Time Attendence Tracker

Attendance Software - How Schools Benefit

2008-03-29T02:47:00.000-07:00

Reliable Attendance Software can be an asset to any company and a worthwhile investment, but what about schools? Some may feel that such software is simply a luxury and not necessary in most school districts, but this thinking is a mistake! Schools very often have more students running around than most businesses have employees, making them a prime candidate for Attendance Software. The following are a number of valid points explaining how Attendance Software can benefit schools:

• Some people feel it is a misguided choice to spend money on an Attendance Software Suite in times that some schools are dealing with budget cuts and larger class sizes. This however, is exactly why this software is needed! With more students and less money, it's safe to assume there will be less administration to do tasks like locating student schedules and adjusting attendance. With Attendance Software, a teacher can look up and input their own specific needs without having to call the main office for assistance. A teacher can easily pull up any student schedule to locate him/her for another teacher, a parent or guardian, or for themselves.

• Another benefit is that teachers can remotely enter grades from their computers rather than having to go down to the office. This allows several teachers at a time to enter their grades for their students making the process faster, easier, and more accurate. Without teachers having to rush their grading process, there is less chance of error, resulting in inaccurate report cards and decreasing the need for changing incorrect grades and upsetting students and parents.

• A system that collects attendance at the door, as students enter, has proven to be greatly effective in a number of larger school districts. It can improve safety and vastly decrease class cutting. One school witnessed a 75% drop in students who skipped or cut class after implementing this system. This not only keeps students in their classrooms, but keeps them out of trouble. Requiring students to 'punch in' in the morning can also allow the faculty staff to be aware of what students should and should not be in attendance, allowing the school to intervene any class cutting issues before they escalate.

• Some Attendance Software can even make printing report cards easier! It can help a substitute teacher be more in control of who should and shouldn't be in the classroom, and help keep students on track by keeping them IN class.

• Many people worry about price, feeling that in order for it to be successfully implemented the way it needs, it will be far too expensive. This is not true at all. Attendance Software can be affordable if you seek an experienced company who will take your specific needs into account and not just sell you something out of the box. Some companies are incredibly flexible with affordable options and add on features to fit any and all of your needs.

The major benefit to this software is that it gives the faculty better control and power to locate students for whatever situation. They can be found if they did not clean up their mess in art class, it helps teachers know if a student is cutting class, or simply absent that day, and it allows administration to keep better track of student records by watching attendance.

Huntington Business Systems Corp. (http://www.HBSCorp.com) is the leading provider of Time and Attendance Solutions for organizations of all sizes. We will take your specific needs into account and provide you with affordable options and add on features to fit any and all of your needs.

Submitted by Stacey at NewSunGraphics (http://www.NewSunG.com)

Attendance Software - How Can My Company Benefit?

2008-03-29T02:46:00.000-07:00

Attendance software is an easy answer to any company’s attendance and payroll needs. Companies large and small can benefit from the implementation of Time and Attendance Software. But many company owners are filled with questions about the process and benefits, so here are the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions…

1. Why Should I Use Attendance Software? What Are The Benefits?

A study done showed that the total error rate paid by employers using a traditional timecard method averaged between 1-8%, and that doesn’t even include all the errors that need to be corrected each pay cycle by the payroll department. Attendance Software will ensure that only correct data is entered, ensuring the most accurate payroll. Imagine… no more time wasted fixing human error mistakes! The software will also reduce time used to prepare time sheets, improve workforce management, and help you track and managed labor expenses. (No more employees ‘rounding off’ their hours!)

2. What Should I Look For In Attendance Software?

It’s important to know what the software does before you invest to make sure it meets your company’s needs. A huge asset that not all companies offer is fully customizable and scalable services. This means your investment will be exactly what you need and want, and it will continue to be exactly what you need and want! So you can continue to support your company as you grow and in turn have more employees. Find out what kind of support they will offer you once the software is implemented. It’s also important to see what kind of interfaces it offers, such as for payroll time and attendance, and human resources data. Some other things to look into are hidden fees and charges; you don’t want to pick a company that will hit you with unexpected costs that you’re not prepared to pay. What their typical ‘uptime’ is (or in other words full operational and connected reliability)- find out if they guarantee that. Do they also offer security on their system so you don’t have to worry about hackers, or even disgruntled employees altering the data?

3. What Is The Implementation Process Like?

Every attendance software company is different. A good company will work with you to design the right system for your needs, then set up the system, configure and test it. Also find out if the company offers training so you and your staff can learn the ins and outs.

4. Will The Attendance Software Integrate With Existing Payroll Systems?

Again, this is specific to what software you choice, but typically yes! Software can easily be integrated into your already in place systems and be customized if necessary. Most software will also include features like email notifications, time off request management, scheduling, and security.

It’s easy to see why time and attendance software is right for any company owner. The benefits are virtually endless!! An easy, user friendly system that results in error free payroll. This will certainly improve your employees satisfaction!

Stacey works at NewSunGraphics, who represent HBS Corp, ( http://www.hbscorp.com ) a company specializing in time and attendance software for large and small companies alike. Their typical implementation process is a very detailed and specific course of events that allows you, as the company owner, to be sure that you are getting exactly what you want and need to improve the daily function of your company

Types Of Attendance Tracking Programs

2008-03-28T02:04:00.001-07:00

As any owner of a business will know being able to keep a track on every employee they have working for them can be a very big administrative headache for them. However through the use of an attendance tracking program an employer will be able to track each of their employees more effectively. However what should one be looking for when considering buying an attendance tracking program for their business.

These programs have been designed to take over from the paper systems which were used for many centuries to track the hour’s staff had worked and what benefits they have gained. Using such a program which provides all business owners with valuable information to see how efficient their employees are and will in turn help them to run a more efficient business on a day to day basis.

But which program you choose will depend on the kind of business you run. Because more and more software developers have understood the need for such programs in today’s business world they have developed programs which work specifically with particular industries. They have also developed these programs with a number of different technical requirements which will meet each businesses own particular attendance tracking requirements.

For smaller businesses a person can buy a very basic type of time and attendance tracking program which will record when an employee logs both in and out. These can either come as time card packages or through the use of a swipe card system. Such programs offer the user a chance to create and then maintain records for every single person that is employed within the business.

As for larger companies they will use either a time or swipe card system in order to record their employee’s attendance. However compared to those used by smaller businesses and companies these particular attendance tracking programs provide the user with a much more robust reporting facility and include more functional features as well. With these types of programs the company is not only able to track when the employees are at work but also manage data relating to their job and where they are located within the company.

But when it comes to finding the right attendance tracking program for your particular business you need to focus exactly on what the key features are you want. By being able to provide the program vendor with a clear understanding of what it is you want the program to do the better they will be able to provide you with one that meets your particular needs. The best way of doing this is to sit down with administrative staff in your business and come up with a list of your operational requirements.

P Abbey owns and operates http://www.employeeattendanceinfo.com/attendancetrackingprogram.html - Attendance Tracking Program

The Timesheet Deathnell

2008-03-27T03:16:00.001-07:00

In most cultures, time is regarded as a fundamental quantity, i.e. time is not itself defined from other fundamental qualities such as space or mass, rather it is itself defined by the units it is measured in, which for us would typically be seconds, that quantity know by almost every child as he/she counts off the rumble of distant thunder, 1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds etc. I say ‘most’ cultures because of course some view time in a completely different way, such as the native aborigines of Australia who believe time to be two parallel streams of activity, the daily objective reality of time and dreamtime, a spiritual cycle more real than our current perceived reality.

However, for the most of us, and most specifically in a business context, time is viewed the passage from one moment to the next and it is this relentless progress of time, in a continued linear fashion, that shapes our very existence, and its importance cannot be overstated. From a humble rock, weathered by eons of rain wind and frost to Planck Time, considered the finest granularity of time there is with a single second equivalent to 1.855×1043 Planck times, we cannot escape this fundamental quantity. Simply put we cannot stop time, and must therefore accept that time is an inherent part of our existence, how ever bold or feeble that may be.

And because time is so fundamental, its use determines much of our daily routine, be that begging in a storefront or wielding the cheque book of a multimillion dollar corporation, an inescapable consequence of our ever expanding material universe.

So how important is time in the context of business? Well, as resources continue to dwindle at an ever increasing rate, and as our own lives speed up with the trappings of modern technology, the careful, mindful use of time plays an ever increasing role to our civilization to a point that where the correct management of time becomes paramount for the success or failure of any business enterprise.

First, let us understand that the amount of work done in a given time is called effort or labour productivity. So for example if it takes one person one hour to dig a hole, then the effort will be 1 person hour. If another person joins in at the start, then our productivity will double as it should in theory take half the amount of time to dig a hole of the same dimensions. Of course this is only an approximation, as additional time may be lost as each man fight for space as they dig, or time may be saved as they operate with synergy, perhaps operating in series or in relay to dig the hole. Regardless, the point is that each and every business should keep abreast of the time metric – to measure the productivity of their staff and their production of widgets or services.

At MetriQ we believe we have achieved some measure of success in helping businesses around the world, save time, most especially through the replacement of time sheets.

Time Sheets: Originally developed so that an employee can account to his/her employer the amount of time spent doing a particular job. While fine for the latter part of the industrial revolution, with the coming of age of the computer, digitizing the timesheet into a software product has done little to change the way in which this most valuable of metrics has been collected. Not only is the technology dated, but timesheets are also prone to a number of obvious errors.

Timesheet Illusions

1. Rounding errors: Timesheets typically have a start/end date-time column or have entries required for pre-booked 15 minute sessions. Neither of these are a reflection of how a job is actually completed. In fact if you come right down to it, you can pretty much assert that not a single job ever completed took exactly 10 minutes (see Plancks time above). So if a job starts at 10:00:00 am and is finish at 10:26:04, then the time sheet entry will most likely read 10 to 10:30:00. Which when consolidated will read 30 minutes. So what happens to the other 3 minutes 56 seconds?
2. Forgetting: If you have ever filled in time sheets, you’ll know how easy it is, even after years of practice, to forget to fill in your time sheet. Then you have to rely on memory, and that’s as good as sticking your finger in the air and giving a brute force estimation.
3. Interruptions: If you get interrupted by a coworker or perhaps the phone goes while you are working. Do you add time to your timesheet?
4. Concentration: Your working away on a task that requires your full attention – and when you next look at the clock, you realize you’ve missed the last 4 timesheet entries.
5. Mundane: The actual process of filling out a timesheet is mundane and repetitive. Very few people could actually put their hand in the air and say – “I enjoy doing this”. And yet we persist with this archaic methodology.
6. Time to Complete: Perhaps the biggest villain in the collection of this time metric would be the very fact it takes time to complete a timesheet, and this, is the biggest cost factor to a business using this outdated metric collection agent. Consider a company of 750 staff. If each are meant to fill in their timesheets every 15 minutes, and it takes them juts 30 seconds per entry, then if the average cost of an employee is just $100 (includes their salary, office space and overheads), then that business is loosing about $5 million dollars a year. Such a waste.

And if you really want to be impressed – consider this. In the United States, current estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that the current workforce is 145,794,000. If we assume that just 1% of all employees keep timesheets, at a cost of six thousand dollars a year, this equates to 8.5 billion dollars in lost income, just completing the humble timesheet.

Timesheet Revolution

At MetriQ we have spent years developing an alternative to the timesheet that requires no human interaction at all. The user simply clicks on the software they wish to use, and the MetriQ software will begin timing the use of that software. As the user flips to another software product, MetriQ again begins timing for that new software package – and so in continues, such that at the end of the working day each and every second has been accounted for, even those that were interrupted by phone calls or going to the bathroom.

In other words, we believe that a computer should be smart enough to know exactly how long its been use, by who, on what and for whom, and without ever being told.

It is also our belief that the days of the timesheet are numbered and rapidly coming to a close as alternative technology emerges, and the value of each second wasted becomes more apparent.

If you would like to learn more about MetriQ and how it can help you save time and money in your business, then try the software for yourself. Its easy to install, easy to use, and with a reputation that is second to none in the business of Intelligent Business Timing. Download a free trial version from http://www.metriq.biz

Tom Applegate is a private business consultant based in Auckland New Zealand. He has a wide range of business experience and for the past 5 years has made a commitment to spread the word about the imminent demise of the humble timesheet, with various offerings as to how or what can be used as a replacement

Journyx Timesheet And Project Management Sofware

2008-03-27T03:14:00.000-07:00

A lot of companies have a needlessly complicated method of handling time sheets and keeping track of time spent of various projects and what resources the company is devoting to given project, a lot of companies still just have an excel time sheet for employees to hand in at the end of the month. It also very useful to know how your estimated expenses and cost of project tallies up with actual project cost. The jounryx software is a web based hosted application available open source.

Journyx is a very powerful time management application, it does require a server, but this could be any pc that runs apache and perl. It runs best on Linux of course. Installation is relatively straight forward, even migrating to another server is relatively painless. The software is a bit over-whelming with options when you first login as administrator, at this point it is a good time to set up the necessary users of the application, and also a good time to setup projects and other important settings such as billing rates and expenses, you can select which reports are available to each user that will use the system.

Once all the settings have been configured as an administrator you can login and see the time entry grid and access to a limited range of reports, which quite conveniently is customizable so each user can have access to specific designed reports as necessary.

Time sheets are completed with a simple series of drop down menus, selecting the hours worked, the day, the project that was been worked on, the status of whether the time is to be billed or not, entry as sick day, holidays, etc. Also the task being carried out for the project being worked on. These sheets can be submitted for approval as a designated, like the end of the week or month. Reports included for time sheet standard users are hours worked and general time sheet history reports.

Diarmuid Ryan is the Managing Director of Blue Star Technologies specialising in web site database-driven applications.
Blue Star Web Design

How To Use A Timesheet Management More Effectively

2008-03-25T04:41:00.000-07:00

Before you begin your day, you should download a copy of the time sheet to help you better manage everything of your daily stuffs that you need to do.A tool called the time sheet management can actually support you to look out where you are spending your time wisely and unwisely.

In order to see your workers Managing a time sheet can help you to see what your employees are accomplishing their duties well. This keeps everything productive in your life and your daily affairs. You should use time sheet management in your daily affairs. You can keep track of your those important day to day projects that needs to be taken care of.

Do you want to control everything your life, with a proper and effective time sheet management, you can do it. You can figure everything in from the daily chores to life in the business world. No matter how you make a decision to use this tool, one thing to remember is you can’t alter the amount of hours in a day.

You can only change the habits you have while working with your time sheet management. Getting rid of your stress is highly possible of all the deadlines with this tool. This tool helps you meet those schedules.

This tool can be created.

A time sheet management tool can be created by simply using a notebook to record your daily activities (and schedule) or by downloading a free program on the internet.

There are many free services and schedule makers you can use that will allow you to schedule down to the last minute. Make sure when using time sheet management tools that you are able to stick to the plan you have. Do not over-stress yourself when you work on your time management.

Take your personal life as if it is your business

It is important you are able to join with the family and do the functions important to daily life. Scheduled arrangements have to be made for family states and even the time it takes to get there is put on your time sheet management tool. Different ways of handling your plans can bring you more success throughout your day. You don’t have to run around wondering why it looks like you accomplished nothing.

In order to get your new ideals started, all you need is simply to download a time sheet management program from the internet from anywhere in the world.

A time sheet management program will give you more flexibility throughout your day. This will explanation of having more time for yourself or those assignments that needs to be done. Make sure that as you are particular about taking out special time for work, that you make the same sort of efforts for taking out time for yourself and your family.

Eddy K Elgin is the owner of the Time Management Tips and Resources Blog. Drop by at How To Get A Time Management Sheet To Help Me for more details.

What Is An Employee Timesheet?

2008-03-24T03:15:00.001-07:00

Managing employee working hours record in a sheet is what timesheet is all about. Wiki says "A timesheet is a method for recording the amount of a worker's time spent on each job". Another way of looking at it is a document or entry program used to record actual labor time against an order or project, that may also specify the operation, location and category or type of task being performed is a Timesheet.

A timesheet is a record of time spent on a job by an employee originally for the employer to determine the payroll. They are an old concept and used to be paper and in some cases still are. The terminology of Timesheets became more prominint with increasing availability of software systems to generate employee timesheets automatically. Timesheets has the records of start and end time of tasks, or just the duration.

