Time Clock Software Web Log

May 8, 2010

Time and Attendance Clock

Time Clock MTS Screenshot, Biometric Time Clock Software Screenshot

The Time Clock MTS Keypad Interface

We've spoken many times here about the benefits of using an employee time and attendance clock but it's always worth re-emphasizing the benefits an employer is likely to see by the adoption of a computerized time and attendance clock. So, here's my top 5 reasons why you should be looking to move your current mechanical or manual time and attendance system to a computerized one like Time Clock MTS.

Recording Timely and Accurate Data : Your core business isn't collecting time and attendance data, your business is looking after your patients, serving your customers, making meals, fixing cars, manufacturing valves, or whatever your business does. Collecting employee attendance data should be quick, painless, and take a minimal amount of time to ensure that your employees actually do it.
Reducing or Eliminating Time Clock Fraud and Buddy Punching : It's a fact of life that there are people around who will try to crib time on their time sheets or have friends clock in or out for them at the work place. A good Time and Attendance Clock like Time Clock MTS should allow you to go a very long way to minimizing or eliminating this costly practice.
Reducing Administrative Overheads : A good Time and Attendance Clock should record accurate data to a central database and then provide this data to your payroll administrators for instant and accurate reporting. Manual tallying of time cards, the wasted time this entails, and the inevitable payroll errors that result should be completely eliminated. Your staff should be able to spend a minimal amount of time processing payroll and be able to focus on what makes your business profit.
Low On-Going Cost of Ownership : Even if your chosen time clock system produces payroll reports of great accuracy it is useless if it requires hours of training for each new employee you take on board or hours of tweaking by administrators to get it to work the way you want. Your Time and Attendance Clock system should be easy to configure and stunningly easy to clock in and out of. This tool should pay for itself in savings rather than be a continual administrative and training expense.
It Must Grow With Your Business : All businesses go through changes and your chosen Time and Attendance Clock must be able to grow as you do. Time Clock MTS can be used and administered on just one PC for a very small business and can scale upwards to be used on dozens of work stations as your business grows. There's no need to be changing systems as more employees come on-board.

We're pretty confident here that Time Clock MTS can deliver strong benefits in all these areas. Try heading over to the Time Clock MTS Quick Tour to learn more about it or go to the Time Clock MTS Downloads page to download and trial the software for 30 days.

Posted by mnemtsas at 10:16 AM | Comments (0)

Biometric Time Clock Software

Enrolling an Employee Fingerprint in Time Clock MTS

There's no doubting that buddy punching and time clock fraud are an on-going problem in most work places and as an employer you must either accept the on-going problems this causes or do your best to prevent it. Biometric Time Clock Software is the current tool of choice in workplaces where the employer has decided to take a stand against poor time and attendance data collection. There are a number of biometric methods available to Biometric Time Clock Software including facial recognition and iris scanning but by the far the most popular is fingerprint recognition. Fingerprint scanning is a proven technology, the hardware is quite affordable, and the software to make it work is low cost and very reliable.

Time Clock MTS has teamed up with the very well known biometric security company, Digital Persona, and can offer a comprehensive Biometric Time Clock Software. Not only does this offer you, the employer, the best chance of eliminating time clock fraud, it also offers it at no extra cost over the normal version of Time Clock MTS. Just buy the correct DigitalPersona finger scanner (the 4000 and 4500 models are supported) and standard version Time Clock MTS will work with them without you needing to purchase anything else. It really doesn't get any easier than that! If you'd like to see how Time Clock MTS works with the DigitalPersona fingerprint scanners then try taking a look at our biometric time clock software demonstration video. If you need more information then you should head over to the biometric Time Clock MTS page.

Posted by mnemtsas at 9:52 AM | Comments (0)

May 7, 2010

Employee Clock In Software

Time Clock MTS Screenshot, Job Tracking Time Clock Software Screenshot

Time Clock MTS Employee List with Department Folders

If you're considering purchasing and using employee clock in software then you need to ask yourself the following questions:

Is it Simple to Use?: It doesn't matter how you paint it, employee time tracking and timesheets are not fun, they are necessary but not something anyone actually wants to do. And given an opportunity your employees will use any excuse avoid clocking in or out as they must. So any employee clock in software you choose must be extremely simple to use from the employee's point of view or you'll have a constant battle with them to even collect their attendance data.
Does it Fit Your Business?: The employee time clock software you choose must have sufficient flexibility to suit your business and the way you work. It should fit seamlessly within your organization and go about it's work with a minimal amount of fuss. To achieve this it must provide flexibility in terms of reporting, vacation and sick time accruals, overtime calculations, and be secure.
Is it Timely and Accurate?: A key failing of manual or paper based employee clock in systems is that the information is often neither timely nor accurate. Employees are prone to making poor estimations of the time of their arrival at work and manually processing and tallying paper timesheets is both time consuming and prone to error. The employee clock in software you choose must collect attendance data using an accurate clock, record it immediately to a central database and that data must be available at all times for accurate reporting.

Time Clock MTS is used by more than 6,000 companies and we have spent many hundreds of hours of work making it easy to use for employees and managers. We have listened to the users of the software to provide a set of features that can be adapted to almost any business within the United States and around the world. Finally the software has a number of interface options (such as a biometric finger scanner, magnetic cards, and bar codes) to make data collection fast, painless and entirely accurate.

Posted by mnemtsas at 12:23 PM | Comments (0)

Using Job Tracking to Track Paid Breaks

Defining Time Clock MTS Jobs

A common question I get asked is "How do I track paid breaks for my employees?". I've never really had a good answer to this question until earlier this week in a flash of inspiration (yes I do have them very occasionally) I realized that anyone could easily make use of the Time Clock MTS Job Tracking features to easily track paid breaks. Here's how I'd set it up:

Go to the Job Tracking screen and define a job for each paid break type that you want to track. This might be 'lunch break' or 'coffee break' or whatever suits your needs.
Go to the Employee Information screen and set the Job Tracking setting for each employee to "Optional". When this is set, employees will be shown the "Enter Job Code" screen when they clock in or out but they won't actually have to enter a code.
When employees come to work, just have them clock in as normal without entering a job code. When they take a paid break, have them clock out and switch jobs to one of your paid break codes which you defined in step 1 above. When they return from a paid break, have them switch jobs again but not enter a job code (they are back on normal time).
You can then use Job Time Report to monitor how much time your employees are spending on their paid breaks and ensure there is no time clock fraud occurring.

I hope you find that little tip helpful, it will certainly give employers much tighter monitoring on what their employees are up to with almost no extra administrative overhead being added to the business!

Posted by mnemtsas at 11:57 AM | Comments (0)

Freeware Time Clock Software

Time Clock MTS Screenshot, Time Clock Software Screenshot

Time Clock MTS is a commercial software program with a free 30 day trial period, however, under certain usage conditions it can be used as freeware time clock software. That's right you can use it for free, forever, if you just use it under the following restrictions:

You can only track 3 or fewer employees in the Time Clock MTS Database. This allows startup or micro businesses access to truly powerful freeware time clock software free of charge until they grow to a point where they can afford to purchase the software.
You can only install and use Time Clock MTS on one computer, this means you can't use the client version of the software on one PC and run your reports and configure the software on another. You'll have to use the administrative software on one PC to manage your employees AND record your time and attendance data.

If you're interested in trying some freeware time clock software then head over to our download page to download Time Clock MTS. Once you've done that you can try out the full version of the software for 30 days and once that period is over Time Clock MTS will revert to freeware mode and you can keep using it without interruption. Of course you'll have to have 3 or less employees in your database and not be using the client software for this to happen!

Posted by mnemtsas at 11:41 AM | Comments (0)

Employee Time Clock Software

Last week I was asked what the key selling point of Time Clock MTS was? I thought for a while before saying the following...."the software is designed primarily to be extremely simple to use for employees ensuring that the quality of time and attendance data collected is as high as possible and the on-going cost of ownership to the company is as low as possible". Time Clock MTS is in fact, employee time clock software. Much time has been spent streamlining the process that employees go through to clock in or out of Time Clock MTS and in it's most simple form they can do so with just two mouse clicks. There's a little more work if you want your employees to enter a PIN number or password when they clock in or if you want them to use their fingerprint to clock in or out but even then you're talking about less than 10 seconds work.

In my experience, any employee time clock software that makes the employee's task of clock in or out difficult or time consuming will result in one or many of the following happening:

The failure to use the employee time clock software all together or only sporadically, meaning employee attendance information will neither be timely or accurate.
Log jams at the start of shifts as employees queue to clock in or out meaning time is lost on non income generating administrative tasks.
An on-going and recurring training expense for new hires as they need to be trained in the use of a clunky employee time clock system.

With the time we've spent refining and optimizing Time Clock MTS to be the easiest to use employee time clock software on the market we've addressed all of these three points. We're so confident of this that in most cases companies will pay for their initial purchase of Time Clock MTS within just a couple of months and have a system that allows them to get on with the work that generates their profits. If you're interested in trying out Time Clock MTS free of charge for 30 days then head over to our download page to download employee time clock software.

