Time Tracker User Manual

Definitions Menu Pad

The Definitions section of the system is where you specify the components of your organizations schedules.

Only users who have administrator rights assigned in the Users table have access to this menu pad.

Employee

The employee definitions are the definitions that relate to employees.

Employee Maintenance

See Also: Employee Selection, Import - Employees

The employee maintenance form is where employee information is recorded. This information defines an employee for the scheduling process.

Note: You cannot delete Employee records that are referenced anywhere else in the system (i.e. Time Off, Refusals, Comp Time Earned and Bookings). Time Tracker will check and prevent referenced employees from being deleted.

The first tab in this form lists employees. The records listed here can be filtered with the Employee List Filter button on the upper right hand corner of the form. The list defaults to showing active employees only. To include inactive employees, click on the filter button and remove the check mark beside 'Active Employees Only?'.

The remaining tabs contain information that defines the currently selected employee.

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  The Personal tab is where you enter personal information to describe the employee.
  
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  The Definition tab is where you define how the employee is to be handled by the system.
  
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  The Attributes tab allows you to set attributes that can later be used to filter and select employees.
  
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  The Reminders tab is used to maintain a list of date-activated reminders for each employee.
  
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  The Availability tab allows you to specify when and where an employee will be available.
  

Employee Attributes

See Also: Employee Selection

This is a list of attributes that apply to the specific employee. Employee Attributes are used to narrow down the employee selection list when doing bookings. You may ask which employees have a given set of attributes and the selection list will show just those that match.

Notes

The notes section allows you to enter any amount of free format text. This text will also appear in the Employee Definition report.

Employee Availability

See Also: Employee Selection

The Availability tab allows you to record employee availability. You can define each employees availability to work specific locations, shifts and associated days of the week.

Quick Selection: Hold down the left mouse button and drag the cursor across the availability check boxes. Unchecked boxes will be checked automatically, and checked boxes will be unchecked automatically.

This information is used in the Employee Selection when employees are being booked. Available employees are denoted with a check mark. Unavailable employees trigger warning messages when they are selected.

FAQ:

Is Employee Availability where I am to record my staff rotations?

Answer:

No, rotations (or patterns) that repeat over time should be recorded in a Schedule Pattern . Schedule Patterns are the primary source of Schedule Automation.

Availability definitions are meant only to assist in employee selection for individual bookings.

Employee Definition

Start, End and Seniority Status date

Start and end dates affect when an employee is available for bookings. Employees whose start date is after the current booking date will not appear on the employee selection lists. Employees who have an ending date before the current booking date will also not appear on the selection lists. Only when the booking date is on or after the employees start date and on or before the ending date (or if ending date is blank) will the employee be made available for the booking.

The Start date is also used as one method of determining seniority. Seniority data is used primarily to sort the employees in seniority order when making a booking.

Seniority Status, like Start date; is also used to sort employees in seniority order when making a booking. It typically is used to record the most recent date that an employee has acquired a different status (i.e. promotion, new skills).

Hours

'Total Hours' are the total number of hours worked for a given Employee. This field is used to determine the seniority of employees. 'Total Hours' are calculated by adding 'base hours' to number of 'hours on disk'.

'Base Hours' are the hours worked by an employee and not recorded in bookings. Use this field to record the time that your employees have worked that is not included in 'Hours on Disk'.

The 'Hours on Disk' are the sum of all booking hours recorded for an employee for a given time period (see the menu option Calculate Hours on Disk).

Example

An organization has a policy of determining seniority based upon the number of hours employees work plus community service hours. The 'Calculate Hours on Disk' module will fill each employee's 'Hours on Disk' field from the bookings in the system. Community service hours would then be manually added to the 'Base Hours' field, giving the final 'Total Hours' value.

User Name and Password

The user name and password is the log on information for employees accessing the system. Employees may enter Vacation Requests and generate reports pertaining to themselves. For more elaborate system access, see the menu option Users under the Admin menu pad.

Maximum Consecutive days of Work

The system will display a warning message if you book the employee for more consecutive days than specified here.

Vacation Hours Allocated

The system will display a warning message if you record more vacation hours than the number allotted here. This number is also used by the Time Off report to calculate allocated Vacation time remaining after the amount of Vacation time used.

Paid Sick Hours Allocated

The system will display a warning message if you record more sick hours than the number allotted here. This number is also used by the Time Off report to calculate allocated Sick time remaining after the amount of Sick time used.

Employee Personal

Name and Address

The first and last name fields are required fields. They identify the employee and are used extensively through out the system.

