Semi-Monthly Payroll Periods

It's easy to confuse payroll period end dates with pay days. We talk to a lot of time clock software users that are doing all kinds of gymnastics because their payroll period ends on the 15th and their payroll company needs a 2-day lead time in order for employees to get paid on time. So they collect timecards on the 13th and estimate time for the 14th and 15th. Plus they have to remember to go back and check the 14th and 15th the next payroll period to make sure they didn't overpay or underpay their employees.  And heaven forbid that the end of a payroll period falls on a weekend!

There's a real simple solution for all this anxiety and guessing. It's what we do here at Redcort Software. We also use a semi-monthly payroll period, the first period runs from the 1st of the month to the 15th and the second period runs from the 16th to the end of the month (no matter what day that is). However, we get paid on the 5th and the 20th. This means the hours that get reported are the actual hours worked. The payroll company has enough time to process payroll and there's no fancy scheming with a calendar just to make sure everybody gets paid on time.

Jeff
Tier 2 Technical Support
Redcort Software, Inc.

Setting Custom Time Card Dates

Most of your employee time card reports will default to the date range of the current payroll period. The only time this wouldn't be true is if you haven't been closing your payroll periods. Sometimes you may want certain of your time clock software reports to default to a date range other than the current period. For example, you may have a job production report that you want to look at monthly, or perhaps it's vacation and sick time taken by each worker for the entire year. Whatever the case, it's easy to set the default date range for each report to something other than the current payroll period. Here's how:

Turn on administration, go to Configure and then Report Writer. Select the report and set your new default date range.

Now, each time you run the report it will use the dates based on the default date range setting.

Jeff
Tier 2 Technical Support
Redcort Software, Inc.

Individual Employee Time Clocks

Over the last several time clock software releases, we've greatly simplified the way individual employee computer workstations get set up as personal time clocks by adding a display group interface that does all the work for you. Here are the steps for setting up an individual time clock:

Create the new display group
With admin turned on, go to Configure then Display Groups. Create a new display group called something like 'Individual', set the interface to Individual - User Status, select the users who will be logging in to the time clock individually, and change any default user action settings. For example, I usually turn off the user password requirement when using the individual interface.

Login to the new display group
You'll need to go to the time clock client on each individual workstation and log off by choosing Logout of Server from the File menu. Once you're at the client login window, you just need to pick the 'Individual' display group from the list, enter the user's password, and login.

Now every time the employee launches their time clock it will open to their individual User Status window.

Jeff
Technical Support Team
Redcort Software, Inc.

Assigning Time Clock Interfaces

The user status window is where employees start work, stop work, start a new activity, open their mailbox, or print their timecard. Employees can open their user status window by using several different interfaces, depending on how you want to deploy your time clock system. Employees can select their name from an in & out list, enter a numeric PIN, use an alphanumeric passcode, or if they're using the individual interface with networked time clocks, their user status window is always open.

Even though the In/Out Board is the default interface, it's easy to change. Turn on admin, go to Configure, then Display Groups.

The In/Out Board is always the interface used when administration is turned on.

Jeff
Tech Support Team
Redcort Software, Inc.

Time Clock Software Managers

In older versions of Virtual TimeClock, managers would need to belong to a display group in order to be a manager of a display group. This meant they'd need to have their user name listed in the in/out board list at all times, even if they didn't use the time clock software to punch in and out.

With the latest version of Virtual TimeClock, you can be a manager of a display group without being a user of the display group. This means you can view and edit timecards for employees in your group without having your name listed in the in/out board of the time clock. Another huge benefit is that you can send and receive time clock messages from your employees without having to be a member of the display group.

Jeff
Technical Support Team
Redcort Software, Inc.