Posted by mnemtsas at 10:52 AM | Comments (0)

April 28, 2010

Time Clock MTS in a Childcare Center

I got a question from a potential Time Clock MTS user recently, she is the director of a childcare center in the USA. Here's what she had to ask:

Would you be able to answer these questions for me by e-mail? I'm trying to determine if your time clock software will work for what we'd need to use it for. We currently have about 60 students and about 25 staff. We use a centrally located computer for everyone (students & staff) to clock in and out each day. Each person has an ID # that they use to clock in and out. • I'd like to set this up where people can clock in/out on the main computer, but I can run reports from 2 computers in the office. We'd like to have 2 administrators. Is that possible? • How many people can use this to clock in/out? If we reach our maximum in the future, is there any way to extend the number of users? Do you happen to know how other childcare centers are using this program to clock in/out students? Do they set students up as a certain Department or something? Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

There's a few points about this. Firstly, yes you can have multiple administrator computers, but you'll need to purchase a license for each one and then set up the second (and subsequent) administrator computers as described in this blog entry. The second thing to note is that Time Clock MTS is most certainly used by other childcare centers, several dozen at least (plus about 6000 other companies around the world). Here's my response to the question:

1) Two admin licenses and one client license are possible but only one of the admin PC's at a time will be able to run the software. Cost for this setup would be US$167.
2) I'll happily extend the software for you to allow up to 150 people to clock in and out. You can delete employees/children if they are no longer using the system to free up positions. Regarding other centers, I seem to recall at least one using different departments to track children/staff. A quick browse through our customer database shows around 60 or so centers using our software.

Posted by mnemtsas at 11:42 AM | Comments (0)

Why Aren't My Time Clock Reports Showing Hours and Minutes?

Here's a question we got from a Time Clock MTS user recently.

I have downloaded the trial version of the time clock, which I find very useful. I don't understand how is this calculating the time. I need it to calculate time on hourly basis (60 minutes) on the reports. But the reports calculation don't match my calculations. Can you please tell me where do I fix this? I will really appreciate your help.

Of course reports can be configured in Time Clock MTS to show times in decimal hours (for example 1.1 hours) or hours and minutes (for example 1 hr, 6 minutes). A lot of users prefer decimal hours because it makes payroll and overtime calculations a lot easier, some others are just interested in attendance times and like the easier to understand hours and minutes reports. Here's my reply to the above email:

Do you have the reports setup to show in hours and minutes? If not you can change this on the Tools->Options-> Report Settings page. If that's not the problem perhaps you can give me some more detail on what the specifics of your issues are?

The user got back to me and the report settings was indeed their problem. If you're not exactly sure of what I'm talking about try taking a look at the report settings help topic.

Posted by mnemtsas at 11:09 AM | Comments (0)

March 31, 2010

Time Clocks in the Machine Shop

I've just found a very interesting thread over on "The Practical Machinist" forums which discusses the use of time clocks in the machine shop. The thread is To Time or not to Time (Clock) makes for very interesting reading. All of the discussion is from the workshop manager/owner's point of view and if you read the entire thread you'll see some common problems that are experienced due to what is usually a minority of employees. Heres some key issues I noted:

When i started working at my current job we just wrote our time cards out ourselves. then matt started. He was the last to arrive first to leave but always had the most hours...now we have a time clock. thanks matt

Now, that being said, if you have several employees, you can lose time "around the edges" of the day, and lunchtime. Without a time clock, 30 min lunches can become 35 min., and employees are often standing at the time clock waiting to punch out the second it turns.
So, for example, if you have 10 employees, and each one "nibbles" 15 min per day, then that's 150 min per day, or 750 min per week! Some lost production time right there...

Once had a helper who never kept track of any time on repair jobs . His method was to stare at the clock and gusstimate when he started /finished , and then guessed what the customer would like to pay , and then kinda sorta arrive at a price . He was a great worker , but probably lost me lots of $$. He now has his own shop so he can now lose money for himself .

So, there you have a few real world problems experienced by people who are not using a time clock (whether it be a physical time clock or time clock software like Time Clock MTS. Now let's look at some of the benefits some of the posters have noted from some sort of time clock system.

Before me and my partner got together, he had bought one (a time clock system), not for punching in and out, but to keep track of jobs. He was doing a lot of time and material and each job was assigned a time clock badge, so come the end of the week he had an excellent hard copy of how much to charge on what job.

I wouldn't run the shop without one. In union happy Québec Canada the punch clock is a common fixture everywhere. A a matter of fact it helps you build up a file againsta bad apple when needed. One guy has been robbing meanywhere from 15 - 30 min. a day plus being talkative.

A time clock protects the employer, and it also protects the employee so he gets all the pay he's due. There are occasional lapses, someone forgets to clock in or clock out once in a while, then I take their word for what the correct time was and they are fair with me. This beats the heck out of depending on a busy employee remembering to take note of when he started and when he stopped.

If you take a look through the thread you'll note that one happy poster is a user of Time Clock MTS. It's great to get this sort of spontaneous feedback about the software and know that it is a tool of great practical use in the real world. Here's what the happy user had to say:

I'd second John's opinion. A time clock keeps both the employee and employer accountable and provides accurate record keeping. My employees can come and go whenever they choose, so deciphering their hours was a nightmare. As almost all of our machines have a PC located at them, we use a inexpensive software version called MTS Timeclock. The software cost under $100 and we can use it on as many computers as desired. We have been using this software for about three years with no problems at all. My office manager loves it as she does not have to spend lots of time calculating hours. I like it because I know that I have accurate time recording and records to prove it and my employees like it because it is simple and easy to use.

Just one last point, a couple of people in the thread mention that they'd love it if their time clock could track time worked on jobs. It's worth a reminder here that Time Clock MTS can not only track your employee time and attendance information it can also track what jobs they are working on at the same time with almost no extra effort. If you want to find out more about this take a look at the Time Clock MTS Job Tracking page or the job tracking with your time clock software video.

Posted by mnemtsas at 9:45 AM | Comments (0)

January 18, 2010

Using the Data from Your Trial Period When You Purchase Time Clock MTS

One of the more popular questions I get asked by companies that are planning to purchase Time Clock MTS usually goes something along the lines of:

"Can I keep using the information I've setup in the trial version of Time Clock MTS when I purchase the software and what do I need to do to keep using it?"

The very short answer to this question is "Yes and and you don't need to do anything".

The longer answer is yes you can keep using the data and there's nothing you need to other than enter your registration code when you purchase the software to keep using the data. From day one Time Clock MTS was designed to give you the minimal amount of disruption when you're using the trial or transitioning to from the trial to the purchased version. A few weeks ago I talked about what you get when you purchase Time Clock MTS. One of these was the license code, when this is entered into Time Clock MTS the trial period is removed and the software transforms itself into the purchased version and you'll just keep working. That's it. Nothing else, no need to download and install anything else, no need to re-build your dataset, no need to re-configure the software.

In conclusion let me re-state, to keep using your trial data when you purchase Time Clock MTS you really don't need to do anything!

Posted by mnemtsas at 1:34 PM | Comments (0)

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.

Choose a computer on your network that you want to administer Time Clock MTS from and generate and print reports from.
Install the normal Time Clock MTS program (download from here) on the chosen computer.
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.
Choose the computers that you want to use as clock in / out stations.
Install the Time Clock MTS Client (download from here) on each of these client computers.
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.
Use the computer with the main Time Clock MTS program on it to configure the software with your employees and payroll rules.
Get your employees to start using the Time Clock MTS Client program to clock in and out of the software.

Posted by mnemtsas at 11:16 AM | Comments (0)

December 11, 2009

Time Clock MTS - What you get when you purchase

A fairly common question that I am asked is what exactly do you get when you purchase Time Clock MTS? Hopefully this post will clear up some of these questions for you.

What Emails Will I Get?

Once you've purchased you'll get an immediate email containing a temporary registration code so you can keep using the software until you get your permanent registration code. This is to help people whose trial period has expired keep working without interruption.
You also get an email from our payment processing company containing a receipt for your purchase.
A day or two later you'll get your permanent registration code via email. This email is generated and sent automatically by our systems. If you haven't received your email within a week of purchase then it's almost certain that the email was either caught up in your spam filters or you entered an incorrect email when you purchased. You can get your registration code directly from our website using the lost registration code page. Why do we delay the permanent registration code email a day or two? Simply for reasons of internet fraud, most fraudulent uses of credit cards are picked up in a day or two so we delay this long just to make sure that emails are not sent out to those that shouldn't receive them.
You'll get a reminder email from our payment processing company a few days after purchase reminding you of your purchase because sometimes people are confused when a charge from an unknown vendor appears on their credit card statement!

Will I Get a CD Shipped To Me?

No you wont, our delivery is via electronic download only.

Will I Have to Download the 'Registered Version' of Time Clock MTS?

No you wont. Once you've entered your registration code into the trial version of Time Clock MTS it becomes the 'registered version'.

What is my License to Use Time Clock MTS?

Once you've purchased Time Clock MTS you have a lifetime license to use the software you bought. There's no yearly renewal charge unless you want to extend your support with us.

What Support will I Receive when I Purchase Time Clock MTS?

When you purchase Time Clock MTS you are entitled to one year of email support and software updates. After the year has gone by you'll get an email from us offering to renew the support for another year for $20 or 20% of your initial purchase price, whichever is higher. We do not offer phone support, it is simply not economical to do so for such a low cost product. There is a phone number on our website where you can get hold of us and we do answer phone calls but generally you'll be directed to send support enquiries to us via email.

Is my License Different if I buy a Client License?

The first thing to understand is that no matter what Time Clock MTS license you purchase it always includes at least one license to use the administrator version on one computer. If you buy the single computer version, for example, you just get a license to install and use the administrator version on one PC. However, when you buy a 1 client license you have a license to use the administrator version on one computer plus you can install and use the client version on one computer.

