by Mark Nemtsas | Nov 27, 2012 | How To, Using the Software
Figure 1 – The Administrator Time Off Requests Screen
The Administrator Time Off Requests screen (see the screenshot above) is used by the Time Clock MTS administrator to manage all employee time off requests. This Time Clock MTS How-To guide takes users through the various functions of this screen.
The Administrator Time Off Requests screen can be reached via the Tools->Time Off Requests menu item from within the Time Clock MTS Administrator program.
Figure 2 – Adding / Editing an Employee Time Off Request
Creating a New Employee Time Off Request
Under certain circumstances it could be useful for administrators to be able to create new employee time off requests. This could simply be because the method of employees placing time off requests is handled outside of your time clock software or perhaps the administrator wants to create a number of employee clock in / out pairs quickly and easily. To create an employee time off request take the following steps.
- Click the
button.
- Enter the details of the time off request on the add/edit time off request screen (see Figure 2 above). Care should be taken to ensure the correct dates are selected for the first and last day and that the time classification is set appropriately.
- When the details of the time off request are correct click the Save Time Off Request button to save the time off request.
Editing an Existing Employee Time Off Request
- On the Administrator Time Off Request screen (see Figure 1 above) click on the time off request to be edited and then click the
button. Alternatively an existing time off request can be edited directly by double clicking on it in the time off request list.
- The details of the time off request will then be displayed on the add/edit time off request screen (see Figure 2 above). Changes can be made as required on this screen. Note that an APPROVED or DENIED time off request can be moved back to PENDING status using this screen.
- When the details of the time off request are correct click the Save Time Off Request button to save the time off request.
Deleting an Employee Time Off Request
- On the Administrator Time Off Request screen (see Figure 1 above) click on the time off request to be deleted.
- Click the
button. Confirm the deletion of the time off request when prompted.
Figure 3 – Deny Time Off Request Screen
Denying an Employee Time Off Request
- On the Administrator Time Off Request screen (see Figure 1 above) click on the time off request to be denied. Note that you’ll only be able to deny requests that are in the PENDING state.
- Click the Deny Selected button.
- The Deny Time Off Request screen will then be displayed (see Figure 3 above).
- Enter any notes giving the reason for the denial of the request into the notes area. Check the Create Employee Bulletin checkbox to have the employee notified of the denial of their request via an Employee Bulletin.
- Click the Deny Time Off Request to confirm the action or the Cancel button to cancel the denial process. Pressing either button will return the user to the Administrator Time Off Requests screen.
Approving an Employee Time Off Request
This process is described in the subsequent how-to article approving a time off request in Time Clock MTS.
by Mark Nemtsas | Nov 22, 2012 | How To, Using the Software
Employees who are recording time and attendance data with Time Clock MTS can request time off using the software. These requests are approved or denied by the time clock administrator and employees can be automatically notified via the Time Clock MTS Employee Bulletin System.
This Time Clock MTS How-To guide takes employees through the process making a time off request. Before employees can make a time off request the time clock administrator must have configured Time Clock MTS to allow employees to request time off.
Time Off Requests Drop-Down
1. Select the Employee Name
Select the employee name from the Time Clock MTS employee list (employee time off requests can only be made if you’re using the Employee List Interface). Then click on the View My Information button and select the Time Off Requests option from the drop-down menu.
The Employee Time Off Request Management Screen
2. Click the New Time Off Request Button
You’ll then be shown the Employee Time Off Request Management screen (see above). To place a new time off request click the button.
Adding a Time Off Request
3. Enter the Time Off Request Details
Above you can see the screen used to enter your time off request details. You can enter a first day and last day as well as a start time and end time. So, if for example you wanted to take time off from 2 November 2012 to 9 November 2012 you’d enter 11/2/2012 to 11/9/2012 for your first and last day. If your normal work start time and end time is 9:00AM and 5:00AM you’d enter that for your start / end times. Conversely, if you wanted to request the morning off on 2 November 2012 you’d enter 11/2/2012 for your first day and last day and 9:00AM / 12:00PM for the start time/end time.
