Welcome to the PandaWare TimeCache Demo Tutorial. If you’re new to TimeCache, go through this tutorial to get up to speed quickly. There’s a lot more to learn in the documentation, so don’t forget to print out the manual and read it as well!
For the purposes of this tutorial, we’re going to pretend that you work for a graphic design firm named “General Design,” where you’re required to turn in daily timesheets for each day’s work.
Before you begin working with TimeCache, here are a few terms you’ll want to be familiar with in this tutorial:
Daily Log: The screen where you enter data on the projects you work on each day.
Job Sheets: Individual pages (or “cards”) where data is stored for each project you work on.
Timesheet: A report on a single day’s work. You can quickly create a timesheet for any date you’re tracking with TimeCache.
Load The Software
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1) Chances are, you’ve already unstuffed the file “TimeCache 1.5 Demo.sit.” In case you haven’t already done so, use Stuffit Expander, Unstuffit Deluxe, Stuffit Deluxe or any other software that expands Stuffit archives, to decompress the TimeCache archive onto your hard drive.
2) Make sure you have HyperCard Player or HyperCard version 2.0 or higher, and the Home stack, on your hard drive. (HyperCard or HyperCard Player is included with every new Macintosh.) If HyperCard and the Home stack aren’t already on your hard drive, install them now. Also, it’s very important to make sure that HyperCard/HyperCard Player has a large enough RAM partition. Allocate at least 1050K for the application you’re using. To do this, click on the application’s icon in the Finder (not the TimeCache file’s icon), and select “Get Info” from the File menu. An info window will appear. In the lower right hand corner, you can enter a minimum and preferred RAM allocation if you’re using System 7.1 or higher. System 7.0.1 and lower only let you enter a single RAM configuration. Give the application at least 1050K RAM. 1200K is preferred. Close the Get Info window and proceed.
Open TimeCache
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3) Let’s make a copy of TimeCache to work with in this tutorial. Click once on the TimeCache Demo icon on your desktop, and select the “Duplicate” command from the Finder’s File menu. After the duplicate is created, double-click on the “TimeCache Demo copy” icon. TimeCache will open to its Daily Log screen (it says “Daily Log” at the top, and the current date directly below it.
Set the Date
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4) TimeCache Demo should open with the current day’s date showing at the top of the Daily Log screen when you first open it. If not, it’s simple to set the date. Just click on the date at the top of the Daily Log, or select “Set Date” from the Daily Log’s TimeCache menu. A dialog appears asking for a new date. Type the current date in the dialog and click “OK” or type Return or Enter. Note: The dialog instructs you to use the “00/00/00” date format. You do not need to use slashes in your date entry if your Mac is set for another “short date” format. Use the short date format your Mac is set for in all date dialogs.
Set Up Job and Client Numbers
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5) Let’s assume you’re required to report a Client number and unique Job number on each project. TimeCache automatically generates a sequential numeric project number for each Job Sheet, but you can also set up TimeCache to record your own Job number with any characters.
To set up for your own style of job numbers, select “Settings” from the file menu, and drag over to the “Job Numbers” subcommand, then release the mouse button. When the Job Numbers dialog appears, click on the “Manual” button at the top, then click “OK”.
6) To set up for recording client numbers with each project, you are going to use TimeCache’s “Custom Job Field” feature. This feature lets you record a line of any information you would like on every Job Sheet.
Start by selecting the “Custom Job Field” subcommand from the “Settings” command in the File menu. When the dialog box appears, click the “Yes” button at the top. In the text area for “Prompt string:” type “Client number?” This is the wording that will now appear in the dialog prompting you for an entry each time you create a new project listing. In the text area for “Field label:” type “Client #”. This is the text that will identify your custom job field on Job Sheets. Now click “OK”.
Create A Daily Log Entry
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7) With the Daily Log screen showing, click anywhere on the dotted lines below the words “Client” or “Project”. A dialog box will appear with the words “General Office,Miscellaneous” on the left, and a number of buttons along the right. This is your project list dialog. It will contain a list of the projects you work on, so that you can record time against them with a few clicks of the mouse. Right now it has only the “General Office,Miscellaneous” project listed, but you are going to add to the list.