For those of you who are new to Time Clock MTS the administrator version allows you to administer and setup Time Clock MTS as well as record employee time and attendance information. The client version only allows you to record time and attendance information.

In Conclusion

I hope that this will resolve some things that are not entirely clear to people who are considering using Time Clock MTS in their business. As always if you need more help please Contact Us with your enquiry.

Posted by mnemtsas at 10:13 AM | Comments (0)

November 17, 2009

Time Clock MTS In Action - Community Service Organization

Another user of Time Clock MTS has emailed me with details of how they are using the software. While their application is slightly more conventional that the other applications I've discussed to date (timing racing cars and refitting trucks) it is still novel enough to be worth discussing. You can find the (slightly edited) email from the user in question below explaining their application.

A little more information... What I said was true, we don't care about the payroll functions and are only concerned with the time clock feature, but we actually are billing for the time. Let me give you a little more information about our organization, what we do, and what our usage entails.
We are a non-profit organization dealing with people suffering from some sort of illness. We have many different programs to help these people feel confident with themselves, train them in basic job skills, and help them to obtain a job, build a resume, and eventually, lead them to independence.

As I said, we are non-profit, so a lot of our funding comes through grants and special programs. In the near future, our billing is changing and our services will be billed through a government program. When this happens, we need to track hours for all of the people that attend what we call our Clubhouse in order to bill for them.

Time Clock MTS is being used in this company at the two entrances to their 'clubhouse'. They have purchased a single client license (US$98 at the time of writing this article) and have a client installation at one door and the admin installation at the other. Let's see what the main benefits from using Time Clock MTS in this situation have been.

Currently, under the grant we are being funded through, we are tracking people as they come and go with a paper sign in sheet. When we begin billing through the government program, we would prefer a more reliable, electronic means that would also provide us with a reporting feature. Unfortunately, because our main software package doesn't allow us to import data, we then need to key in the hours tracked through your software and get them into our system for billing.
This isn't vastly different than what we are doing now, but it helps us on three fronts. First, we aren't currently tracking time - just whether a person signs in or not. Second, with the reports generated from your system, we are able to eliminate the issues of trying to decipher various handwriting styles. Third, as an added bonus, because we can assign a pin number to each person, it will speed up our data entry. In our billing system, we can look up a person by name, but it is faster to look them up by their 4 digit ID number. By assigning the 4 digit ID number as a pin in your software, it makes keying in the information faster and more efficient, even though we are actually capturing additional data.

So Time Clock MTS is providing the organization in question with a much more reliable and efficient way of collecting their club's attendance data. This data can then be imported easily into their existing club accounting system for provision to the government for appropriate reimbursement. At the moment we are working with the organization to define a report suitable for direct export from Time Clock MTS into their other computer systems to eliminate the last source of errors and double data entry. All of these gains are realized without using a large portion of the software (payroll, vacation accruals, sick time, holidays and many other things). Time Clock MTS is simple enough to use to just allow it to be used as a simple time tracker without being forced to use the more advanced functionality the software offers.

Posted by mnemtsas at 11:10 AM | Comments (0)

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)

October 14, 2009

Removing Page Breaks Between Employees on Reports

We received an interesting email today that contains a little tip that could be handy to some Time Clock MTS users.

When we print a summary report of all employees it prints each employee on a separate sheet, can it print them all on one sheet (or as many as it can fit)?

My Reply:

Go to the Tools->Options->Report Settings page and uncheck the 'new employees page break' setting.

If you're wondering what page this is you can take a look at the Report Settings Help Topic for more information. Putting a page break in between employees on reports was one of the most requested features for the software, and wouldn't you know it as soon as it was changed people started asking for it to be changed back! Now Time Clock MTS has the flexibility to print reports either way.

Posted by mnemtsas at 11:37 AM | Comments (0)

October 4, 2009

Time Clock MTS Quick Tour Available

I've written a quick tour of Time Clock MTS in an effort to help new users understand how the software works and what some of the capabilities of the software are. The tour covers the main aspects of the software and what some of the real benefits of using it are. The tour is available from the top menu bar of the website. Individual sections of the quick tour can be found below:

Time Clock MTS Quick Tour - Overview
Time Clock MTS Quick Tour - Employee Time Clock
Time Clock MTS Quick Tour - Administrator Controls
Time Clock MTS Quick Tour - Reporting
Time Clock MTS Quick Tour - Overtime
Time Clock MTS Quick Tour - Security
Time Clock MTS Quick Tour - Network Time Clock

Posted by mnemtsas at 2:48 PM | Comments (0)

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 mnemtsas at 2:59 PM | Comments (0)

September 3, 2009

Time Clock MTS Not Calculating Time Correctly - Or is it?

I've had three Time Clock MTS users contact me in the last week complaining that their employee time cards did not add up correctly. As you can imagine I take these sorts of problems very seriously, correct time calculations are, after all, at the very heart of what Time Clock MTS does! In each case I asked the user to provide a days worth of time entries, including clock in and out times, their manual calculations, and the results that Time Clock MTS was reporting. In all three cases, the difference between the hours worked reported by Time Clock MTS and their manual calculations was the same for each day for each user. My worries that there was a problem with the software disappeared at this point.

For one user Time Clock MTS was reporting 20 minutes less time worked each day, for another it was 30 minutes, and for the last it was one hour. Some readers probably already know what is happening with the hours worked calculations. For those that do not, it's not a problem with the software, it is the way software setup that is causing the apparent discrepancy. In each case the users had automatic employee breaks setup to be deducted from each work day and they'd forgotten about it. This was causing Time Clock MTS to deduct some time from each day to account for breaks taken and thus reporting less time worked than just looking at the clock in and out time. It's an easy enough thing to do, and to be honest the first time someone complained I was momentarily worried myself!

It's something to be aware of, and if for some reason you're starting to think Time Clock MTS is reporting working hours incorrectly then please go and check your automatic break settings on the Tools->Options->Payroll Settings page.

Posted by mnemtsas at 1:47 PM | Comments (0)

August 28, 2009

Vacation Time and Overtime Calculations

I got an interesting email from a Time Clock MTS user today who had found an apparent overtime calculation error in the software.

I have set up our user with Vacation and Sick Accrual information as well as OT info. Basically, we have OT set for weekly over 40 hours and also set so that Vacation/Sick and Holiday DOES effect OT. When I ran the report for last week (with a vacation day included) the report ran information saying she had 40 hours Regular and 2.8 Hours OT. It shouldn't show any OT calculation since she had 8.0 hours vacation. Can you please tell me why the report isn't properly calculating. It should be 42.8 hours Regular time due to the Vaca.

I asked for and received their database so I could check their data and sure enough what they reported was correct. The reason for the apparent error was one innocuous setting. The "Sick/Vac Time Affect OT" setting was checked on the Tools->Options->Overtime Settings page. Unchecking this setting and saving the changes I re-ran the payroll reports and presto Time Clock MTS reported 42.8 hours of normal time. It's worth a quick look at the effect of this setting.

In this case when the setting is turned on Time Clock MTS considers vacation time to be an active part of the work week. So, the overtime limit is set to 40 hours and all time (including vacation time) is compared with this limit. Hence, it reports 2.8 hours of overtime.
When the setting is turned off vacation time is ignored from the overtime calculation. So 34.8 hours is compared with the overtime limit of 40 hours (resulting in 34.8 normal hours) and then the 8 normal vacation hours is added onto this, resulting in 42.8 hours of normal time.

Posted by mnemtsas at 2:07 PM | Comments (0)

What to do When and Employee Forgets to Clock Out

Some time ago I wrote about what to do when an employee forgets to clock in. Just recently I got an email from a Time Clock MTS user with the opposite problem, employees were forgetting to clock out and the user wanted to know how to fix this up.

I've been discussing issues with trying to clock in and out employees who forget to clock in/out and more than a day has passed.
You could select any employee, but if you look at the recent activity for *Name Removed*. In most cases, I learn the next day that they "forgot", but I can't go back to correct.

if you could go back to *Name Removed* Account and add her hour for August 20 which were 1:30 pm to 5:30 pm. I ended up adding them on 8/22 which was a day she did not work. I appreciate the screen shots.

The user emailed me their Time Clock MTS database so I could work them through a solution. You can find it below.

Step 1

1. Go to the edit times screen and select *Name Removed* and choose to view the last 28 days. You'll note there are two clock outs, one on Aug 12 and one on Aug 21. You need to delete the one on Aug 21. So select it in the list. Then click the Delete Time icon (the one with the red cross) and choose 'Delete Selected Time Only'.

Step 2

2. You'll be shown a confirmation screen, press yes to delete the time.

Step 3

3. The times should look correct now (in, out, in out, and so on). Now add a time for Aug 20, click the new time button (the one with the blank page on it) and choose to add a single time.

Step 4

4. On the screen that pops up enter the correct time details. And click Save Time when you're ready to add the time.

Step 5

5. The list of times should now include the time you needed to add.

That's all there is to fixing this up. Time Clock MTS includes the tools to allow you to manipulate a users times to fix up these sorts of errors. You can delete a single time, you change the state of a single time, and you can add times. In this case I suspect the user changed the state of the errant time in error. It was a simple task to delete it and get things back in the correct order!

Posted by mnemtsas at 1:12 PM | Comments (0)

June 4, 2009

Time Clock MTS User Question : Yearly Accruals

I've done this a couple of times before, Time Clock MTS users sometimes ask interesting questions that are worth sharing with the rest of the user community. I got a good question this morning so I'll post up here along with a solution.

