed for each employee you choose to run the report on. All of these report sections except the <Report Data> section can be customized to your requirements. The report data section contains the data for the report that you are currently running.

How Are Report Sections Customized?
Reports are customized by configuring each report section using the Tools->Options->Report Settings page.

You can read more about this page in the Report Settings help topic. In basic terms you use this screen to customize report sections by selecting a report section, and configuring the section template using either free text or by inserting data fields using the Add Field button and drop down.

What is a Section Template?
A section template is simply the text that defines the format of a Report Section. A section template can contain any text you like and can contain Data Fields. Each section template has a number of Data Fields that can be added to it.

What is a Data Field?
A Data Field is text that can be included in a section template that is automatically replaced by Time Clock MTS when reports are generated. For example, if you include the Data Field in your section template it will be replaced by the name of the report when your report is run.

Next time I'll cover some of the report sections and the data fields that are available to each.

Posted by mnemtsas at 9:10 AM | Comments (0)

June 20, 2008

Using a Webcam with your Time Clock Software

A key problem with any time clock system is that of employees that clock in and out for each other. This is known as 'buddy punching' and is the main method by which employees try to manipulate their time card information. The use of magnetic cards, proximity devices, and PINs can help reduce buddy punching, but of course it does not prevent employees sharing their card, prox device, or even their PIN with a co-worker and still providing fraudulent data.

There are a couple of ways of eliminating buddy punching, one of these is capturing an employee image at the time of clocking or out. Using a computer along with Time Clock MTS and cheaply available web cameras allows you to have a very secure time and attendance solution that can largely eliminate buddy punching and help reduce your payroll costs accordingly.

Camera Hardware Requirements
You don't need anything special to allow Time Clock MTS to capture images when employees clock in and out. Time Clock MTS will work with almost any sort of USB web camera, if your version of MS Windows can detect your web camera then Time Clock MTS can probably use it.

Software Requirements
There are no additional software requirements, if you have Time Clock MTS Version 2.0.2 or newer then you have all the software you require to use a camera with Time Clock MTS. You can always download Time Clock MTS from here.

Setting Up Time Clock MTS to Use a Web Camera
Just make sure your web camera is plugged into your computer and then run Time Clock MTS and log in as the administrator. Go to the Tools->Options->Camera Settings page. You'll see the following screen:

If your camera is connected properly and is accessible by Time Clock MTS just check the Enable Image Capture check box. See below for a range of configuration options to setup image capture to suit your requirements:

  • You can decide when you want to capture images (clock in, clock out or clock in and out), it is recommended that you capture images on both events for maximum security.
  • The image capture location can be easily set using the Set button. By default it will have the location set to the same directory that your Time Clock MTS database is stored in.
  • Because captured images take up disk space you may decide to only keep the recorded images for a certain amount of time. Time Clock MTS can delete older images based on their age, you can decide to keep images for a week, a month, 6 months, or forever.
  • If you have more than one camera attached to your Time Clock MTS computer you can choose which one to use by clicking the Select Camera button. Time Clock MTS will default to the first camera attached to your computer if the selected camera is no longer attached to the PC.
  • Currently Time Clock MTS captures images into BMP format, which means that for bigger images the file size can be quite large. To help combat this you can select the captured image size by clicking the Select Image Size button. It is recommended you choose the smallest available capture size.

Viewing Captured Images
If you suspect that buddy punching is going on in your work place then you can view captured images easily from within Time Clock MTS. While you are logged in as the administrator go to the Tools->Edit Times screen.

You will see a button in the toolbar above the list of times with a camera icon on it. Just select the time you wish to view the captured image for, and then click the camera button. You'll then be shown the following screen showing your captured image along with the clock in/out and user details that are associated with the captured image.

(In case you're wondering no that's not me!)

That's all there is to it. If you have a web camera and want to ensure that your time clock information is secure and accurate then I'd strongly recommend using this feature to help reduce your payroll costs!

Posted by mnemtsas at 8:15 AM | Comments (0)

June 19, 2008

Time Clock MTS Version 2.0.2 Released

I've just released Version 2.0.2 which contains a number of fixes to problems introduced by the last release plus adds one major new feature. Changes made include:

  • A new security feature which allows you to use a camera attached to any Time Clock MTS computer to capture an image when users clock in or clock out. Administrators can then view the captured image associated with a clock in or out and verify that the correct person performed the action. This should allow you to stop buddy punching.
  • A fix to the Version 2 database updates for SQL Server and MySQL that didn't work correctly.
  • Fix to the last action display text to allow non English characters to be displayed.

There were a number of other minor fixes, for more information take a look at the Release Notes page. In the next day or two I'll write a longer post covering the new image capturing feature of Time Clock MTS, what it does, how it works, and how you might use it.