In this industry we find many companies providing web-based timesheet software or services that provide a means to track time for payroll.

There are installed intranet software used by companies to record employee working hours. The way some of them go about is from the time you logged into your PC till you logged out the evening. This means you have a fixed location to work into with a fixed position and PC. I am not sure how well it goes for on field and rotation employees. Another good one that I find is web based. You use this technology to punch in your attendance from any internet connected PC by going to a defined url and entering your username, password and company name.

The best part is you can access your very own timesheet from anywhere and this is fun. Termed as "On Demand Services", this industry is booming very fast and now companies need not even bother to maintain and save their employee timesheet records. This means no heavy hard drives, no servers and no reporting sortwares. Its basically a type of outsourced labor thats been automated.

Paul
Resources:
Wiki
Electronic Timesheets
Online Employee Timesheets Management

Optimum Project and Timesheet Control To Keep Your Business Profitable

2008-03-21T03:21:00.001-07:00

Your company has deadlines to meet and the project at hand is not much different than the one before it, yet you are questioning why this project has so much time against it. You have the same amount of employees working on this project as the last one, but this project has consumed double the time. Why are you over the projected allotment of billable time and the project is only at the halfway point? If you are scratching your head as you scroll through spreadsheets making comparisons, you have taxed your project's time deficit even further.

Real time project performance and project tracking enables quicker response time for resource reallocation and project diagnosis. The right Time Management Software will increase productivity by providing the information you need to access a situation in real time. A powerful project workspace view will make project creation and editing time efficient. Monitoring project tracking through automation is essential. Over budget reporting and tracking project budget projections for actual data being accessed on a daily, weekly or monthly basis will allow you to keep projects on track and be cost effective. By being able to quickly set up a project budget and correlating timesheet projections timesheet along with monitoring actual data, allows one to make comparisons and assessments through immediate visibility, thus getting your projects quickly back on track.

Using quality Time Billing Software will allow you to bill and invoice as well as offer a significant reduction in billing cycles; therefore putting account receivables into your pocket faster. Great Timesheet Software includes invoicing that allows management to access billable and non-billable costing information such as total project costs (comparing fixed or actual cost) and only for the timesheet and expenses, which are manager approved.

In recap, this is the information age but unless you can access information timely and in a format that is design specific to your company's needs, you are not shoulder-to-shoulder with the big boys. Whether your company consists of one, one hundred, one thousand or thousands, it's all about the bottom line and the right software application for time and productivity management.

Discover what the big boys use to save time by keeping on top of time management challenges. The big boys play the numbers with accuracy, increasing company profitability by implementing a plan to reduce internal costs while increasing project profitability. They understand where an employees' time is spent and realign that time as necessary to fit the project at hand.

As John C. Maxwell said in his book, "The Power of Thinking BIG", timing is everything. The right set up will keep an organization from having a wrong setback. Having the right information in real time will keep your company from having unnecessary setbacks. Avoiding those unnecessary setbacks because of Project and Time Sheet control issues and you will ultimately increase the bottom line.

Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as time managment software at http://www.dovico.com.

Free Timesheet Software

2008-03-21T03:20:00.000-07:00

The term "open source" is usually associated with software that is made available to the public free of charge by software developers. One good example of such is the Linux operating system, which is provided to the public for free, unlike some of its rivals that includes Windows OS and Mac OS. In the past, given that the software industry is mainly profit driven, most of the open source software that was made available to the public was software with simple applications like playing mp3-format songs. However, this is not the case today because people can gain access to open source or free software that in the past was only accessible to individuals and companies that had a lot of resources. One example of that is timesheet software, which is now widely available online.

There are a number of open source timesheet software programs that businesses can access online, which include Compiere, Fisterra, ERP5, and CK-ERP. The good news is that almost all of these different kinds of software provide excellent features that can help companies effectively manage their cash flow. One of these includes the customer-billing feature that allows businesses to keep track of the accounts of their customers. Another common feature among different timesheet software is that they also allow companies to have a system that could help them manage their inventory and purchase processes. This helps companies keep track of the transaction they make with their suppliers.

Another important feature that most free timesheet software has is that it can help business owners effectively manage their human resource areas, which include being able to maintain an employee database, an attendance management system, and performance evaluation systems. In addition to this, gaining access to this kinds of software is a fairly easy process, as a simple search online can provide business owners with a number of leads on where they can get them.

Nowadays, there are a number of open source of free software that people can access online for a number of applications. One of these includes timesheet software, which business owners can now download from a number of sources. The free timesheet software that is available also has the excellent features that could be found in the software that is for sale, which now makes it possible for business owners to have access to an affordable and practical way to improve their company's operations.

Timesheet Software provides detailed information on Timesheet Software, Web Based Timesheet Software, Free Timesheet Software, Excel Timesheet Software and more. Timesheet Software is affiliated with Payroll Time Clock Software

Web Based Timesheet Software

2008-03-20T03:22:00.000-07:00

One of the most difficult tasks a business owner has to do is to pick the right tools that for his business among the wide selection of business tools available. There are literally countless options that business owners can choose from. Because start up businesses do not have ready access to the guidance they need to use or operate such tools, this adds to the difficulty when looking for tools. However, start up companies can gain access to the tools that they need to help make their operations efficient and the information they need in using these tools all from one source.

Nowadays, there are a number of sources from which business owners especially of start up companies can gain access to the tools that can help them make their company's operations more efficient and also the helpful information on how they can maximize the use of such tools. One of these includes online companies who offer web based timesheet software and helpful advice on how to use them. There are a number of online companies that provide such services, and a simple search online can provide business owners with thousands of leads.

One good example is Replicon (www.replicon.com), which offers a web based timesheet software (Web TimeSheet) especially designed for start up companies and first time users of timesheet software. In addition to this, the company also provides information on how their customers can use the software and on how they can maximize the software by using other analysis tools. Besides gaining access to a tool that can help them improve the management of their cash flow, they also gain access to a number of ways in evaluating the company's performance.

For start up companies, it is important for them to gain access to the tools that they can use to help them make their company's operations more efficient. The good news is that there are now a number of sources that business owners can tap, which can give them access to the right tools and helpful information on how to use and maximize the benefits they provide.

Timesheet Software

2008-03-20T03:21:00.000-07:00

In business, it is important that business owners put in place the necessary systems that can help make the company’s operations more efficient. This is especially important for the operations that deal with cash flow, including the way the company collects payment from its customers, the way the payroll is handled, and how purchases are made. With systems that improve the way these aspects are managed, the profitability of a business can be raised. The good news is that business owners can easily gain access to the tools they need for them to be able to install the necessary systems that the company needs. One of these includes timesheet software, which can help companies handle the different aspects of their cash flow in a more efficient manner.

Traditionally, companies use paper timesheets, which they have to fill in manually. Unfortunately, doing so makes the system vulnerable to inefficiencies like late submissions and inaccurate entries, which can lead to a number of negative effects that include delays in collections, payments and inaccuracies in the payroll. To avoid such problems, one of the best options that business owners can take is to use timesheet software. Doing so can provide them with a number of advantages and benefits. One of these is using the kind of software that allows the employees to enter data into timesheets as they work on various projects, which eliminates the need for employees to spend a lot of time manually transcribing the work they had just done. In addition to this, companies would also be able to accurately charge their customers given that the billable hours that employees put in are recorded in the timesheets. Moreover, business owners would also have an easier time in monitoring the operations of the business, given that the information that they need to do so is just a click away.

For businesses to succeed, it is important for business owners to put in place systems that can help improve the efficiency of the company’s operations. The good news is that there are a number of tools that business owners can use to help them do so, one of which includes timesheet software. Timesheet software can provide companies with an efficient and practical way to improve the management of the company’s cash flow, which is essential to success.

Excel Timesheet Software

2008-03-19T04:36:00.000-07:00

For business owners to be able to maximize the benefits they could get from using timesheet software, it is very important for them to fully understand how to use the software. This is because knowing the different applications of the software would allow users to use these applications to perform a number of tasks that can help the company with its operations. Given this, business owners need to make sure that they get software that they could easily learn how to use.

Fortunately, there is quite a number of timesheet software that fit this criterion because there are some of them that are based on some of the most commonly used software by business owners. One example of this are the Excel based timesheet software, which are based on the MS Excel program found in most computers that run on Windows.

The most obvious advantage in using Excel based timesheet software is that most people are familiar with the Excel program, and almost anyone can use the software. This means that both business owners and their employees can get benefits from using the timesheet software as soon as they get the software. However, there are also other advantages in using Excel based timesheet software. One of these includes the fact that these kinds of programs are easy to customize, which can be very helpful for companies because they could “manipulate” the software for it to be able to fit the specific requirements of the company. Other advantages, which include some of the advantages that traditional timesheet software provide include the fact that the features of the software allow users of the software can keep track of the work hours that employees put in, their accounts receivables, their purchases, and their overall cash flow.

For business owners to maximize the benefits they could get out of using timesheet software, it is important for them to fully understand how to use the software. Today, there is a number of timesheet software that has been designed to be based on some of the more commonly used software, which includes MS Excel. As a result, business owners are given access to software that is easy to learn and use, which allow them to get the most out of the software.

Choosing the Best Timesheet Software Package For Your Business

2008-03-19T04:35:00.001-07:00

We’ve all heard about the gains in productivity and accountability that businesses can make from implementing a timesheet software system in their organization. However, with so many timesheet packages available on the market today, how do you know which package best meets your needs? The process of choosing the correct timesheet software for your business need not be as difficult as you may think.

The first step in choosing the right software is probably the most important, yet all it requires is that you to ask yourself a simple question; what do I want to achieve by using a timesheet system? It may be to improve quoting or budgeting, tracking project progress, tracking attendance and automating payroll, or to assist with client billing. Most of the better-known timesheet packages tend to focus on one or two of these functions and do them well, but may be deficient in other areas. When looking for the right timesheet package, select your package based on the core function it is designed for. Determine which features are critical and which are less important. A package that is designed to be good for automating payroll may not collect enough information for it to be useful for client billing. A timesheet system that is designed for client billing may not have the project management functions you require.

The more specific your requirements are, the easier it is find the appropriate software application. Thus, if you require a timesheet system that tracks computer-based work, is simple to use, yet can perform many other functions, you can narrow your product search down to just one product called Spherical Timesheet. Write a list of your requirements in order of importance, and keep this list handy while you’re doing the product search.

When considering your requirements, also keep in mind what your think your future needs will be. As an example, if you currently have a number of staff and your organization continues to grow, the software you select should be scalable to cope for the anticipated growth. However, you need to be realistic with your needs as one could say that anything is possible in the future. You don’t want to choose a product that can do nearly anything just because there is a chance you might need it one day. As a general rule, the more powerful the software, the more complex it will be to use, administer and support.

A decision you must make is whether you would like to go for a web-based solution or a desktop application. A web based timesheet system generally interacts with all users via a standard web browser. This type of timesheet system can be useful if you don’t want to install software on each user’s machine, and it can also be helpful as timesheet entry can normally be performed by any of your staff with an internet connection. You can also choose a subscription-based timesheet service (often call an ASP, or application service provider), where the provider stores your timesheet data on one of their servers. These solutions can be inexpensive with a periodical payment and very little up-front investment, but you need to consider the value you put on the confidentiality of your timesheet information and security, as timesheets and financial data may viewed by the provider, and any internet site can be a target for hackers. Web-based timesheet systems can also be a double-edged sword; they are often easy to operate but too simple in functionality to be very useful.

In comparison to web-based solutions, a desktop-based application is a program that is installed and run on each staff member’s computer. Desktop applications can be setup within your company’s firewall, preventing users from outside your company from accessing your timesheets. They also give the timesheet software developers a lot more freedom in terms of creating software interfaces and reporting engines, and as a result may be more sophisticated and powerful. If you have staff that work remotely and require access to your timesheet system, you should ensure that the timesheet software you choose provides the option for remote access (these systems commonly allow timesheets to be sent by email).

Once you have determined the base functionality you require and the type of timesheet system that is suitable for you, it’s time to start looking for the right product. A quick internet search for timesheet software is a good place to start. If you are also looking for support and possibly installation services, you may wish to consider adding you country or city to the search term. There are a lot of different timesheet packages out there, so you may wish to try a two-stage approach. Firstly, find a company you think may have a suitable product and service, print out some information such as a product brochure, and then move on to look at another company’s offering. This way you can quickly create a shortlist of possible candidates before getting too far into the more time-consuming task of evaluating each product and determining which best suits your needs.

With your short-list of timesheet products, examine the intricacies of each against your criteria of needs. Prioritize those needs. Download a trial of the software and at the very least try out all of the features that are high on your requirements list. If a vendor does not offer a means to try the software before you purchase it, ask questions as to why this may be the case. Is it too hard to install and configure? Is it too hard to use? I recommend you avoid any system that you can’t evaluate in your own working environment. A product trial gives you the insurance that the timesheet software product is really going to solve your business need. One feature to evaluate is the usefulness of the software link between it and third-party applications. Many vendors provide functionality just so that they can tick the box on their feature list, rather than to provide a genuinely useful data exchange between applications. If it is critical that your timesheet software can export invoice data into accounting software, than go and try the export procedure before you make your final purchasing decision. Be satisfied that it can perform all the tasks or at least some of the tasks that you require.

As with any new acquisition, it would not be appropriate to discuss purchasing without examining price and value for money. Within reason, the most suitable timesheet software for your company is going to be the one that addresses your needs the best, even if it is considerably more expensive then your next best option. The right timesheet software system will pay for itself very quickly. Critically consider customer testimonials such as those set out on the product website (see http://www.sphericaltech.com for example) where clients have provided feedback on the cost effectiveness of the product. Clearly, where there are efficiency gains to be made and correspondingly fast return on investment, the purchase price becomes of less significance. If correctly chosen, the timesheet software you choose should pay for itself very quickly.

Finally, consider the timesheet vendor itself. Do they offer the appropriate level of technical support that you require? Again consider client testimonials to determine if they have happy clients (keeping in mind they never publish the bad comments!). Test their customer service by sending the technical support department an email with a few simple questions. If they’re slow in responding, don’t expect better service once you’ve handed over your money.

Choosing the right timesheet software package for your business does not have to be a daunting task. By focusing on your business objectives and core requirements, you should find there are plenty of options from which to choose. Take your time, make the right choice and your business enterprise will enjoy all the benefits of efficiency and accountability that timesheet software can deliver.

Michael Potas is an expert in timesheet software, and operates his own company Spherical Technology. His product Spherical Timesheet is a time tracking software package that automatically tracks PC-based work to make timesheets accurate and easy to create. http://www.sphericaltech.com

How Can A Timesheet System Help Your Business?

2008-03-18T05:19:00.000-07:00

Running a small business is challenging. We are constantly required to perform a wide variety of tasks. For many of us, we could probably define our job descriptions as: do everything! Unfortunately, a portion of the everything that we do doesn’t contribute directly to the income of the business. However, sometimes by adding a little extra administration we can actually improve our productivity. In this article we are going to take a brief look at timesheet systems, and determine if and how they may help us improve our cash flow.

If you are reading this, than chances are that you have already seen a need to implement some kind of time tracking system. If you are already using timesheets in your business, you should be aware that some systems are better than others, and it is worth taking the time to investigate whether the system you are using is providing you with the maximum benefit.

Businesses that bill clients for their time will need some method for keeping tabs on the jobs they work on, in many regions this is a legal requirement. While other businesses types may not see any obvious reason to implement a timesheet system, there are a lot of good reasons to consider using one.

If your business employs staff, than a timesheet system presents an excellent way of keeping track of what your human resources actually do. You may be surprised as to how much time staff spend doing work that is not related to your core business objectives. As an example, you may think that by not upgrading your computers and software this year it is going to save you money. However, your timesheets may tell you that your staffs are spending a lot of time dealing with computer-related issues that are not income generating, resulting in lower productivity than one might expect. A timesheet system is an extremely powerful tool for identifying and being able to help you quantify the costs associated with these types of issues.

If you run a project-based business, where you may bid for jobs with fixed-price quotations, implementing a time tracking system in your business can save you money. In today’s competitive business climate, there can be a thin line between getting the job or losing it to a competitor. Quote high and your competitor may beat you based on price. Quote low and you may just get the job, but lose a significant amount of money doing it. If you have experienced these types of problems in the past, than it may be time for you to consider a timesheet system. When you are formulating a new quote on a job similar to one that you have completed previously, look to your timesheet system to get an understanding of the actual length of time the job took to complete. You may be surprised to see which sub-projects are taking most of the time.