Question:
I am beginning the program in the middle of the year. My employees began the year with 80 hours vacation. They each have various amounts of vacation left right now. I can't get the program to show each employees individual vacation hours that are available. This is not on an accrual basis. Everyone starts the year with 80 hours vacation on January 1 of each year. How do I get the program to calculate properly?

The answer is pretty simple. Firstly, the user needs to setup a yearly accrual scheme which I've spoken about previously. There's a subtle variation here though, this yearly accrual scheme needs to start on 1 January for all employees. So rather than checking the 'Use Hire Date, not Fiscal Year' you'd leave this unchecked. You'll then need to go to Tools->Options->Payroll Settings screen and set the First Day of Fiscal Year to 1 January.

Adjusting the starting balance for each employee is required because the Time Clock MTS user will not be starting use of the software on 1 January. This is pretty simple again, just adjust each employees starting vacation balance using the Employee Maintenance->Edit Selected Employee->Payroll Information screen.

That's how it's done. It's a fairly simple thing but does require you to change settings across a few different screens in Time Clock MTS. Got any more tricky accrual questions? Why not contact me and tell me what your question is and I'll post up a solution here so everyone can benefit!

Posted by mnemtsas at 9:27 AM | Comments (0)

May 24, 2009

Time Clock MTS - What to do When the Internet Time Server Doesnt Work

You may well know that Time Clock MTS can determine the internal time used for clocking in and out from an Internet time server. This is a pretty foolproof way of preventing time clock fraud as the times recorded are completely independent of the local PC clock setting. You can turn on this feature in the Time Clock MTS administrator program on the Tools->Options->Security Settings page. Just tick the Use Internet Time Server checkbox, pick a time server from the drop down box and check that it works for you by clicking the Check button. You can read more about this on the security help topic page.

The above works well, but for whatever reason very infrequently it doesn't work in a fool-proof fashion. This wont result in incorrect employee attendance data but it can prevent employees from clocking in or out. Time Clock MTS will actually prevent employees from clocking in and out if it cannot contact the Internet time server for an hour (this is to stop employees just pulling a network cable to get around the Internet Time Server setting). Sometimes the reason Time Clock MTS cannot contact the time server can't easily be determined, it my be network congestion, it might be firewall problems, or it might be problems with the time server itself. When these sorts of problems occur frequently it may be adopting a different solution to setting the system time using Windows itself. Here's what you'll need to do:

Turn off the Use Internet Time Server setting in Time Clock MTS. This will result in Time Clock MTS determining all times from the local PC clock.
Change the Windows settings to have the local pc clock time determined from an Internet time server. How you do this will depend on the version of Windows you are running. For example, in Windows Vista you can do it by simply right clicking on the Taskbar clock and then selecting Adjust Date/Time from the popup menu.
Change the Windows user account permissions that Time Clock MTS is run from to prevent changing the Windows System time. How you do this is well beyond the scope of this entry as it will vary tremendously depending on the version of Windows you are running and any sort of network management software you happen to be using.

That's all there is to it. What you've done is set the local PC clock to get accurate time from an Internet time server and Time Clock MTS will get it's clock in and out times directly from this. By adjusting the Windows user account permissions you've prevented employees from changing the system clock of the PC in an attempt to provide fraudulent time clock data.

Posted by mnemtsas at 11:21 AM | Comments (0)

May 21, 2009

Time Clock MTS - First Day Starts At Setting Clarifications

I've had a couple of Time Clock MTS users send in emails about the same thing in the last week and it worth covering the issue here. Basically the symptom is this, when running reports (say for a week), sometimes it appears that the reports pick up a time or two from the next weeks report. When they run the next weeks report it is missing these times that show up on the previous weeks report. When you examine these times that seem to mysteriously appear on the wrong weeks report it turns out that the clock in time was before the usual clock in time for the day. The reason this is happening is because employees are clocking in BEFORE the First Day Starts At setting used by Time Clock MTS to determine when the work day (and thus work week) starts.

So, for example, lets say you have the First Day Starts At setting in Time Clock MTS (set on the Tools->Options-> Payroll Settings page) set to 8:00am. Now lets say an employee clocks in at 7.30am on Monday AND you dont have report rounding time turned on. Time Clock MTS considers the time worked between the clock in and the time when the employee clocks out to OCCUR ON SUNDAY rather than Monday. The time of clock in determines the day on which the recorded time occurs. This is complicated a little if you have report rounding turned on. If you have report rounding set to, say 15 minutes, then an employee can clock in up to 15 minutes prior to 8:00am on Monday to have their time to be reported on Monday. If they clock in more than 15 minutes prior to 8:00am then the time will be reported on Sunday.

There's a couple of ways of preventing this sort of thing happening in Time Clock MTS.

Examine if you need to actually use the First Day Starts At setting. It is really only useful if you run shifts or if you want to restrict clock in times to stop employees clocking in early. If you dont need to use the setting leave it set to 12:00am (again you can change this setting on the Tools->Options->Payroll Settings screen.
Turn on report rounding and restrict clock in times to the same period as you've set report rounding for. So, for example, if you set report rounding to 15 minutes set the clock in restriction to 15 minutes before shift start. To restrict clock in times you must assign an employee to a shift and then set the clock in restriction on the Tools->Options->Shifts screen.

Posted by mnemtsas at 5:16 PM | 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)

April 28, 2009

The Reset Administrator Password Menu

I am beginning to think that there's some confusion about what the File->Reset Administrator Password menu item does so it's worth a little bit of clarification. A few months back I described how you could use this menu item to Reset Your Administrator Password.

When you Should Use the Reset Administrator Password Menu

You should only use the File->Reset Administrator Password menu when you've forgotten your administrator password and you need to reset it. To reset your administrator password successfully you'll need to know the answers to the reminder questions. If you answer the questions correctly then Time Clock MTS will contact our web server to get a new password and reset the password. If you're a registered user of Time Clock MTS then the email address you used to purchase the software will be emailed the new password. If you're using the trial version or the free version then you'll be told what the new password is via a popup message. You shouldn't use the File -> Reset Administrator Password Menu if you know your Administrator password and just want to change it.

Manually Resetting Your Administrator Password

If you know your administrator password and just want to reset it to something different then you should not use the above method. Log in as the administrator and go to the Tools->Options->System Settings page and reset the password there. You can read more about this in the System Settings Help Topic.

What to do When You've Forgotten Your Admin Password AND Reminder Question Answers?

In this case you'll need to get us to reset your admin password for you. You'll need to email us your Time Clock MTS database. We'll reset the password for you and then email your database back, once you've got it back you'll need to read the instructions here to learn what to do.

I hope that this helps to clear up any confusion!

Posted by mnemtsas at 7:44 AM | Comments (0)

April 16, 2009

The Difference Between Clients and Employees

I've posted about this before, but I get enough questions about it that it's worth talking about it again. What's the difference between clients and employees in Time Clock MTS?. Put simply an employee is a record in the Time Clock MTS database corresponding to a person in your organization for whom you wish to track time and attendance data. On the other hand, a client is a computer on which you have installed the Time Clock MTS Client software so you can record time and attendance information using that computer for any employees in your Time Clock MTS database.

The cost of Time Clock MTS is dependent on both the number of employees you want to track AND the number of clients you need. In base form the software can track 75 employees on a single computer. You can add database expansions (in lots of 75 employees) to track more employees if you require. You can also add client licenses as required. For the exact pricing of this you should take a look at the Online Shop. The shop can give you pricing for your particular needs, just type in the number of employees you want to track, and the number of client computers you need and it will give you a price.

Posted by mnemtsas at 1:52 PM | Comments (0)

Configuring a Second Time Clock MTS Administrator Computer

Quite a few users of Time Clock MTS have decided that they need more than one administrator installation of the software. This might be because they want to run reports from one location and administer the database from another, or perhaps because they want to control employees from different departments from different computers. Time Clock MTS can accommodate this, with a couple of provisos, firstly you must have a license for the second PC, and secondly, only one of the admin computers at a time can be logged in. This blog entry will show you how to setup the second administrator installation.

Setup and configure your first administrator installation and move your Time Clock MTS database somewhere on your computer network. The database file must be visible from the computer you plan on installing the second administrator license on. The second computer must also have full read/write/execute/delete permissions on the folder that the database is in. You can read how to setup your first installation here.
Install the admin software on the second computer.
Open the file timeclock.ini in Windows Notepad. This file can be found in one of two locations. If you're using Windows XP is will be here: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Time Clock MTS\timeclock.ini . If you're using Windows Vista it will be here: C:\ProgramData\Time Clock MTS\timeclock.ini. Note that you may have to Show Hidden Files and Folders to find the file.

timeclock.ini File Before Editing

Once you've opened the file in Windows Notepad it should look something like the image above. Look for the line starting with DatabaseLoc. This contains the path to the Time Clock MTS Database.
Once you've located the entry change the path after the '=' symbol to the path to YOUR database. For this example we'll say the path to your database is Z:\Time Clock Data\timeclock.mdb. Of course yours will almost certainly be different to this.

timeclock.ini File After Editing

Once you're sure you've got the path correct it should look something like the image above. If you're happy with it you can save the file using the File->Save menu in Windows Notepad.
That's all there is to it. You can now run Time Clock MTS on this PC and when it starts up it should be connected to the Time Clock MTS database you've got on your network!

In the future I think there'll be some facility within the software to allow you to do this without this mucking about with the timeclock.ini fle. In the mean time this method isn't too hard at all. As always email me if you have any problems.