8) Click the “New” button. A smaller dialog box appears, with a blank field on the left, and a few buttons along the right. This is your Client list dialog. You use it to select clients whose projects you’re working on. We’re going to add a client now.
9) Click the “New” button. Another dialog box appears asking you for a client name. Type “General Eclectic” and click OK or press the Return or Enter key.
10) The New Client dialog box disappears and another, similar dialog box appears, asking you for the name of your project. Type “Lightbulb Packaging” and click OK or press the Return or Enter key.
11) When the Job Number dialog appears, type “95-1001” and click “OK” or press the Return or Enter key.
12) When the Client Number dialog appears, type “GE-1234” and click “OK” or press the Return or Enter key.
13) The cursor changes to a watch while TimeCache creates a Job Sheet for the project you just created. The Job Sheet will hold all your entries for this project as you add them each day. We’ll look at it in a minute, but first we’ll finish entering the data for this entry. In a few seconds, another list dialog box appears. This is the Activity list dialog, and it is empty. This list is where you select different activities you perform on each project. Click the “New” button so that we can add an activity.
14) The New Activity dialog appears. Since we’re pretending for this tutorial that you work for a design firm, lets use “Design” for our first entry. Type “Design” and click OK or press the Return or Enter key.
15) The New Activity dialog disappears and another dialog appears, asking you for a billing rate. This is where you enter the dollar amount that you charge clients for that activity. Type “100.00” and click OK or press the Return or Enter key.
16) The New Activity dialog disappears and another dialog appears, asking you to enter hours. Type “2.5” and click OK or press the Return or Enter key.
17) The Hours dialog disappears and another dialog appears, asking you for a note. This is where you can enter descriptions of each entry. Type “Rough design concepts” and click OK or press the Return or Enter key.
Congratulations! You’ve just completed your first Daily Log entry in TimeCache. The client, project, activity and hours data is all in the appropriate columns of line 1. There is also a filled circle at the end of line 1, indicating there is a note stored for this line. At the bottom right of the screen is a white box with your total hours for the day (which happens to be the same as the single hours entry -- 2.50 hours). Now lets look at the Job Sheet for this project.
18) From the TimeCache menu, select the “Project List...” command. This brings up the large Project list dialog box you started with. The project you just created, “General Eclectic,Lightbulb Packaging” should be highlighted. Click the “Go To” button and TimeCache instantly goes to the Job Sheet for this project.
19) This Job Sheet shows the client and project names on separate lines at the top, and the job number you entered. At bottom left is the client number. In between are areas for date, activity, comment, charges and hours entries. These areas are all blank now because you haven’t yet transferred Daily Log entries to Job Sheets. Let’s fill out more entries on the Daily Log before you do that.
20) To go back to the Daily Log screen, click “Daily Log” on the TimeCache Navigator palette at the bottom of the Job Sheet screen. (If the TimeCache Navigator palette isn’t showing, select the “Show Navigator” command from the Go menu.) Once you’re back at the Daily Log, select “Client List...” from the TimeCache menu. The Client list dialog appears. You can double-click on “General Eclectic”, or because it’s already highlighted, you can click the “Select” button or press the Return or Enter key.
21) The Client list dialog disappears and the New Project dialog appears. Type “Personal Stereo Ad” and click OK or press the Return or Enter key.
22) When the Job Number dialog appears, type “95-1002” and click “OK” or press the Return or Enter key.
23) When the Client Number dialog appears, type “GE-1234” and click “OK” or press the Return or Enter key.
24) The New Project dialog disappears. Wait a moment while TimeCache creates a Job Sheet for this project. The Activity list dialog appears, with the Design listing highlighted. Click the “Select” button or press the Return or Enter key. There is no billing rate dialog this time because you did not create a new Activity listing. All Design entries are billed at the $100.00/hour rate you originally entered.
