Premium Pay After Midnight

Some businesses pay a wage premium to employees whose shift takes them past midnight. Virtual TimeClock does allow you to set a shift differential, but it applies to the entire shift and not just part of a shift. The best way to handle this scenario is to create a new activity called something like "Midnight Rate".

There are two ways to track time with the new activity. Employees can either change activities at midnight to the "Midnight Rate" activity or else an admin user can split the entry into two separate entries later. The important thing is that the time totals will be separated on employee timecards so whoever processes your payroll will know how much time to pay at the premium rate.

Jeff
Tech Support Team
Redcort Software, Inc.

Time Clock Database Errors

Virtual TimeClock uses a SQL database engine that is compact, fast, and extremely reliable. The only time we ever hear of database issues is when a hard disk starts to fail. Even then, most of the time we're still able to recover the time clock software data.

Virtual TimeClock will return very specific error codes if there’s a problem reading or writing to the database. Although uncommon, the following error codes are ones you may encounter.

Error 13 – Insertion failed because database is full
This error is a result of a full database. You'll need to move Virtual TimeClock Pro or Virtual TimeClock Server to a different computer or try to free up some space on the hard disk.

Error 14 – Unable to open the database file
The most common reason this error occurs is because you've moved your time clock to a different computer and permissions have changed on the database file or the database folder. Make sure the database file and database folder have read & write permissions for everyone. Using your time clock software's built-in database backup and restore utilities will take care of all the permission settings for you.

A second reason you may see this error is because you've moved the database file to a different folder location, or you've renamed the database file itself. If you get yourself into trouble, contact us because we can help you!

Jeff
Technical Support Team
Redcort Software, Inc.

Overtime Rate for Worked Holidays

Some businesses pay a premium rate when employees work on a company designated holiday. Since the increased wage is handled by your payroll system, you just need to know how many hours to pay for the worked holiday. It's easy to set up your employee time clock software to keep track of that for you.

First, you'll want to set up a new activity. Turn administration on and choose Activities from the Configure menu. Add a new activity with a name like 'Worked Holiday' and save. Now when employees work on a recognized business holiday, they'll choose 'Worked Holiday' when starting work.

When you print employee timecards, you'll see the 'Worked Holiday' hours subtotaled separately so you know how many hours to pay at the premium rate.

Jeff
Technical Support Team
Redcort Software, Inc.

Moving Time Clock Clients

When running the Virtual TimeClock Network Edition, there are times when a client time clock may need to be moved to another computer. This could be due to a number of reasons, like the computer crashed or there's been changes in office personnel. Whatever the reason, the goal is to move the client program without disrupting business operations. Here are a few tips to make that happen.

The most common issue customers have is installing the wrong client version. If the current time clock client is still available, you can check this by selecting About Virtual TimeClock from the Help menu on a Windows PC and the Virtual Time Clock menu on Mac. This will also allow you to verify if the client program is a Pro or User Client. Now quit the time clock client and uninstall it.

Launch the Virtual TimeClock Server Manager program and click Licenses. Select and remove the computer name that corresponds to the old time clock client. This will allow the new time clock client to connect to the time clock server.

Download and install the correct Network Edition time clock client. If you need a prior version, select Prior Releases in the upper right corner. Just complete the installer and you'll be prompted to connect to your time clock server.

Follow the above steps and your new time clock client will be up and running before the next punch.

Angie
Technical Support Team
Redcort Software, Inc.