Posted by mnemtsas at 1:25 PM | Comments (0)

April 15, 2009

Employees Viewing their Time Cards

If you're using the Time Clock MTS employee list interface then you can allow employees to view their own time cards. This blog entry will cover how you can setup the software to do this and how your employees can then view their information.

Interface Settings Screen

Setting Up the Software

Setting up the software to allow employees to view their time card information is very simple. Just log into the administrator software as the administrator and then go to the Tools->Options->Interface Settings page. All you need to do then is check the 'Employees Can View Timecard' checkbox. You can also allow them to print their timecard by checking the 'Employees Can Print Timecard' checkbox. Click Save to save the changes. Note that employees can only print and view their own timecards when you're using the Employee List Interface.

Report Configuration Screen

Employees Viewing their Timecard

If you've setup Time Clock MTS to allow employees to view their time card then they can do so very simply.

Have them select their name from the employee list.
Click the View Information Button and then the View Timecard option.
If you've got employee PIN's or employee fingerprint security turned on then the employee will need to enter their PIN or scan their fingerprint to view their time card.
The report configuration screen will be displayed. The employee can pick the date range from the top right, and the report they want to view from the report list. Note that the employee cannot pick any other employee from the list of employees.
When they're ready to view their timecard they just need to click the Create Report button.
Employees will then be shown their timecard for the period they selected. If you've allowed them to print their timecard then they'll be able to print their time card too.

That's all there is to it. A lot of companies like to make this information available to their employees because it saves a lot of questions for the payroll staff. If you didn't know Time Clock MTS could do this and your company would find it useful why not turn on this useful feature today!

Posted by mnemtsas at 7:51 AM | Comments (0)

February 17, 2009

Getting your Time Clock MTS Database Back

In a previous entry I talked about emailing your Time Clock MTS database to us, perhaps for a password reset for example. In this post I'll talk about what you need to do when you get it back from us.

Not long after you send us your database we'll send it back (if required). We'll send it back attached to an email just like you sent it to us. The only difference is that we will zip the file up using Winzip because a lot of email servers will block the type of file that the Time Clock MTS database is. You can see above what this email might look like. Of course this will vary depending on what email client you use. The attachment to the email is called 'timeclock.zip".

The next step is to open the timeclock.zip file with a program that is capable of reading it. In this case I am opening it with Winzip, but you can open zip files with a number of programs and can even open them with Vista Explorer if you are using Windows Vista. You can see above what the contents of the file are. It contains a single file called timeclock.mdb which is the file you will have sent us.
The last thing you need to do is unzip the timeclock.mdb file into the correct location. Now this location depends on your version of Windows and how you setup your version of Time Clock MTS. You should remember exactly what the file location is depending on where you found the file when you emailed us the database.

Exactly how you unzip the file is dependent on what tool you are using to view the zip file. In this case using WinZip I just right clicked on the timeclock.mdb file and selected extract. This shows the screen above. I am unzipping the file to the default file location for Windows Vista which is c:\Program Data\Time Clock MTS\Database. I'll unzip the file OVER the existing file. So because of this it is worthwhile backing up the old file before you do this extraction process.

That's all there is to it! Hopefully you'll never need to send your Time Clock MTS database to us. But if you do, you should now know how to send it to us and what to do with it when you get it back.

Posted by mnemtsas at 1:22 PM | Comments (0)

Free Windows Punch Clock

You can use Time Clock MTS as a Free Windows Punch Clock system FOREVER but you'll be subject to certain limitations. To get started just download Time Clock MTS, install it, and you'll be able to trial the full commercial version of the software for 30 days free of charge. The full commericial version allows you to use any computer as a clock in/out station, you can use it with one of the advanced database compatibility options, and track attendance for up to 75 employees. If you haven't purchased the software once the 30 day trial period is up then Time Clock MTS will change to the free version.

Time Clock MTS is perfectly good free Windows punch clock software. If you are a very new business or a micro business with 3 or less employees then the free version of Time Clock MTS will still be of great benefit to you. While operating in free mode Time Clock MTS is restricted with the following limitations:

The Time Clock MTS database can only contain 3 active employees. If you have more than this then you will not be able to do anything but disable employees.
You can use one PC only to install the software on. This same PC must be used to collect all attendance information as well as configure the software and run all reports.

The free version of Time Clock MTS can be used forever given that you dont go over the three employee limit. If at any time you want to take advantage of the more advanced features of the software you can convert your free Windows Punch Clock Software to the full commercial version by just purchasing it and registering the software with the license code that we'll supply.

Posted by mnemtsas at 11:23 AM | Comments (0)

February 16, 2009

Emailing your Time Clock MTS Database

At some stage it may become necessary to email us your Time Clock MTS database. This might be to reset your administrator password or to help us get to the bottom of some sort of problem. This is a pretty simple task but it is worth providing some simple instructions leading you through the process.

Locate the database. By default this file is called timeclock.mdb and is found in different locations depending on what version of Windows you are using. If you are using Windows XP or earlier then you will find the file in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Time Clock MTS\Database. If you are using Windows Vista you will find it in c:\ProgramData\TimeClockMTS\Database.Note that if you have moved the database because you are using the multi client version or for some other reason then the file will not be found here, and you or your system administrator should know where the file is.
If you cannot find either of these locations using Windows Explorer then you most likely need show system files and folders.

You can see above that I have located the file timeclock.mdb in Windows Explorer in the default location for Windows Vista.

Now that you have found the file you need to attach it to an email and email it to us at support@timeclockmts.com. Exactly how you do this depends entirely on what email tool you use. Discussing each email client is well beyond the scope of this post so I wont go into it. However, this article looks a good place to get some tips.

Once you've attached the file to your email it should look sometime like the image above (this screenshot is taken from Microsoft Outlook 2003). You can now go ahead and send the file to us!

In the next post I've cover what to do with your Time Clock MTS database once you get it back from us.

Posted by mnemtsas at 2:16 PM | Comments (0)

February 14, 2009

Setting up Employee PIN's or Passwords

I've just posted a new flash tutorial taking you through the process of setting up Time Clock MTS to use employee PIN's. To be able to view the tutorial your browser must be able to display flash animations. Why not take a look at the Enabling Employee PIN's tutorial now!

Posted by mnemtsas at 6:20 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:

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.
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)

January 8, 2009

Yearly Vacation Accruals

Here's a question I got this week that I thought was worth posting up here along with the solution:

We offer our employees vacation pay but not on an accrual basis and I canʼt seem to make the software set up a specific amount of time without accrual. For example, if any employee is consider full time for one year beyond their hire date we offer 40 hrs of paid vacation to those said employees. And every year after the next fiscal year this time starts a new 40 hrs so on and so forth. This is pretty much the same scenario in regards to sick time.

This is how to configure Time Clock MTS to allow for this sort of accrual scheme.

Assign all employees with this sort of accrual to a single employment type. You could call the employment type to "yearly accrual" or whatever you like.
In the administrator version of Time Clock MTS go to the Tools->Options->Vacation Accruals page and select the yearly accrual employment type you have setup.
Check the Accrues Vacation Time check box.
To start time accruing at hire date set Start Accruing Hire Date Plus setting to zero.
If you want to allow for accruals in advance then set the Start With setting to some number, or otherwise set it to zero.
Set the Accrue text field to the yearly allocation you wish to allow each employee.
Set the For Every text box to 12 and the units drop down to Month.
Make sure the Use Hire Date not Fiscal Year checkbox is checked to us the hire date anniversary to reset the amount of time accrued rather than the fiscal year.

There you have it, it's not too hard and allows you a great deal of flexibility.

Posted by mnemtsas at 1:12 PM | 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)

October 30, 2008

Lost Time Clock MTS Registration Codes

Time Clock MTS users, for whatever reason, whether it be change of staff, lost emails or just simply time passing can sometimes lose their Time Clock MTS registration codes. In some other cases the automatic emails we send out containing registration codes can go astray (perhaps caught up by spam filters or ignored by accident). Either way you need your license code if you need to re-install the software on new PC or keep using it after your trial has expired.

Typically people email me asking for their license code, and unfortunately sometimes this email consists of nothing more than 'I've lost my license code, please send it to me again'. And that's it. No company name, no transaction reference, no nothing. In these cases I either need to go back and do a manual search of our systems looking for a sale made to that email address or I have to reply asking for more information. Of course this is fine, but it leads to delays that are a waste of time and money. So to avoid these delays did you know you can retrieve your own Time Clock MTS registration codes? And it's a very easy thing to do!

All you need is your original purchase transaction reference from your receipt or invoice that was generated when you purchased Time Clock MTS. Then you can go to our Retrieve Time Clock MTS Registration Code page. Here you can just enter your transaction reference and your registration code will be emailed automatically to the email address you used when you purchased Time Clock MTS.

Posted by mnemtsas at 7:42 AM | Comments (0)

October 20, 2008

Time Clock Software Security

Even though it's been mentioned here several times before it's well worth mentioning the security features of Time Clock MTS designed to prevent employee fraud. Here's an email I received recently:

"We have found that our employees are able to manipulate their time by simply changing the computer time. Once they change the time on the computer it changes the time on the MTS time clock thus allowing them to clock out early and leave but yet the timesheet is showing them out at a later time. How is it this software allows that? Is there a way to stop it?"

