Software of the Month Club 1996 November

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Asc2Com (MorganSoft) | 1996-03-30 | 52.4 KB | 1,435 lines

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S (Press Alt-P to print this file, Alt-W to export to a text file.) Subject Page ______________________________________________________ Introduction 1 Shareware Concept 1 Ordering and Registration Information 2 Warranty Disclaimer - read before using! 3 SECTION 1 Installation 4 Important Information About Entering Clock Times 6 SECTION 2 Time Clock Functions 7 Button Functions 7 Employee Hours Rounding 7 Employee Message Capability 8 Employee Time File Viewing Capability 9 SECTION 3 File Management Program View Employee Files 10 Add Employee Work Times 12 Delete Time File Records 13 View, Edit, or Add to Employee List 14 Print Hours Reports 15 Modify/View Employee Profile Data 17 Printer/Screen Options 20 Change Password 21 Bulletin Board 21 Time and Date 24 TimeCapture, Version 3.1 Page 1 W E L C O M E ! Thank you for using TimeCapture. It is designed to save you time and eliminate the annoyance of collecting and totaling employee hours information. Instead of spending your time totaling work hours from time cards, you can have printed totals in seconds, and in the format you choose. The time clock part of the program functions as more than just a time clock; it ensures that employees don't forget to record all their work times by "reminding" them when they forget. Using the file managment program, you control whether the employees have the ability to record these "forgotten" times, or they must notify you when it happens. However, in each case where an employee records their own time, a record of it will be made in the files, and that time will be marked when the managment reports are printed. This allows you to monitor the frequency of the employees' self-recorded times, and eliminates the guesswork of employee "honor" systems, while still allowing those employees who are trustworthy to record times that they forget to record. TimeCapture provides the combination of time clock accuracy with the convenience of having employee hours information at your fingertips. TimeCapture can also be used to record hours worked by consultants or by those who work on a project basis; salaried persons could use TimeCapture to track the number of hours spent on various tasks. A "consultant's version" is available for this - just specify "consultant's version" when you order. See the README.COM file for a complete description. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: 720k floppy or hard drive, DOS 3.3 or above, 640k RAM. (Hard drive recommended.) TimeCapture is a "shareware" program and is provided at no charge to the user for evaluation. (See the explanation of the shareware principle below.) If you find this program useful and continue to use it after a 30 day trial period, you must make a registration payment of $59.00 (plus $1.00 shipping and handling in the U.S., $3.00 outside the U.S.) to Versatile Software Solutions. The $59.00 registration fee will license one copy for use on any one computer at any one time. Most site licenses are available for $99.00 (plus shipping and handling). This will license the program for multiple computers at one location. Call for details. (See registration/ordering information and description of support provided to registered users below.) Shareware is not a type of software, it is a distribution method. This means it is distributed on a "try before you buy" basis which allows you to use the software for a trial period before you make your decision to buy it. The essence of this "user-supported" software is to provide personal computer users with quality software without high prices, and yet provide incentive for programmers to continue to develop new products. Feel free to share TimeCapture with others who will find it useful, but do not pass it along altered or as part of another system. Please ensure that the original TIMECAP3.ZIP file is passed along or the TC.EXE, CLOCK.EXE, HELPFILE.DBF, HELPFILE.DBT, MANUAL.COM, VENDOR.DOC, SYSOP.DOC, README.COM, and files are passed along together as an archive named TIMECAP3. TimeCapture, Version 3.1 Page 2 Vendors and BBS sysops: check both the VENDOR.DOC and SYSOP.DOC files for distribution and licensing information. _______ ____|__ | (R) --| | |------------------- | ____|__ | Association of | | |_| Shareware |__| o | Professionals -----| | |--------------------- |___|___| MEMBER This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442 or send a CompuServe message via CompuServ Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007, 3536. ORDERING INFORMATION AND SUPPORT FOR REGISTERED SOFTWARE REGISTRATION BONUSES: A printed users guide. All registration request screens and reminders are turned off. A feature will be "turned on" that allows you to insert your name or company name as a banner on employee hours reports. When you register, you will receive a utility that you can load into your computer's memory which blocks attempts to change the date and time. This will effectively lock out attempts by employees to change the date and time, yet allows YOU to change it if you need to. You will also receive a pop-up calculator that you can use within the CLOCK program; handy for calculations you might need to do while putting payroll information together. In addition, registered users will receive the latest version of the TimeCapture program, 1 year of technical support, and discounts on future upgrades. Technical support is available by Compuserve, mail, or phone. You can order by sending check or money order to the address shown below, but you may find it much easier to register by using the TimeCapture file management program. You can do this by pressing F2 at the main menu which will give you instructions for registering, and you can fill out the order form and print it from the registration screen. You can order using Mastercard, VISA, American Express, or Discover from the Public (software) Library by calling 1-800-242-4775 or (713)524-6394 or by FAX to (713)524-6398; you can also order from the PsL by CompuServe Email to 71355,470. These numbers are for orders only. To insure that you get the latest version, PsL will notify us the day of your order and we will ship the product directly to you. Any questions about the status of the shipment of the order, refunds, registration options, product details, technical support, volume discounts, dealer pricing, site licenses, etc, must be directed to the address and phone number shown below. You can also mail credit card orders to PsL at P.O. Box 35705, Houston, TX 77235-5705. TimeCapture, Version 3.1 Page 3 PsL hours for phone orders are 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM Central Standard Time (U.S.) Monday-Thursday, 7:00 AM to 12:30 PM CST on Fridays. Fax orders may be sent 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you fax a credit card order, please be sure to provide your name exactly as it appears on the card, and show the billing address for the card. If the billing address is different than the "send to" address, please indicate that. You can order direct from us using Visa, Mastercard, American Express, or Discover by calling 513-878-0315. This number is good 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for our automated order system. You can also order direct from us using e-mail: 71155,614 on CompuServe, VersatileS on America On Line. Last but not least, you can order by visiting our Home Page on the World Wide Web: http://users.aol.com/versatiles/files/vssi.html. Please remember to include the card number, expiration date, cardholder's name, the "send to" name (if different than cardholder's name; and shipping address. Also, please specify the product being ordered, and include a phone