by Mark Nemtsas | Jul 18, 2013 | News, Tips and Tricks
Just recently I was interviewed for an upcoming article on a fairly popular small business news website. The article addresses the question “What is Timecard Software?”. As part of this interview I answered some questions the journalist sent me via email about time card software. I thought it would be useful to reproduce those answers in a blog article. 1. What is timecard software and how does it work? Time card software is used to collect information about when employees arrive at work, when they take breaks, and when they leave for the day. It is designed to replace paper timesheets, punch clock machines, and time card machines. The software will store this time card information and make it available to payroll staff and managers so they can run reports to work out employee payroll, what employees are spending their time on, and who is (or isn’t) at work. Typically timecard software takes one of two forms. The first is installable software that shares data across your network and allows your employees to clock in and out on one or more computers. The second, is a web based time card system that allows employees to clock in and out via a web-enabled device. These days a third type of system is becoming more popular, namely time card apps on mobile devices. However, these are typically linked to some sort of web based timecard system anyway. 2. What are the benefits of using such software? There are three main benefits to using time card software. The first, is that it will save a company money. Cost savings come through reducing... read more
by kathryn@timeclockmts.com | Jul 11, 2013 | New Releases, News
I’ve been working on Time Clock MTS Version 4.1.4 for a few weeks now and have uploaded it to the website today. Here’s a detailed list of the changes made to this release. Fixed a typo on the Vacation Accruals and Sick Time Accruals screens. Resetting the administrator password by answering the secret questions is no longer case dependent. Reworked the trial reminder to be a more attractive form rather than a simple message box. Also, the trial reminder can now be dismissed for up to seven days. When the trial is expired a proper form is now displayed rather than a simple message box. When operating in free mode there is only one reminder rather than one every time the software is started. There was a problem with the Job Details Report showing times booked against no job being recorded against a non existent job number. This has now been fixed. The “Clock All Employees Out” button on the Edit Times screen now allows the administrator to clock the selected employee (or all employees) in. The employee and administrator time off request screens now do proper date sorts for all date based columns. When a time off request is deleted from the administrator time off request screen the time off requests retain their sort order. Time Clock MTS now remembers the setting to automatically create a bulletin when a time off request is approved. The employee bulletin screen is no longer shown to employees if there are no bulletins to show the... read more
by Mark Nemtsas | Jun 26, 2013 | Tips and Tricks
Here’s a question I want you to ask yourself: How Much Time and Money Are You Wasting Collecting Employee Timesheets and Processing Payroll? If you’re not using a good employee time clock software system then the answer to this question may be A LOT! Let’s have a look at the four areas in your employee time clock and timesheet processes that are costing you money. The Time Taken for Manual Calculations Any manual timesheet system requires someone in your payroll staff to key in and manually total the timesheet for each and every employee in your organization. Our experience suggests (and industry experts agree with us) that it takes, on average, about 2 minutes to key in and add up a week of time clock information for a single employee. If your payroll staff cost you $25 per hour then you’re looking at a cost of $43 per year per employee just to manually add up your timesheets. Don’t think that software can save you time? Well, think again. Here’s what Eduardo Nilo had to say about Time Clock MTS: Time Clock MTS has been a great boon at a great price! We used to spend hours manually calculating everyone’s time logs, based on a manual log book. But Time Clock MTS has done away with the messy and oftentimes illegible log book, and greatly reduced the time required to process our semi-monthly payroll. We wholeheartedly recommend Time Clock MTS! Eduardo NiloIndigo EntertainmentMakati City, PHILIPPINES Potential Savings (running total) : $43 per employee per year Errors in Manual Calculations If you’re making manual time clock calculations for your employees... read more
by Mark Nemtsas | Jun 19, 2013 | Tips and Tricks, Using the Software
I thought it would be worthwhile looking at the major factors that should be considered by any company when deciding whether a particular employee time clock software package is going to be suitable for them. Over the last few years I’ve had thousands of emails from companies who are looking for a new system to track their employee time clock data and this list of six review points is based on what I’ve learned from those emails. Does the Time Clock Software Run on Your Computers? Most companies have a mix of computers, new and old, a mix of different versions of Windows, with some (or more likely) most computers cluttered down with years of installed software and Windows service packs. Getting software to run on these older computers can be somewhat hit and miss. These points must be considered carefully especially if such a computer (or computers) have been ear-marked as the potential candidates to become the new employee timeclock computers. So, the question to be asked is, will the software you’re evaluating run on these computers? Don’t take the vendors word for it (they’ll almost never say their software won’t work on your computers). Take advantage of their free time clock trial (they do have one don’t they?) and verify that the software will run on all the computers you plan on installing it on. Upfront and Recurring Costs The next point to consider when reviewing your potential new software is the up-front and any recurring costs. Upfront costs are just those to purchase a license to use the software. On-going costs could include a fee to... read more
by Mark Nemtsas | May 31, 2013 | News
This weekend I’m rolling out changes to the pricing structure of Time Clock MTS. Gone will be the old (and frankly confusing) system that required you to choose from a large number of different client packages decide on the number of employees that you wanted to track. Instead there are going to be just three options when purchasing Time Clock MTS. The Network Edition The Time Clock MTS Network Edition will be just $199 (US) for 20 time clock client computers and 1 time clock administrator computer. You will be able to track up to 500 employees using the Time Clock MTS Network Edition. The price of $199 (US) represents about a 60% price drop over the old pricing structure. The Network PLUS Edition The Time Clock MTS Network PLUS Edition will be $399 (US) and allow for 1 administrator computer and up to 100 time clock client computers. To support more than 20 time clock clients it will require the use of one of the Enhanced Backend Database options. The price of $399 (US) represents a 50% price drop over the previous pricing structure. The Stand Alone Edition The Stand Alone Edition allows you to install Time Clock MTS on one computer and track up to 500 employees. We’ve maintained the price of the Stand Alone Edition at $99 (US) but the ability to track up to 500 employees gives a saving of around 60% versus the old cost. If you’re an existing Time Clock MTS user and you’ve got any questions about these pricing changes or want to talk to me about a potential upgrade then please... read more
by Mark Nemtsas | May 30, 2013 | Tips and Tricks, Using the Software
There’s nothing worse than buying boxed software and getting back to your office and realizing your computers don’t have the right version of Windows, or are too old, too slow, or need more memory to run what you’ve bought. You might even find that you need a permanent Internet connection to use some software and in the case of employee timeclock software that’s not something that’s always desirable. Being able to try a prospective time clock system BEFORE you buy it will help you determine if the software will run on the old PC you’ve earmarked as a clock in computer. You’ll find out quickly if it’s compatible with the version of Windows, and if your PC hardware will cope with the software. And you’ll find all of this out before you have to spend a cent. 1. To ensure your employees can use the software It’s important to take advantage of a free time clock software trial to ensure that the employees who use it every day will be able to understand how to clock in and out. Not all software is the same and some is most definitely harder to use than others. With this being the case if your employees don’t know one end of a computer mouse from the other it’s important that they be given the opportunity to see the software that they need to clock in and out of every day. If you’ve got a lot of employees and they are wasting time every day because the software is hard to use then you are just needlessly wasting time and money. Being able... read more