Posted by mnemtsas at 6:57 AM | Comments (0)

June 18, 2008

The Simple Wages Report

The Simple Wages Report is a new addition to Version to of Time Clock MTS.

Available from the report configuration screen gives a simple summary of activity across a time period. The summary is a simple line per employee. You can see at a glance the hours worked for the week, the hours of daily overtime, and the hours of weekly overtime. Total salary payable is also displayed.

This report is useful for supply to payroll departments for entry into payroll software, or even as a simple management report that gives key information without too much detail.

Posted by mnemtsas at 11:26 AM | Comments (0)

June 17, 2008

Creating Employees the Easy Way

One change to Time Clock MTS is simply a new item added to the Employee Maintenance menu. This deceptively simple menu item Copy Selected Employee fixes up one of the most common complaints I had about Time Clock MTS. Usually the complaint went something like this:

"How can I add employees to Time Clock MTS without having to type in all the details for every single one?"

Well, prior to Version 2, the answer to this question was you just can't add a number of employees quickly and easily. Right though, with the addition of the menu item above the job of adding many employees to Time Clock MTS has suddenly become a lot easier.

Here's how to quickly add an employee using another employee record as a template:

  1. Add the employee you want to use as a template, give them all the settings you require including payroll, assigning to a department, a shift, and whatever else you need. For the sake of this example we'll call this employee 'John Smith'.
  2. Select the employee 'John Smith' in the employee list and then select the Employee Maintenance->Copy Selected Employee menu item.
  3. The employee maintenance screen will now been displayed with all the details already filled in, the name of the employee will be set to 'Copy of John Smith'. All you need to do now is edit the details you want to change for this employee (such as the name, address, and PIN) and in just a few seconds you've created a new fully configured employee.
That's it, there's nothing else to it. Remember, when you do need to add an employee, and you want the employees record to be based on some existing employee you've already set up, then make use of the new Copy Selected Employee menu item!

Posted by mnemtsas at 7:23 AM | Comments (0)

June 14, 2008

Easily Finding Employees on the Employee List Interface

The employee list interface of Time Clock MTS is simple and easy to use when you have a mouse and keyboard available. However, when the list of employees becomes long it can be a chore to sort through it to find a name to be able to clock in or out. Time Clock MTS Version 2.0.1 introduces a new feature to allow you to easily find a name on the list with just a few keystrokes.

At the bottom of the employee list you can see a light blue colored text box, in its default state this box says <Search for an Employee>. If you type some letters in this box Time Clock MTS will find the first employee in the list whose name starts with those letters, the more letters you type the more refined the search will be.

For example, in the screenshot above lets say you type a 'J' into the box, Time Clock MTS will find the first person whose name starts with 'J' and select them (in this case John Smith). If you then type an 'o' it will select the first person whose name starts with 'Jo' (again John Smith). If you refine the search further by entering a 's' it will select the first person whose name starts with a 'Jos' (this time Jose Martinez is selected).

So, if you have a long employee list, and need to find your own name (or someone elses ) quickly and easily, just select the Search for an Employee text box, type in the first few characters of their name, and you'll be taken to their listing almost immediately.

Posted by mnemtsas at 3:46 PM | Comments (0)

June 12, 2008

Excluding Times from Overtime Calculations

Time Clock MTS Versions 2.0.1 and higher feature a new setting to allow you to exclude a time pair from any overtime calculations. You can do this via the Tools->Edit Times menu. Just select the time pair you want to exclude from overtime calculations and click the Edit Time button and you'll be shown the Edit Time screen.

To exclude a time from overtime calculations all you need to do is select the 'Ignore for Overtime' option for the time, and click the Save Time button to save the change. For overtime purposes this time will now be ignored for all overtime calculations regardless of other overtime settings. Let's examine how this would work with some examples.

Example 1
Daily overtime set at 8 hours, weekly overtime limit set at 40 hours. Employee works a 5 day week of 10 hrs, 8 hrs, 8hrs, 8 hrs, and 8 hrs for a total of 42 hrs. The Time Clock MTS Administrator has flagged two hours of day one as 'Ignore for Overtime' because the employee was underpaid by two hours last week. Time Clock MTS will report this week as 42 normal hours only.

Example 2
Daily overtime set at 8 hours, weekly overtime limit set at 40 hours. Employee works a 5 day week of 8 hrs, 9 hrs, 9hrs, 8 hrs, and 8 hrs for a total of 42 hrs. The Time Clock MTS Administrator has flagged four hours of day 5 as 'Ignore for Overtime' because the employee went home sick during the day, the administrator wants the employee to be paid for these hours but not impact on overtime calculations. Time Clock MTS will report this week as 40 normal hours, and 2 daily overtime hours.