number in case we need to contact you regarding your order. You can also register using Compuserve's registration service by typeing GO SWREG at any command prompt. Look for Registration ID 1193. Versatile Software Solutions, Inc. Post Office Box 147 Fairborn, Ohio 45234 (513) 878-0315 Compuserve: GO VERSATILE, Section 19 71155,614 TimeCapture has been developed to make employee work hours data collection and retrieval as easy as possible, and we will continue to update it and improve it. However, in view of the various hardware, software, and general environments TimeCapture may be used in, we cannot guarantee that it will work in all cases. IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO VERIFY THAT THE DATA AND CALCULATIONS GATHERED AND PRESENTED BY TimeCapture ARE CORRECT BEFORE USING THE INFORMATION. In order to install and use TimeCapture, you must read and agree with our warranty disclaimer. Installing and using the TimeCapture program constitutes acceptance of the warranty disclaimer, which follows: W A R R A N T Y D I S C L A I M E R TIMECAPTURE AND ALL ASSOCIATED PROGRAMS AND DOCUMENTATION ARE PROVIDED "AS IS". VERSATILE SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS INC. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, WITH RESPECT TO THESE PROGRAMS AND DOCUMENTATION, THEIR QUALITY, PERFORMANCE, MERCHANTABILITY, OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. IN PARTICULAR, TIMECAPTURE IS NOT GUARANTEED AGAINST ERRORS IN THE COLLECTION, STORAGE, AND RETRIEVAL OF EMPLOYEE HOURS OR ANY OTHER DATA. IN NO EVENT SHALL VERSATILE SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS INC. BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIMS FOR LOST PROFITS OR ANY DAMAGE, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR OTHER DAMAGE. IF YOU USE TIMECAPTURE, YOU ASSUME EXCLUSIVE RESPONSIBILITY AND LIABILITY FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF THE PROGRAM. IN NO CASE SHALL VERSATILE SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS INC.'S LIABILITY EXCEED THE LICENSE FEES PAID FOR THE RIGHT TO USE THE LICENSED SOFTWARE. THE LICENSE AGREEMENT AND WARRANTY DISCLAIMER SHALL BE CONSTRUED, INTERPRETED, AND GOVERNED BY THE LAWS OF THE STATE OF OHIO. TimeCapture, Version 3.1 Page 4 SECTION ONE Installing TimeCapture TimeCapture will work on any IBM XT, AT, PS/2, or compatible machine. That old XT or AT you've got sitting around collecting dust because it's too slow for anything else will work just fine with TimeCapture. In most cases, by the time you read this, you will have already unzipped the TimeCapture files and put them in a separate subdirectory of their own, and intend to use the program in this directory. If this is the case, you're all set. If you intend to use TimeCapture in another directory, you should create the directory and copy the files into that directory before proceeding. The other necessary files (data file templates, etc) that TimeCapture needs will be created, configured, and initialized automatically the first time you run the CLOCK program. No other installation will be needed. If you use a menuing program to access the applications on your computer, you'll need to make sure that you actually change the directory to the one where the TimeCapture programs reside, as opposed to trying to run it from a different directory. The TimeCapture program won't be able to "find" its data files unless you run it from its own directory. You will need to make sure there is a statement in your CONFIG.SYS file that says "FILES=", and the number in that statement will probably need to be at least 30, as in "FILES=30". This number indicates the amount of con- current files that DOS will allow to be open. This number may already be higher than 30, which is fine. Menu/key conventions: No matter where you are in the TimeCapture program, certain keys will provide the same functions. Pressing the escape key will back you up one menu level or return you to the main menu, depending on where you are in the program. When in menus, you can use the arrow or cursor keys to high- light your choice and press Enter, or you can simply press the first letter of the menu choice. Pressing F1 from any screen will bring up a context-sensitive help section. I M P O R T A N T The internal clock on your computer must be set correctly in order for the times to be recorded accurately. To do this, you can use the time and date setting functions provided with TimeCapture from the main menu. Because of the wide variety of machines out there today, these functions may not work on all machines. In that case, you will have to set the date and time from the DOS prompt. TimeCapture, Version 3.1 Page 5 Once you are at the DOS prompt, check the current system time on the PC by typing TIME at the DOS prompt and pressing the enter key. The computer will display the time it "thinks" it is, and prompt you to enter the correct time if the time it displays is wrong. If the time is correct, press the enter key and continue. If it's incorrect, enter the correct time, being sure to enter it as 24-hour or military time. For example, 9:00 AM is entered as 9:00, but 5:00 PM is entered as 17:00. You must also check the date to ensure it is correct. Type DATE and press the enter key. The date will be displayed, along with a prompt to change it if it's incorrect. As before, if the date is correct, press the enter key to continue. If it's not, enter the correct date and press enter. Consult your DOS manual if you have ANY questions about this procedure. Many computers will maintain the date and time settings, even when turned off. If yours does, you shouldn't have to bother with the settings again - BUT YOU SHOULD PERIODICALLY CHECK THEM TO MAKE SURE THEY ARE CORRECT. Don't assume the computer maintains the correct time and date. If your computer doesn't maintain the correct settings when turned off, you basically have two options: you can set them via the DATE and TIME commands (or using the TimeCapture time and date setting functions) every time the computer is turned on, or you can leave the computer on all the time. Another reason to periodically check to make sure the date and time are correct is that some programs will alter these settings (certain games, for example). I M P O R T A N T When clock times are entered in the programs: If an employee is prompted to enter a time (the only time this happens is in the time clock program, and only when you enable them to do so), they must always enter their times in 12 hour times. That is, 5:00 PM is entered as 5:00; the program will also ask them to enter AM or PM to designate that. It is done this way to avoid confusion and errors on the employees' part. However, when the administrator enters a time in the CLOCK program (and this happens in 2 places - when entering times in the entry screen, and when editing the employee hours files), they MUST enter the time as 24 hour time. In these cases, 5:00 PM would be entered as 17:00. THIS IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE IF THE TIMES ARE NOT ENTERED CORRECTLY, THE TOTAL HOURS WILL NOT BE CALCULATED CORRECTLY. Times must be entered sequentially in the files. That is, any time out for the day must be a later time than the preceding time in. Allowing 08:00 to be recorded for a time in and 06:15 for the next time out for lunch will cause errors in the hours totals. BE SURE TIMES ARE CORRECT WHEN THEY ARE ENTERED. Never shut the computer off before exiting the program. Doing so will most probably scramble your data files. Daily backups of your data files are highly recommended. They are TIMECLOC.DBF, HFILE.DBF, PIFILE.DBF and CODEFILE.DBF. Ideally, of course, your entire hard drive should be backed up on a regular basis if you have irreplaceable data on it. TimeCapture, Version 3.1 Page 6 Installation instructions for Windows 3.1 and 3.11: 1. In the Windows Program Manager, click on File, then New. 2. Click on the Program Group radio button, then click OK. 3. Type in the Group Name (TimeCapture, by suggestion), and click OK. 4. Click File, New. 5. Click the Program Item radio button, then click OK. 6. In the first field, type in Time Clock. Press Tab. 7. In the second field, type in the drive and directory information followed by the program name. Example: C:\CLOCK3\TC.EXE. Press Tab. 8. For Working Directory, type in the directory you entered for the previous step. In the example above, it would be C:\CLOCK3. Click OK. 9. Repeat steps 4 through 8, substituting CLOCK.EXE for the program name and File Management Program for Time Clock. Windows 95 installation: 1. From the desktop, right-click on a blank area. 2. Highlight New, then Shortcut, and right-click on Shortcut. 