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- FLEXITIME & TIME LOGGING SYSTEM VERSION 5
-
- END USER'S MANUAL
-
-
- 1. Logging On
-
- The system should have been set up by your system administrator and you will
- have been told which menu item to use to get started. Basically this should
- take you to the directory where the program is stored and enter the command
- "fttl".
-
- You will see an introductory screen (this is extended in the demonstration
- version) and then a calendar will appear with one of the dates (hopefully
- today's) highlighted. Unless you want to change the date press ENTER or use
- the cursor keys to highlight the correct date and press ENTER. If you have
- to keep changing the date please ask your system administrator to check the
- clock on your workstation.
-
- From now on you can obtain help at any point by pressing F1. A help screen
- will be displayed and the contents may be viewed by using the cursor keys to
- move down and up as required. Press ESC to return to the program.
-
- If you get stuck always try pressing ESC a few times before calling someone.
- Read the messages at the bottom of the screen and in the dialogue boxes which
- appear from time to time.
-
- You will then be asked to enter your surname. You only need to type in the
- first few (3 or 4) letters and you can use any case. When you have typed in
- your surname or part of it press ENTER.
-
- If you are the not only person in the system with your surname you will be
- given a list starting with the first closest match to what you entered. Use
- the up and down cursor keys to highlight your name and initials and press
- ENTER.
-
- You will then be asked for your password - you must enter this carefully and
- exactly. The system administrator will have given you a password when you were
- set up on the system, but you can change it subsequently to one of your own
- choosing (Recommended). If you have no password just press ENTER. If you fail
- to enter the correct password you will be unceremoniously dumped out of the
- system!
-
- You will then see the main screen. This consists of a top level menu on the
- top line of the screen, a system description in the centre of the screen and
- a message at the bottom right hand corner of the screen saying who you are and
- what four week period you are in - it is important that you check this to make
- sure it matches what you think it should be.
-
- The top level menu will say
-
- FLEXISHEETS PERIOD EMPLOYEES TIME FILES SYSTEM QUIT
-
- and the FLEXISHEETS menu item will be highlighted.
-
- To access a menu item either use the left and right cursor keys to move the
- highlight to the desired item and press ENTER, or simply press the first
- letter of the required item. If you press ESC while at this top level the
- system will assume that you want to QUIT.
-
- Unless you are the System Administrator or a Supervisor you will find that you
- can only access the FLEXISHEETS and PERIOD menus.
-
-
- 2. SELECTING A PERIOD
-
-
- For all flexisheet operations to succeed two things are absolutely critical:-
-
- 1. The correct person has been selected.
-
- 2. The correct period has been selected. A period is a 28 day/four week
- time span starting with the selected date.
-
- The currently selected person and period are shown at the bottom right hand
- corner of the screen.
-
- To change the PERIOD highlight the period top level menu item and press ENTER.
-
- A Sub-Menu will appear:
-
- 1. Select Period
- 2. Add next period
-
- To operate the Sub-Menu use the up and down cursor keys to highlight the
- required item and press ENTER or just press the number against the required
- item.
-
- To leave a Sub-Menu and return to the main menu press ESC.
-
-
- 1. Select Period
-
- You will be presented with a list of periods starting with your currently
- selected period. Use the up and down cursor keys to choose the required period
- start date and press ENTER. This way you can go back and look at or print out
- an old sheet. If the period you require is not there use
-
-
- 2. Add next period - add the next four week period to the pick list of
- possible periods.
-
-
- To leave the Periods Sub-Menu press ESC.
-
-
-
- 3. Working with Your Flexisheet
-
-
- To work with your current flexisheet or to set up a new one choose FLEXISHEETS
- from the main menu.
-
- Some points to remember:
-
- a) Check that you have the right person and period as shown at the
- bottom right hand corner of the screen. If the person is wrong use sub-
- menu item 8 to change it. If the period start date is incorrect press
- ESC to exit to the main menu and use Periods to change the start date.
-
- b) If this is a new period or person and there is no flexisheet set up
- for that period and person use sub-menu item 5 to start a new sheet.
