Online Time Clock MTS Weblog
A weblog from the authors of Online Time Clock MTS, the cost effective online time and attendance software solution
January 19, 2012
Employee Notes Only Report Added to Online Time Clock MTS
We've just added a new report to Online Time Clock MTS. This report, the Employee Notes Only Report, presents the user with a list of all times during the reporting period that employees have entered a note for. This is particularly useful for those managers wanting to see their employees communications to them in a less crowded manner than some other Online Time Clock MTS reports offer.
Posted by markn at 8:34 AM
January 17, 2012
Step by Step Guide to Running Payroll Reports
This tutorial takes you through the process of generating a payroll report in Online Time Clock MTS.
The Online Time Clock MTS Dashboard - Click to Enlarge
1. Log into Online Time Clock MTS as the account administrator or as a reports user. Click on the Reporting icon.
The Online Time Clock MTS Report Screen - Click to Enlarge
2. You will now be on the Online Time Clock MTS Reporting dashboard. Click on the Payroll Reports icon.
The Online Time Clock MTS Report Configuration Screen - Click to Enlarge
3. You will now be on the Online Time Clock MTS Report Configuration screen. This screen allows you to configure report parameters and then run and view a payroll report. The left hand side of the screen allows you to filter the employees that are included in the report. This could be done by department or by selecting individual employees. The top right of the screen allows you to select the report date. The middle right allows you to select what report you actually want to run. For a complete list of Online Time Clock MTS payroll reports you should take a look at the Reporting Help Topic. When you've configured the employees, report date range, and selected the report you wish to run click the Generate Report button and you'll be shown a progress indicator as your report is generated. When it's complete you'll be shown the following screen.
Online Time Clock MTS Report Generated - Click to Enlarge
4. Click the View Report link to view your report. For an example of a generated report you should take a look at the Punchcard Report Help Topic.
Posted by markn at 8:15 AM
December 2, 2011
Forward Entering Vacation Time
As the holiday season comes around again it's worth noting that Online Time Clock MTS allows payroll administrators to forward enter vacation time for employees by using the Edit Times screen. This can be particularly useful to remove work load from payroll staff around holiday time when the work week is interrupted.
Posted by markn at 1:18 PM
November 1, 2011
Using Online Time Clock MTS as an In/Out Board
The Attendance Report - Click to Enlarge
Most workplaces have an employee in/out board for a number of reasons. The primary one is that it allows anyone in a workplace to know where anyone else is, usually how to contact them, and if they are out of the office, when they will return. Obviously this is very useful information from a business perspective, helping the business to run more efficiently and to assist in giving good information to customers as to the whereabouts of their points of contact within a business. The other less obvious, but equally important use of an In/Out board is as a reference for which employees are on site in the case of an emergency. For example, if a workplace needs to be evacuated due to a fire then the In/Out board can be used to ensure that all employees are actually out of the building.
The biggest gripe that employees have always had about In/Out boards is the need to physically manipulate the board when entering or leaving the work place. This can be time consuming especially if the workplace is large and there's more than one entrance to the building. Typically employees get around this by ringing the (usually) harried receptionist in the front office who has to change the board along with myriad other duties.
A web based time clock system like Online Time Clock MTS presents an obvious solution to this. Integration of the In/Out functionality with another business process, in this case monitoring of employee attendance data will result in better compliance and realize efficiencies. Online Time Clock MTS has a report specifically to be used for track who is or is not at work, the Employee Attendance Report. This displays employees in two groups, those who are clocked in, and those who are clocked out along with the last employee note entered. We'd suggest if you're using Online Time Clock MTS to track your time clock data already then you should consider using it as an employee In/Out board.
Posted by markn at 9:07 AM
October 27, 2011
Employee Note Report Added
I've spent the last couple of days working on a new report for Online Time Clock MTS, fixing a small error in the combined weekly/daily overtime calculation method, and tweaking the way some of the user interface works. Most of these changes have come about due to the requests of existing users and I'd like to thank them for their feedback. Details of each of the changes can be found below.
- Employee note report added. You can read more about this on the Employee Note Report help page.
- Employee badge number now displayed on the time classification report.
- Fix to daily and weekly overtime calculation method.
- When adding employees subscription limits are checked before displaying the enter employee details window. Stops people wasting their effort entering all those details only to be told that they cannot add any more employees.
- Changed the location of the loading data / error window on the manage employees screen.
Posted by markn at 6:55 AM
October 4, 2011
Unexpected System Downtime 6.30PM PST 3 October 2011
We've had some unexpected downtime today from 6.30PM PST due to a DDOS attack on the data center in which the Online Time Clock MTS servers are hosted. The servers were running just fine during this period but there were significant network connectivity issues due to the attack. As of right now everything seems to be back online. Many apologies to anyone affected by this.
Posted by markn at 9:20 AM
September 29, 2011
Fix to Payroll Reports Posted
An observant user of Time Clock MTS noticed a problem with payroll reports when an employee had earned more than $1,000. It turns out the problem was with the comma thousands separator not being handled correctly. This has now been fixed up and everything appears to be back to normal! Thanks to the user in question for their kind help in sorting this issue out.
Posted by markn at 11:21 AM
September 10, 2011
Online Time Clock MTS 1st Birthday!
Today is the first anniversary of Online Time Clock MTS completing it's BETA test period and becoming available to subscribers. It's been a fun year with many different sorts of companies using Online Time Clock MTS as their web based time clock solution. A lot of these companies have provided valuable feedback to us about how they use the system and how it could be improved. A lot of these suggestions have been acted on and some of the reports you see today are the direct result of this communication process.
Thanks to all of those who have worked with us during the last year and let's hope the coming year proves to be just as successful!
Posted by markn at 11:25 AM
August 8, 2011
Unexpected System Downtime 12:30PM 8 August 2011
There appears to have been some unexpected downtime of the main Online Time Clock MTS server from 12:30PM PST on 8 August for about 20-30 minutes. This was due to the failure of a power supply in the data center (in Fremont, California) in which the server resides. This is the fourth failure of a power related component in that data center in the last nine months and as a result we are looking to migrate this server to another data center. This is most likely going to be in Atlanta, Georgia. The migration will take place over a weekend and should result in minimal downtime.
Many apologies to those that were affected.
Posted by markn at 8:10 AM
August 2, 2011
Problem with Administrator Logins Fixed
Thanks to the several people who contacted me today and were having problems with their location administrator logins. Thanks especially to the one user who allowed me to log in remotely to their computer to determine exactly what was causing the problem! A fix has been uploaded and everything appears to be running smoothly now. Note that only location administrator logins were effected.
Posted by markn at 9:05 AM