The Classification allows you to pick what type of time you want to take off. This could be Normal Time, Sick Time, Vacation Time, or Other time depending on how your Time Clock MTS software is setup.
The Employee Notes area can be used to enter a note that will be displayed to the administrator when they are considering your time off request.
The final display fields of interest are Status and Approval Notes. The Status lets you know if your request has been approved or not, while the notes contain any communication from your time clock administrator when they approved or denied your request.
4. Save the Request
To save your time off request click the Save Time Off Request button. You’ll then be returned to the Employee Time Off Request Management Screen where your new time off request will be listed along with a PENDING status. The time clock administrator will be notified of your time off request and once approved or denied you’ll be notified by an employee bulletin the next time you clock into Time Clock MTS.
by Mark Nemtsas | Nov 22, 2012 | How To, Using the Software
Our employee timeclock software, Time Clock MTS, now allows employees to request time off. These requests are communicated to the time clock administrator who can then approve or deny the requests and (if required) automatically create time punches for approved requests. This can greatly streamline the time off request process and help reduce data entry errors.
This Time Clock MTS How-To guide takes you through the process of setting up Time Clock MTS to allow employees to request time off.
Note that employees can only request time off when you are using the Employee List Interface of Time clock MTS.
1. Log in as the Administrator
The first step is to log into the Time Clock MTS Administrator program as the administrator and go to the Tools->Options->Interface Settings screen (see the image below).
The Interface Settings Screen
2. Check the Enable Time Off Requests Checkbox
When on the Interface Settings screen check the Enable Time Off Requests checkbox and click the Save button to save the changes.
3. Log off Administrator Account
Log out of Time Clock MTS administrator mode by using the File -> Log Off Of Administrator Account menu.
Time Off Requests Drop-Down
4. Employees Can Request Time Off
Employees can now request time off by selecting their name in the Employee List and clicking on the View My Information button and then selecting the Time Off Requests option from the drop-down menu. You can see what this looks like above.
That concludes this How-To article. For more help you should take a look at the Time Off Requests help topics.
by Mark Nemtsas | Nov 20, 2012 | How To, Tips and Tricks, Using the Software
Time Clock MTS has some features that allow you to create multiple employees for your time clock system quickly and accurately. This can significantly speed up the process of setting up Time Clock MTS for the first time as well as adding new employees to an existing system. It can also help to greatly reduce data entry errors when creating new employees.
This Time Clock MTS How-To Article takes you through the process of creating four new employee records using the Export Employee Data and Import Employee Data features within Time Clock MTS.
Figure 1 – The Export Employees Menu
1. Export Your Existing Employees to Microsoft Excel
This process relies on you having some existing employees in your Time Clock MTS database and that you have Microsoft Excel installed on your computer. Log into the Time Clock MTS Administrator program as the admin and go to the Employee Maintenance->Export Employees menu (see the image above).
Figure 2 – Confirm Export Employees Action
2. Confirm the Export Employees Action
Time Clock MTS will ask you to confirm the export employees action (see the image above). Click the OK button to proceed.
Figure 3 – Exported Employee Data
3. View the Exported Employee Data
A Microsoft Excel window will appear containing your existing employee data (see the image above). It is important to realize that Time Clock MTS uses the Employee Badge as the unique identifier for each employee. The consequence of this is if you change the Badge numbers of the employees in your exported data to new numbers and import that data back into Time Clock MTS it considers them to be entirely new employees.
Figure 4 – New Employee Data
4. Edit the Exported Employee Data
We’re going to change the employee name column of each exported employee and (most importantly) give each one a new badge number. You can see what this might look like in the image above. You should note that at this step you could create copies of your employee data rows and create as many new employee records as you like, conversely you could delete export rows and create fewer new employees than you exported. The choice is yours. In this example we exported 4 employees and we’re going to create four new ones.