3. For Command Line, type in the drive, directory, and program name, (example: C:\CLOCK3\TC.EXE) or use Browse to locate the file 4. Click Next. 5. Select a name for the shortcut. TimeCapture Time Clock, for example. 6. Click Next. 7. Select an icon, then click Finish. 8. Right-click on the shortcut, then highlight and click Properties. 9. Click the Program tab, then put a check in the Close on Exit box. 10. Click the Screen tab, then click on the Full Screen radio button. 11. If you want to change the icon to the TimeCapture icon, you can do this by clicking the Program tab again, then the Change Icon button at the bottom. Click Browse to find the TimeCapture directory, then click on the icon. Click on OK. 12. To add the file management program as a shortcut, follow steps 1 - 11 and substitute CLOCK.EXE for TC.EXE and name the shortcut with an appropriate name, such as TimeCapture File Management Program. TimeCapture may also be added to the Start menu or to a program folder, but is more complex and requires more steps than this. See your Windows 95 Help files or documentation for instructions. Make sure that the Close on Exit and Full Screen options are selected. TimeCapture, Version 3.1 Page 7 SECTION TWO TimeCapture TIME CLOCK FUNCTIONS To start the TimeCapture timeclock program, type TC and press the Enter key. The window for the employee personal code will appear. The employee enters their personal code and is prompted if an incorrect code is entered. "Button" Functions Four function key choices will appear on the screen. The key choices on the screen are marked to show what each one does. They show Time In and Time Out for Regular use, and Time In and Time Out for Breaks. The only difference between the time for Regular and Breaks is in the rounding of employee hours, explained below. Employee Hours Rounding If you are rounding employee hours, you will probably not want to round the break times. In other words, if you have employee hours set up to round to the nearest 30 minutes for their time in and time out for the day, and they get 15 minute breaks, the rounding may "round off" their break time completely! Here's a possible scenario: Employee John Green clocks in at 7:50 AM. You have TimeCapture set up to round to the nearest half hour, because the employee only gets paid from their scheduled start time, which for John is 8:00 AM. So his time gets recorded as 8:00 AM. At about 10:30 AM, he normally takes a 15 minute break. Since he does not get paid for breaks, he must clock out. If he actually clocks out at 10:20, and half-hour rounding is on, his time would get recorded as 10:30. If he clocks back in at 10:35, his time would then get recorded as 11:00. However, if he uses the function keys for Time In and Time Out shown for Breaks, TimeCapture will not round the time. 10:20 will get recorded as 10:20, and 10:35 will get recorded as 10:35. If half-hour rounding is turned on, the employees will have to be instructed that they can clock in within 29 minutes of to their scheduled start time, because the time will get "rounded forward" to the next half hour. If quarter-hour rounding is activated, they will be able to clock in within 14 minutes of their start time and it will get rounded forward to the next even quarter hour. In other words, 7:35 will get rounded forward to 8:00 if half-hour rounding is activated, and 7:47 will get rounded to 8:00 if quarter-hour rounding is activated. For clocking out, rounding works the opposite to clocking in. Suppose an employee is scheduled to leave at 5:00, and doesn't get paid for any time beyond that, regardless whether he is able to clock out precisely at 5:00. If he is not able to actually clock out until 5:05, you don't want those extra 5 minutes to be recorded as working time. With half-hour rounding activated, he can clock out up until 5:29, and it will be recorded as 5:00. TimeCapture, Version 3.1 Page 8 With quarter-hour rounding activated, he can clock out up until 5:14, and the time will be recorded as 5:00. For half-hour rounding, times recorded at 5:30 or beyond (up until 5:59) will get recorded as 5:30. For quarter- hour rounding, then, times recorded at 5:15 or beyond (up until 5:29) will be recorded as 5:15. Depending on your situation, you may want to have an employee's time rounded for some recorded times and not for others. For example, many companies don't pay an employee before their shift starts, but do pay for any time worked beyond the end of their scheduled shift. In other words, the employee may clock in at 7:54, but not get paid for any time before his scheduled start time of 8:00. However, if he is scheduled to clock out at 5:00, but works to 5:07, he will get paid until 5:07. If this is the case for your business, you can enable whichever rounding method works best for you for your employees to clock in. If you want to make sure that they are able to clock in for almost a full half hour prior to their start time, activate half-hour rounding. If you don't want them clocking in more than 15 minutes prior to their start time, activate quarter-hour rounding. If employees get paid for all time worked beyond the end of their scheduled stop time, then have them clock out using the "Breaks" time out key, which will capture the actual time out instead of rounding the time. You can use any combination of the "Regular" and "Breaks" keys that work for your business. (See the section on rounding employee hours for more information on this function.) There are certain safeguards built into TimeCapture. If an employee records their Time In, their file is checked to ensure that they remembered to record their last Time Out. In each instance that a time is recorded, the employee's file is checked to make sure no "blanks" are left. If a blank is found, the computer will beep and a window will appear on the screen informing the employee of the information that was omitted. The employee files can be set to do one of two things at this point: the employee may be told to contact the appropriate person to report the error, or the employee may be allowed to enter the missing time. If the employee is allowed to enter the time, they will be prompted to enter the correct time, and a message is displayed indicating the employee's name and time recorded. The procedure to set the employee files to allow the employee(s) to log their time is explained in a later section. Employee Message Capability The program provides the ability for employees to leave messages for the employer or manager. This ability must be "turned on" from the CLOCK file file management program, and can be enabled for any chosen employees or all employees. See the section on modifying employee profile information in a later section for instructions on how to do this. TimeCapture, Version 3.1 Page 9 When an employee enters their personal code and presses Enter, the buttons for recording their time are displayed, as indicated above. If they have the message capability, an additional option will be shown. It will show that F8 can be pressed