Why Use this Setting?
There are a few reasons why you'd want to make use of this setting:

1. It's a way of helping administrators fix up underpayments from previous pay periods. You may want to just add a few hours to the current payroll period to make up for hours not paid previously, but you don't want these added hours to impact on overtime for the current pay period.
2. You don't want sick time or vacation time to impact on overtime calculations. Example 2 above covers this case.
3. It's a way of employers paying employees for time they are making up. For example, an arrangement may be reached with an employee to have 4 hours off work one week on the understanding that they will make it up the next week. Of course you don't want the make up hours to impact on overtime calculations for the second week.

Posted by mnemtsas at 1:15 PM | Comments (0)

June 11, 2008

Forcing Time to be Paid as Overtime

Time Clock MTS Versions 2.0.1 and higher include a new setting to allow you to force a time pair to be paid as overtime. You can do this via the Tools->Edit Times menu. Just select the time pair you want to force as overtime and click the Edit Time button and you'll be shown the Edit Time screen.

To force a time to be paid as overtime all you need to do is select the 'Force Overtime' option for the time, and click the Save Time button to save the change. For overtime purposes this time will now be forced to be paid as overtime regardless of other overtime settings. Let's examine how this would work with some examples.

Example 1
No daily overtime, weekly overtime limit set at 40 hours. Employee works a 5 day week of 8 hrs, 8 hrs, 8hrs, 8 hrs, and 6 hrs for a total of 38 hrs. The last day of 6 hours happens to fall on a holiday for which the employee is entitled to overtime rates. The Time Clock MTS Administrator has flagged the time pair as 'Force Overtime'. Time Clock MTS will report this week as 32 normal hours, and 6 hours of daily over time.

Example 2
No daily overtime, weekly overtime limit set at 40 hours. Employee works a 5 day week of 9hrs, 9 hrs, 8hrs, 8 hrs, and 8 hrs for a total of 42 hrs. The employee has agreed to fill in for someone else for 4 hours on the last day and the employer has agreed to pay them overtime rates for doing this. The Time Clock MTS Administrator has flagged the time pair as 'Force Overtime'. Time Clock MTS will report this week as 36 normal hours, with 4 hours of daily over time on day 5, and 2 hours of weekly overtime on day 5. You can see in this case the employee still gets their weekly overtime entitlements as well as the time forced as overtime.

Why Use this Setting?
There are a few reasons why you'd want to make use of this setting:

  1. It's a way of giving employees overtime rates on holidays. Many employers do not pay employees for holidays not worked, but if the employee does work on the holiday they are entitled to overtime rates. The holiday pay system in Time Clock MTS wont handle this sort of system by default, so this new setting is a way of achieving what is required.
  2. You may have some sort of overtime regime that is not handled properly by Time Clock MTS, this new setting pretty much allows you infiinite flexibility to assign any amount of time to be paid as overtime.
  3. It allows for ad-hoc agreements between employers and employees. For example, you might not have an overtime policy but sometimes agree to pay employees at a higher rate for doing extra work, for performing unusual duties, or simply as a method of rewarding them.

Next time I'll take a look at the other new overtime setting for individual times, the 'Ignore for Overtime' setting.

Posted by mnemtsas at 11:58 AM | Comments (0)

June 10, 2008

Time Clock MTS Version 2.0.1 Released

Well Version 2.0.1 is out. I wont talk about it too much here right now. You can read about it on the Official Time Clock MTS Version 2 Release Page or take a look at the Release Notes. Over the course of the next week or so I'll cover one of the features of the new release in detail here each day, hopefully along with some explanatory screen shots.

A Note to Existing Time Clock MTS Users
If you're an existing Time Clock MTS user the software will not update itself to Version 2. Because a new registration key is required and not everyone is eligible for a free registration key I decided to make it a manual process. If you want to upgrade to Version 2 you'll need to download the admin program update installer and the client program update installer. Once you've downloaded these just run them on your installations of Time Clock MTS and it will update to Version 2.

Getting Version 2 Registration Keys
You can retrieve your own registration key for Version 2 of the software. You'll need to know your Version 1 registration key to get it. Don't worry too much if you cant pull your own registration key from our website, the database has a couple of holes in it that I am trying to fix up. Just send me an email with your current license details and if you're eligible I'll send you your Version 2 registration key ASAP.

Posted by mnemtsas at 7:55 PM | Comments (0)

May 24, 2008

Time Clock MTS Version 1.7.3 Released

Time Clock MTS Version 1.7.3 has been released containing a number of fixes to the recent problems we've been seeing with synching the internal clock with internet time servers.

  • The Maryland NIST time servers have stopped supporting the older TIME protocol, and this was the cause of the recent problems Time Clock MTS had with syncing with these servers. We've changed the protocol used for these servers to the NIST format.
  • Time between queries to NTP Servers has changed to 30 minutes to stop flooding the servers.
  • Query time out has reduced to 10 seconds rather than the previous 1 minute, to stop the software locking up on startup for a minute.
  • Internet Time Syncing is now turned off by default to prevent this sort of problem for people who are just trialing the software.

