Setting Up Manager Security

Virtual TimeClock has a pretty sophisticated 3-tiered security system. At the top of the tier you have time clock administrators, who have unlimited access to everything in the time clock program. On the bottom tier, you have employees that can clock themselves in and out, view their hours, and send internal messages to other time clock users. Of course, you can give employees more or less access to some of the other time clock features based on your business workflow. Managers make up the middle tier. Again, there's a ton of flexibility here. Managers can quickly view and edit timecards for employees in their display groups. You can also grant managers more or less access to other time clock features. For example, you may want managers to be able to edit employee timecards but not add new timecard entries.

All this can be configured in the Display Groups Configure panel, including manager actions, access to configuration panels, and what reports managers can run. Manager settings can even be different for each display group.

Jeff
Tier 2 Tech Support
Redcort Software Inc.

In/Out Board Display Columns

If you're using the In/Out Board interface with your time clock software, there's an additional configuration setting that allows you to set what list columns get displayed. The columns you can optionally remove are Entry Date, Entry Time, New Messages, and Status. This allows you to take advantage of the real-time monitoring of whether employees are clocked in, out, at lunch, or on break without displaying some of the more personal information of when they started those activities.

I had a customer recently who removed some of the list columns so they weren't visible in user mode but then didn't want those same columns missing in admin mode. He wanted the managers to have the full in/out board when they turned on administration. Here's what we did so he could have the minimum amount of columns displaying in user mode and all of the columns displaying when the managers logged in.

We left the current display group with the columns removed alone and created a new one. We called the new display group something like "TimeClock Users - Managers", set it to the In/Out Board interface, and left all of the list columns selected. Next, we removed the managers from the original display group and added them to the new display group.

Now when managers walk up to a user time clock, the list columns are removed but when they turn on administration with their manager passwords, all of the list columns are displayed.

Jeff
Tier 2 Tech Support
Redcort Software, Inc.

Does Your Time Clock Admin Need to Punch In and Out?

When you first create your time clock software company database, you're also required to create an administrative user account. This time clock administrator account is not automatically added to the time clock list for punching in and out. So if this initial admin user needs to use the time clock to punch in and out, you'll need to add them to the list. We don't recommend creating a second non-admin user with the same name to use when clocking in and out because that could be confusing. Instead, you'll want to add the admin user to a display group.

Go to Configure, then Users, select the admin user name and click Groups. Select the display groups that you'd like the admin user to be a part of, like TimeClock Users. Now the name of the admin user will appear on the In/Out Board list so they can clock in and out like everyone else.

Jeff
Tier 2 Tech 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.

Departments vs. Display Groups

When new users are setting up their time clock software for the first time, they often wonder about the difference between departments and display groups. They're both ways to group employees, but there are some major differences in how they're used.

Display Groups
Display groups are the program rules in use for each time clock, including what interface employees will use to open their User Status window so they can perform an action like clocking in, viewing their timecard, or reading their messages. Display groups allow you to quickly view and manage employees by location or department from the Administration window. Here are some other ways to use display groups:

• Limit what activities and out memos workers can select when recording time 
• Control user and manager access to program features 
• Choose what reports users and managers can view and print 
• Set what user names get displayed in the in/out board list for each time clock

Departments

Departments are assigned to users only for reporting purposes, and get credit for all hours worked by that user. Virtual TimeClock already has built-in timecards reports sorted by department.

Don't be surprised if some of your department and display group names overlap and share the same membership. Here's a quick cheat sheet:

Departments = reporting

Display Groups = user access, security, what the time clock looks like

Jeff

Technical Support Team

Redcort Software, Inc.

Front Reception Time Clock

Here's a time clock deployment scenario that I came across recently. A customer wanted the front desk receptionist to be able to clock people in and out because sometimes staff would make it all the way to the front door before they realized they hadn't clocked out for lunch. They wanted the receptionist to be able to clock other employees in and out without having to mess around with a password, but they still wanted password protection turned on for the other employee time clocks scattered around the organization.

We created a new display group called 'Reception' that included all of the employees and turned off user passwords for just that display group. Virtual TimeClock '12 has a ton of flexibility when it comes to deploying time clocks so I rarely encounter scenarios that the time clock software is unable to handle.

Jeff
Technical Support Team
Redcort Software, Inc.

Adding Admin Users to Time Clock Display Groups

Some time clock administrators need to use the time clock software for more than just performing administrative functions. For example, they may need to keep track of time spent on different projects, jobs, or activities. They may also be using the time clock to update their status on the in/out board list. Or maybe your business accrues vacation awards based on hours worked so even time clock administrators need to clock in and out so their leave awards are accurately accrued. Whatever the reason, time clock administrators will need to be added to at least one display group before they can clock in and out.

Turn on administration and choose Users from the Configure menu. Select the admin user and click the Groups button to add them as a user to one or more display groups.

Jeff
Technical Support Team
Redcort Software, Inc.

Changing Time Clock Display Groups

Changing time clock display groups in Virtual TimeClock '12 Network Edition is easy once you know where to look. You may need to change display groups because you want certain networked time clocks to use a different clock & out interface, follow a different set of security rules, or just list a different group of employees.

User Client
Choose Logout of the Server from the File menu. You'll need to enter an administrator password in order to logout.

Pro Client
Turn on Administration and choose Server Connection from the Configure menu. Click the Logout button.

Once you're back at the Virtual TimeClock Client Login window, you can pick the display group you want to log in to from the popup menu. It looks like this.

Jeff
Technical Support Team
Redcort Software, Inc.

Personal Time Clocks

Virtual TimeClock has a number of flexible deployment options depending on your office workflow. You may want to deploy as a stand alone time clock kiosk, or network multiple time clocks together to take advantage of the real-time in/out board. I get asked a lot how to set up a personal time clock for each employee. In other words, management only wants the individual worker name to display on each employee's computer time clock. That's easy to do with display groups.

Setting up display groups for a personal time clock is a two-step process. First, create the new display group. Go to the Lists menu and choose Display Groups. Click the + button in the lower left corner of the window to create the new group. It's probably easiest to name the new group after the employee so it's easy to recognize later, like "Jeff's Time Clock". Make sure that same employee is the only one you have selected in the user list and save. Second, assign the display group to the individual employee's computer time clock. On Mac, go to the Virtual TimeClock Pro Client menu and choose Preferences. On Windows, go to the Edit menu and choose Preferences. Select the personal display group you created for the employee from the Display Group drop-down list. Now just repeat the process for your other employees.

Jeff

Technical Support Team

Redcort Software

Time Clock Software Users: To Delete or Not to Delete

You have several options when it comes to dealing with Virtual TimeClock software users that are no longer part of your organization.

You can remove them from any display groups they belong to. This will remove their name from the time clock worker list, but they'll still appear in all timecard report selection lists for admin users.

You can mark their user record as inactive or terminated. This will automatically remove them from any display groups they belong to, and remove them from all timecard report selection lists. The historical record of all hours and overtime worked will be maintained and can be easily accessed by simply making the user active again.

You can delete the user. This should be a last resort as all of the historical timecard entries, leave awards, and messages are completely and permanently removed. A hard copy of all hours for the worker should be printed before deletion. Deleting a user is irreversible, so use it with care.

Jeff Morrow

Redcort Software