to leave a message to management. If the employee wants to leave a message after recording their time, they should press F8 now. Upon doing so, the original prompt will change, and indicate that the message function is activated. When the program has finished recording their time, the employee will be given a blank "bulletin board" on which to enter their message. At the bottom of the screen are instructions for saving or not saving the message. Pressing Ctrl-End (the Control and End keys simultaneously) will save the message and exit the message function. Pressing the Escape key simply exits the message screen without saving the message. Employee Time File Viewing Capability From the CLOCK program, you can enable any chosen group or employees to be able to view their work times and total hours for the day. They will only be able to view their own hours, and not those of anyone else. Giving them this capability also allows them to print the hours to the printer. If this featured is turned on for an employee, an extra menu option will appear: F9: View Hours Worked. Employees who are not given this option will not see this extra menu item on the screen. If the employee chooses this option, they will be asked to enter a beginning and ending date for the time period they want to view. Pressing F3 will activate a calendar from which they can highlight their choice of dates and press Enter; that date will be automatically inserted into the date field. A window with the calendar's options also appears when F3 is pressed, indicating the various options for locating and choosing a date. The F3 option does not have to be used; dates can be entered manually as well. Once the dates have been entered, the hours worked for the chosen time period will be displayed. This screen displays the identical information that is displayed for you when you view employee hours in the CLOCK program except that the employees can view only their own hours and CANNOT edit the file. Pressing Alt-P from this screen sends the requested information to the printer. TimeCapture, Version 3.1 Page 10 SECTION THREE TimeCapture EMPLOYEE FILE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM To start the file management program, type CLOCK and press enter. A window will appear, prompting you to enter a password. Enter your password and the program will continue. (Initially your password will be "CLOCK". The procedure for changing the password is in a later section. You are encouraged to change your password soon after installing TimeCapture.) Press the Escape key at any point where the computer is asking for input (such as asking you to type in a name or a code), and the program will return to the Main Menu. This allows you to "back out" if you make a wrong menu choice. If you have installed TimeCapture in a new directory, the program will ask you if it is a new installation, and whether you want to initialize all data files (erase all data). If you have been using TimeCapture previously, and are moving the program and its data files (really YOUR employee data files) to another directory or computer, you'll want to answer "N" to this question. If you are installing the program to another computer or directory to use in a new environment, you'll want to answer "Y" to this question to remove old data from the files. ********************* * MAIN MENU CHOICES * ********************* View Employee Files This option from the main menu gives you another menu with 4 file-viewing options: 1. Current Time File Displays employee time file records from the Current File. This file is where the information is first placed when employees clock in and out each day. See below for other viewing options. 2. Historical Time File (Hard Disk) These are records that have been moved from the Current File for longer term storage, but remain on the hard disk. See below for other file viewing options. Also see the section on Delete Time File Records for instructions on moving records from the Current File into this Historical File. 3. Permanent Time File (Floppy Disk) The records in this file are ones that have been moved from the Histori- cal file on the hard disk. These records are kept on floppy disk. See below for other viewing options. Also see the section on Delete Time File Records for instructions on moving records into a Permanent Time File on floppy disk. TimeCapture, Version 3.1 Page 11 For all three time files, you will be offered at least one additional viewing option, with other options available depending on your choice at the first "Yes or No" option. The first option is to pick specific groups of employees to view. The default is No, which will display all employees. If you choose No at this point, this is the only viewing option you'll be offered. If you choose Yes, the program will give you the choice of building a cus- tomized list from an Employee group or a Department group. In either case, you'll see a display with two windows. One will show the employees or de- partments available (the one on the left), and the other will display the employees or departments you have chosen as you select them. When you are finished making your choices, press the Insert key. The employee time files will be displayed with the specific departments or employees you have selected. In the case of selecting Department groups, the display will show each department in its own section, with the name of the department at the beginning of each section. As you are making your employee or departmental choices, a menu at the bottom of the screen shows you your options: The left and right cursor keys switch the active window from left to right. Note that you can't switch to the right window, the one that shows your choices, until you have selected at least one employee or department. Pressing Enter while an employee or deparment is highlighted in the left window moves that choice to the right window as one of your selections. The escape key returns you to the Main Menu. The Insert key exits the screen to display your choices. You will not be able to exit this screen and go on to the employee time file display without making at least one choice. If you press the Insert key without selecting at least one employee or department, an infor- mation window will appear to indicate you are exiting this screen without making any choices. You will have two options at this point: pressing the Escape key (Esc) returns you to the Main Menu; any other key lets you remain in the current screen to make choices. The Delete (or Del) key is only active when the right selection win- dow is active (when you have pressed the right cursor key after having made at least one employee or department choice). Then, when pressed, it deletes the currently highlighted employee or department and moves it back to the left window. After you have made your choices and pressed the Insert key (or if you did not choose to pick specific employees to view), you will see the display of the employee time file. TimeCapture, Version 3.1 Page 12 It shows employee name, time in, date in, time out, date out, type (of hours), and hours. At the bottom of the screen is a menu showing the various key functions: Home/End: moves to the top/bottom of the file. Page Up/ Page Down: moves up/down one "page" of information. Up/Down Cursor keys: moves the highlight up and down. Enter: edits the current highlighted record. Delete: deletes the current highlighted record. Alt-U: undeletes all records deleted during this viewing session. 