Let's examine two scenarios; In the first scenario, the manager reports “we feel that project X came in on budget but we need to budget for a little more time to complete project Y in future quotations”, which is useful information that you can act upon. However, in our second scenario the business is using a timesheet system, and the manager reports “project X was completed at 23% below budget and project Y came in 279% over budget, resulting in the overall project being 160% over budget”. We will inevitably all make mistakes when we estimate the time it takes to complete a project, however the business that uses a timesheet system can quantify their mistakes, learn from them, and produce better quotes in the future.

Few would argue that a timesheet system is not an essential tool for tracking and analyzing business performance and productivity. If you have a small business with one or a few employees, and a few projects or clients, you can certainly use a manual written timesheet system to good effect. Start by creating a list of projects that you wish to categorize your time by. You may wish to further break down your projects into sub-projects, so you can get more detailed information about what has been done. Don’t forget to include projects for both internal (i.e. accounting, administration etc) and external (i.e. client job) purposes. Once you have done this, create a timesheet with spaces for putting time against each project, and a space to put the employee name and date, and distribute it to staff.

Once you have more than a few staff, or if your projects start to get more complicated, it is worth taking a look at the software packages that are available to make the process a whole lot easier. Some companies choose to start off using a spreadsheet program such as excel, but my experience with these type of systems is that they can require a lot of work and can be error prone, probably costing many times more than an inexpensive off-the-shelf timesheet software package. Most of the major time tracking software packages will have everything you need, including support for multiple staff and users on the move, central company project and client lists, and detailed reports of the work done by all of your staff. Most will also link to third party applications such as accounting and project management software. As most software applications tend to work differently, sometimes these links can be more of a hindrance than help, although at times they can also be genuinely useful.

One software package also tracks computer based work to help staff fill in their timesheets, see Spherical Technology’s timesheet and time management software for more information. In addition to automatically filling in timesheets, this software also links to major accounting and project management packages, has a number of useful reports that provides profit amounts for each and every project worked on, and can be evaluated for 30-days free. In all cases, I recommend that you download a demonstration copy of the time tracking software application that you wish to buy and try all relevant features before committing to it.

Once you have introduced your timesheet system, you will be well on your way to discovering more about your business. Timesheet systems give you information to help you make better business decisions, increase productivity, and can give you an edge over your competition. Best of all, you can make your timesheet system grow with your business, allowing you to continually fine-tune your processes to maximize the financial reward.

Michael Potas is currently employed by a timesheet software company, and often provides advise on management issues for small business. Please take a look at his timesheet and time tracking software for a solution to many time management issues

Time Attendance Software

2008-03-18T05:18:00.001-07:00

Time Attendance Software enables organizations to track, plan, and transform basic labor data into intelligent information, thereby improving productivity and labor resource utilization. It is also known by other names including Time and Expense Software, Time Attendance Systems, Labor Reporting Software, Attendance Software, and Time Attendance Software. Time attendance software packages are an efficient tool for managing a whole range of business processes.

Time attendance software is not just a modern substitute for clock cards as its functions are many. It works well over intranet and is easy to implement. It assures the accuracy and correctness with multiple time entry options. The basic characteristics of most timekeeping software systems are as follows. The software offers a method to collect or enter time and attendance information via an electronic time clock or direct entry. The entered data is reviewed and approved by a manager. Finally, this data is summarized for payroll.

Time attendance software helps organizations to capture employee time and attendance automatically and gets rid of manual calculation errors from employee timesheet records. It also schedules the work efficiently by avoiding unnecessary overtime, and meets legal compliance obligations. This software makes it possible for the organizations to pay workers perfectly, manage workers’ benefit time, and measure labor effectiveness. All these factors contribute to efficient management of an organization.

Some of the features of the time attendance software include data collection, workflow, pay policies. Using this software, online accrual balances, and flexible labor distribution for projects, accounts, and work orders can easily be created. It also helps in providing real-time notifications through e-mail. The pay policies including those for overtime, shift premiums, pay, attendance, and holidays can be programmed in.

In all, the time attendance software solution delivers the capability and flexibility to support the challenging and complex time management requirements of a particular organization.

Time And Attendance Software provides detailed information on Time Attendance Software, Time And Attendance Tracking Software, Web Based Time And Attendance Software, Time And Attendance Employee Software and more. Time And Attendance Software is affiliated with Employee Time Tracking Software

Time Attendance Equipment

2008-03-17T04:47:00.001-07:00

Time attendance equipment is a device that keeps track of employee’s hours in an organization. There are several time attendance equipments available in the market and some are manufactured as per the requirements of the particular organization. Most time attendance equipment allows employees to use their thumbprint or swipe a card to record time. Some uses retinas and palms. Time attendance equipment helps to manage working hours in various fields. Certain time attendance equipment can also function as security checks. Both government and non-governmental organizations use time attendance equipment. Its basic working feature is to collect the data of the employees as they come in and leave the office.

A wide range of time attendance equipment, providing a variety of capabilities and functions are available today. They all basically gather data from the attendance information, maintain reports and process input as desired by the managers. Companies, organization, and industries that have difficulty in managing employees and resources commonly use time attendance equipment. Areas in which time attendance equipment is generally used include financial services, healthcare, retail management, transportation or distribution, government, hospitality, and manufacturing.

Today’s time attendance equipment falls into one of three basic categories: time clock oriented, computer timekeeper oriented, and computer entry/employee oriented. Major instruments include clock ribbons, time cards, computer clocks, electronic time clock systems, time clocks, mobile time and attendance tools, time stamps, and summarizing time clocks. Employee attendance tracking software, recorders, timers, biometric and proximity readers, as well as other personnel control and security accessories are also incorporated in this category.

Time attendance equipment is a complete solution for organizations that have hundreds of employees and varying shifts. It is also ideal for those organizations that have break shifts. The equipments are available in diverse configurations. These configurations are the main factor to determine the price of the equipment. Before purchasing time attendance equipment, always check its reliability, functionality, and the value for money. Always go for a technology which is generally applicable on various environments and scenarios.

Time And Attendance provides detailed information on Time And Attendance, Time Attendance Equipment, Time And Attendance System, Time And Attendance Tracking and more. Time And Attendance is affiliated with Time Tracking Programs

Time And Attendance Tracking Software

2008-03-13T04:22:00.001-07:00

By having the right kind of time and attendance tracking software program in place can be of great benefit to any business which has large numbers of employees working for it. Not only do these programs help a business to track when an employee is at work but it also helps to see how many hours that employee is completing. But the biggest advantage to be gained from using such a software program is that it can help to increase productivity levels in the business.

Today there are a number of different software programs that can be used and all of which can provide a business with the following benefits.

1. It reduces the amount of administrative time that would normally be required to collate and then manage all timesheets that employees provide.

2. Revenue levels within the business can be improved because the time that the employees can be utilized more effectively which in turn can increase productivity levels.

3. It eliminates the requirement for data which is considered to be unnecessary and allows a business to keep and maintain much more accurate time and expense reporting facilities.

4. Not only is the information kept much more accurate but it provides the user with the chance to easily access and view historical records in relation to all aspects of employee’s attendance at work.

Through the use of such tracking software programs a company or business can manage those areas of it which could end up costing them money and losses in their revenue. It can help them to look closely at whether overtime is required or whether changes can be made which will help to improve their employee’s productivity levels. It can also help a business to make a decision whether they actually need to employ temporary staff or not.

When it comes to what kind of device a business should be using in collaboration with their time and attendance tracking software there are a number of ones they can choose from. There are biometric ones, there are mobile and portable and there are stationary as well as soft devices which can all be used for this purpose.

But as well as the systems being able to track a staff members attendance at work some of the software programs also provide the user with the chance to enter other information they consider important in relation to every individual employee within the company. It allows them to enter information with regard to when an employee takes sick leave or a vacation or when they take leave that has not been approved.

So because being able to make a profit is essential for any business to remain running effectively then having a good time and attendance tracking software program in place is essential to this.

P Abbey owns and operates http://www.employeeattendanceinfo.com/timeandattendancetrackingsoftware.html - Time And Attendance Tracking Software

The Future of Workforce Productivity - Training- Retention- Time and Attendance

2008-03-12T04:03:00.002-07:00

Productivity as a term has been widely used in the fields of human resources and operations, yet few corporate leaders can adequately identify what constitutes a productive workforce. If we only view productivity in terms of inputs and outputs, workforce productivity translates into a question of what is the smallest number of employees needed to produce the greatest amount of products. Such a view ignores the complex relationship between human capital management and traditional financial metrics. The future of workforce productivity must incorporate the relationship between training, retention, and attendance.

In a perfect world, you would be able to hire employees who already have all the required skill sets and expertise needed to do their new job functions. However, even in a perfect world, training would be critical in order to keep your employees up to date with the latest technology and knowledgeable of your company policies, culture, and basic government regulations and insurance information. Additionally, training provides a way for your employees to feel like a part of the company and feel better about themselves as they learn new skills and techniques. Training is an expense, but its value is critical to the ultimate productivity of your workforce, and should therefore be viewed as a smart investment.

Of course the last thing you want after training is for your experienced talent to leave the company. Employee retention is more in your control than you think, as a Selection Forecast study reported approximately 52% of hiring managers felt employees left due to external factors, while only 10% of employees said external factors were the main reason they left. Instead, mistrust of managers and feelings of being treated unfairly and under appreciated are huge factors that result in decreased job satisfaction. Ways to improve job satisfaction include recognition and reward programs, manager training and accountability, and providing challenges based on the employees' skill set.

Another critical aspect of workforce productivity centers around time and attendance tracking. Management requires access to high-level reporting of their employees time and attendance records in order to make informed decisions and these reports should ideally be available in real-time. By accurately tracking time and attendance, companies can reduce their risk of lawsuits from improper time keeping and save money by ensuring all employees are paid correctly, considering the majority of payroll errors are usually not in favor of the company. Using an automated time and attendance system can immediately improve workforce productivity by providing employee self service functions to track vacation accruals and request time off, provide visibility to detailed reports in real-time, and greatly reduce the amount of time necessary to process payroll each pay period.

As we look to workforce productivity as a dominant driver of economic growth over the next 10 years, we must begin looking at productivity as much more than traditional financial metrics. Workforce productivity will improve as companies take into account the human factor and incorporate training and talent management, employee satisfaction and retention, and time and attendance into their model for growth and success.

Legiant is a leading provider of web-based time and attendance and time accounting systems for payroll, attendance, productivity, leave and project tracking. Flexible productivity time tracking solutions help Legiant’s enterprise customers maximize the profitability and productivity of their workforce. Legiant solutions can be customized to meet the unique needs of any organization including mobile workforce tracking, payroll automation or automated time and attendance and workforce productivity reporting. Legiant integrates software, hardware, and professional services to create a comprehensive accounting solution, easy-to-use and accessible from anywhere through a Web-based interface.

For more information, visit http://www.legiant.com

Legiant is a founding member of the Workforce Productivity Technology Council, an independent council dedicated to creating a standard measure of workforce productivity. More information on WorkProTech can be found at http://www.workprotech.org

Big Savings at American with Legiant Time and Attendance XML API

2008-03-12T04:03:00.001-07:00

Founded in 1954, American has built a market-leading reputation for exceptional customer service, selection, and price earning them numerous awards as an outstanding retailer of furniture, consumer electronics and appliances. Over the years, American has become known for building stunning, beautiful retail stores and for maintaining them meticulously.

Legiant provides critical upgrade in time tracking

With nearly 2,100 employees at 18 different locations in the Midwest, American needed a time and attendance system that provided excellent support with advanced features such as scheduling and an XML API. American researched several companies before moving forward with Legiant Timecard. According to Steve Klapper, Controller, “The thing that I liked about Legiant is that I thought that the system was simple, straightforward, and intuitive. I thought it was affordable, and I thought it was a good match for American.”

Before upgrading to Legiant, employees were not recording their time because they did not like using time clocks. As a result, the high number of missing punches made it impossible for management to know what hours employees were actually working. American utilized the Legiant Timecard eXtensible Markup Language Application Program Interface (XML-API) to determine if a sales professional does not punch out. In the case of a missing punch, the Legiant system records the sales person’s last finalized sale time as the missing punch. “With this system, we can see when their last sale was made, and we can record an early departure based on their schedule. It is very, very helpful.”

XML provides a common tool for rapid integration of the Legiant system with other programs, including Human Resource, Payroll, Accounting, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and other systems. What formerly would take days or weeks of effort can now be done in a matter of hours or minutes.

Using the XML API, American was also able to integrate their Point-of-Sale (POS) terminals and office computers with Legiant to accept employee punches. “The fact that we can use our own terminals and workstations has addressed a very significant problem we have had. Not to mention that we already had the computer terminals in place, so we did not have to buy extra time clocks and it saved us quite a bit of money. It was a big, big savings for us.”

XML technology boosts HR integration

XML was developed to facilitate the sharing of information across different data systems. In the realm of human resources, XML can provide automatic updates between systems in real-time, including the addition of new employees, information changes, time transactions, and many other functions. For example, employee schedules from a Call Center Management system can flow instantly into Legiant Timecard.

For American, the XML API enabled the tight integration of Legiant with their sales floor terminals with minimal development time, ultimately saving time and money by removing the need for time clocks and increasing visibility to the data.

About American

American TV, a leading "brick and mortar" retail store serving consumers in 18 Midwestern locations is dedicated to serving and supporting the community in addition to offering exceptional furniture, consumer electronics and appliances.

More information about the purpose of XML and its pivotal role in the HR industry can be found at the website of the worldwide HR-XML Consortium at http://www.hr-xml.org

For more information, visit http://www.legiant.com

What Is Time And Attendance Software?

2008-03-11T03:31:00.002-07:00

Time and attendance software is the key ingredient to automating your entire payroll. This neat piece of software will keep track of each of your employees’ services, such as their pay rate, job title, weekly schedule and hours. Do you have any idea what that can mean for you? A lot less work. It’s the twenty first century and this means that there is always a way to make your life a bit easier.

When you purchase time and attendance software you purchasing a paperless way to, and time saving way to keep track of each of your employees. You will be able to throw away those big and bulky time card machines. You will not be required to do any math at all, which will cut down on many errors. I don’t care if your business is large or small because it will be beneficial for your business if you begin incorporating time and attendance software into your business.

Alright let’s take a look at how the time and attendance software will work.

Every day when your employees arrive to work they will clock in by entering their number into the computer system, and they will clock out at the end of their shift. Completely paperless and the computer will take care of all of the deductions for lunch hours, and it will minimize many other issues that come along with time cards. How often did someone forget to clock in, or out for his or her shift or for lunch? More often then you would have liked.

There is no better way to make your life easier then by using a time and attendance software in your business. Let’s not forget how much money you are going to save, and how much better your business is going to run. You will be able to find out in real time who is late for the day, who is consistently late and no body will be able to take unauthorized overtime hours.

You can find many different time and attendance software online and it’s important that you do a thorough research because there are so many different features that you will find in various time and attendance software. You should decide what you budget is going to be on your software as well because the prices for it varies greatly.

After you begin using your time and attendance software you will not know how you been getting by without using it for all of these years.

P Abbey owns and operates http://www.employeeattendanceinfo.com/timeandattendancesoftware.html Employee Attendance

Using Biometrics as a Time and Attendance Solution

2008-03-11T03:31:00.001-07:00

“Biometrics” is the science that uses unique physiological characteristics to verify the identity of an individual. The term “biometrics” is originally Greek, “bios” and “metron”, literally meaning “measurement of life”. All individuals can be identified by measurable physical characteristics and such characteristics are the basis of all types of biometric identification.

The techniques that are successfully used in the biometric field include: digital fingerprints, voice recognition, retinal, signature, hand geometry, face geometry and genetic DNA; among others that are in different stages of development and evaluation.

Differing from physical objects related to security like keys or magnetic badges, or other logical objects such as passwords or security codes (which can be stolen, lent or copied with relative ease), all the biometric characteristics are unique and cannot be transferred: no one can borrow someone’s finger prints, eye retinal or genetic code, or at least not with any consent.