Posted by mnemtsas at 9:15 PM | Comments (0)

May 20, 2008

Time Clock MTS Version 1.7.2 Released

A couple of bugs fixed and some new features added today.

  • A setting has been added to allow Time Clock MTS to check for a newer version on software startup. This setting is off by default but can be turned on via the Tools->Options->Interface Settings page. Note that you'll still need to update the software via the Tools->Check for Updates menu.
  • When manually checking for updates and an update is available you'll now be able to view the release notes for the new version. In fact you'll be able to view the release notes for every version between the one you are currently running and the latest that is available from us.
  • When Excel is not installed and you try to export a report to Excel the software explains that you need Excel to be installed. Formerly it gave a less than explanatory error message.
  • Fix to both vacation accruals and sick time accruals. When the delay for an employee to start accruing set to accrue into the future the software calculated accrued sick time / vacation time incorrectly. This is now fixed.

Posted by mnemtsas at 6:05 PM | Comments (0)

May 15, 2008

Time Clock MTS Version 1.7.1 Released

Three new features added to the version released today.

  1. A new setting has been added to allow all reports to display time activity in hours:minutes:seconds format as well as the old decimal hours format. You can turn this new method of report output on via the Tools->Options->Display Settings->Display Times As screen.
  2. A new setting has been added to vacation and sick time accruals. This new setting allows you to use the anniversary of an employee's hire date to reset the vacation or sick time accrual instead of the fiscal year. You can turn this new method of accrual calculation on via the Tools->Options->Sick Time/Vacation Accrual->Use Hire Date not Fiscal Year page.
  3. A check has been put in place to prevent a second instance of either the Administrator or Client software from running on the same computer.

Posted by mnemtsas at 10:48 AM | Comments (0)

April 5, 2008

Time Clock MTS Version 1.6.5 Released

Just a minor release today. The single new feature is being able to use a custom NTP server from which Time Clock MTS can set it's internal clock from. You might like to use this setting for the following reasons:

  • Your network is not connected to the Internet and cannot access an external NTP server so you must use a NTP server on your network somewhere.
  • Your network is firewalled and does not allow access to the port required for a query to an NTP server. This port is UDP port 123. If this is the case then you must use a NTP server on your network somewhere.
  • You prefer to use a geographically closer NTP server than the default time servers available in Time Clock MTS. For a list of available public NTP servers try taking a look at the NTP Organization Home Page.

A minor bug was fixed in this version, the report configuration screen would give an invalid property error when the next month button was pressed and then the this week button was pressed, but only when the current month had 30 days and the previous had 31. It was fairly obscure but thanks to one alert user who figured out exactly what was going on.

Versions 1.6.3/1.6.4 were released recently in an effort to try to fix an error on the Edit Times Screen. Some users were reporting that the drop down menus on the Add Time and Delete Time buttons on the Edit Times screen were not working but I could not replicate this. It turned out the error only occurred when navigating to the Edit Times screen from the View Information button on the main Time Clock MTS Screen. There's no apparent fix to this (it's a system error rather than a bug on my behalf) so I've removed the ability to navigate to the Edit Times screen from the View Information button. You'll have to get there via the Tools->Edit Times menu (which you could always do anyway).

Posted by mnemtsas at 12:50 PM | Comments (0)

March 17, 2008

Microsoft Access Database Password Support

Version 1.6.2 of Time Clock MTS was released today. It contained a couple of minor bug fixes and added one very important security feature, support for Microsoft Access database passwords.

Users finding and manipulating the back end database of Time Clock MTS has always been a problem. Time Clock MTS has always included a series of internal checks to try to detect this sort of manipulation, but of course no system is perfect. By including support for Access database passwords we have added one additional layer of security to ensure that your time and attendance information is accurate. Using a database password with a Microsoft Access database encrypts the data it contains and prevents non authorized access to the database when someone tries to open it with MS Access.

To setup Time Clock MTS to work with an Access database that is password protected follow these simple steps:

  1. Password protect your Access database using MS Access. How this is done depends largely on the version of MS Access that you have. Consult your MS Access help documentation for detailed instructions.
  2. Run the Time Clock MTS administrator program, the software will detect that the database back end is password protected and prompt you to enter the password.
  3. Once entered click OK and re-start the software as prompted. If you entered the information correctly then you'll connect directly to the database. If you didn't enter the password correctly you'll be prompted to enter it again.
  4. You'll need to repeat the password entry process for every client installation you have.

That's all there is to it. If you're wondering, the MS Access database password you enter into Time Clock MTS is stored locally on each computer (which is why you need to enter the password for every Time Clock MTS Client you have). The password itself is stored in an encrypted format for extra security.

Posted by mnemtsas at 11:58 AM | Comments (0)