4. See Who's In Or Out This option displays a screen that shows you which employees are "in", and which ones are "out". If your organization is sufficiently large, this would be an easy way for you to see if any given employee is currently on the job. The left/right cursor keys switch the active window from left to right; the Escape key returns you to the Main Menu. If no employees are currently In (or Out), a message will appear in the appropriate window to let you know. Add Employee Work Times This section of the program allows you to directly enter times into the employee files. Most of the time this will be for holidays, vacations, and the like. The first field on the screen is for the employee code. Enter the code assigned to the employee for whom you want to add times, and press Enter. If you don't remember the employee's code, press F6, and a list of the employees' names and codes will pop up on the screen. Move the highlight to the desired employee name and press Enter. The appropriate code will be inserted into the code field. Whether you type in the code yourself or choose it from the list, the employee first and last name will automatical- ly be displayed. The cursor will be positioned in the Date In field, ready for that entry. Enter the date when the employee time started. When you press Enter, the cursor moves to the Date Out field; the program will prompt you with same date as you entered for Date In. Unless the employee has a start time before midnight on one day, and the shift doesn't end until after midnight - which would be the next day's date - the Date Out will will be the same as the the Date In. You can press F3 to activate a pop-up calendar to enter the dates. The key functions appear in a separate window with the calendar; the key functions allow you to choose the date you want, and you can just simply press Enter to automatically insert the date into the date fields. TimeCapture, Version 3.1 Page 13 The last field, Type of Time, is used to indicate what type of hours are being entered. This field has purposely not been defined to a given set of choices, so that you can use this for a variety of different purposes, and in any way you choose. The most common usage of this field will be for vacation and holiday hours, but you could also use it to enter times for when an employee is away at a seminar or training class, yet gets paid for the time. Codes can be assigned for a variety of activities. As an example, V might indicate Vacation time, H could be for Holiday time, and T might be for Training. The only default hours code provided in the program is used in the time clock part of the program. When employees clock in and out, the letter R is automatically assigned for Regular hours. (This still allows overtime hours to be calculated when employee hours are printed.) When you are finished entering times using this screen, press the Escape key to return to the Main Menu. The program will warn you in two cases. If you try to enter an incorrect employee code, the program will beep and display a message window. Also, if you try to exit the screen using Escape with a partial entry, you'll hear a beep and see a message window. The message will give you the option of exiting without saving, or returning to the screen to finish the entry. Delete Time File Records This is used to delete records that are no longer needed in the file. As in the view file option, you have access to three files: the Current file, a Historical file, or a Permanent file on floppy disk. The Current file was designed to hold current records until no longer needed; for example, the records could be kept in this file for a two-week pay period until checks are issued to employees. These records would then be moved to the Histo- rical file, and deleted from the Current file. However, records may be kept in the Current file for as long as you wish. With the Current and Histori- cal files, space is being used on your hard disk drive. By moving these records ultimately to a permanent file on floppy disk, you save hard disk space. However, having the records in either file on your hard disk allows much faster access time while you are still using them, so you'll want to leave them on the hard drive while you are still accessing them regularly. If hard drive space is not a problem, you could just keep your older records in the Historical file on the hard disk, and never move them to the Perma- nent file on a floppy disk. One function of TimeCapture is that it automatically checks to see if you have made any changes each time you access the current file, and recalculates total hours if any changes have been made. While this operation is typically very fast, a large amount of records maintained in the current file will slow this operation proportionately to the amount of records kept in the file. For this reason, it is preferable to move current records to the historical file when you are done with them. When you begin the erasing time file operation, you will first be asked if you want to use the Current file or Historical files. If you pick the Current file, you will be asked what date you want to choose as the oldest record to remain. Once you make your choice, all records prior to this date will be deleted from the file. These records will automatically be copied to the Historical file on hard disk. TimeCapture, Version 3.1 Page 14 If you choose to work with the Historical file, you will be asked if you want to copy them to a floppy or delete them. If you choose to delete them, you will be asked what date you want to remain as the oldest in the file. All dates prior to this date will be deleted. If you choose to copy them to a floppy, you will be asked for a date for files to retain. Once you have made your choice, if you choose to copy the records to floppy, you will be asked to type the drive letter for the floppy you want to use. After you type in the drive letter and press Enter, records prior to the date you indicate will be copied to the Permanent file on the floppy disk and deleted from the Historical file on the hard disk. Note: if you try to copy Historical records to the same drive from which you are running the program, you will get a warning message on the screen. All this is trying to tell you is that when these Historical records are copied to the Permanent file, they are intended to be copied to a floppy, not a hard drive. If you are running the program from a floppy, the records should be copied to a separate floppy so that the disk with the permanent records can be filed away. If you want to copy the Historical records to the Permanent file on the disk and/or drive from which you are running the program, you can, it's just not recommended. View, Edit, or Add to Employee List This function enables you to to view and modify the file that contains all the employee names and personal codes. Once you choose this option, a screen appears that displays the employees' personal codes, departments, and names. At the bottom of the screen is a menu with the following key choices: F2 (Add Name) does just what it implies: adds new names to the list. This is what you use to first put your employees' names in the file, and to add any new names in the future. You will first be prompted to enter the employee's personal code. These codes can be assigned by you or chosen by the employee. They can be up to 10 characters long and can be any keyboard character, but you may want to pick something that can be entered with a minimum of time and effort, and something the employee will remember! Some possibilities are: employee's social security number, employee number, initials, and the like. After entering the personal code, you will be asked to enter the employee's department. The next entry will be for the first name of the employee. If you are going to use middle initials, the initial should be added just after the first name in the same field. After you type the first name and press Enter, you will be asked to enter the last name. If you are a consultant or project-oriented person, and want to use TimeCapture to record time spent on different projects, you can enter the project name as the "employee name". Assign a different code for each project. Then, just