-
-
- 1. Enter Flexitime Details
-
- If you are warned that there is no sheet set up, use item 5 to start a new
- one. The system will check to see if this is your first ever sheet. You will
- also get this check if you have been away and your sheets are not consecutive.
- If you have been asked this question it means that all the "carry forwards"
- will be set to zero and will need entering by hand. Get your supervisor or
- System Administrator to do this for you.
-
- Provided all checks have been passed you will get a calendar with the date of
- the next required entry highlighted. To accept this date just press ENTER. To
- move to another date (e.g. to correct a prior entry) use the cursor keys to
- highlight an alternative date and press ENTER. You cannot select a date
- earlier or later than the current period - so to correct a date in a previous
- sheet you need to change the period first.
-
- The screen will then display boxes for you to enter your morning in and out
- times and your afternoon in and out times. Use a twelve hour clock and enter
- the hours and minutes in separate boxes as shown. Press ENTER to move to the
- next box and use the up arrow to move back through the boxes to make any
- amendments. If a box is filled the highlight will automatically move
- to the next box.
-
- When all the boxes have been filled in the system will attempt to calculate
- that day's totals and display them on the lower half of the screen. At this
- point you can press ENTER to continue or ESC to abandon and start again. You
- are reminded about this at the bottom of the screen.
-
- If you press ENTER you will be presented a menu of possible reasons for
- absence including N/A for not applicable (or not absent). Choose the required
- item by pressing the appropriate number or using the cursor arrows to
- highlight your choice and press ENTER. You can do this up to two times to
- allow for mixed reasons for absence. The system will take the appropriate
- action or prompt you for further input as necessary depending on the reason
- you have chosen. Don't worry if you make mistakes here because you can always
- abandon or not confirm input and start again, or go right back and choose this
- date again and start over.
-
- When you have finished this you will be asked for any additional or overtime
- hours - that is hours you have worked before or after leaving work that day
- that are not otherwise included in the day's calculations. Continuous hours
- before or after the start or end of a working day will automatically be
- calculated as overtime by the system as will any hours booked into a non work
- day. Start and end of working days and which are working days are set by the
- System Administrator and cannot be altered by you. Just press ENTER twice to
- get past this screen.
-
- You will then be asked whether or not you want to update your flexisheet (that
- is - write your entries and the calculations to the hard disk). Just press y
- or n as required.
-
- So far you have been entering how much time you have spent at work. Now you
- will be prompted to enter what you have done with that time.
-
- The time log appears with a box showing the various categories for which time
- needs to be recorded across the top (there is some information off to the
- right which you can see by pressing the right arrow key). In the top right
- hand corner you are shown the amount of time you have recorded for today on
- your flexitime sheet, how much time you have accounted for (nil to begin with)
- and, in red, the different. Initially this will be equal to the negative of
- your target because you have not yet entered any time logging details. As you
- successively add details this will change - your goal is to make the Achieved
- figure match the Today's Target Figure. The figure at the bottom shows you
- what the difference, plus or minus, is. A negative figure indicates that you
- have not yet logged enough time to match your flexitime sheet.
-
- To add your first item press INS
-
- You will be given a list of CLIENTS - who you have spent some time working
- for. Use the cursor keys to highlight the one you want, then press ESC. On a
- long list use the PgUp and PgDn keys for speed or type in the first three
- letters of the required code and press ENTER. Provided a match can be found
- you will be taken to the required entry.
-
- You will then be given a list of JOBS - the detailed job or task you have
- spent your time on. Again use the cursor keys to highlight the one you want
- and press ESC.
-
- Next you will be given a list of ACTIVITIES - that is the type of work you
- have done for this client. Again use the cursor keys to highlight the desired
- item and press ESC.
-
- The next screen starts by indicating the Client, Job and Activity selections
- you have made. You are placed in a field which contains the default rate for
- that job. You will not normally need to change this so just press ENTER.