The address, telephone and contact fields are for information purposes only. These fields do not affect the scheduling process in any way. The system does not require that you fill in these fields.

Date of Birth and Identification Numbers

All of these fields are for informational purposes only. The system does not require that you fill in these fields.

Email Address

You must specify an email address if you intent on using the E-Mail Generation feature.

Employee Reminders

See Also: Employee Reminders Report

Reminders can be used to for anything that you or your employees need to be reminded about. Reminders can be anything from critical safety schedules to whose turn it is to bring coffee. Time Tracker displays the reminders that are due when the employee is being booked. Also, the Employee Reminders Report allows you to print reminders by due dates and completion status.

Example:

Suppose that you have an employee who must be re-certified on an annual basis. You could create a reminder for when their certification is due. The reminder could be set to give as much advance warning as required. You would then be warned during the booking process and the reminders would print in the Employee Reminders Report. This way, you won't book uncertified employees and your staff will have ample warning to complete their certification.

Date

Each reminder is associated with a specific date. This date, along with the 'advance warning' days determine when you will start being reminded.

Advance Warning

You may specify the number of days, in advance of the reminders date, that you will begin to be reminded.

Reminder

This field allows you to type a brief description of the reminder.

Notes

The notes field is where you would type any extended notes that relate to the reminder.

Complete?

Reminders will be displayed indefinitely until the reminder is flagged as complete. Reminders will continue to be displayed during the booking process until they are flagged as complete.

Employee Attributes Definition

See Also: Employee Selection, Employee Maintenance

Employee Attributes are qualities of your employees (i.e. skills, certification, etc.). Record a list of employee attributes that are relevant to your scheduling process. These attributes may then be attached to individual employees by using the Employee Maintenance form. You will then be able to filter staff by their attributes when selecting employees for a schedule.

Note: You cannot delete Employee Attribute records that are referenced anywhere else in the system (i.e. Employee records). Time Tracker will check and prevent such an event from occurring.

Example:

You may want to schedule shifts that require employees trained in first aid. If the shift happens to be a night shift, you might also need to select from those employees willing to work nights. To do so, add the attributes; 'First Aid Training' and 'Willing to work nights' to the attribute list, then in the employee maintenance form, attach the attributes to the relevant employees.

Now, when you require a list of employees with 'First Aid Training' and/or 'Willing to work nights' you can specify such a filter.

Employee Types Definition

See Also: Edit Comp Time Earned

You may categorize employees by type. Employees may be grouped into categories such as full time, part time, supervisor, relief staff and so on. You should define any categories that may be useful during the scheduling process and help to classify your staff.

An important use of Employee Types is during Employee Selection when recording bookings. You can arrange and select from the list of eligible employees based upon the Employee Type specified for the booking.

You cannot delete Employee Type records that are referenced anywhere else in the system (i.e. Bookings and Employee records). Time Tracker will check and prevent such an event from occurring.

Comp Time

The check box labeled "Automatically grant Earned Comp time if bookings fall on a Statutory Holiday?" allows you to select this feature for the employee type. When employees are booked with this designation and the booking is for a statutory holiday; Time Tracker will permit Comp Time to be granted automatically.

If there is a check mark in the check box beside "May take Comp time as time off", then you may record time taken off in the Comp Time category. You would check this box for employee types that are allowed to bank their earned Comp time and take it off at a later date. You would leave this option unchecked if you always pay for earned Comp time.

Min/Max Hours

You may specify the minimum and maximum work hours per number of weeks for each employee type. If an employee of that type is being booked for more than the maximum, a warning message will appear. Likewise, if the employee is being booked for less than the minimum, a message will appear. If you specify zero in these fields, the warning messages will be disabled.

Color Picker

The color picker lets you determine the background color of each employee type. The color you select will be the color used when displaying the schedule. This feature gives the ability to visually distinguish between employee types by color.

Time Off Types

The time off definitions specify various ways that an employee can have time off. Time off may fall into one of four main types (Sick, Vacation, Comp, and Other). In addition you create any number of user defined sub types within the four main types

You must have at least one definition for each of the four main types. You may further define any number of sub-categories for each time off type.

Comp Time Types

See Also: Absence Report

Comp Time is time taken off in Compensation instead of being paid or perhaps in Compensation for a regularly scheduled holiday. When you book an employee for time off, you may specify any of the categories you have added to this list. The system will track time off by employee and give totals for each of these categories.

You cannot delete Comp Time records that are referenced anywhere else in the system (i.e. Time off). Time Tracker will check and prevent such an event from occurring.

Count time off as absence from work?