as an employee would "clock in" and "clock out", you would use different codes to record times for different projects. F3 (Remove Name) deletes an employee's name from the list. You will be asked to enter the personal code for the employee you want to remove. Enter the code, and that name disappears from the list. TimeCapture, Version 3.1 Page 15 F4 (Edit Name) allows you to change the department and first and last name information. Type in the personal code of the name you want to edit, and you will be successively prompted to enter the first and last name of the employee. If you need to correct a personal code after entering it wrong, you will have to delete it and re-enter it. You cannot enter a personal code that is already in use - the computer will display a warning message if you attempt to do that. Esc (Main Menu) returns you to the main menu. The Page Up and Page Down keys simply move the position of the names up and down in the file when you have more than one "page" of names. Print Hours Reports This allows you to print employee hours reports with a variety of options that you can select. These are outlined below. On the first screen, you will start out with a small menu that asks you to choose the file you want to work with: Current File Historical File (Hard Disk) Permanent File (Floppy Disk) No matter which of the files you choose, you will be shown a series of four more two-item menus on this screen. They will give you the following options: Menu 1 Menu 2 Complete Listing All Employees Summary Listing Selected Group Menu 3 Menu 4 Print to Printer Calculate Yes Screen Print Overtime? No The menus will be displayed to you in the order shown above. As with all the menus, you can make a choice by highlighting a menu item using the cur- sor keys and pressing Enter, or by pressing the first letter of the menu selection. As you make a choice in each menu, the next menu will be dis- played. Also, if you press the Escape key while a given menu is active, you will "back up" to the previous menu. Menu 1: The Complete Listing does like it sounds - it gives you a complete listing of the employees' hours, including all hours of each type for each day. The Summary listing just gives the total of each type hours for the chosen time period. The listing you choose will depend on your business and your preference; however, one thing to remember is that only the complete lis- ting will show the places marked where employees record their own times (see the section on Modify/View Employee Profile Data). TimeCapture, Version 3.1 Page 16 Menu 2: You can choose to view All Employees (the default), or pick special groups of employees. The Selected Group option will allow you to pick employees by department or individual employees. If you have chosen the Selected Group option, a few steps later in the option selection process you'll be given the choice of building a customized list from an Employee group or a Department group. In either case, you'll see a display with two windows. One will show the employees or departments available (the one on the left), and the other will display the employees or departments you have chosen as you select them. When you are finished making your choices, press the Insert key. The employee time files will be printed with the specific departments or employees you have selected. In the case of selecting Department groups, the output will show each depart- ment in its own section, with the name of the department at the beginning of each section. Menu 3: Allows you to print to printer or print to screen. Menu 4: Gives you the option to calculate overtime. If you choose yes, and have selected the Complete Listing from Menu 1, you'll be able to choose calcu- lating the overtime for the Overall Pay Period or Daily Hours. You'll then be prompted to enter the overtime (hours) threshold value. In other words, if you've selected to calculate overtime for Daily Hours, and everthing over 8 hours a day should be considered overtime, enter that value. If you've selected to calculate overtime hours for Overall Pay Period, and all hours over 40 should be considered overtime, enter 40. If you have chosen the Summary Listing from Menu 1, you'll only be prompted to enter the overtime threshold value, since daily information is not dis- played when you choose the Summary Listing. Regardless of your previous menu choices, there are two more options that are common to the print process: The first is the opportunity to "Build full department listing", which allows you to print hours information on employees that you have removed from the employee file. For example, let's say Mary Smith has left the company. One day you realize that you want to look at her hours for a par- ticular period of time. Since the hours information only prints for employees that are currently on the payroll, how will you "get" her hours? The "Build full department listing" option allows you to pull this informa- tion temporarily back into the database. It scans the employee hours database and locates employees whose information is in the file but who are not listed in the employee profile database. It creates a temporary file with those employee names added, and makes them available in the section where you can choose individual employees' names to print. This means you can choose to view a selected group of employees, and then tell the program to build the listing. When you choose to print from the Employee Group, her name will be there to choose from, and you can print her hours information. TimeCapture, Version 3.1 Page 17 The second common option is the choice of beginning and ending dates for the information you want to print. Typically, this will be the period of time that encompasses your pay period, though it can be any time period you choose. Remember that the dates are inclusive. There may be one other point to consider: if you have chosen to calculate overtime for an overall pay period, and want to calculate overtime for over 40 hours per week (for example), this won't work if you're on a two-week pay period. There is no way for the program to "know" where your week breaks in a two-week pay period, since employees could be working Saturday, Sundays, holidays, etc. So you may have to print two reports, one per week, and tell the program to calculate overtime for each week, using 40 hours as the threshold. You can press F3 to activate a pop-up calendar to enter the dates. The key functions appear in a separate window with the calendar; the key functions allow you to choose the date you want, and you can just simply press Enter to automatically insert the date into the date fields. Modify/View Employee Profile Data This screen gives you a menu with five options: Rounding Method - Employee Hours Modify Employee Time File Log Capability Employee Message Capability Time Clock File Viewing Capability Activate/Deactivate Continuous Log-in Rounding Method - Employee Hours: Choosing this option gives a display of the employee codes, names, and their hours rounding status. You have the option for each employee of having half hour rounding activated, quarter hour rounding activated, or neither acti- vated. The menu at the bottom of the screen shows the active keys and their functions. (See the section earlier in the manual where instructions for the time clock are given for information on how the rounding works when activated.) F2: Activate/Switch Rounding. When pressed, brings up a mini-menu. This mini-menu gives you the option to activate Half Hour Rounding or Quarter Hour Rounding for the currently highlighted employee. F3: Deactivate Rounding. Deactivates rounding for the currently high- lighted employee. F4: Activate/Switch For All. This key brings up the same mini-menu as F2, giving you the option to activate Half Hour Rounding or Quarter Hour Rounding. However, this activates the choice for