-
- You then need to enter the hours and minutes which you spent on this job. If
- you enter something here you will NOT be allowed to enter one off expenses -
- do this on a separate line. However if you just enter 0,0 here you will be
- taken to the expenses field so that you can enter one off expenses which are
- not related to any time calculation.
-
- Finally you can enter a NOTE to remind you of any detail relating to the time
- spent or expense recorded - this is important in the case of expenses.
-
- When you have recorded any notes you are taken back to the time log, but this
- time any necessary calculations have been made, a new line appears in the time
- log, and the figures in the top right hand corner will have changed.
-
- Repeat the above steps until the Today's Target and Achieved Figures match -
- at which point the system will keep beeping at you. Press ESC to finish.
-
- If you have made a mistake, highlight the line containing the mistake and
- either press DEL to remove it completely or highlight the field you want to
- change and press ENTER. Please note that you cannot change some entries this
- way so it is sometimes better to delete the line and start again.
-
- The data for CLIENTS, JOBS and ACTIVITIES is maintained by your supervisor or
- the System Administrator. All three must have been properly set up before you
- start a job, otherwise you will find that they do not appear in the lists! You
- procedures for doing this will have been set up by your organisation.
-
- Finally you will be asked if you want to select another date - again press y
- or n as required.
-
- 2. View current sheet on screen
-
- This produces a screen image of you current flexisheet. If you have not yet
- fully completed the sheet some of the calculations beyond the point where you
- have completed your entries will look odd. Press ENTER to move through each
- week of the four week period or press ESC to abandon.
-
- 3. Quick calculation of flexitime
-
- Produces a quick output of flexitime, leave left and overtime to date.
-
- 4. Print current sheet
-
- This will print the current sheet and also write any carry-forwards to a
- special file on disk ready for use by the next sheet - it is therefore
- normally only relevant to run this when a sheet is complete. Please note that,
- when you print a sheet which contains the first day of the month which starts
- your organisation's new annual leave year, your annual leave carry forward
- will be reset to your default annual leave entitlement without adding any
- outstanding leave.
-
- 5. Start New Sheet
-
- Initially there is no sheet set up for you for each period. You have to do
- this yourself each time you enter a new period where a sheet has not already
- been set up. Unless this is your first sheet the system will attempt to carry
- forward such things as remaining flexitime and overtime and holidays from the
- previous period. This will only work successfully if you have already printed
- the previous period's sheet and you will be warned if you do not appear to
- have done this. What is carried forward depends on your company's policies and
- is established by the System Administrator. The System Administrator and your
- Supervisor will have access to another part of the system which enables them
- to amend your carry forwards if they need to. When you choose this item a new
- empty sheet will be created. If this is your first sheet or there has been a
- gap between sheets you need to get your supervisor to check and establish your
- first set of carry forwards.
-
- 6. Delete Current Sheet
-
- This does what it says so only use this if you really want to start the
- current sheet over again. You will need to recreate a new sheet for the
- current period using menu item 5.
-
- 7. Amend Targets for this Sheet
-
- For each working day the system establishes a target for hours to be worked.
- What is established as a default can be set at overall system level be the
- System Administrator and at individual level by your Supervisor. The target
- hours can be different for each day in the period if you want - this is
- important for part timers. Normally you should not need to alter this but
- there may be an "odd" period where you need to. You are presented with a list
- of all the dates in the current period and you should enter the date you wish
- to change. You can then make the changes necessary. At the top right hand
- corner of the screen is a reminder of what your normal target hours are and
- how different they will be as a result of the change you have just made. These
- figures do not have to be equal - what is allowed is very much dependent on
- your organisation's policy. Any changes made this way affect the current sheet
- only. If you are finding that you need to change something every time ask your
- Supervisor to make the necessary amendments to your defaults file so that
- future sheets will automatically be set up correctly.
-
- 8. Select Person
-
- This enables someone else who might be sharing your workstation to enter data
- without having to close down the system. It works just like the initial
- signing on procedure.
-
- 9. Change Personal Password
-
- You should use this now and again to prevent unauthorised access to your
- flexi-sheets and certainly the first time you use the system.
-
-