This makes this technology more adequate to solve control access problems to physical installations (buildings, laboratories, confined spaces, security boxes, etc) or solve information security problems (user identification, access to restricted documents, etc).

Additionally to this there exists another point of economical importance: biometrics is used for “controlling time and attendance”, with this companies no longer need to use passwords or employee badges that can easily be borrowed or forgotten.

How do biometric applications work for time and attendance?

The most commonly used method for biometric identification for these types of applications is the fingerprint. You can collect all of your employee’s fingerprints on the system and they can register themselves inserting their fingerprints each time they check in and out of the installations.

This type of solution makes registering more exact, time wise, and prevents fraud assistance which consists in registering entrance and exit of other employees. It also reduces the cost of printing identification badges or the need to remember password or personal identification numbers.

The main benefit: Saving Money!

The first main reason why companies are deciding to switch to biometric applications is to save money. According to the American Payroll Association, (an American organization specialized in education, training and publications related to payroll process), estimates that the benefits of using biometric systems surpasses 10% of the total payroll.

A study indicated that “fraud in attendance” or time robbery, all together with audit mistakes on the register badges and the human resources plus materials needed for this task, represents high expenses for a company in one of the most important factors, the payroll.

Also it isn’t easy to imagine why: if your company doesn’t have security next to the punch clock, the employees surely will check in or out for other employees, affecting the company. On the other hand, after auditing the badges there are mistakes that benefit the employee, they rarely would report this to you: “my pay is wrong… I’m being paid more”.

There are also employees that stay on the company premises after check out time and benefit to surf the internet, chat or use the phone lines with ease without anyone around. The employer is the one not benefiting having to pay extra time.

All these problems can be solved implementing a solution using “the biometric clock”. This type of system prevents time and attendance fraud through digital fingerprints saving us time on auditing badges and giving us precise and trustworthy information at the click of a button.

How much will this cost me?

This is the best part: the technology and mass production makes these types of applications accessible to all.

There are solutions like the “Biometric Employee Punch Clock” from VeriTask Software that has a complete solution for small and medium companies that has a price of $399. This solution includes a semi-industrial digital fingerprint reader and a license to administrate the time records of up to 50 employees.

The software supports several languages. Plus it’s easy to use: the installation, configuration, and the register of 5 employees can practically be done in 15 minutes. The system also has a series of additional functions that allows you to administrate employee schedules and inclusively notify you automatically by e-mail when an employee arrives late or doesn’t show up at all! This type of functionality we find very attractive especially for a business that has multiple locations.

So if you belong to the SMB group that wants to use the ultimate technology to benefit your business, you already know: the technology is at the reach of your hand or better yet, your fingerprint.

VeriTask Software is a company dedicated to create solutions to improve the human capital management process of different companies and industries around the globe.

http://www.veritasksoftware.com

Online Time and Attendance Solution

2008-03-10T04:23:00.000-07:00

Online Time and Attendance solution helps automate your time consuming, time tracking related processes; from employee's time hours worked to exporting data into your payroll system. Online Time Attendance solution helps organizations eliminate the paperwork and manual processes associated with time and attendance needs.
Online Workforce solutions are often been offered as full suite of web-hosted Time and Attendance, HR/Benefit, Pay Stubs/W2 and Self-Service applications that are cost-effective, requiring no IT investment or overhead..

There are many benefits for companies moving to Online Workforce Management Solutions.

With Online Time and Attendance Solution Employees can easily:

• Enter time from virtually anywhere, anytime requiring only Internet connection and Internet Browser.
• Record time through multiple time and attendance solutions type like online timesheet, iClock timeclock, iSwipe slot reader, and through other biometric tracking hardware increasing greater flexibility and accuracy.
• Check and review their hours worked before submitting their timesheet, dramatically reducing errors while increasing efficiency.
• Integrate and auto populate approved time off and PTO resulting in a streamlined process that reduces data entry and costly errors.

Online Time and Attendance Solution can also empower Managers to

• Track employee absenteeism with attendance time tracking that informs managers as to which employees are absent and helps reduce errors in actual Hours Worked.
• By centralizing location of all employee time and attendance information making data easily accessible, reducing administration time and allowing Managers to focus on core business functions.
• Mass approve, reject, or auto forward submitted timesheets to alternate approvers increasing flexibility in approval process.
• Benefit from full suite of standard and ad hoc reports, which gives Managers the tools to accurately analyze employee time and attendance.

Online Time and Attendance Solution helps in Freeing up Administrators

• By notifying missing time and attendance reports by email resulting in fewer calls to employees and helping in accurate payroll submissions.
• Accurately calculate overtime and shift differentials for wage rate variations and enforce policies such as attendance and rounding rules thereby saving time consuming and error prone calculations.
• By allowing instant data updates to other solutions like Time Off, Expenses, HR, Benefits, etc. eliminating any and all synchronization issues.
• By exporting all time and attendance data with a click of a mouse eliminating the need for any manual calculations or data entry- saving time and resources while increasing accuracy through automation.

Compiled by
P Jain Resource: Online Time Attendance System

Time and Attendance Software

2008-03-10T04:22:00.000-07:00

Time clocks have long been a key factor for businesses in keeping track of the hours their employees work. Way back, when time clocks first came into existence, it was the old fashion punch clock. Believe it or not people still use these trusty old things. This was a time when all record keeping was performed by hand. Unimaginable isn’t it? In this day in age, everything is simply done magically by electronics and smart computers. This includes keeping track of time and attendance for businesses.

Enter stage right, one fabulous piece of time and attendance software. This works to make life easier for businesses and its management. So much easier than the traditional punch clock. Everything is automated and it can be customized for your specific business needs and size. The beauty of time clock software is that it can keep track of a variety of key factors in your business and not simply the times your employees clock in and out of work each day.

While keeping track of when your employees clock in and out of work is important and still a very necessary step with regard to wages, businesses have come to rely on time and attendance software for a variety of other things as well. For example, the right time clock software will keep track of multiple areas, that are essential to large businesses that have a number of different buildings or floors in the buildings. A time and attendance software can determine the exact amount of time each employee is to be paid for, as well.

Choosing the right time clock software can also help you monitor overtime hours worked. This can help you determine if too many hours are being worked in your business and help to cut back on overtime hours. It can also help you in determining the hours spent on a specific project. This aids your business in knowing where the most time was spent, if it was spent properly and even bill clients on a time based project.

There is a variety of methods that allow the software to read the date and allows you to choose the method you prefer. For example, you could use a small plastic card that contains a magnetic strip or a bar code on the back for easy time punching for your employees. There is also a time and attendance software that will allow employees to enter a specific PIN number assigned to them for clock in and out times. Some software even goes as far as to read fingerprints, retinas or handprints to allow access to certain areas.

The options are limitless. Many of the different time clock software products that are available on the market today can be customized to fit the exact needs and wants of your particular business. With the right time and attendance software, any business can easily keep track of time worked, employee attendance, overtime worked, project hours and avoid errors in pay that will ultimately save the business money.

John Furnem is a dot com veteran, specializing in personality psychology he has written articles and held seminars for stress management & Work Life Balance. John currently writes articles on Time and Attendance Software for a content site

An Introduction To Time And Attendance Tracking Software

2008-03-08T02:07:00.002-08:00

Attendance tracking system has greatly advanced through the years. What you started off as using either manual process of writing your time-in has changed to a time card machine that stamps the time of your arrival and departure from work. This technology is also slowly going obsolete as we are seeing the evolution of time and attendance tracking systems. The flaw of the manual system or the time-card system is that there various loop holes in the process that allows your employees to cheat their way from being recorded as a late comer.

With the help of advance technology, we have seen the integration of software and hardware systems that help monitor and keep track of the attendance records of your employees. With the hardware system, there are different machines and different process in keeping track of your employees. There are several processes wherein an identification card is used. A badge card that uses a bar code that is flashed over an infrared reader is used to identify you. The badge card as a whole can be a magnetic card flashed over a reader without the need of placing any specific area of the card on the reader. Another use of the card is with the magnetic strip, much like a credit card, wherein the card is swiped over a reader. More smart card identification cards are being used nowadays as a means to identify you. The method is the same. The card is placed inside a reader, and it verifies your identity. But similar to the time card, there is a tendency for the physical identification card to be used to represent the bearer, even if the bearer of the card is not the owner. A more secure and advanced method is the use of biometrics. With the use of biometrics, unique areas of the body like the palm, hand or the fingerprint are used as identification.

All these methods are connected to software that records the time-in and time-out of the employee. With the data recorded, automated reports can be generated in real-time and can be accessed over the web or the intranet and is readily available for you. Assessment of your employees becomes easier than ever.

Time Tracking Software provides detailed information on Time Tracking Software, Time And Attendance Tracking Software, Employee Time Tracking Software, Personnel Time Tracking Software and more. Time Tracking Software is affiliated with Time And Attendance Tracking Software.

Web Based Time And Attendance Software

2008-03-08T02:07:00.001-08:00

Web based time and attendance software has helped to deal with the problem of time tracking, which was one of the most time consuming and costly overhead functions in many organizations. Web-based time and attendance software allows the organization to manage its projects and track time using a standard Web browser. It is an essential package to those business enterprises where similar tasks are assigned to different employees, and the data about the time spent on each task are gathered on daily or weekly basis.

The problems with local timesheet software can be resolved by using Web based time and attendance software. With a Web-based solution, each end user can access the software through any Web browser. As the Web-based applications are usually divided into multiple components, the multi-tiered design is perfectly suited for time and attendance software. This is because the Web-based time and attendance software must support a very large user population, and it should be able to run on a variety of desktops.

Web-based time and attendance software allows the employees to enter their time through a Web interface, view their vacation and sick leave balances, their time sheets, and schedules online. The software reduces use of paper reports and manual processing. Another advantage is that all the employee data can be accessed easily. It is also a quick and easier method for the supervisors to find whether an employee is absent from work or to locate any replacement that may be needed for the day.

There are many factors one should consider while choosing the right Web-based time and attendance software. The purchaser must check the technology of the system, the types of calculations the system performs, how the data works with other systems, and the various ways that data can be collected. Always select a vendor with a good track record – this can easily be researched on the Internet.

Time And Attendance Tracking

2008-03-06T03:04:00.001-08:00

Time and attendance tracking, a non-payment value-added application, is an essential part of every project management process. It is essential for a company which has more than hundred employees in one location or thousands of workers in different locations. Tracking is used to determine job completion and to maintain the records of job types and working hours. It lowers administrative costs and improves productivity through paperless real-time inventory control, job dispatches, and timely invoicing. For capturing time, there are a number of computer-based time and attendance tracking software and mechanical time clocks.

Time and attendance tracking is necessary for any organization which is wishing to track the actual time spent on different projects or employing hourly workers. It is adopted by the organizations and companies to perform necessary functions such as project management and budgeting, resource allocation, candidate tracking and invoicing, expense reporting, and timesheet reporting. It allows project managers to monitor their resources and projects, define the various tasks, and evaluate estimated time with the real time reports.

Time and attendance tracking provides many benefits such as decrease of labor effort managing timesheets, increase in revenue, elimination of unnecessary data entry, and more accurate expense and time reporting. Also, it offers detailed reports of expenses and hours; and historical information on the attendance patterns. By using time and attendance tracking, the companies can manage the problems such as overtime, costs of lost productivity, and the hiring of temporary workers.

Today, there are many tools designed specifically to control time and attendance tracking. That includes biometric devices, mobile or portable devices, stationary devices, and soft devices. The most convenient method for time and attendance tracking is the use of software. Most software allows organizations to take notes; enter absences, sick, and personal days; see balances for vacation; and run dozens of reports. Main features of time and attendance tracking tools include, it can facilitate project tracking, time tracking, job tracking, and leave tracking.

Time And Attendance Tracking Software

2008-03-06T03:03:00.000-08:00

Time and attendance tracking software is a package consisting of written programs or procedures for tracking employee attendance and time management. This software is mainly used to automate a labor-intensive activity in organizations. This helps in reducing payroll preparation time and employee tracking time. Many companies are now adopting time and attendance tracking software because of its flexibility, easy deployment and enhanced centralized support.

Most time and attendance tracking software packages consist of both traditional time clocks and automated time and labor management solutions. The software that works with time clocks contains features that notify the supervisors if employees are late or absent. There are various types of tracking software available in the market. Most of the software uses a biometric device for processing. This type of tracking software makes sophisticated algorithms to generate and store a unique numerical template.

Small- and medium-sized commercial or industrial enterprises are finding that time and attendance tracking software applications are capable of providing substantial benefits to justify the acquisition costs. The benefits of the time and attendance tracking software are the elimination of time cards and unauthorized overtime, plus automation of payroll process, and more precise employee time/attendance reporting. Tracking software eliminates paper cards and all the costs associated with them.

The sales of the time and attendance tracking software are increasing rapidly. Internet-based time and attendance solutions can be installed easily. The centralized support helps companies to track their employees who move from one place to another, especially when companies have more than one location.

There are certain things to consider before the purchase of time and attendance tracking software. Most importantly, the purchaser should check whether the software would effectively serve the organization’s objectives. Other considerations that a buyer of time and attendance tracking software should consider include the level of support provided by the software vendor. When the correct software is chosen, though, the company should see benefits in a short period of time.

Time And Attendance System

2008-03-05T03:27:00.000-08:00

Time and attendance systems are designed to assist organizations to effectively manage the working hours of employees. They are a paperless system used to collect the work time of employees electronically. The systems automate and simplify timekeeping and human resource management. Time and attendance systems effectively interact with any payroll system. The system allows employees to electronically submit leave letters. They are capable of operating on various platforms for different business rules. They are used in areas such as healthcare, financial services, transportation or distribution, retail management, government, manufacturing, and hospitality.

Early on, time and attendance systems were only associated with the manufacturing or ‘blue collar’ workforce. But today, due to the impact of legislation and the influence of technology, they are used for a variety of business functions including access control, job pricing, project tracking, and employee schedules. Most systems are Web-enabled and are integrated with current Internet technology. The cost of installing a time and attendance system depends on the number of staff involved and the equipment and type of software used.

Time and attendance systems often have a Web version of the employee module, which allows workers to enter their time using a Web browser. Its flexible design runs on both PCs under Windows and UNIX workstations. Most systems are compatible with over 20 databases including Ingres, Sybase, and Oracle, and run on all major network environments, thus, providing instant access to all time and attendance functions. Time and attendance systems help companies to reduce and control costs by permitting employees to access non-critical information in a simple, secure, and safe manner.

Benefits of time and attendance systems including a reduction in error rates, and reducing unnecessary data entry. They are used for varied work schedules, hour codes, and cost structures. The systems reduce potential mistakes automatically by transferring information between company systems.

Time And Attendance

2008-03-05T03:26:00.000-08:00

Time and attendance is a human resource protocol designed to track actual employee hours and the leaves taken, in order to provide details to payroll. It is one of the largest categories for timesheet systems on the market and is a serious component of most payroll systems in manufacturing units, government, airports, border checkpoint, healthcare, retail, financial institutions, and educational organizations. Time and attendance helps to control time consuming in time tracking related processes. It is mainly used by companies which have more than hundreds or thousands of employees. It is used to simplify the workforce in the management of a company. Time and attendance provides a range of features including creation of comprehensive shift, rotation patterns, and pay schemes.

At the heart of time and attendance is a time tracking device. Different types of time and attendance equipment, systems, and software are available. In highly developed forms, devices can distinguish people simply by reading their fingerprint, hand or retinas. Time and attendance systems are designed to provide cost effective services in the areas of data collection, access control, job costs, and bell ringing. It offers all the features needed in the pay rules and the systems capture time, edits, assign costs, accounting details and reviews, and approves timesheet submissions to payroll.

Time and attendance automatically computes employee wages and time using the payroll policies of the company. In addition, it gives a clear management report that helps to control overpayment of employees and distribution of labor. By using this solution, job labor costs are forecasted and then compared to actual totals. Time and attendance helps to increase greater control over productivity by granting the accuracy needed in the business operations.

Most time and attendance packages offer schedule management that allows supervisors to maintain and create a schedule for each employee. Additionally, there are rules for scheduling the staff on the basis of overtime, holidays, absences, and break times. A number of companies choose software that allows staff to enter their flex-time hours, vacation time, sick days, and other information directly.