This can of course be addressed by Time Clock MTS. The possible solutions in order of preference are:

Turn on the internet time synchronization feature. This way the clock in and out times are completely un-related to the PC system clock.
If 1. is not possible setup the PC with a system policy requiring Windows Administrator permissions to change the system time.
If 1. and 2. are not possible then turn on the 'admin password required on software startup' feature and check the 'do not allow system clock changes' checkbox. In this case, users cannot change the system clock while Time Clock MTS is running, and while they can stop the software they cannot re-start it without the admin password. The administrator can then check the PC system time before allowing Time Clock MTS to re-start.

If you want to learn about more of the security features within Time Clock MTS take a look at the Security Features of Time Clock MTS weblog post or at the security features help topic in our online help file.

Posted by mnemtsas at 1:00 PM | Comments (0)

October 3, 2008

Free Time Attendance Software

I've mentioned it several times before (here, here , and here) but it's worth mentioning again because I still get people asking where the free version of Time Clock MTS is.

The free version of Time Clock MTS is just the normal version of Time Clock MTS subject to a few restrictions. Firstly, you can install it on one computer only. This means no clients, and it means collecting information from one location only and administering the software from the same location. The second restriction is that you can only track three employees while using the software in free mode. If you're a bit unclear about the difference between employees and clients try taking a look here.

So, if you're a small business, perhaps just starting up and want some time attendance software to track yours and your employee's time....why not give the free version of Time Clock MTS a go? It's easy to use, produces the reports you need and can grow with your business.

Posted by mnemtsas at 10:14 AM | Comments (0)

October 1, 2008

On Clients and Employees

One of the more common things people get confused with Time Clock MTS is the difference between Employees and Clients. For example, a common misconception is that if you want to track 20 employees then you'll need 20 clients. In most situations this is not the case.

A Client is simply a PC that has the Time Clock MTS Client software installed on it. A client can be used to collect time and attendance information and store it in the central Time Clock MTS Database.

An Employee is the core piece of data that is tracked within Time Clock MTS. Generally any Time Clock MTS Client can be used to track information for any employee that happens to be in the database.

OK so given that, what exactly does, for example, a 10 Client License of Time Clock MTS give you as a user? Well, it allows you to install the Time Clock MTS Administrator program on one PC so that you can administer the software and run reports from it. It also allows you to install the Time Clock MTS Client on up to 10 other computers so you can collect time and attendance information from them. Finally, it allows you to track and manage up to 75 Employees in the Time Clock MTS database.

I hope that helps to clear up this misconception!

Posted by mnemtsas at 7:49 AM | Comments (0)

September 22, 2008

Using Time Clock MTS in Languages other than English

You can now easily change the main clock in and clock out screen of Time Clock MTS to any language that you like. This is especially useful if your work force does not understand English and you want the software to be as easy as possible for them. You can now configure all of the text on the Time Clock MTS employee list interface to any text or language that you like (including non latin characters like Japanese, Cyrillic, or Chinese).

To setup Time Clock MTS to use a different language on the employee list interface log in as the administrator and go to the Tools->Options->Interface Settings screen. Select the Main Screen Label you want to edit from the drop down box and then enter the text you want to set to be displayed for that item on the Employee List Interface. When you're done you can get a result like the following image.

Time Clock MTS Translated to Ukrainian

From time to time (as our users are willing to provide the information) I'll try to get translations in different languages included into some blog posts.

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

September 10, 2008

Time Clock MTS and Bar Code Readers

In the last weblog entry about time clock software and magnetic card readers I talked about using Time Clock MTS without a keyboard and using magnetic swipe cards to interact with this. In this entry I'll cover the user of bar code readers with Time Clock MTS.

Bar codes allow the storing of normal text data in printed form and the data can be read by a bar code reader very quickly, and most importantly, reliably. Bar codes themselves can be printed from a normal printer on any computer, all you need is a bar code font package (which are very inexpensive) and then you'll be able to print bar codes from various specialized applications or even from MS Word or Excel. The bar codes themselves can user different formats (such as Code 128, Code 25, or Pharmacode), but which one is used doesn't matter much to Time Clock MTS.

Similar to magnetic card readers, the simplest bar code readers can plug into the keyboard port (PS2 Port) or USB port of a PC and output characters to the PC in exactly the same manner as a keyboard would. In addition, like a mag card reader they will usually put a return character at the end of the stream of data they read to signify that they have finished reading the information from the bar code. So, if you setup Time Clock MTS to use the Keypad Interface and you use a barcode reader to scan in the badge number of an employee then you'll be able to clock them in or out very quickly and easily.

Here's some basic steps to take when wanting to setup Time Clock MTS with a barcode reader:

Look for a bar code reader reader that can plug into the keyboard port (PS2) or USB port of your PC and output text exactly like a keyboard. This is typically known as a reader with a keyboard wedge.
Get a reader that can output a return (or line feed) character at the end of the stream of read data, most will do this by default or you will be able to configure them to do so.
Get some card stock printed up with your barcodes that are encoded with the Time Clock MTS Badge/Employee ID's. These ID's are setup on the Employee Information Screen. It doesnt matter much with bar code format you use, but make sure your bar code reader can read it, Code 25 or Code 128 are good choices. It may be a good idea to get the cards laminated to extend their useful life.
Stick to the default employee numbering in Time Clock MTS (which starts at 1000 and increments by 10 for each new employee). This will allow you to pre-print a number of cards that can be used as your company expands. So your cards would be encoded with the numbers 1000, 1010, 1020 etc etc.

Posted by mnemtsas at 8:38 AM | Comments (0)

September 2, 2008

Time Clock MTS and Magnetic Card Readers

Time Clock MTS can be used without a keyboard if required by using the Keypad Interface and a touch screen or a magnetic card reader or a barcode reader. Today I'll talk about using Time Clock MTS with a magnetic card reader. In its most simple form a magnetic card simply has normal text characters (like those you'd type on your keyboard) stored in the magnetic stripe on the card. In fact, some of the simplest magnetic card readers can plug into the keyboard port or USB port on your computer and output text characters to the computer EXACTLY the same way that a keyboard does. So, for example, if you had a magnetic card with the characters "hello world" stored in the magnetic strip and you had a magnetic card reader plugged into your keyboard port and you scanned the card while you had a text editor (like MS Word) running then you'd see the characters "hello world" appear on your monitor. And in all likelihood you'd get the "enter" or "return" character at the end of the line. Most magnetic card readers output the "return" character at the end of the data scanned from a magnetic card by default so that you know you have all of the data from the magnetic card.

When you're using the keypad interface of Time Clock MTS you can use a magnetic card reader to output characters to the employee ID/badge number field and the "return" or "enter" character "presses" the Enter button on the screen to clock the employee in or out. So, the practical upshot of this is if you have magnetic cards encoded with Time Clock MTS employee badge numbers (or employee ID's) then you can use them to clock your employees in or out of Time Clock MTS very quickly and easily. In summary here's a checklist of what you should look for in a magnetic card reader:

Look for a magnetic card reader that can plug into the keyboard port (PS2) or USB port of your PC and output text exactly like a keyboard. This is typically known as a keyboard wedge.
Look for a magnetic card reader that can output a return or line feed character at the end of the data read of a swipe card.
You only need the most basic of magnetic cards, they only really need one 'stripe' and the data doesn't need to be encrypted or anything fancy.
Get your magnetic cards encoded with the Time Clock MTS Badge/Employee ID's. These ID's are setup on the Employee Information Screen.
Stick to the default employee numbering in Time Clock MTS (which starts at 1000 and increments by 10 for each new employee). This will allow you to buy pre encoded magnetic cards that can be used as your company expands. So your cards would be encoded with the numbers 1000, 1010, 1020 etc etc.

Posted by mnemtsas at 7:32 AM | Comments (0)

August 20, 2008

Security features of Time Clock MTS

Time Clock MTS includes many features in it's design to eliminate fraud and keep your data secure. These are some of the features:

Only the administrator can access the administrator functions with their password.
All employees have PIN numbers to prevent them clocking in or out for each other.
Administrator passwords are required on program start or stop (or both) to stop employees stopping the program and changing the system clock.
You can use an attached web cam to capture images on employee clock in or out, review these images or use them as a deterrent to prevent buddy punching. You can learn more about this here.
Synchronize times with internet time servers to eliminate manipulation of system time.
Time Clock MTS database is password protected to prevent manual editing of data. You can learn more about this here.
The software monitors the PC clock to prevent the system clock being changed.

Posted by mnemtsas at 9:18 PM | Comments (0)

August 18, 2008

Time Clock Rounding Rules

Rounding of time clock data is both legal and commonly practiced in many areas. Typically time clock rounding rules allow rounding of employee attendance information either up or down based on predefined time segments. Usually these time segments are either 6 minutes, 15 minutes, or 30 minutes. Normal arithmetic rounding rules are used, so for example:

Rounding set to 15 minutes, an employee clocking in between 8:00:00AM and 8:07:29AM will have their time rounded down to 8:00:00AM.
Rounding set to 15 minutes, an employee clocking in between 8:07:30AM and 8:14:59AM will have their time rounded up to 8:15:00AM.

Which Time Clock Rounding Rules your company decides to use depends on the local regulations in your area. In the interests of fairness (and probably legality) a balanced rounding approach should be used, as this favors neither the employer or employee. However, some localities allow the use of time clock rounding rules that ALWAYS ROUND UP clock in times and ALWAYS ROUND DOWN clock out times. This is clearly favorable to the employer and should be used with caution (if it is used at all).

