Multiple Time Zones

Virtual TimeClock Network Edition is the perfect solution for offices in different time zones needing a centralized time clock system. The time used when punching in and out is usually provided by the time clock server computer. This prevents employees from being able to change their local computer time to try and defeat the time clock. If you need to connect different office locations that are in different time zones, then you'll want to change the time source configuration setting to use an Internet time server.

Here's how to change the time source when you have time clock clients in different time zones. Turn on admin, go to Configure, then Time & Rounding, and select Use Internet TimeServer When Available.

Restart your time clock clients so they'll start getting their time from a list of impartial and accurate Internet time servers based on the time zone settings of the computer.

Jeff
Technical Support Team
Redcort Software, Inc.

Timecards for Inactive Users

We've always recommended making old employees inactive rather than deleting their user record. Deleting a user removes all of their timecard history, whereas making them inactive just removes the user name from any display groups they belong to. It's nice to have historic timecard data at your fingertips if you need it.

It's easy to view timecards for inactive employees. Turn on admin and select All Users from the display group popup menu in the bottom right corner of the Administration window. Now you can run a timecard for any past employee.

Jeff
Technical Support Team
Redcort Software, Inc.

Citrix Load Balancing

A load balancer is responsible for directing network traffic among multiple servers hosting the same applications. By balancing requests across multiple servers, a load balancer prevents any one server from becoming a single point of failure, which improves availability and responsiveness.

We occasionally run across customers that are using load balancing to distribute the load of network traffic across their server farms. This means that Citrix users could be directed to any one of the servers based on current traffic, which may present a licensing issue with their time clock software. Because Virtual TimeClock is licensed per computer connection, you'll need a client license for each Citrix user that needs to run the time clock, and if your Citrix users are routed to the next available server in the farm, then you'll need a client license for that user for every server they could potentially connect to. This means if you have 5 time clock users and you have a 2 server farm, then you'll need 10 Virtual TimeClock client licenses.

Jeff
Technical Support Team
Redcort Software, Inc.

Silent Uninstalls

We occasionally get asked by our larger clients if there's an easy way to uninstall Virtual TimeClock when upgrading so they don't have to physically touch each computer. Here are some command line parameters that you may find helpful when scripting silent uninstalls.

The uninstaller program (unins000.exe) accepts the following command line parameters.

/SILENT, /VERYSILENT
The uninstaller will not ask the user for startup confirmation or display a message stating that uninstall is complete. Shared files that are no longer in use are deleted automatically without prompting. Any critical error messages will still be shown on the screen. When '/VERYSILENT' is used, the uninstallation progress window is not displayed.

/SUPPRESSMSGBOXES
Instructs the uninstaller to suppress message boxes. Only has an effect when combined with '/SILENT' and '/VERYSILENT'.

/LOG
Causes Uninstall to create a log file in the user's TEMP directory detailing file uninstallation and actions taken during the uninstallation process. The log file is created with a unique name based on the current date. It will not overwrite or append to existing files.


Jeff
Technical Support Team
Redcort Software, Inc.