Missing Timecard Entries?

If you're running employee timecards and get a message that "No entries were found matching your selection request" then there are a couple of things to check before concluding that the timecard entries are missing. First, double-check the date range and worker selection. You may be trying to run a timecard for 'Yesterday' for someone who didn't work yesterday.

Next, make sure someone hasn't made changes to the default report settings in the Report Writer. Click Report Writer in the Configure menu. Click the Selection & Sort button for the timecard report you're trying to run and make sure the Who and Entries popup menus haven't been changed to only include a limited selection of people or activities.

Someone may have been experimenting with report settings without making a copy of the report first.

Jeff
Technical Support Team
Redcort Software, Inc.

Decimal Rounding

When new time clock software users discover 'missing minutes' on their employee time cards, they are often surprised (and sometimes skeptical) to be told the minutes only appear to be missing. The answer to the missing minutes is how numbers are calculated and displayed in decimal format.

Let's look at a sample time card report for an employee who works a 20-minute shift three times a day with totals displayed as decimals:

08:00 AM to 08:20 AM =.33
12:00 PM to 12:20 PM =.33

05:00 PM to 05:20 PM =.33

Total Hours = 1.0

Since.33 +.33 +.33 =.99, where's the missing time? 20 minutes in decimal format isn't really.33. In realty 20/60 =.3333333 to infinity, but we just use .33 to represent a third of something. So adding .3333333 three times gives us.9999999999 to infinity. We get a number really close to 1, but not exactly 1. Even if we used really long decimals on our time card reports, we'd still never be able to exactly represent 3 twenty-minute shifts as 60 minutes. So we show 20 minutes simply as.33 hours.

Jeff
Technical Support Team
Redcort Software, Inc.

Using Messaging Without Punching In

In older versions of Virtual TimeClock, if managers or time clock administrators wanted to use messaging then they needed to have their name listed in the in/out list of the main time clock window. This bothered some customers because these users typically didn't use the time clock software for punching in and out. With Virtual TimeClock '12, you no longer have to be listed in the in/out list to use messaging.

If you're not using the time clock to punch in & out and you want your name removed from the in/out list, then you'll need to remove yourself as a user of the display group. Turn on administration and from the Configure menu choose Users. Select the user and click the Groups button. Now just remove the user from the display groups in the Display Group User section. These users will be able to send and check messages from the admin toolbar after turning on administration.

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.