Time And Attendance Employee Software

2008-03-04T03:39:00.000-08:00

Time and attendance employee software is a package used for tracking the employee attendance and time. This automated time and attendance software enables the organization to manage employee services, hours, pay rates, and locations. An automated time and attendance employee system also helps in implementing and enforcing fair and steady pay policies.

For any small or large industrial enterprise, employee attendance tracking is an extremely laborious and tedious task. Earlier, it was done on paper, which was more time consuming, and wasted money, as well as the time of employees that could have been better spent. This created a need for automated time and attendance employee software, which allows the organization to create a paperless employee check-in and telephony validation system. It also helps in combining real time employee time and attendance data with the company’s employee scheduling program, which in turn results in minimizing the costs and improving efficiencies.

By using the time and attendance employee software, online accrual balances, and flexible labor distribution for projects and work orders can be made easily. Other benefits of the time and attendance employee software include the elimination of time cards, unauthorized overtime, and reporting precisely the employee time/attendance to payroll.

Nowadays, there are many time and attendance employee software packages available on the market. Many of them have a variety of features. Most of these software packages use biometric devices for processing. This type of employee time and attendance software provides tangible support improvements to the operating efficiency of these organizations. The software is also time-efficient -- Internet based time and attendance solutions can be installed easily.

While selecting the right time and attendance employee software, one has to keep in mind certain things: First, make sure that the applications work on all your operating systems. Second, research the software to decide whether it will serve the business or organization effectively. This can easily be done on the Internet.

10 Reasons Why Time and Attendance Systems Are Not Just Substitutes for Clock Cards

2008-03-04T03:38:00.000-08:00

Time and Attendance Systems don't get the attention they deserve. They are simply seen as a modern substitute for clock cards: a good way of making sure your workforce is where it should be. But there's more to it than that. Used intelligently, the information recorded through Time and Attendance Systems can be used to enrich a whole range of business processes. In essence, it can help you understand and deploy your resources better in everything from skills utilisation to scheduling and actual job costing.

Implementation A Time and Attendance Systems is very easy to use and implement. And it works very well over an intranet. Team members across the country can access the system effortlessly every day.

Getting used to the system After only a few weeks on the Time and Attendance System, it has made the process of tracking time to projects and tasks much more effortless. It has improved the productivity company-wide. We needed a product that was user friendly and which could grow with our business. The WTS Time and Attendance System provided this. It has enabled our managers to access accurate project information immediately.

Track Time and Attendance Easily Powerful Time and Attendance Software is simple, has intuitive timesheet interface to track employee hours, vacation, sick, flex time, and other time-off codes.

Vacation and Time-off Tracking Easily track the payroll information you need using custom fields on the timesheet screen e.g. track shift information integration with ADP, Ceridian or any standard payroll packages.

Accuracy and Timeliness With a Time and Attendance System, you are ensured accuracy and timeliness with multiple time entry options Timesheet in/out enables employees to enter start and end times, leaving Web Timesheet to calculate elapsed time Offline Timesheet allows employees to submit timesheets through e-mail, ensuring timely submissions.

Real-Time Reporting Powerful real-time reporting engine Choose from multiple standards reports or create the report you want on the fly. Reports can be downloaded to Excel for further analysis. Really powerful stuff from Time and Attendance Systems.

Approvals Multi-level approval process (choose from over 80) according to how your organization works. Flexibility to allocate approval of timesheet, time-off, and expenses to separate approvers.

Employee Productivity Increase A Time and Attendance System is easy to use and implement and will increase employee productivity throughout your organization. Managers and project leaders has access to critical project information at the touch of a button.

Benefits and ROI With the Time and Attendance System, the Time Sheet flexibility and ease of use has provided us with a solution that met our timeframe and requirements. The benefits and ROI achieved by using Web Time Sheet have far exceeded our expectations.

Resistance before buying When our organization decided to evaluate a Time and Attendance System solution there was some hesitation on our end, understanding that there may be some user resistance to change. But the ease of use and friendly interfaces has eliminated this problem all together. We have fully implemented Time and Attendance Systems across our organization and could not be happier with the product. The Time and Attendance System is easy to use and has increased employee productivity and reduced administrative time while significantly improving our billing cycle. Streamlining business processes has assisted us in our strategic planning and decision-making. Our Time and Attendance System has become a critical application in our organization. Allowing us to control, manage and project cost much more efficiently.

Huge amount of Attendance quality Information on this website - Go there! http://www.attendance.infostairs.com

The Features Of Good Time Management Software

2008-03-03T02:40:00.000-08:00

You're looking to make changes in how your company manages time and projects. But how will you manage to implement those changes? Making changes in your time management system can be a challenge and could include a multitude of questions. There are many considerations; after all, it isn't just about you but equally about those that work with you. You probably have a system for bookkeeping and payroll right now, but in the ever-changing world of business you have most likely heard there are more effective tools for putting the numbers to work for you. These tools are known as Time Management Software, Project Management Software and Business Management Software.

Change, in the Business sense, is better labeled "progress". Progress is important, for it encompasses much in the business world, and without it you are merely spinning your wheels. History tends to reveal many answers. Take for instance two corner grocery stores in say the 50s. Store A puts all the receipts for ordering resale goods, utilities, hours of his employees and the tapes from his adding machine into a paper bag and brings them home on the weekend to balance between receivables and payouts.

Store B's owner keeps a log of sold items, employee tasks and items spoiled or out dated along with a simple two column ledger he kept up at the close of each day. There were not any differences that seemed major between store A and B in the beginning but in time store A developed a reputation for having out dated goods and spoiled product, the shelves were dusty and bookwork was behind by months because life happened on the weekends. Store A was beginning to loose revenue yet he was unaware of the reason because he did not have a time management or project management system in place. Store B continued to thrive, always offering the freshest product to their customers, cheerful employees that knew what was expected of them, and a store that seemed to carry just what the customer wanted.

Store B had a system for project management, time management and business management. Store B excelled to become a huge grocery store chain, where store A threw in the towel and locked their doors for the final time. The moral of the story is you need to have a system to manage your numbers. How good that system is will dictate the progress of your company. If progress means changing to a time tracking software system in today's world, then you need to know what you're looking for.

Since Time is Money, you need time management software as well as business management software to make your business as successful as it can be. The software you choose should feature as many of the following characteristics as possible:

WEB Based (Installed or Hosted Online)

Over 134 reports

Automated reporting, notifications, job tasking

Custom reports & graphs supported

Unlimited clients, projects, tasks, addresses, notes

Support billable, nonbillable, overtime, flextime

International date, time, currencies

Customizable terminology and user interfaces

Unlimited user definable custom fields

Free web-based teaching materials

Corporate Compliance & Governance

Windows Authentication (LDAP)

Itemized security permissions

XML, Web services architecture

Very scalable architecture

Full Export / Import capability

Included Integration:

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Project (Microsoft certified)

Microsoft Project Server (Microsoft certified)

Intuit QuickBooks

Microsoft Access

Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as time managment software at http://www.dovico.com

Time Management Software

2008-03-01T02:39:00.000-08:00

Sometimes we need software to help manage our time. Many small business owners invest more time thinking about how to spend the money for profit, and invest less time in how they will spend their time. Since time is money and money is time, a strategy needs to be active to get the most out of your time management scheme. If you do not have plans, goals, and putting them both to good use, it is likely your business can fail.

An effectual business owner will pensively construct a plan that determines how his or her outlook in business and life will return. Most likely, you already have a budget plan, but to manage your time you should re-evaluate the budget plan to make sure you did not overlook important details. The most effectual way to balance your budget is to include time, since it is essential for saving money. Priorities should be in order at all times if possible. If you haven?t already done so, it is time to cultivate a timetable based on a concise list of main concern, with a short and long-term goal in view.

One of the best solutions for creating lists, keeping inventory, important customers? records, invoices and so on, is to store your information on software programs that provide the tools for maintaining company records. The software available helps you to manage your files, which increases your time to spend on your business. Many software programs are inexpensive, unless you have a larger business, which then the prices are subject to more expense. This is because larger companies have more data to store than the smaller companies and often require addition tools than the smaller businesses.

Small business owners need to keep records of their spending habits, and profits received. If you have been in business for some time, you will know that software can benefit your business, but sometimes we need the Top-Selling programs for accounting that simplifies our account records. QuickBooks, Microsoft Outlook, Windows, Mac, and NT are all top-selling programs that provide the right tools for any business owner. The software programs are ?full featured accounting and payroll package? that enable you to store important information on its program.

Many of these programs have ?features and reports? that support ?small business needs, including Internet and e-commerce features.? Most of the programs are ?multi-user ready? in case you have other individuals working at your business. The prices are often affordable and the investment is often rewarding. Time management tools make it easy for us to focus on the bigger picture, while we handle the smaller tasks. If you are advertising your business via Internet, but have difficulty maintaining your site or even building your site, there are software programs that direct you so that the task becomes easier. Anytime you find simplicity and ease, you are managing your time wisely. Why make life more complicated than it already is?

For more great free resources on how to manage your time visit Gabae Time Management.

Also for more informative articles on time management visit Gabae Time Management Articles

Project Management and Time Management - Software

2008-03-01T02:38:00.000-08:00

Do you have an effective action plan that gets your objectives complete? You might ask, ?What is an action plan?? As you should know, your objectives are the sum of one or more tasks. To complete these tasks, of course you need to take one or more actions as well. Your action plan is pretty much a list of these actions in a useful order that can be used to get them done. When they are all done, so is the objective.

Many have heard ?Plan your work, and work your plan.? This is where the real deal occurs. With a workable plan, it?s a lot easier to focus on each action in it?s time, finish it, then move onto the next. Before you know it, the objective is done. Further with the simpler job of doing the tasks (actions) from beginning to end, things tend to flow through the whole process, and before you realize it, it?s done in record time. That?s why action plans are real important in time management.

Time management is of course the process of effective use of your time. When you eliminate time waste and accentuate highly effective uses of time, you need to keep a focus on what the objective is. Good time management is where the time is used to get objectives completed on time. breaking it down to the actions and walking them through will bring you to the point where you can get onto other objectives.

When it comes to both time management and even keeping track of an action plan, there are numerous software packages available that will ease the process. A lot of these programs are large business and multiple users oriented. Along with this, comes a hefty price tag.

One item that is relatively affordable and good for single user or small business is Microsoft Office. As far as time management, it includes a full calendar that is integrated with email and also task management. This can make a pretty good combination of action plan tracking (tasks) as well as the scheduling of it in time over days, weeks, months, and so on. It can make a decent way to make your action plan, and allow you to work your time management scheme around it.

Of course, Microsoft Outlook will usually come with Word (Word Processing) as well as Excel (spreadsheet). Between these integrated tools, it?s possible to manage nearly everything and accumulate many files and settings.

With any software, especially when they work your action plan, time management, documents, and so on? Backups are always important. Be sure to be informed about how to completely backup your data. With Microsoft Outlook for example, there is an important file that used to have an extension of PSD. In that file, is found emails, tasks, calendar schedule, and well; pretty much your action plan and time management scheduling.

One last note, clearing out old unneeded documents will make it easier to work through your current documents.

Tony Robinson has worked in many industries and business. Time management and Project Management has played an important role in his success.

Time Keeping Software For Your Business

2008-02-29T02:03:00.000-08:00

A stitch in time saves nine ? these old sayings never seem to fade away. Rather experience makes the true essence of these valuable wordings felt repeatedly. Especially now when one is being paid based upon the hours put into work. Since long enough, time contributed towards a particular task has been considered as an important determinant of the associated remuneration. The longer the hours required, the more complicated is the job was the widespread notion. This principle though no longer prevails, but time is still an important criterion to ascertain efficiency. Most organizations measure output as a function of time. An 8-hour working day defines your skill set. Therefore, ample effort is put into measuring the time devoted.

The Needs: Keeping an account of the time spent on job or in the office premises is the firm?s HR function. Even when HR managers did not existed; time devoted was closely scrutinized by the owners. Now of course with dedicated departments the working hours have become a specialized responsibility. This transition and increasing importance has led to various researches and innovations in this field to make such calculations easier. Who wants to check the watch and record the time manually, every time an employee enters or exit? Instead like all other functions, why not let an automated tool do its job. The simple swapping of a personalized card with unique identification criterion, acts as the time supervisor. Monthly or weekly analyses of the in and out time as recorded by your automated recorded can conveniently solve the purpose.

Advantages: This software, more commonly known as time keeping software is particularly useful owing to the nature of its use. Time keeping is an extremely tedious and monotonous job and does not requires any specific expertise and therefore, can be easily handed over to customized software.

The data collated by time keeping software can be used for payroll purposes. Careful monitoring and analysis can further smooth up the overtime cycles and actual hours committed towards office. An important indicator of dedication if deployed can be a prominent feature among the performance appraisal forms.

Various times keeping software to suit your firm?s particular needs is available in market. They can be customized based upon your specific needs like working hours, number of employees, etc. Additionally the providers provide comprehensive annual maintenance and training to ease out the functioning.

We have progressed far enough to bid goodbye to those traditional time recording equipment and are ready for the best technology has to offer. So just do your research and check out the various market offerings in this field to choose and deploy the best. Few lousy employees, am sure do not like this idea but than their disgruntlement itself are an indicator of their negligence.

Alexander Gordon is a writer for http://www.smallbusinessconsulting.com - The Small Business Consulting Community. Sign-up for the free success steps newsletter and get our booklet valued at $24.95 for free as a special bonus. The newsletter provides daily strategies on starting and significantly growing a business.

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Timesheet Software

2008-02-29T02:02:00.000-08:00

Time management is part of every project management process. It is imperative to track the time spent by team members on different tasks and assignments. Time tracking software helps project managers monitor projects and resource performance, define different tasks, compare estimated with actual time reports, create charts and more. Daily timesheet recording software reduces the drudgery of recording, analyzing, and reporting on production labor.

Time keeping software has been universally adopted by businesses. Projects and processes take much longer without any formal time tracking. Considering this, businesses adopt timesheet software to reduce the project turn-around time. There are many benefits to using time tracking software. Time tracking software allows organizations to manage their businesses more profitably. Business managers can access reports on detailed data that is critical for efficient time and project accounting management. The software streamlines the management process and controls project performance. Since data can be regularly tracked, errors in the project process can be fixed immediately. Timesheet software is very user-friendly and simplifies the timesheet and expense report entry process.

Most of this software makes the tracking time process for projects and tasks quite effortless. They improve the productivity of every business group within a company as well as across companies. Obviously, time sheet software is designed with changing business models in mind. It is flexible and can be updated depending on process requirements. Software that is easy to use and implement and will increase employee productivity while reducing administrative time and significantly improve the billing cycle throughout your organization. Managers and project leaders have access to critical project information at the touch of a button.

All in all, if used intelligently, timesheet software can enrich a whole range of business processes. In essence, it can help you understand and deploy your resources better in everything from skills utilization to scheduling and actual job pricing.

Timesheet Software provides detailed information on Timesheets, Timesheet Software, Employee Timesheets, Online Timesheets and more. Timesheet Software is affiliated with Payroll Time Clocks

Two Reasons to Use Timesheet Software

2008-02-27T02:09:00.000-08:00

Two Reasons to Use Timesheet Software

This short paper will expand on two key reasons to move to a computerized timesheet system at your company. There are more than two reasons of course, but these will be expanded on at a later date. The two key reasons to be discussed here are Timesheet Efficiency, and Timesheet Automation. Timesheet Efficiency is the concept of a single data entry exercise done accurately and quickly. Timesheet Automation is the simple concept of managing timesheet information electronically rather than on paper. When taken individually both these concepts make a compelling argument to move to electronic timesheets, taken together you should be asking yourself why you aren't kicking off the process today.

Timesheet Efficiency

When I started out my working career in consulting we had paper timesheets. These were (supposedly) to be filled in daily, submitted weekly, and data from them entered into the accounting system monthly. However, people being people, the accountant only checked them once a month, so they were generally only submitted once a month, and thus usually only filled in once a month when prompted by project managers. This resulted in inaccurate and late timesheet information.