25) The Activity list dialog disappears and the Hours dialog appears. Type “1.25” and click OK or press the Return or Enter key.
26) The Hours dialog disappears and the Note dialog appears. Type “First rough concepts” and click OK or press the Return or Enter key. You have now completed your second line, and the total at the bottom of the Daily Log screen shows your current total hours (3.75 hours).
Fill Out The Rest of Your Day’s Entries
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27) It’s time for another entry on your Daily Log. Select the “Project List...” command from the TimeCache menu and double-click the “General Eclectic,Lightbulb packaging” entry. Click the “New” button in the Activity list dialog. When the New Activity dialog appears, enter “Meeting”. When the Hourly Rate dialog appears, enter “75.00”. When the Hours dialog appears, enter “1”. When the Notes dialog appears, enter “Presenting roughs to Fred”.
28) Let’s make one more entry for today. Select the “New Client” command from the TimeCache menu and enter “General Nils”. In the New Project dialog, enter “Cereal Catalog”. Enter a job number of “95-1003”. Enter a client number of “GN-2389” Select “Meeting” in the Activity list dialog. Enter “.7” in the Hours dialog. (TimeCache rounds it off to .75.) Finally, make up a note to enter in the Note dialog.
29) Let’s say that’s it for the day. It’s time to transfer your Daily Log entries to the appropriate Job Sheets. Select the “Transfer Data” command from the TimeCache menu. In a moment, TimeCache will notify you the transfer is complete and ask if you want to set up the Daily Log for another date. Click OK. A dialog will appear with the next day’s date (the date following the one at the top of your Daily Log screen). Enter a different date if you want to, and click “OK”. Now let’s look again at your Job Sheets.
Browse Your Job Sheets
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30) You can go to the Job Sheet section by selecting the “Job Sheets” command from the Go menu, or by clicking “Job Sheets” on the TimeCache Navigator palette. Browse through the Job Sheets by clicking the left and right arrows at either end of the TimeCache Navigator palette, or by pressing your keyboard’s right and left arrow keys. The right-arrow takes you to the next Job Sheet, the left-arrow takes you to the previous Job Sheet.
You’ll see your time entries for each of the projects you worked on. You can refer back to a Job Sheet for a project at any time to update a client on costs, or to review charges on an old job to estimate a new project. Make a note of the date for the entries on the Job Sheets. We’ll use that next to create a Daily Timesheet.
When you’re on the last Job Sheet, a right-arrow takes you to the first Job Sheet. Going through the Job Sheet section is like shuffling cards from the top to the bottom of the pile. After you reach the end, you’re back at the beginning. You can quickly go to the first or last Job Sheet card by pressing your keyboard’s down or up arrow keys. To break out of this endless circle, select the Go menu’s “Daily Log” command, or click “Daily Log” on the TimeCache Navigator palette. Go to the Daily Log now.
Create A Daily Timesheet
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31) In the Daily Log screen, select the “Create Timesheet...” command from the TimeCache menu. A dialog appears, asking for a report date. Type in the date you just noted on your Job Sheets. After a few moments, your first daily timesheet report will appear. You are now in TimeCache’s Timesheets section. Since we’re assuming you’re required to turn in a daily timesheet, let’s print this report. First click on the screen where it says “Click here to change” and enter your name. Then select the File menu’s “Page Setup...” command. When the dialog appears, click on the landscape icon for page orientation. This icon may be different in different printer driver dialogs, but in Apple’s LaserWriter driver dialog it is a silhouette of a person turned sideways on a page. After you select the landscape page orientation icon, click “OK” to dismiss the dialog. Finally, either click on the printer icon in the top right of the Timesheets section screen, or select the “Print” command from the File menu.