Figure 5 – Saving the Employee Data
5. Save the New Employee Data
The next step is to save the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that contains your new employee data. Note the location where you save it because you’ll need to know the location in the following steps. In our example I saved the spreadsheet to a folder on my Windows desktop (see image above).
Figure 6 – The Import Employees Menu
6. Import the New Employee Data Back into Time Clock MTS
While still logged into Time Clock MTS as the administrator go to the Employee Maintenance->Import Employees menu (see above).
Figure 7 – The Import Employees Screen
7. Select the New Employee Data Spreadsheet
On the Import Employees screen (shown above) click the Import Employees button. This will allow you to navigate to where you saved your new employee data in Step 5. Once you’ve found it open the file.
Figure 8 – Import Employees Complete
8. Watch the Employee Import Process
Time Clock MTS will now import the new employee data from the spreadsheet. As it imports each employee a message will be displayed on the Import Employees screen telling you whether that employee was created successfully or not. When the process is complete the Import Employees screen may look something like the image shown above. Note that each new employee is reported as being imported successfully.
Figure 9 – The New Employees
9. View Your New Employees
The final step is to exit out of the Import Employees screen by clicking the Exit button. When we are returned to the employee time clock we can see that the new employees are present on the employee list.
Important Note
If you happen to try to import an employee whose badge number matches the badge number of an employee that is already present in your Time Clock MTS database do not worry. The Import Employee process will not import that employee and leave your existing employee information intact.
by Mark Nemtsas | Nov 10, 2012 | How To, Using the Software
Each employee can be given a display color to make them easier to find.
Version 4 of our Timeclock Software includes a new feature to allow you to highlight employees on the employee list with a color. You can see what this might look like on the image above. You’ll need to be using the Employee List Interface to see the effects of this in your time card software. Setting up Time Clock MTS to show background colors for employees is pretty simple. Here’s how to do it.
- Log into the Time Clock MTS Administrator program as the administrator.
- Select the employee you want to change the background color for and then select the Employee Maintenance->Edit Selected Employee menu.
- On the Employee Information Screen click the Choose Color button.
- Choose a color from the color picking window that appears.
- Click the Save Employee button to save the change.
- When you return to the main time clock screen you should see that the employee is now highlighted with your selected color. Please note that while you have the employee selected in the list the highlighted color will not be displayed.
by Mark Nemtsas | Nov 7, 2012 | How To, New Features, Using the Software
The release of Version 4 of Time Clock MTS introduced what we’re calling the “Reports User”. The Reports User can log into Time Clock MTS with their own password and run payroll reports but not perform any administrative functions. The really powerful thing about the Reports User is that they can log into the Time Clock MTS administrator program AND the Time Clock MTS client program to run reports. This means that there’s no need to have continual access to the employee time clock software administrator computer (or the administrator password) when someone needs to run payroll, activity, or job time reports.
This Time Clock MTS How To Article covers how the Reports User is setup and how you’d go about logging in as that user.
Use this screen to control how employees punch in and out and how Time Clock MTS looks.
- Log into the Time Clock MTS as the administrator.
- Go to the Tools->Options->Interface Settings screen (see image above) and check the Enable Reports User checkbox.
- Enter a password for the Report User. The password must be between 6 and 10 characters long and can only contain letters, numbers, and the underscore character.
- Click the Save button to save the changes.
- Log out of the administrator account using the File->Log Off Administrator Account.
This screen is used by report users to login with their password.
- The Reports User may now log in using the client or administrator software using the File->Log in as Reports User menu. They’ll need to enter the Reports User password to be able to log in (see above).
The Report User can access all reporting functions via the Reporting menu. This includes all of the payroll reports that can be accessed from the Payroll Reports. Don’t forget that the Reports User needs to log out of Time Clock MTS using the File->Log Off Reports User Account.