This affected billing, time and materials projects would take up to four weeks to be invoiced, and thus it could be up to 60 days before payment was received. Why then are some companies constantly challenged with getting employees to accurately complete their timesheets while other firms have no problems? The difference is usually leadership and data ease of data entry. Most consulting companies employ skilled intelligent people, and a manager who fills in his timesheet information promptly and accurately can legitimately expect his staff to do so. However if the system is cumbersome and difficult to use then there will be constant conflict.

Easy to use computerized timesheet systems mean more employees are successfully filling out timesheets as they work rather than writing the time into a diary or calendar and then transferring the information at the end of the week (or month). It has been well proven that debtors are easier to manager and projects more easily monitored the closer that timesheet information is processed and invoiced to the time the work is carried out. It is just much more simple to collect all your billable hours (more chargeable time!) if employees record their work as they do it.

Of course data entry is just one side of things. Processing the information is just as important. Internal discipline and company policies must be set to ensure that all information is collected by the time you have decided is the deadline. Whether this is Friday 5:00pm, or Monday 9:00am, deadlines must be followed and enforced. Timesheet software with built in workgroup functionality like messaging, timesheet approval, live monitoring, and so on can greatly enhance this process.

There is no point pretending that timesheet information and collection is glamorous. It isn't. It should just be part of the normal mundane fabric of business. It should be routine and boring. But most importantly it should be quick, easy, and provide no disincentive to doing it. Good computerized systems should offer all of this.

Timesheet Automation

The most basic benefit that a computerized timesheet system gives is one of automation, timesheet information is entered into a computer rather than onto paper. This eliminated the need for people to transcribe their timesheet information from a diary onto a paper form, and then for administration staff to re-enter this information into a job costing system. The computerization allows you to completely eliminate the middle steps. Staff enter information directly into the job costing system.

The next logical step of computerization is to leverage off of the computer to provide a host of other benefits. This includes interlocks like preventing people from booking time to projects that dont exist, or projects that are closed, or projects they should not be booking time to. It allows project managers to access live data showing actual time spent on their projects, this data can be manipulated and visualized in different ways using other computer software. It can even interface directly with dedicated project management software.

Other benefits can include automatic timing of work, popup information showing specific project information helping timesheet accuracy, daily timesheets, reminders telling people to fill in their timesheets, integration with messaging, email, and the web, and live integration with accounting packages.

Conclusions

By themselves each of these points makes a good argument for moving to a computerized timesheet system. Taken together they are truly compelling. Increased accuracy and reduction of the billing cycle means that a computerized system can usually measure its payoff in just a few months. For any company that does bill its time, it is should not be an option any longer, it is a simple next step. Interested in looking at some low cost alternatives? Why not take a look at Timesheets Lite or Timesheets MTS. These are low cost systems ideally suited to the small company.

Mark Nemtsas

Moving Target Software

Get low cost, efficient, timesheet software! This article is © Moving Target Software, 2004. It can however be reproduced in full on any web page as long as it is edited in no way whatsover.

Timesheets

2008-02-26T03:06:00.000-08:00

A timesheet is a document or entry program that records actual labor time or effort in any company. This tracking is usually done against a specific project or order. Timesheets can also specify the operation, location, and category or type of any task. These details can either be manually recorded or automated through a timesheet application.

Adopting a good timesheet can benefit organizations of all sizes in all sectors. In project management, accurate timesheet tracking plays an important part in maximizing profit ratios. Whether you are a designer, a lawyer, a contract worker, or anyone else who works on multiple projects on an hourly basis you need a powerful, easy-to-use project-tracking program that automatically keeps track of the time you spend on different projects throughout the day. An efficient timesheet will allow you to just click to start and stop the timer. You should be able to see the daily totals for each project, check off days as they are billed, and add a note to any date.

Besides tracking of all costs on your projects the time sheet that you choose should be easy to use. It should also be able to record time against project tasks on an "as required" basis. A good timesheet also displays elaborate budgeting and cost recovery analysis. As a timesheet carries vital data, it must be equipped with multi-level security, and only provide access to those with eth correct authorization codes. An advanced level timesheet is also able to forecast resources, expenses, and capital items.

Using a timesheet is a very efficient practice for all businesses and professionals. In a business scenario it reduces administrative costs like generating payroll and invoicing. The timesheet is also an internal efficiency tracker. It provides real-time reports and collaborations that help improve project tracking and reporting. With a formal timesheet, the organization?s time recording policies at point of entry are also structured. Time tracking with the help of timesheet systems has become a critical application in many organizations, allowing them to control, manage and project cost much more efficiently.

Timesheet Software provides detailed information on Timesheets, Timesheet Software, Employee Timesheets, Online Timesheets and more. Timesheet Software is affiliated with Payroll Time Clocks.

Online Timesheets

2008-02-14T04:37:00.000-08:00

Online timesheets are the web-based timesheets that manage employee time and projects online. They provide a number of benefits compared to traditional desktop-based software. The employees can log their timesheets from any computer with an Internet connection and a web browser. Your project information is available at all times, from home or the office, or even at your client?s office. There are no software downloads, nothing to install, and you're always using the most up-to-date version of the software. Additionally, your data is professionally stored and managed with daily backups that ensure no accidents will erase your critical information.

Employees can easily and securely enter their timesheets online. Time can be charged to project, phase, activity and/or task codes. E-mail notifications and managerial approval protocols help manage the accuracy of the time entered by an employee. The system provides full project and employee time reporting and operates securely over the Internet or local intranets.

In the web-based timesheet systems, the timesheet in/out entry fields enables employees to enter start and end times, leaving the system to calculate elapsed time. Online timesheets benefit many kinds of businesses. Online timesheets can group users into categories to reflect the way a business operates. These users can even belong to multiple groups. Typically, user group definitions could include location, level of seniority, departments, and project team.

The online timesheet can provide graphical pivot reports that help managers assess and analyze data without too much effort. Also, this makes sharing critical information easier with senior management, especially since the software already generates most of the charts and graphs that will go with a report. Most online timesheets have built-in reporting engines to help managers or HR personnel. These reports can be downloaded to MS Excel or other spreadsheet software for further analysis.

An online timesheet saves the hassles of buying and installing software and at the same time performs all the functions of local timesheet software. Moreover, with its advanced reporting tools, online timesheets are definitely gaining more acceptance in businesses.

Timesheet Software provides detailed information on Timesheets, Timesheet Software, Employee Timesheets, Online Timesheets and more. Timesheet Software is affiliated with Payroll Time Clocks.

Employee Timesheets

2008-02-13T04:41:00.000-08:00

Employee timesheets make it easy for an employee to track his or her daily work hours. The employee simply enters their time, and the formulas calculate the hours. It even tracks overtime hours on a weekly basis.

Organizations can either purchase any one of the many software packages available in the market today or can go for web-based timesheet software to record their employees? activities. Some of these software products are so advanced that they even help you to manage employee holiday and absence information. They can introduce an electronic workflow for holiday requests and approval helping to eliminate costly and time consuming data collection and analysis processes.

This software is a quick and simple solution, providing the big picture on how your employees spend their time and the real labor costs on a project-by-project basis. This software is relatively inexpensive, simple to set up, easy to use and requires very little of your employees' time.

The software eliminates going through piles of paper with your calculator, because with the press of a button you can have detailed reports almost instantly on employees, tasks and projects. In most cases, this software is simple and has an intuitive timesheet interface to track employee hours, vacation, sick, flex time, and other time off. In fact, an organization can purchase a single software package and roll it out across all their offices. A single software application can be tweaked to fit HR practices in any state or department.

The most advanced versions can easily track payroll information using custom fields on the timesheet screen with the help of any standard payroll packages. This software also ensures accuracy and timeliness with multiple time entry options. Initial installation of a time tracking system in an organization (either web-based or other) may face some user resistance but the benefits achieved in the long run exceed expectations and the software turns out to be a very profitable choice for the company.

Timesheet Software provides detailed information on Timesheets, Timesheet Software, Employee Timesheets, Online Timesheets and more. Timesheet Software is affiliated with Payroll Time Clocks.

Tips and Techniques To Detect Fraud Or Errors In Timesheets

2008-02-13T04:40:00.000-08:00

Corporate governance laws, state/federal labor laws, and accounting regulations are making companies and their executives even more accountable for transparent, true and timely performance and financial reporting. Regulatory and oversight bodies such as the SEC (security exchange commission), demanding and extremely cautious audit firms and nervous shareholders, now point the finger directly at the company's senior executives and hold them personally and criminally accountable for the company's accurate reporting on operations and any control weaknesses.

This article presents potential timesheet-related compliance violation scenarios. It recommends a set of fraud and error detection reports that will help internal and external auditors, project managers, and company executives detect unauthorized or illegal activity and achieve sustainable compliance for timesheet management. Here are the timesheet compliance reports you need:

Time Entry Modification Audit

* Time entries that were modified (created or deleted) by one user on behalf of another user. For every time entry show new and old amount, modification time and date, the name of the person who made the original time entry, as well as the modifier, and any notes describing the reason for the modification * Time entries that were modified (created or deleted) by one user on behalf of another user without providing a note explaining the reason for the change * Time entries that were modified by a project or group manager. For every time entry display both the new and old entry, as well as any notes describing the reason for the modification * Time entries that were modified after having been approved * Time entries whose attributes were changed such as from billable to not billable, R&D to non R&D, from funded to not-funded * Time entries whose cost or billing rate was modified * Unapproved time entries in a specified date interval

Timesheet Approval and Change Audit

* Timesheets that are approved by someone other than the person that was designated to approve them * Timesheets that have been modified after having reopened a period * Timesheets that are approved by administrative staff (instead of project or group managers) * Timesheets that are approved long after they were submitted (e.g. a few months later or another specified date interval)

Project Time Audit

* List of projects that exceeded time budgets * List of projects that show a sudden jump in time allocation * Billable time entries that have not been invoiced after period closing and at the end of every quarter

Unusual Project Activity Audit

* List of users (employees or consultants) that submit timesheets with hours that far exceed * List of users (employees or consultants) that submit timesheets with hours that far exceed the business unit's defined timesheet period size * Amount of time or number of employees working on a project (or allocating time against a business unit) changed by more than X percent in comparison to the previous quarter * List of employees that required adjustments for X% of their time entries * For non-exempt employees report on those who have done more than X hours of overtime over the last N weeks

How Software Can Help

The reports above would be very hard to produce if time is being tracked using spreadsheets, multiple disconnected systems, or a time entry system that lacks auditing and error detection capabilities. A compliance enabled timesheet management solution should provide:

* Definition and enforcement of timesheet policies and rules; validations should be performed by the system at the point of entry * Lock down of approved timesheets and closed timesheet periods * Auditing of every time entry change, all timesheet approvals/period closing and cost or billing rate changes * Notifications when budget thresholds have been reached * Reports and live analysis dashboards to monitor projects/operations and to detect inappropriate, fraudulent, or inefficient activity, misallocation of time, or other potential problem areas

Summary

Weak timesheet controls and manual processes make a company vulnerable to fraud and errors related to cost and budget allocation, and force the organization to expend considerable resources in preparation for a compliance audit. Ineffective time tracking can also result in revenue leakage, longer billing cycles, higher probability of payroll and invoicing errors, duplication of effort and extended correction cycles, project execution problems, and ultimately, a potential compliance-related audit failure.

The only way a company can ensure sustainable timesheet compliance and governance is for it to have the proper controls, reporting and auditing systems in place. Company's executives and audit committee must have real-time access to error and fraud detection reports. This article provided a set of recommended timesheet error and fraud detection reports that every organization should have access to and analyze on a regular basis in order to validate that its employees and consultants follow a consistent timesheet entry and approval policy, are working on authorized projects based on approved budgets and scope, and that costs are allocated to the right projects.

Tom Jacobs writes for http://www.superbtimesheets.info where you can find out more about timesheets and other topics.

Tom Jacobs writes for http://www.superbtimesheets.info where you can find out more about timesheets and other topics

Why Is It So Difficult To Collect Timesheets?

2008-02-12T02:56:00.000-08:00

It's an all too familiar story: It's Friday afternoon, and you need to finish your accounts and get those invoices out so you can stay in control of your cash flow. You look over your staff timesheets and see that, as you predicted, many of your staff haven't submitted them yet. You chase them up, only to find out that one of your staff is at a meeting at a client site and cannot be contacted, and a couple more have already left for the weekend. Then there are those that have to be told three times to do their timesheets. How are you supposed to cope with this and still have time to run your business?

There are a number of methods to deal with this type of situation when it occurs. There is always the possibility that you will find yourself in this situation even with the very best of planning, so you need to have some kind of coping strategy. Here are a few coping mechanisms that you can use:

1 - Wait until next week to do your invoicing. This method is probably the easiest solution to handle from an accounting point of view, and it means you can go home early too! However, if you are currently struggling with cash flow this may not be an option.

2 - Send out your invoices today and add the missing timesheets to future invoices. There are many reasons not to do this, as it can create difficulty with administration, and it can also confuse your clients. However, if you are strapped for cash, it may be the best option.

That being said, the best way to handle these situations is to plan ahead so that they never occur. Here are a number of proven methods that you can use to get those timesheets in more painlessly:

1 - Make timesheets due days (or weeks) before the it's time to send out the invoices, and check to make sure you have received them well in advance of needing them to do the billing. While this may sound obvious, you'd be surprised at how many businesses have difficulty achieving this.

2 - Delegate the task of collecting timesheets to a staff member you trust. This will allow you to spend more time on what you are good at; running your business.

3 - Provide an incentive for staff to submit their timesheets by a certain time. By far the most effective method of doing this is to "link" the collection of timesheets with the payroll. Not the nicest way to go about it, but you'll probably never see another late timesheet!

4 - Automate the process as much as possible. If you have a lot of traveling staff, make it possible for them to submit their timesheets via email. You can also put systems in place to automatically email staff to request missing timesheets.

If you require a reasonable level of detail in your timesheets, you will generally benefit from implementing a time tracking software solution. Staff can have a program that is installed on their computers and is easy to use, allowing them to enter timesheet information easily while they work. Some time tracking packages will also automate the process of timesheet submission and will link directly to your accounting software, making life easier for everyone.

The key to the success of any time tracking system is for it to be an integrated part of the corporate culture. Hence, staff should be informed that part of their job description includes the submission of timesheets by the deadlines. If you can get staff to create their timesheets while they work and submit the daily, it will be easier for both staff and manager.

If your staff spend a lot of time behind their computers, you may wish to consider a software package that can help the staff fill in their timesheets. One such package is Spherical Technology's Time Tracking Software, which logs the files and applications that a staff member uses, and makes it easy for staff to create an accurate timesheet at the end of the day.

Timesheets are an important but much overlooked aspect of running a successful business. With the right planning and systems in place, timesheet creation and collection can be painlessly integrated into the day-to-day operation of your organization. Michael Potas is currently employed by a timesheet software company, and often provides advise to management issues related to small business. Please take a look at his timesheet software and time tracking software for a solution to many time tracking issues.

The Importance of Timely Timesheets

2008-02-12T02:55:00.000-08:00

The Importance of Timely Timesheets

Whether you are a small consultancy firm, a medium sized accountancy practice, or a code warrior for hire in a back room of your house then you have at least one thing in common: you are in business to get paid quickly, and for the work you have done. Timesheets are the usual method for tracking time you spent working and thus are the key to timely invoice generation. Timely invoice generation and despatch is important for two reasons:

1. You are more likely to get paid for your services the closer you present the invoice for payment to the time you did the work.

2. Poor cash flow kills more businesses than poor profitability.

Timesheets used to be monthly, then weekly, daily, and now can be updated to the minute. A timesheet software package like Timesheets MTS or Timesheets Lite is simple to administer, is simple for the casual user to enter time, and most importantly is simple for the accounts department to use and generate the reports they need for prompt invoicing.

So, throw out those paper based timesheet systems, throw out the spreadsheet timesheet systems that the wheels are falling of off, and move to a modern timesheet software system today. When you have a system be vigilant! Make sure your people are accurate and timely with their entries, and make sure accounts are prompt in issuing invoices! Of course don't forget normal debt collection practices, there's no point issuing invoices promptly and then having poor follow up!

Mark Nemtsas

Moving Target Software

Get low cost, efficient, timesheet software! This article is © Moving Target Software, 2004. It can however be reproduced in full on any web page as long as it is edited in no way whatsover.