Whatever time clock rounding rules you choose to adopt be assured that Time Clock MTS is able to perform the rounding automatically and accurately for you. You can setup Time Clock MTS to do your time clock rounding automatically using the Payroll Settings screen from within the software.

Posted by mnemtsas at 9:41 PM | Comments (0)

August 12, 2008

Time and Attendance Reporting

Monitoring of employee attendance is a key requirement if you are to minimize employment costs and improve business efficiency. Some of the key benefits to a business that has an adequate time and attendance reporting system include:

Easier identification and elimination of time card fraud.
Identification of areas of excess overtime and elimination of the cost by increasing staffing levels or improving efficiencies in other business processes.
Management has a more accurate picture of the real cost of employment.
More simplified compliance with overtime, vacation and occupational health and safety requirements.
Improvements in business efficiency and payroll accuracy.

All of these are positive things for any business. But to be able to deliver on any of these benefits a time and attendance reporting system must be:

Timely, there is no point having a time and attendance reporting system that delivers reports 6 weeks after the fact.
Accurate.
Flexible to allow easy compliance with your payroll rules and local labor requirements.
Simple to administer and run. You do not want to be handing back efficiency gains and cost savings from your time and attendance reporting system because it is large and unwieldy and takes a lot of time to run.
Computerized and interface with de facto standard office software such as Microsoft Office.
Able to collect time and attendance information from multiple locations within the business and store the information centrally.

Time Clock MTS is a time and attendance system that will allow you to do all of this and more. Why not download the free 30 day trial now!.

Posted by mnemtsas at 11:03 AM | Comments (0)

August 7, 2008

Free Time Card Software

You can use Time Clock MTS as a free time card software package FOREVER subject to certain limitations. All you need to do is download it, install it, and you can then trial it without limitation for 30 days. This means you can use it on as many PC's as you like, or with one of the more advanced database options, or any of the security features. Once the 30 day trial period is up and you still haven't purchased a license then Time Clock MTS will revert to free mode of operation. When operating in free mode a lot of these advanced features are disabled.

Time Clock MTS is perfectly good free time card software, and for new or very small businesses it will be all you ever need until you grow. While operating in free mode Time Clock MTS is restricted with the following limitations:

You can only track time card information for a maximum of three employees. If you ever have more active employees in Time Clock MTS while it is operating in free mode you'll only be allowed to disable employees, all reports, clock punching, and so on will be disabled.
You will only be able to collect and report on time and attendance information on one PC. The Time Clock MTS Client software will no longer function so no more remote data collection is allowed.

If you don't exceed the active employee limitation you can use Time Clock MTS as free time card software forever! While operating in free mode, you can at any time purchase a license for the software and re-enable the more advanced features of the software.

Posted by mnemtsas at 11:07 PM | 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)

August 1, 2008

Replacing Your Paper Time Clock Card System

With personal computers become less and less expensive and old models usually left unused there's no reason to not put these machines to a useful purpose. One great use is to replace your paper based time clock card system with an electronic time clock system such as Time Clock MTS. Time Clock MTS will run on pretty much any computer from the last several years and give you a time clock card system that is far superior to older manual paper based systems. You can collect your time and attendance information at many locations but automatically store it in one data store for easy and instant payroll reporting. Time Clock MTS will do all of your overtime calculations and your payroll calculations using your rules in just seconds and without error.

Finally, the software contains a number of security features that will help to minimize or eliminate the problems experienced with older manual systems. Employees can no longer manipulate their time card information manually and buddy punching is largely eliminated.

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

July 24, 2008

Vista Time Clock MTS

Did you know Time Clock MTS is 100% compatible with the new Microsoft operating system Windows Vista? Vista brings all sorts of new features to the Windows user and Time Clock MTS operates happily with all of them. The one and only difference with the Vista Time Clock MTS is where the software stores it's configuration files and the default database location.

In Windows XP all of the program data was stored in this directory:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Time Clock MTS\

Windows Vista changes the location where program data is stored and when using Time Clock MTS on Windows Vista you'll find all of your program information here:

c:\Program Data\Time Clock MTS\

That's really all there is to know about Vista and Time Clock MTS, just download and install Time Clock MTS onto Vista as normal from our website and you'll be up and running in no time.

Posted by mnemtsas at 7:32 AM | Comments (0)

July 23, 2008

Free Punch Clock System

Did you know that Time Clock MTS can be downloaded and installed and then used by you completely free of charge and without restriction for 30 days? Time Clock MTS can be trialled on one or many PC's using the the multiple client version. The trial version of Time Clock MTS can use the normal database backend (MS Access) or the advanced database options MS SQL Server or MySQL.
If you have not purchased Time Clock MTS when the trial period expires then it will switch to the Free Mode, which given that you operate within certain restrictions will give you a free punch clock system forever!

Operating in free mode, Time Clock MTS is still a very capable and useful free punch clock system, and during the startup phase of a business or for very small businesses it may be the only punch clock system you ever need. When operating in free mode Time Clock MTS has the following restrictions:

You are only allowed three active employee records. If this condition is ever exceeded the software will not allow you do anything except delete employee records.
Time Clock MTS is restricted to being used in single computer mode when operating as your free punch clock system.

The free mode of Time Clock MTS will continue forever without charge as long as you never need more than three active employees in the system. If at some later point you need more than this it's a simple matter to purchase a license for the software and to keep working without interruption!

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

July 18, 2008

What Happens to Deleted Employees?

Time Clock MTS allows you to track attendance of employees that work for you. However, as employees leave your organization you may wish to either delete or disable an employee's record in Time Clock MTS. You may want to do this to declutter the employee list or to prevent the employee from recording any more attendance information. When you Disable an employee you can restore the employee while logged in as the administrator and using the Employee Maintenance->Re-Enable An Employee menu item. However, when you Delete an employee there's no way of undeleting that employee from within Time Clock MTS.

However, the deletion is not permanent. The actual employee data and all of their employee attendance information is actually still present in the Time Clock MTS database. All you need to do is email us your Time Clock MTS database and let us know which employee you want undeleted. We'll do it for you and email your database promptly and you'll find that the employee record is now visible again.

Posted by mnemtsas at 1:47 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

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

Badge ID - the badge ID / employee ID of the employee as set on the Employee Information Screen

PIN - the PIN of the employee as set on the Employee Information Screen

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

Shift - the shift of the employee as set on the Employee Information Screen

Department - the department of the employee as set on the Employee Information Screen

Hire Date - the hire date of the employee as set on the Employee Information Screen

Employment Type - the employment type of the employee as set on the Payroll Information Screen

Address - the address of the employee as set on the Contact Information Screen

Home Phone - the home phone number of the employee as set on the Contact Information Screen

Cell Phone - the cell phone number of the employee as set on the Contact Information Screen

Exemptions - the tax exemptions for the employee as set on the Tax Information Screen

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

Employee Header Section

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

Badge ID - the badge ID / employee ID of the employee as set on the Employee Information Screen

Shift - the shift of the employee as set on the Employee Information Screen

Department - the department of the employee as set on the Employee Information Screen

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

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.

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)

July 2, 2008

How Does Payroll Time Rounding Work

A common question I get is how exactly does payroll time rounding work? So I thought it would be worthwhile to cover it in some more detail to help Time Clock MTS users.

How is Report Rounding Turned On?
You can turn on report rounding on the Tools->Options->Payroll Settings page. For more information take a look at the Time Clock MTS Payroll Settings help topic.

How Does Rounding Work?
Rounding is applied to time information at report time only. The rounding used is just normal arithmetic rounding. Here's an example, let's say we have the time rounding set to 15 minutes and the normal clock in time for your employees is 7:30 AM. In this example, anything on or before 7:37:29 AM is rounded down to 7:30 AM, and anything on or after 7:37:30 is rounded up to 7:45 AM.

What Does the Least Quantity Checkbox Do?
Checking this box over-rides the rounding scheme as shown above. The most basic way of explaining it is that all clock ins are ROUNDED UP and all clock outs are ROUNDED DOWN. So, in our example above any employee clocking in after 7:30:00 AM will have their time rounded up to 7:45:00 AM. Let's say the normal clock out time for the above example is 4:30:00 PM. When the Least Quantity check box is marked, any employee clocking out between 4:30:01 PM and 4:44:59 PM will have their clock out time rounded down to 4:30:00 PM. The practical effect of the Least Quantity check box is that the hours worked are minimized.

What Effect Does Rounding Have on Stored Time Information?
None, clock in and clock out data is still stored to the nearest second, the rounding takes effect when you run a report. In fact, you can now generate reports and suppress the rounding so you can view your raw time information. To do this all you need to do is check the Turn Off Rounding checkbox on the Report Configuration screen.

Why Would you use Time Rounding?
To comply with either your workplace payroll rules or government payroll regulations. A lot of workplaces have a minimum amount of payable overtime, so rounding can be easily used to prevent employees accumulating small amounts of overtime by clocking in slightly early, or clocking out slightly late. Another reason could be to allow for some leeway in clocking in or out, clearly not everyone can clock in exactly on time so time rounding allows for this. For example, Californian labor law allows for some leeway in rounding of time, allowing employers to not pay overtime for employees who clock in slightly early or out slightly late (provided they are not actually working of course). For more information on this take a look at the Department of Labor Website.

That about sums it all up, if you have any questions, as always post a comment or email us.

Posted by mnemtsas at 10:16 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 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:

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'.
Select the employee 'John Smith' in the employee list and then select the Employee Maintenance->Copy Selected Employee menu item.
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.