If you check this box, it means that when an employee takes time off in this category it will count as an absence. An absence is time taken off instead of working the same required hours. An employee who is required to work 40 hours in a given week and works only 32 hours has been absent for 8 hours that week.

Other Time Types

See Also: Absence Report

These categories will be used for time off which is not sick time, vacation time or Comp time. When you book an employee for time off, you may specify any of the categories you have added to this list. The system will track time off by employee and give totals for each of these categories.

You cannot delete Other Time records that are referenced anywhere else in the system (i.e. Time off). Time Tracker will check and prevent such an event from occurring.

Count time off as absence from work?

If you check this box, it means that when an employee takes time off in this category it will count as an absence. An absence is time taken off instead of working the same required hours. An employee who is required to work 40 hours in a given week and works only 32 hours has been absent for 8 hours that week.

Sick Time Types

See Also: Absence Report

This is a list of the categories of sick time off by which sick time will be summarized. These categories will be used to subdivide sick time. When you book an employee for time off you may specify any of the categories you have added to this list. The system will use these categories to classify sick time off.

You cannot delete Sick Time records that are referenced anywhere else in the system (i.e. Time off). Time Tracker will check and prevent such an event from occurring.

Count time off as absence from work?

If you check this box, it means that when an employee takes time off in this category it will count as an absence. An absence is time taken off instead of working the same required hours. An employee who is required to work 40 hours in a given week and works only 32 hours has been absent for 8 hours that week.

Vacation Time Types

See Also: Absence Report

Vacation time is time taken off which usually counts as part of the employee's vacation allotment. When you book an employee for vacation time off, you may specify any of the categories you have added to this list. The system will track time off by employee and give totals for each of these categories.

You cannot delete Vacation Time records that are referenced anywhere else in the system (i.e. Time off). Time Tracker will check and prevent such an event from occurring.

Count time off as absence from work?

If you check this box, it means that when an employee takes time off in this category it will count as an absence. An absence is time taken off instead of working the same required hours. An employee who is required to work 40 hours in a given week and works only 32 hours has been absent for 8 hours that week.

Location Maintenance

Locations are used to split the schedule into sections. When a schedule is divided into locations, you may schedule for each location separately. Locations may be physical locations such as wings of a building or job sites. Locations may also be departments or divisions of your organization. It is up to you to decide how you would like your schedule to be divided. You must define at least one location.

You cannot delete Location records that are referenced anywhere else in the system (i.e. Schedules and Refusals). Time Tracker will check and prevent such an event from occurring.

Location Notes

This is a free format typing area used to record location addresses, miscellaneous notes or anything that you want. You can type as much information as you like. However you should remember that the more you type, the more space will be required when they are printed on reports.

Color Picker

The color picker lets you determine the background color of each location. The color you select will be the color used when displaying the schedule. This feature gives the ability to visually distinguish between locations by color.

Shift Maintenance

Shift Maintenance allows you to maintain a list of shifts that will be available to the system. You may add new shifts or edit existing shifts. You cannot delete Shift records that are referenced anywhere else in the system (i.e. Schedules and Refusals). Time Tracker will check and prevent such an event from occurring.

Default Hours and Times

The default hours are the number of hours of work time automatically allocated to an employee booked into this shift. The default hours can also be overridden at the time of booking.

If you had specified that you want to be prompted for start and end time in the 'Optional Booking Prompts' on the Options screen, then, this screen would also allow you to set default start and end times for the shift.

Start and End Times

The system makes the following assumptions about start and end times. When the end time is:

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  Greater than the start time it is assumed that both the start and end time fall within the same day.
  
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  Less than the start time it is assumed that the shift spans two days.
  
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  Equal to the start time it is assumed that zero hours are to be recorded.
  

Position in Day

Note: This feature is only available when "Prompt for Start and End Time" has not been selected in the Options for the system.

The 'Position in Day' prompts for the relative position of the shift within a day. This prompt controls a warning that may appear during the booking process. If you book an employee into the first shift of a day following a booking of the same employee in the last shift of the previous day, you will be warned.

Example:

If you have a shift called 'Late Nights' you could mark it the last shift in the day. If you have a shift called 'Early Mornings' you could mark it the first shift in the day. You would then be warned anytime you attempted to book an employee for early mornings following late nights.

Once a shift has been defined you may use that shift in the shift pattern of the Schedule Patterns and/or Live Schedules.

Color Picker

The color picker lets you determine the background color of each shift. The color you select will be the color used when displaying the schedule. This feature gives the ability to visually distinguish between shifts by color