Time or Attendance

2008-02-09T02:50:00.001-08:00

Wondering about the title of this article, yes, its very much referred in the industry by Time and Attendance. Try taking it this way, is it the time spent more important or the attendance or both equally. At most places its both. Department heads gives equal weight to both time and attendance when processing your salary. However with the change of focus, its always the output that matters the most. Maybe thats reason why there are two different industry terms associated with employees depending upon the focus, one is non-exempt employee and the other is exempt employee.

Rather than going into the terminological meanings of exempt / non-exempt, we move further. If there is a voting happening for whats more important, time or attendance or both, you may count on more votes falling into either time or attendance, and, time and attendance getting the minimum vote. Maybe the term time and attendance was designed reading the psychology of employees and restricting them into parameters of both for a quality output and making them learn how to discipline their work and also nurturing them for their future growth.

Different matrix are used to track employee working hours like biometrics, slot readers etc attached to a installed or on-demand software solution that in-turn records the data in a specified format. With the advancement in technology, its always the core focus that we must keep stressing on and that is not tracking employees efficiency but nurturing them in an environment that helps in bringing out the best output consistently.

Resources:
Employee Timesheet System
Online Employee Time and Attendance Management
Human Resource (HR) Web Based

On-Line Employee Time Attendance - Good or Bad!

2008-02-08T00:50:00.001-08:00

When we talk about web based solutions in workforce management industry the first is time attendance. Lets walk through a few features of some of the solutions offered in the industry. When an employee submits timesheet on-line the softwares pops up the same in the managers pending approval section to approve or disprove it. The good thing about the system is it has the timesheet description wherein the manager can describe the employees timesheet. With this the request shows the date it was submitted, the total hours worked by the employee. Also it has a date range section where the manager can view a particular employees timesheet from a date range. Interesting combination only when it suits your type of requirement.

It's wonderful, no register, no writing on a piece of paper, just type in a url, enter your username and password and press login. Thats how vendors provide time tracking systems.

Moving further ahead into another system, say, you entered your time regularly, took time off on some particular days, were absent on a few and this went on for months. Your timesheets are routed to your managers, approved and submitted regularly. One fine day the company administrator gets a mail from management to get a list of all employees absent for more than 7 days in last six months. Immediately after you complete reading the mail panic button is pressed and you don't know what to do. Some systems have this advanced feature where on click of some buttons similar reports can be generated easily, since they have all services integrated from within. Means timesheets, time off, absent records etc are all from the same database and generating a variety of reports from a variety of services is very much easier.

Now that's called technology.

Workforce Time and Attendance
Electronic Time and Attendance
Time and Attendance Tracking

Why Are Biometrics Becoming So Popular With Time And Attendance Systems?

2008-02-07T00:32:00.000-08:00

Although biometrics had been around for many years, companies had not looked at the opportunities and benefits it provides in regards to time and attendance systems. The term biometrics is defined as utilizing one or more physical characteristics to automatically identify people. However, teaming up biometrics with a time and attendance system, can offer companies the ability to make buddy-punching (an employee clocking another employee in or out on their behalf) much more difficult than it has been in the past.

Companies both small and large can lose enormous amounts of money each year from this practice. Recently Nucleus Research published a report finding that annually, companies can save an average of 2.2% just by using biometric time and attendance systems. Its no wonder that just its money saving opportunities have made it so popular.

In recent years, corporations such as McDonalds, Burger King and Krispy Kreme have started using fingerprint-based time and attendance systems, realizing the benefits that these systems have to offer. These systems work by scanning a fingerprint (measures various points in a fingerprint) and allowing a time stamp to be recorded if the fingerprint matches. There are several benefits for companies small and large including:

Easy and fast implementation.
The elimination of buddy-punching.
The elimination of exaggerated employee labor hours.
Easy cancellation of terminated employee privileges.
There are no badges that need issuing, replacing or recovering.
Reports can be easily generated of an employees time such as total number of hours worked, times tardy, early outs or overtime hours.
Ability to reduce payroll or data entry errors.
Unauthorized access can be identified from a current or terminated employee.

Biometric time and attendance systems are available through several computer and office retailers, both in-store and online. There are many choices and options available, and it is easy to reap confusion in attempting to understand the differences. The best systems available offer a reliable, easy-to-use system that includes a set amount of licenses. They include the option to purchase additional Ethernet cables to support via network or direct to PC. They also offer several reports to analyze employee reporting, as well as offer a lifetime free technical support for your questions for the life of the product. It is important to also verify that the system offers support of the companys payroll routine (weekly, biweekly, bimonthly and monthly) and has the ability to capture an employees time off, such as vacation or sick days.

Take some time today to educate yourself and check in to biometric time and attendance systems. Maximizing the profitability and production of a company is crucial to its success. Time and money saved with these systems can definitely increase both.
By a freelance writer for WaspBarCode.com: http://www.waspbarcode.com/wasptime providing Automated time and attendance systems.

Using A Time And Attendance System To Increase Payroll Accuracy

2008-02-06T00:46:00.001-08:00

Automated time and attendance systems have been available to and cost effective for larger businesses for several years. However, high acquisition and installation costs have historically made such systems impractical for small to medium sized companies to implement. That has recently changed, and there are now several time and attendance systems available to smaller businesses ? and they do increase payroll accuracy and company profitability.

Since the beginning of history, technology has been used to increase accuracy and productivity. It started with the invention of the wheel and has snowballed into automobiles, computers, satellites, and so much more. These technologies have allowed users to accomplish more work in less time with a higher level of accuracy. Automated time and attendance systems are no exception.

Automated time and attendance systems track hours worked, overtime, as well as missed or late punches. . Not only does this eliminate the number of personnel hours needed to process payroll, but it also eliminates losses from inaccurate data entry, buddy punching, and inaccurate time car completion.. Automated time and attendance systems provide instant, accurate, tamper-proof information.

There are several different types of time and attendance systems available for small and medium sized businesses: Barcode time clocks, magnetic stripe time clocks, RFID (proximity) time clocks, and biometric time clocks.

Barcode time clocks ? Each employee is issued a unique barcode on a badge. The employee must pass his or her badge through the machine for scanning.

Magnetic Stripe time clocks ? Similar to the barcode system, each badge is equipped with a magnetic stripe, much like that on a credit card. When the badge is swiped through the time clock, the information is read from the card and entered into the system.

RFID (Proximity) time clocks ? With this type of time and attendance system, the employee needs only to wave his or her badge near (not necessarily through) the time clock in order for the information to be captured and logged.

Biometric ? With a biometric time and attendance system, employees clock in and out using their fingerprint. While this has historically been the most expensive type of system, the technology advances in biometrics have now made this surprisingly affordable and popular. . This is most effective in preventing inaccurate time cards and buddy punching. It also reduces losses associated with damaged, misplaced, or stolen badges.

Because smaller businesses are very ready and willing to adopt technology and are doing so at a very rapid pace, vendors are catering to this niche market. The entry-level pricing on a time and attendance system starts at around $500 with complete biometric time and attendance solutions starting under $1,000. Most systems are ready to use right out of the box but are scalable to fit any sized business. Time and attendance systems are easily connected to a PC or a network and are easy to install.

These systems protect companies from losses associated with employee dishonesty and human error andreduce the personnel hours required to process payroll. With a minimum investment, it is very simple for small and medium sized businesses to ensure accuracy of payroll and increase profitability through the use of a time and attendance system. A study by APA shows that by adapting an automated time and attendance system, companies can realize up to a 4% savings of their annual payroll.
By a freelance writer for WaspBarCode.com/: http://www.waspbarcode.com/ providing Automated time and attendance systems. Article reproductions must include a link pointing to http://www.waspbarcode.com/ .

Biometrics for Employee Time and Attendance

2008-02-05T02:33:00.000-08:00

Employees have long been identified by using something they carry with them such as proximity or barcode badge. Sometimes they identify themselves with something they know such as a password or PIN.

Technological advancements have made superior levels of security and accuracy possible, and have resulted in a growing number of employees being recognized each day with something that they are: biometrics

Biometrics refer to the technologies that measure and analyze human physical and behavioral characteristics for authentication purposes Biometric Reader products and services have exploded in the past few years, but the science behind it has been around for centuries. In ancient Babylon, fingerprints were used on clay tablets to solidify business transactions, and in the 14th century China merchants stamped children's palm and footprints to distinguish children from one another. In the past three decades biometric readers have evolved from a single method (fingerprinting) to more than ten unique techniques. Biometric devices consist of a reader or scanning device, software that converts the gathered information into digital form, and a database that stores the biometric data for comparison with previous records. When converting the biometric input, the software identifies specific points of data as match points. The match points are processed using an algorithm into a value that can be compared with biometric data in the database.

Biometrics fall within two distinct categories: Physical and Behavioral.

Examples of physical biometrics include:
Fingerprint - analyzing fingertip patterns
Facial Recognition - measuring facial characteristics
Hand Geometry - measuring the shape of the hand
Iris Scan - analyzing features of colored ring of the eye
Retinal Scan - analyzing blood vessels in the eye
Vascular Patterns - analyzing vein patterns
DNA - analyzing genetic makeup

Examples of behavioral biometrics include:
Speaker Recognition - analyzing vocal behavior
Signature - analyzing signature dynamics
Keystroke - measuring the time spacing of typed words

Hundreds of companies are dedicated to advancing biometric processes and technology, and as biometric capabilities increase the price of the technology continues to fall. Legiant has taken full advantage of this trend, and is committed to deploying the latest in biometric technology.

To find out more about Employee Biometrics visit: www.legiant.com .

Dustin Karnes is currently the chief author at Legiant, a leading provider of next generation time and attendance systems. His preeminent focus for the last couple of years has been researching and chronicling the latest time and attendance technology through case studies, white papers, and informative web copy at: www.legiant.com .

Getting Rich in Real Estate: Full Time Job or Fast Track to Wealth?

2008-02-04T01:38:00.000-08:00

Getting rich in real estate is a lot of work and a full-time job. As a full-time professional real estate investor, I get a little upset when I see late-night television show commercials touting just how easy it is to make a huge amount of cash, part-time as a new real estate investor.

It's just not true.

While you can make large amounts of cash as a real estate investor, it does take an investment of time to learn the business and your market and having some cash to spend on marketing or holding cause sure helps.

While there are methods for generating large amounts of cash quickly in real estate (like wholesaling and flipping), I generally recommend people get rich slowly with real estate investing by becoming a long-term buy rants and hold investor.

In fact, you can become very, very rich in real estate working part-time. By investing a little time, each weekend looking at potential long-term rental properties, making smart offers on them and building a portfolio for passive income.

"But I can't stand my job! How long before I can quit?"

Well that depends on how aggressively you start building your portfolio and just how much income you need to generate from your real estate investments.

If you combine building a long-term real estate investment portfolio with the occasional "buy, fix and flip" house, you can probably quit your job relatively quickly.

While I have done my share of "buy, fix and flips", at this stage in my investment career, I tend to buy and hold.

Unless you're familiar with irregular income like a sales job, the stress is of relying on "buy, fix and flip" income is often too much for most people to bear.

If you have a good job now with the good income, it is my opinion, that you might be better served keeping the job and doing your investing part time. That way, you'll still have money coming in to put food on the table, gas in the car, and clothes on your children's backs while you build your fortune in real estate.

James Orr is a professional real estate investor and marketing expert.

You can subscribe to his real estate e-newsletter and access audio downloads, articles, marketing materials and educational real estate videos at his website: James Orr's Real Estate Investing Blog.

Employee Time Tracking And It?s Benefits

2008-02-02T00:52:00.000-08:00

Employee time tracking has been around for over a hundred years. It is said that the first time clock was invented in November of 1888 by Willard Bundy. Bundy?s brother then opened the Bundy Manufacturing Company, later to become IBM. While the idea of tracking the time and attendance of an employee remains virtually the same, the systems used to do it have vastly changed.

Since the 1990?s, computed based systems have become widely used to track an employee?s time. This can be done in many ways from using a magnetic card to scanning finger prints. While time tracking can be beneficial to any size or type of business, the benefits for a small to medium sized business are tremendous.

* Money Savings ? it is estimated that up to 4% can be saved of annual payroll with a time and attendance system. With the hardships small businesses face these days, any monetary savings are a benefit. There are less data entry errors when payroll is calculated or attendance is recorded. The savings are increased when a biometric system is utilized. Biometric systems utilize one of more physical characteristics (such as finger prints) to identify an employee.

* Eliminates ?buddy-punching? and tracks time off ? Buddy punching is the practice of one employee clocking another employee in or out. This can cause hundreds to thousands of dollars in loss to a company. The systems can also capture and track sick time, vacation, holiday pay and conference time away from the office.

* Systems provide multiple reports ? Reports can be compiled such as a wage report, timecard report, absence report, payroll summary, attendance report, employee list, early out report and overtime report. Automatic time clock downloads can also be scheduled and most systems can provide support to all payroll scheduling needs (weekly, bi-weekly, bi-monthly and monthly).

* Easy to install ? The time and attendance software is easy to install as well as the time clocks themselves. Instructions are provided and most companies provide technical support for any additional questions or issues that arise. It is important to verify the system being purchased is compatible with any existing operating system.

While the benefits of these time clocks are more in the employers favor, they can also benefit the employees themselves. Employees can feel confident that these systems are providing accurate punches and that in turn, the employee will be paid properly.

When selecting the best time and attendance software for a company it is critical to read through the descriptions, benefits and features of the system. The ability to track this information is a highly cost-saving measure that every company should take advantage of. It also provides a more organized and comfortable atmosphere than the traditional time tracking methods can.
By a freelance writer for WaspBarCode.com/: http://www.waspbarcode.com/wasptime/ providing Automated time and attendance systems. Article reproductions must include a link pointing to http://www.waspbarcode.com/wasptime/ .

Save masses of time with your iPod tracks.

2008-01-31T23:08:00.000-08:00

There are loads of ways to manage your iPod tracks. The totally best way is using the Smart Playlists. I have chosen 5 ways to utilise the Smart Playlist.

Smart Playlist #1 My Limited Top Tracks This can be done through iTunes icon in the Dock or system tray while you are listening to a track. If you limit your tracks to just 10 or even 40 and selected by most often played then you will always have a cool track playing. So click on "match the following rules", then in the boxes from left to right: My Rating, is, 5 stars.

Smart Playlist #2 When did I listen to that? If you own a large drive iPod some tracks can easily get forgotten and lost. Each track within your collection is tagged by how many plays that it has had. So you can set up a playlist to listen to the tracks that you have listened to once, or even never. So click on "match the following rules", then in the boxes from left to right: Play Count, is in this range, 0 to 1.

Smart Playlist #3 Podcasts and Audio Books Apart from tunes, the Smart List can bring together most things iPod related. If you have other files like Podcasts they can creep into your music playlists. So you can create a playlist specifically for them (storing it away in a subfolder of iTunes Source pane). You can use "playlist" "is not" Spoken word filter to stop speech getting into other playlists. So click on "match the following rules", then in the boxes from left to right: genre, is, Podcast. Then in the boxes underneath from left to right: genre, is, AudioBook. Then in the line underneath. Podcast, is true.

Smart Playlist #4 Music Store Back-Up. Keep your iTunes Music Store safe and sound by backing them up on CD. The best way of picking them out from your tracks is to make a Smart Playlist with the following rules: Click on "match the following rules", then in the boxes from left to right: Kind, contains, Protected AAC.

Smart Playlist #5 Unwanted Tracks You can easily get tracks that you dont like or want within your playlists. So setting up a playlist dedicated soley to tracks that you dont want to hear will also allow you to stop them appearing in future smart playlists. If you save this file as "dontwant" allows you to then select "playlist" "is not" "dontwant" on a future smart playlist. So click "match all of the following rules", then in the boxes from left to right: genre, contains, podcast. genre, contains, holiday. genre, contains, humour.

It is up to you what you want to exclude.

Want your own Techno tracks to put on iTunes? No money, no kit and no theory and in just 14 days? Author, Dominic Hough has devised a simple "3-in-1" formula. The complete Beginners Bible to Making, Marketing and Selling your own Techno Tracks...easy, simple and it works

Timesheets and Time Tracking

2008-01-31T23:07:00.002-08:00

In United States we have different states with different minimum wage laws depending on the cost of living in that region. US laws shelter employees in a way that allows every US citizen to earn their living. Since an employee has a lot of benefits included in employment contract, the company do expect the best out of them.