the entire group of employees. F5: Deactivate For All. Deactivates rounding capability for all employees. The escape key returns you to the employee profile data menu. Page Up and Page Down moves you up and down in the file. TimeCapture, Version 3.1 Page 18 Modify Employee Log-in Capability: When employees clock in and out using the time clock program, the program checks to make sure they recorded their last time. If an employee forgets to clock in for the day (for example), then clocks out for lunch or a break, the program will detect the missed clock-in time. The computer will beep, and the employee will be offered one of two options: to advise the approp- riate person of the missed time, or to enter the missed time now. This screen is where you enable or disable the option to allow the employees to record their own times when they miss a clock in or clock out. Two boxes are shown on the screen. The right box shows a list of the employees and their current "log" status. If the log status shows Yes, the employee has the capability to log their own time. If it says No, they don't. The left box shows a list of active keys and their functions. F2: Add Capability. Adds logging capability for the currently high- lighted employee. F3: Remove Capability. Removes the logging capability for the person currently highlighted. F4: Add For All Employees. Adds logging capability for all employees at once. F5: Remove For All Employees. Removes the logging capability for all employees at once. The Escape key returns you to the main menu, and Page Up and Page Down moves you up and down in the list of employee names. Employee Message Capability: In one of the menu options in the main menu, you can choose to put messages on a "bulletin board" for the employees to read when they clock in and out. The screen lets you give employees the capability to send you messages. This could be used when an employee is late clocking in, and wants to let you know the reason why. Or, it could be a way for an employee to post a message asking for vacation time or for a day off next week. A window in the middle of the screen displays the employee names and the current status of their message capability. At the bottom of the screen is a window with a list of active keys and their functions. F2: Activate. Activates message capability for the currently high- lighted employee. F3: Deactivate. Deactivates message capability for the employee whose name is currently highlighted. F4: Activate For All. Activates message capability for all employees with one keypress. F5: Deactivate For All. Deactivates message capability for all of the employees with one keypress. TimeCapture, Version 3.1 Page 19 The Escape key returns you to the main menu, and Page Up and Page Down moves you up and down in the list of employee names. Time Clock File Viewing Capability When this option is activated, the employee(s) it's activated for will be able to view their hours worked from the time clock program. For those who are given this capability, an extra menu option will appear on the time clock screen (F9: View Hours Worked). For those who aren't, the option will not appear. See the section on the time clock functions for information on how the file viewing capability actually works. A window in the middle of the screen displays the employee names and the current status of their file viewing capability. At the bottom of the screen is a window with a list of active keys and their functions. F2: Activate. Activates viewing capability for the currently high- lighted employee. F3: Deactivate. Deactivates viewing capability for the employee whose name is currently highlighted. F4: Activate For All. Activates viewing capability for all employees with one keypress. F5: Deactivate For All. Deactivates viewing capability for all of the employees with one keypress. The Escape key returns you to the main menu, and Page Up and Page Down moves you up and down in the list of employee names. Activate/Deactivate Continuous Log-in: The time clock can be set to "stay up" on the screen continuously until the Escape key is pressed, or to exit the program after each employee records their time. This screen gives the capability of turning this option on or off. A box in the middle of the screen tells you that pressing the Space Bar will toggle the continuous log-in capability between On and Off. A smaller box below that shows you the current status of the continuous log-in feature. Press the space bar to set the status to the way you want it, then press the Escape key to return to the main menu. TimeCapture, Version 3.1 Page 20 Printer/Screen Options This allows you to change various printer options, and to indicate whether you are using a color or monochrome monitor. It also allows you to choose a date format (different international and ANSI formats). In the registered version, the first option at the top of the screen allows you to put in an entry which appears at the top of each employees hours report page when it prints. Example: ABC Corporation Employee Hours Report, or John Smith DDS Employee Hours Summary. Printer Port: This gives you a total of 7 options for printer port: LPT1, LPT2, LPT3, LPT4, COM1, COM2, and printing to a file. If you choose to print to a file, the program will prompt you to enter the file name. You can use any valid DOS 8-character filename and 3-character extension, such as "TEXTFILE.TXT". You can view or print the file using any word processor that supports unformatted text files. You can also view or print the file using DOS commands such as MORE or TYPE (to view), and PRINT (to print). See your DOS manual for details on these commands. Formfeeds After Printing: You can enter 0, 1, or 2 to indicate you want no formfeeds, 1 formfeed, or 2 formfeeds after printing. Lines Per Page: Enter the number you desire or the appropriate number for your printer. Left Margin: Enter the number of spaces for the left margin. Printer Control Codes Before Printing: To use this option, you should be familiar with your printer's control codes. By entering the proper control codes for your printer, you can enable the special features it has that can be activated by control codes, such as condensed printing. Check your printer manual for the codes. You must enter the control codes exactly as they must be sent to the printer. Example: if your printer control code for condensed print is the escape code followed by an asterisk, then enter "ESC *" (without the quotes). Note: if you do not want or need to use these control codes, leave this option and the next option blank. You do not have to use these two options unless you want to. Printer Control Codes After Printing: similar to the above option, this is normally used to return the printer to the state it was in prior to enabling any special features (such as turning OFF condensed printing). Again, the control codes must be entered exactly as they should be sent to the printer. Color/Monochrome Screen: The default for this option is "B", for Black and white (or monochrome). Enter "C" for a color monitor. Date Format: TimeCapture supports six international date formats: American, British, French, German, Italian, and Ansi. A window appears at the top of the screen, indicating the various options. The type of format is shown beside each choice, and you must enter the number that corresponds to your choice. TimeCapture, Version 3.1 Page 21 Change Password This will open a window and prompt you to enter your new password. Initially your password will be "CLOCK". Your password can be any combination of letters, numbers, or symbols. After you enter your new password, it will be displayed in another window along with a message advising you to record it for safekeeping. Bulletin Board This option from the main menu brings up a screen with a four-item submenu: Activate/Deactivate Bulletin Board Create New