Copy Selected Employee

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)

May 22, 2008

Problems with Maryland NTP Servers

We have been seeing problems with time synching to the Maryland NTP time servers in the last few days. If you're seeing problems with this then please select any of the three time servers in Colorado. You can choose the time servers on the Tools->Options->Security page.

Posted by mnemtsas at 12:01 AM | Comments (0)

May 14, 2008

Setting Up Yearly Accruals

A user asked an interesting question last week, and one that had me stumped for just a few minutes. Can Time Clock MTS handle yearly accruals of Vacation and Sick Time? Yearly accruals work by crediting the employee with the full allocation of their sick or vacation time upon the anniversary of their employment or the start of the fiscal year. Typically this sort of accrual scheme will credit the employee with their full amount at the start of the yearly period and allow them to deplete it during the year. Here's how to set it up:

Create a new accrual scheme called yearly accruals (or whatever you like).
Set the accrual delay to zero to start accruing at hire date.
Set the starting balance to the yearly allocation to allow accruals in advance or leave it at zero to not give them any accrual until 1 year of service.
Set the accrual amount per unit to the yearly allocation and the accrual period to 12 months.
Check the Use Hire Date not Fiscal Year checkbox to use the anniversary of hire to reset accruals (if you need them reset).

That's all there is to it. As always feel free to ask any questions you might have.

Posted by mnemtsas at 10:57 AM | Comments (0)

May 7, 2008

Administrator Passwords

Time Clock MTS has two levels of user access. That of the normal user or employee who just needs to clock in or out, and that of the Administrator who needs to configure Time Clock MTS and run reports. To use Time Clock MTS as the adminstrator you need to log in as the Administrator using a password.

How Is the Administrator Password Set?
The administrator password is set by you when you first install and run the Time Clock MTS Administration program. The screenshot below shows where you enter the administrator password.

How do I log in as the Administrator?
By simply using the File->Log in as Administrator menu.

Can I Change the Administrator Password?
Yes you can change the administrator password any time you like. All you need to do is run the Time Clock MTS Administration program and log in as the administrator. Then go to the Tools->Options->System Options screen. For more help on this try taking a look at the System Options Help Topic.

I've Forgotten the Administrator Password What Do I Do?
You need to send us your Time Clock MTS database so we can reset it for you. There's detailed instructions on how to recover a forgotten Time Clock MTS Administrator password on our support forum.

Why Cant I Reset it From Within Time Clock MTS?
For security reasons. If there was some method within the software to reset the administrator password the unscrupulous people could do so to manipulate the software for fraudulent reasons.

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

April 23, 2008

Time Clock MTS Configuration and Log File Directory Part 2

In Part 1 of this entry we had a look at the directory where Time Clock MTS stores all of it's local configuration and logging information. Now we'll take a quick look at the files in this location and what they are used for.

clientlog.txt - contains all the logging information for the client version of Time Clock MTS
log.txt - contains all of the user interface logging information for the administrator version of Time Clock MTS
logdll.txt - contains all of the business logic logging for both the client and administrator versions
timeclock.ini - contains all the local configuration options for both versions of the software
timeclock.mdb - found in the Database sub directory this is the MS Access version of the Time Clock MTS database. If you cant see this file then it's because it has been moved.

Just a quick final tip. If you are having problems with Time Clock MTS and you're emailing us about them it's always a good idea to attach the log.txt and logdll.txt files to the email as they can contain a lot of useful information that helps us get to the bottom of your problems.

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

April 16, 2008

Time Clock MTS Configuration and Log File Directory

Time Clock MTS stores all of its' local configuration and log files in the common program data directory on the computer that it is installed on. It can be useful to know where this directory is for several reasons, you might want to move the Time Clock MTS database, you might want to copy the main configuration file to share it among other computers, or you may need to send the log files to us to help sort out problems you are having. The exact location of the directory depends entirely on the version of Windows that you happen to be running. To determine where your information is take a look at this list:

Windows Vista (All Versions)

c:\ProgramData\Time Clock MTS\

Windows XP / Windows 2003 Server / Windows 2000

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Time Clock MTS

Windows Me / Windows 98 SE

C:\Windows\All Users\Application Data\Time Clock MTS\

Usually you can just navigate directly to this directory using Windows Explorer but in some cases Windows can be configured to hide system files and folders (of which this is one) by default. If this is the case then you'll need to use Windows Explorer to change some settings to allow you to find this directory. You can learn how to do this on your version of Windows by taking a look here.

In the next entry I'll take a look at the files in this directory and run through what they are and what they are used for.

Posted by mnemtsas at 4:01 PM | Comments (0)

April 4, 2008

Free Time Clock Software

Time Clock MTS can be downloaded , installed and used completely free of charge for 30 days with no restrictions whatsoever. So you can trial it on one PC, or on many PC's with the multiple client version, you can make use of the standard MS Access database backend, or with one of the advanced database options like SQL Server or MySQL. When the trial period runs out, and you haven't purchased an appropriate license most of this functionality is disabled and the software will revert to the Free Mode of operation.

When Time Clock MTS is operating in free mode it is still useful as a time and attendance software package, and for a lot of small or micro businesses it will be all they ever need until they grow beyond a certain size. The free version of Time Clock MTS operates with the following restrictions:

Restricted to three active employee records. When you have more than this you will not be able to add times, run reports, or do anything other than disable or delete employee records.
Restricted to using the software in single computer mode. This means that the Time Clock MTS Client will no longer function when the software has reverted to the free mode of operation.

You can use Time Clock MTS in free mode forever given that you don't exceed the three active employee limit. And of course, at any time you can purchase a license for the software and register it to unlock the more advanced capabilities of the program.

Posted by mnemtsas at 9:56 AM | Comments (0)

March 28, 2008

On Employee Types and Accruals

Of course being a Time and Attendance software package Time Clock MTS focuses primarily on Employees. Each employee can be classified by Employment Type. When Time Clock MTS was designed these employment types were thought to be things like 'full time', or 'seasonal', or 'contract' or whatever sorts of employment types you might need. This classification is of course useful for reporting and sorting purposes.

As time has progressed our users have found that it is also very useful for setting up of Vacation and Sick Time Accruals. These accruals, rather than being set by employee, are set by employee type. This allows you to have just a few accrual policies that cover all of your employees. This sort of ease of use is great, except where companies have unusual accrual schemes, or many different schemes. While Time Clock MTS cannot handle every different accrual scheme automatically, it does have the flexibility to allow you to handle them manually. An accrual scheme that we have been asked about is one that allocates vacation time based on years of service. This is different to the assumed scheme in Time Clock MTS which assumes a basic accrual over time calculation system, and cannot handle the years of service based system automatically. However, it can handle it through creative use of Employee Types.

Let's say you have a scheme that allocates 1 week of yearly vacation time for each year of service up to a maximum of 4 weeks. All you need to do is create 4 different employee types, perhaps calling them '1 Year of Service', '2 Years of Service', '3 Years of Service',and '4+ Years of Service'. Create a vacation accrual scheme for each employment type to have an initial amount of 1, 2, 3, and 4 weeks accordingly. Then you can go ahead and assign your employees to the correct employment type and they'll now all be allocated the correct vacation time. Each year at the same time (the end of the fiscal year would be good) work your way through your employee list and make sure to allocate each of them to the correct employment type again.

For more information you might find our Setting Up Vacation Accruals article helpful. The Employment Type Help Topic is also worth a look.

Posted by mnemtsas at 10:34 AM | 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:

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.
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.
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.
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)

March 4, 2008

When an Employee Forgets to Clock In

Employees forgetting to clock is a common problem that all employers have to deal with. Today we received an email from a Time Clock MTS user asking the best way to deal with this situation. Here's the users question:

What I am trying to do is to clock in employees while they are working, because sometimes they forget to clock in at the beginning of the shift and they tell me about 2 hours later to clock them in, but I can't because it won't let me clock them in without giving them a clock out time as well, and well the times they leave varies because we work in the restaurant business

Solving the problem is easy. Here's how in just a few simple steps:

Log into Time Clock MTS as the Administrator
Go to the Tools->Edit Times menu
Select the employee you want to add the time for and then click the Add Clock In/Out Time button and select add a single clock in/out time.
Make sure the clock in time and date is correct (it doesn't matter about the clock out) and add the clock in/out time.
Select the clock out time for the time you have just added on the list of times.
Click the Delete Time button and select the Delete Selected Time Only menu item and this will delete the clock out time for the time you have just added.

So now the employee is clocked in, with the time added manually and they can clock out normally at the end of the day. This process takes just under a minute and really couldn't be easier.

Posted by mnemtsas at 6:49 PM | Comments (0)

February 25, 2008

Time Clock MTS Advanced Database Support - Why do I want it?

Advanced database support allows Time Clock MTS to use a number of fast, efficient, reliable and industrial strength databases to store it's data. The benefit to you, the customer, is software that will run faster and more reliably allowing you to collect information at a large number of work stations. The standard MS Access database used with Time Clock MTS is generally fine for most applications, but for added reliability and safety advanced database support is recommended. If you want more than 20 Time Clock MTS Client work stations then Advanced Database Support is your only option.

Currently Time Clock MTS supports MSDE, SQL Server 2000/2005, SQL Express, and MySQL. If you have a license for any of these products then please make use of them in conjunction with Time Clock MTS. If you are an existing user of Time Clock MTS you can purchase an upgrade to use them at any time, just contact us for more information. If you are considering using Time Clock MTS then please make use of the Advanced Database Support that is enabled by default in the free 30 day trial of the software.

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