Time Your Work
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32) Go back to the Daily Log screen. Now you’re going to time your work. Select the “New Client” command from the TimeCache menu. Enter your name. In the New Project dialog, type “Learning TimeCache”, then click “OK” or press the Return or Enter key on your keyboard. Enter a job number and client number when prompted for them. When the Activity list dialog appears, click “New” and enter a new activity named “Non-billable” with a billing rate of “0”. When the Hours dialog appears, click “Timer” or type Command-T. A “T” appears on this line of the Daily Log’s Hours field, and the Note dialog appears. Enter a brief note. Now click on the “T”. A dialog telling you how many minutes have passed (0 in this case, unless you’ve waited a while) appears. If you click “Stop”, TimeCache enters the accumulated time in the Daily Log. If you click “Cancel”, TimeCache resumes timing as if you had never clicked the “T”. Click “Cancel” to continue timing.
Note: when you time a job, TimeCache adds any accumulated time to all previously accumulated time or manually entered time, so you can take a break from timing any line and get an accurate total if you go back to timing it later. Manually entering a new value for any line erases any time accumulated by TimeCache’s timer.
33) Let’s say your client contact from General Eclectic just called you on the phone and you need to interrupt learning about TimeCache to discuss the lighbulb packaging design project you’re working on. You want to make sure you capture this time.
Click on an empty Client or Project line on the Daily Log, or use the TimeCache menu’s “Project List...” command to bring up the Project List. Double-click the “General Eclectic,Lighbulb Packaging” line to enter it on the Daily Log. Double-click “Design” when the Activities dialog appears. When the Hours dialog appears, click “Timer” or type Command-T. Since you’re still timing the “Learning TimeCache” project, a dialog asks if you want to stop timing that job to start timing the General Eclectic job. Click “OK”. TimeCache enters your accumulated time (rounded off to the nearest quarter- or tenth-hour, depending on your setting) for the “Learning” job, and puts a “T” in the General Eclectic project’s hours line as a remind that you’re now timing this job.
When the call is done, you can stop timing this project by clicking on the “T” and then “Stop” in the dialog that appears, or by clicking on the hours line for the “Learning TimeCache” project and then clicking “Timer” in the Hours dialog. In fact, you can also stop timing the General Eclectic project by starting to time a new project you enter on the Daily Log.
Delete A Line
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34) Click on the number at the left end of this line. A dialog appears asking if you want to clear this line. Click “OK”. TimeCache deletes the line.
Replace Data Entries
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35) Click on any empty Client or Project line on the Daily Log screen. The Project list dialog appears. Double-click any project in the list, and it appears on the Daily Log screen. When the Activity List dialog appears, click “Cancel”.
36) Let’s see how to replace information on a Daily Log line. Click on the Client or Project field for this line. The Project list dialog appears. Select a project from your list. Click on the Activity field for this line. The Activity list dialog appears. Select an Activity from your list. Click on the Hours field for this line. The Hours dialog appears. Enter “2.5”. Click on the empty rectangle at the right end of the line. Enter a note.
Read The On-line Help
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37) There’s a lot more you can learn about working with TimeCache if you want to get the most out of it. Let’s look over the on-line help. Select “About TimeCache” from the Apple menu. A large dialog box with “PandaWare TimeCache Demo” at the top appears, telling how you can get the full working version of TimeCache. Click on the “Help” button at bottom-left, and the on-line help appears. There are two sections you can review. The section that comes on screen when you open help runs through a series of “how-to” explanations of working with TimeCache. Click on the “Show Menu Help” button at the top of the Help screen and a section describing each menu command appears. In either section you can click on a topic in the scrolling field on the left and detailed information will be highlighted in the field on the right. To put away the on-line help, click the “Close Help” button at the top of the help screen.
Note: you can also open on-line help by using the Go menu’s “Help” command.
Read The Documentation
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38) If you’d prefer to have printed documentation, open the file “TC Demo Help” with a word processor application and print the file. It gives you the same in-depth information about working with TimeCache that’s in the on-line help.
Delete Your Practice File
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39) Quit TimeCache (use the File menu’s “Quit TimeCache” command) and drag the icon of the “TimeCache 1.5 Demo copy” into the trash. Now you can be sure you’re starting with a fresh copy of TimeCache to keep track of your time.