Bulletin Edit/Delete Current Bulletins ( ) View Messages From Employees ( ) Activate/Deactivate Bulletin Board: Once bulletins for the employees have been created, the employees will see them when they clock in and out. You may wish to have the bulletins appear for a day or two, then cease. While you can delete any or all bulletins using the Edit/Delete Current Bulletins menu selection, this option simply makes the entire bulletin board system inactive until you activate it again. Pressing the space bar activates and deactivates the bulletin board system. The current status is displayed in a small window at the bottom of the screen. Press the escape key to return to the main submenu. Create New Bulletin: This option lets you display information to your employees every time they clock in and out. When you choose this selection from the menu, a blank "bulletin board" is displayed, and you can enter your message. When you are finished, you can press the Control and End keys (Ctrl-End) at the same time to continue creating the bulletin. Pressing the Escape key at this point will return you to the sub-menu. After pressing Ctrl-End when your message is done, you'll be given the distribution list sub-menu. This will give you two choices for distribution of your bulletin: Distribution List For: *All employees Selected group TimeCapture, Version 3.1 Page 22 If you select *All employees, your bulletin will be marked to be received by all employees, and you'll be returned to the bulletin sub-menu. If you choose the Selected group option, you'll be shown another two-item menu: Build List From: Employee Group Department Group Whichever of these you choose, you'll see a screen with two windows. The window on the left will show your available choices; the window on the right will initially be empty, but will show the choices you make as you select them. Note: if you choose to build your list from the Employee Group, you will again be offered the option to choose *All employees. At the bottom of the screen there is a display of the active keys and their functions: The left and right cursor keys switch the active window from left to right. Note that you can't switch to the right window, the one that shows your choices, until you have selected at least one employee or department. Pressing Enter while an employee or deparment is highlighted in the left window moves that choice to the right window as one of your selections. The escape key returns you to the bulletin board sub-menu. The Insert key exits the screen and records your choices. You will not be able to exit this screen and save the bulletin you've created without making at least one choice. If you press the Insert key without selecting at least one employee or department, a window will appear to indicate you are exiting this screen without making any choices. You will have two options at this point: pressing the Esc (escape) key exits without saving the bulletin; any other key gives you the screen where you can select your choices. The Delete (or Del) key is only active when the right selection win- dow is active (when you have pressed the right cursor key after having made at least one employee or department choice). Then, when pressed, it deletes the currently highlighted employee or department and moves it back to the left window. TimeCapture, Version 3.1 Page 23 Edit/Delete Current Bulletins ( ): While still in the bulletin sub-menu, you'll see a number in parenthesis beside the menu choice. This indicates the number of bulletins currently available to view. After selecting this choice from the menu, the first screen you see will again show you the number of bulletins, and tells you that you can choose the number of a specific bulletin to view, or press the Enter key to view all bulletins. After choosing a bulletin, or simply pressing Enter, you'll see the Bulletin Board: Edit/Delete screen. The number of the bulletin you're viewing and the total number of bulletins will be indicated. Below that, in it's own window, is the bulletin message. At the bottom of the screen the active keys are shown: Ctrl-End: Next Bulletin. Moves forward to the next bulletin. If you are viewing the last bulletin, you'll be returned to the bulletin sub- menu. Esc: Exit. Returns you to the bulletin sub-menu. Alt-D: Delete. Deletes the bulletin currently being viewed. Alt-P: Previous Bulletin. Moves you to the bulletin prior to the one being displayed. F6: Distribution List. This displays the distribution list attached to this bulletin. You can press the Enter key to edit the distribution list, or press the Escape key close the distribution list window. If you press Enter to edit the list, you'll be transferred to the screen that let you build the list when you created the bulletin. For help on using this screen, see the section above for Create New Bulletin. One note: if you built this list using the Department list, you'll now see a list of the employees in the departments you selected, instead of the department names. View Messages From Employees ( ): As with the menu choice above, this selection in the bulletin sub-menu will display the number of messages available before you select it. When you press Enter, the screen will display the first employee message in the series. At the top of the screen, the message number and the total number of messages will be shown. Below that in the main window, the employee who sent the message, the message date, and the message time will be shown. And below that will be the message from the employee TimeCapture, Version 3.1 Page 24 At the bottom of the screen is a window showing the active keys and their functions: Ctrl-End: Next Message. Moves forward to the next message. If you are viewing the last message, you'll be returned to the bulletin sub-menu. Esc: Exit. Returns you to the bulletin sub-menu. Alt-D: Delete. Deletes the message currently being viewed. Alt-P: Previous Message. Moves you to the message prior to the one being displayed. Ctrl-P: Prints the bulletin to the printer. Time and Date This menu choice lets you look at and change the system time and date on the computer. Note that on networked PCs, logging into the server will usually set the PC's time to that of the server; if you are running TimeCapture from the server, and it is necessary to set the server's time and date, you will need to do so using the appropriate functions of your network software. A screen will appear with a two-item menu: Time Set Date Set Pressing the Enter key on either menu choice will show you the current value of the date or time, and prompt you to enter a change if necessary. If the value is correct, press the Escape key to return the submenu; press Escape" again to return to the main menu. If the values need to be changed, enter the correct value at the prompt. In the case of the time setting, enter the time in HOURS:MINUTES format in 24 hour time (for example, 17:00 for 5:00 PM). For the date setting, the date format you are using will be displayed at the bottom of the screen. Enter the new value using that format. If you need to change the date format, you can do so using the Screen/Printer Options selection from the main menu. If the program is unable to set the date or time, an information window will be displayed to let you know. In this case, you will have to set the values from the DOS prompt. At the DOS prompt, type "date" and press Enter to set the date. The computer will display the current date and prompt you to enter a new date. If you want to change the date, type the new value and press Enter. Otherwise, just press Enter and the date will remain at the displayed value. Similarly, to set the time, type "time" an press Enter. The computer will display the current time and prompt you to enter a new time. To change it, enter a new value and press Enter. Otherwise, just press Enter to leave the value unchanged.