The first step to it is employee time tracking. In the working hours every employee is allowed to take breaks for lunch, tea etc and its always time bound. Also it is very important to understand that your working hours start at 0900 hrs and you be there by that time. Since we all know that when the working hours complete at say 1700 hrs, we don't like to stay a minute beyond that. Now its the job for the administrator, human resource department to see to it that an employee gives the paid working hours in full.

This is where proper time tracking of the working hours for every employee plays a very important role. Again here, it has to be automated that helps in no manipulations. A step further to it is when the same thing is done on a computer and the whole setup is outsourced to a payroll managing company, the headache and biasness is released. An employee comes into the office, punches into the system the in time, that goes into the third party data server. While taking breaks, they again punch in the break time and reason, same when returning and when they go back from work. The whole process is automated and payrolls are programmed considering the wage packages. So when a payroll manager extracts the data at the end of the month, all they need to do is make payments according to the already done calculations by the automated system.

Right from doing your processing manually, using computer softwares to automated system, its all about technology.

With the developing technologies we see not only the impact on organizations however its also moving vertically inside as well...

Paul

Resources:
Employee Time Tracking Management
Online Employee Timesheet Software
Web Based Time and Attendance

What Is Billing Or Time Tracking Software?

2008-01-31T23:07:00.001-08:00

Any business needs to be clear about their transactions to ensure smooth functioning. But often, it is found that the off invoice has gone missing or that there is no record of it. Most of the times, it is a simple case of the record aligning itself in the wrong place. Not much you think, but identifying this itself can be quite a headache eating into precious man-hours and not to mention the anxiety it can cause.

A full-fledged billing software suite can save you from these and many other hassles. Billing software that is rich in features can often help you ensure that you do not miss out on any details in invoicing. Take taxes for instance? you did not intentionally leave out one of the tax charges for your client, but who?s going to explain that to the taxman? What it also means is that you have to fork out this money from your pocket for the time being at least! Not a nice scenario, eh?

While the above processes may be streamlined in case of a large corporations where they have full-time finance departments that are paid to ensure all billings are done correctly, in case of smaller companies and more so in the case of a start-up, this could be a troublesome area. Why burden yourself with something that is not your job? Find a good package and just enter all the right data. The rest will take care of itself.

Another advantage most time tracking software offer is the ability to configure and make repeat invoicing easier. So for your long-term jobs, you don?t need to remember to make a new invoice every time. Come the time and your invoice will be ready. What?s more is the invoice can also be a custom made one that satisfies your and your client?s needs.

But even before you reach the billing stage, there is the need to know how much to bill. Even if you are working on a project that does not need you to charge by the hour, it would be worthwhile keeping track of how much time you have spent on what just to make sure you are working optimally. Using a proper time tracking software can help you do just that. In fact, there is some software that sits in your Outlook and can help you optimize the time spent on a particular client by syncing up with your appointments. So by the end of the month, you know exactly how much time you have spent on which client and how much to charge them.

Remember that your time is valuable and also your only tool to prove to your client the effort you have put in. No matter how passionate you are about your work, there is satisfaction in knowing that you have been compensated correctly and there is peace of mind in knowing that your books are up to scratch.Aaron Reed writes technical write-up for AECTek - Offshore Software Outsourcing Company. AECTek is based in India and also provides Billing and Time Tracking Software solutions

How To Start Taking Control (time management, goal setting, record tracking)

2008-01-29T23:20:00.001-08:00

At first glance, it would seem that positive thinking and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) have nothing to do with one another. But many of us with ADD develop negative thinking patterns because we become frustrated by our challenges and frequent feelings of being overwhelmed. This negative outlook then makes it even harder for us to manage those challenges , move forward. and take control.

Practicing positive thinking allows people with ADD to focus on our strengths and accomplishments, which increases happiness and motivation. This, in turn, allows us to spend more time making progress, and less time feeling down and stuck. The following tips provide practical suggestions that you can use to help you shift into more positive thinking patterns:

1. Take Good Care of Yourself It's much easier to be positive when you are eating well, exercising, and getting enough rest.

2. Remind Yourself of the Things You Are Grateful For Stresses and challenges don't seem quite as bad when you are constantly reminding yourself of the things that are right in life. Taking just 60 seconds a day to stop and appreciate the good things will make a huge difference.

3. Look for the Proof Instead of Making Assumptions A fear of not being liked or accepted sometimes leads us to assume that we know what others are thinking, but our fears are usually not reality. If you have a fear that a friend or family member's bad mood is due to something you did, or that your co-workers are secretly gossiping about you when you turn your back, speak up and ask them. Don't waste time worrying that you did something wrong unless you have proof that there is something to worry about.

4. Refrain from Using Absolutes Have you ever told a partner "You're ALWAYS late!" or complained to a friend "You NEVER call me!"? Thinking and speaking in absolutes like 'always' and 'never' makes the situation seem worse than it is, and programs your brain into believing that certain people are incapable of delivering.

5. Detach From Negative Thoughts Your thoughts can't hold any power over you if you don't judge them. If you notice yourself having a negative thought, detach from it, witness it, and don't follow it.

6. Squash the "ANTs" In his book "Change Your Brain, Change Your Life," Dr. Daniel Amen talks about "ANTs" - Automatic Negative Thoughts. These are the bad thoughts that are usually reactionary, like "Those people are laughing, they must be talking about me," or "The boss wants to see me? It must be bad!" When you notice these thoughts, realize that they are nothing more than ANTs and squash them!

7. Practice Lovin', Touchin' & Squeezin' (Your Friends and Family) You don't have to be an expert to know the benefits of a good hug. Positive physical contact with friends, loved ones, and even pets, is an instant pick-me-up. One research study on this subject had a waitress touch some of her customers on the arm as she handed them their checks. She received higher tips from these customers than from the ones she didn't touch!

8. Increase Your Social Activity By increasing social activity, you decrease loneliness. Surround yourself with healthy, happy people, and their positive energy will affect you in a positive way!

9. Volunteer for an Organization, or Help another Person Everyone feels good after helping. You can volunteer your time, your money, or your resources. The more positive energy you put out into the world, the more you will receive in return.

10. Use Pattern Interrupts to Combat Rumination If you find yourself ruminating, a great way to stop it is to interrupt the pattern and force yourself to do something completely different. Rumination is like hyper-focus on something negative. It's never productive, because it's not rational or solution-oriented, it's just excessive worry. Try changing your physical environment - go for a walk or sit outside. You could also call a friend, pick up a book, or turn on some music.

When it comes to the corporate world, protocol is pretty much the religion. To know the things needed to do are the basics of productivity, but interaction and having a steady mind makes up the entire thing to true productivity. There are those who seem to work well even under pressure, but they're uncommon ones and we are human and imperfect. To get these little things like stress under our skins won't solve our problems. Sometimes it takes a bit of courage to admit that we're turning to be workaholics than tell ourselves that we're not doing our best.

Subscribe to my "How To Relieve Stress" tips and secrets mailing list and receive a free copy of "Reduce Stress Now" ebook. 54 pages on how to reduce stress in your life.

http://www.ideas-from.us/stress-management/ http://www.ideas-from.us/self-help/index.htm

Time Tracking Software

2008-01-28T02:48:00.001-08:00

Time tracking means keeping a detailed account of each action and deed performed in a particular period of time. Time tracking and management have become very important in today?s fast-paced world. Time tracking as a program is finding applications in all fields, especially business and industry. This is because it eases other related functions like payroll processing, employee productivity, revenue management, invoicing, database management and project management. Time tracking has a proven record of increasing the productivity of organizations significantly.

Time tracking software has special applications that can be used on a computer. These have various features, like keeping detailed notes about each activity; organizing tasks, meetings, contacts and even inventory; generating reports; client management; creating invoices; and more. Other features include translation into many languages, easy-to-learn tutorials, e-mail management, customized options etc. There are sophisticated time-tracking programs available today. This software is very easy to install and use, and can be used on any kind of environment. It can also be custom designed to suit all kinds of requirements. Some time tracking software also does other functions like invoicing, billing, expenses tracking, project management and other applications. Time tracking software is especially beneficial for attorneys, writers, programmers, self-employed professionals, consultants, sales reps, contractors, artists and other professionals who do not work as per scheduled timings.

Some time tracking software is offered as freeware, while others have to be purchased. A standard time tracking software package costs around $100 for a single user and $1,200 for a 10-user program. However, prices vary significantly, depending on the program. TimeWhiz, Timesheet, Titrax, Hours, Seconds Count, AllTime, PicoTrack, Standard Time, Doing, SDS Time, Track-it Light, Proj Clock Pro Time, TraxTime, and TimeMate are some of the popular time tracking software programs available today. Most of this software works on Windows, Linux and Mac platforms. These can be used online as well as offline. This software is available over the internet and can be downloaded onto the system very easily.

Time Tracking provides detailed information on Time Tracking, Time Tracking Software, Time Tracking Programs, Employee Time Tracking and more. Time Tracking is affliated with Time And Attendance System.

"Who's the Boss?" 10 ways to start taking control (time management, goal setting, record tracking

2008-01-23T03:11:00.001-08:00

1. Take Good Care of Yourself It's much easier to be positive when you are eating well, exercising, and getting enough rest.

8. Increase Your Social Activity By increasing social activity, you decrease loneliness. Surround yourself with healthy, happy people, and their positive energy will affect you in a positive way!

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Productivity and Downtime Tracking Measured with Plantnode

2008-01-19T02:46:00.000-08:00

According to Scott Birmingham, Manager of Product Marketing for Plantnode, key data collection advantage must include these abilities: * View data with any standard web browser - no server software required. * Put intelligence on the plant floor. The device monitors, conditions and stores data. * Turn raw data into information, as the device supports logic and math libraries. * Eliminate costly network upgrades by streaming only the data you need to the enterprise. * Easy to implement and use. Minimal IT, engineering and training support required. The ability to extend the corporate network down to the plant floor by cost-effectively providing Ethernet connectivity to any machine is essential to quantifying real time manufacturing results. The capacity to save thousands of dollars compared to other data acquisition and management systems is a product assertion of Plantnode, the cornerstone product of Shoplogix.

ABOUT SHOPLOGIX Shoplogix develops integrated web-based software solutions that optimize plant floor operations. Shoplogix solutions improve productivity, efficiency, and total operational performance by allowing companies to make real-time decisions that impact profitability while actively engaging employees in the process.

Shoplogix Inc. is a privately held company headquartered in Oakville, Ontario, with offices across North America. The company serves a growing base of Global 2000 companies to set new standards for production performance and efficiency in industrial environments.

PLANTNODE Plantnode is a hybrid web-based software application designed on an open platform to integrate with existing production equipment, analyze real-time performance, and evaluate machine productivity. Plantnode's built-in intelligence goes beyond raw data collection to provide a fully integrated production and performance management application; differentiated by the ability to compare real-time data against planned estimates. Plantnode is proven to increase Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) and enables machine level visibility on a 24x7 basis with automatic escalations and interactive processes to drive higher levels of operational efficiency, quality, and performance.

PLANTNODE NETWORK Plantnode Network is an enterprise web-based software application that consolidates and analyzes operational data for all Plantnode enabled equipment providing a complete and accurate view of production performance. Plantnode Network's distributed design provides true enterprise scalability to evaluate real-time performance on a plant-wide, multi-site, or global basis.

Shoplogix www.shoplogix.com Hellen Budaya Pileski hbudaya-pileski@shoplogix.com Manager, Marketing Communications 905-469-9994 Ext.120

Plantnode Measures Productivity and Downtime Tracking

2008-01-19T02:45:00.000-08:00

The ability to extend the corporate network down to the plant floor by cost-effectively providing Ethernet connectivity to any machine is essential to quantifying real time manufacturing results. The capacity to save thousands of dollars compared to other data acquisition and management systems is a product assertion of Plantnode, the cornerstone product of Shoplogix.

According to Scott Birmingham, Manager of Product Marketing other key data collection advantage must include these abilities:

View data with any standard web browser - no server software required.
Put intelligence on the plant floor. The device monitors, conditions and stores data.
Turn raw data into information, as the device supports logic and math libraries.
Eliminate costly network upgrades by streaming only the data you need to the enterprise.
Easy to implement and use. Minimal IT, engineering and training support required.

ABOUT SHOPLOGIX

Shoplogix develops integrated web-based software solutions that optimize plant floor operations. Shoplogix solutions improve productivity, efficiency, and total operational performance by allowing companies to make real-time decisions that impact profitability while actively engaging employees in the process.

PLANTNODE

Plantnode is a hybrid web-based software application designed on an open platform to integrate with existing production equipment, analyze real-time performance, and evaluate machine productivity. Plantnode?s built-in intelligence goes beyond raw data collection to provide a fully integrated production and performance management application; differentiated by the ability to compare real-time data against planned estimates. Plantnode is proven to increase Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) and enables machine level visibility on a 24x7 basis with automatic escalations and interactive processes to drive higher levels of operational efficiency, quality, and performance.

PLANTNODE NETWORK

Plantnode Network is an enterprise web-based software application that consolidates and analyzes operational data for all Plantnode enabled equipment providing a complete and accurate view of production performance. Plantnode Network?s distributed design provides true enterprise scalability to evaluate real-time performance on a plant-wide, multi-site, or global basis.

Shoplogix

www.shoplogix.com

Hellen Budaya Pileski

Manager, Marketing Communications

905-469-9994 Ext.120

hbudaya-pileski@shoplogix.com

Time-Assistant - Time Tracking Software

2008-01-19T02:44:00.000-08:00

Time-Assistant is a powerful tool used for tracking time spent by the company employees on performance of different projects. Based on the data obtained, the flexible reporting system allows managers to view information on projects, to estimate spending, to define costs, and to raise invoices. The system provides various access levels specially implemented for administrators, top management, projects managers, and employees. The software has an intuitive user interface that makes the work noticeable easier and is furnished with a detailed help covering the entire system functionality. In order to meet the requirements both of middle and large businesses, Time-Assistant is delivered in three versions:
Time-Assistant Light - the easiest version to use by small companies that require only employee time tracking without detailed statistics for each project;
Time-Assistant Standard - this typical Time-Assistant version destined for middle-sized and large companies provides additional facilities for generation of detailed reports containing information on time spent on particular projects and project groups as well as employees and employee groups;
Time-Assistant Enterprise - along with the functions listed above, this product version has several user categories, allows users to approve reports, supports several additional features like database export to QuickBooks, division of projects into tasks, expenses support, etc.
Time-Assistant doesn't require significant hardware resources. All the users need to work with the software is a usual web browser. For the server side, any operating system with PHP support is required; MySQL 3.23.29 + or Oracle 9.0.2 + are used as database.

At the official web site http://www.time-assistant.com you can evaluate the software by trying out its online trial version. Here you can also find full information about this software product.

Assists the marketing manager in the promotion of products for Softerra Company.

Shoplogix Measures Productivity and Downtime Tracking

2008-01-18T03:10:00.001-08:00

The premise of lean manufacturing is the elimination of waste. To effectively eliminate waste mechanisms to measure productivity and downtime tracking are essential.

According to Scott Birmingham, Manager of Product Marketing for Shoplogix, there are specific methodologies to ensure cost-effective lean results including: * Extend the corporate network down to the plant floor by cost-effectively providing Ethernet connectivity to any machine. * Save thousands of dollars compared to other data acquisition and management systems. * View data with any standard web browser - no server software required. * Put intelligence on the plant floor. The device monitors, conditions and stores data. * Turn raw data into information, as the device supports logic and math libraries. * Eliminate costly network upgrades by streaming only the data you need to the enterprise. * Easy to implement and use. Minimal IT, engineering and training support required.

Shoplogix www.shoplogix.com Hellen Budaya Pileski Manager, Marketing Communications 905-469-9994 Ext.119 hbudaya-pileski@shoplogix.com

Flight Tracker - Real Time International Live Airline Flight Tracker

2008-01-18T03:09:00.001-08:00

Flight tracker track a flight by airline name and flight number, or by city and arrival/departure times. Based on radar data, flight tracker generates online views of the position of any incoming or leaving flight. The Flight tracker will show updates on flight arrivals, delay times and remaining time en route for an airborne flight. Using real time, international free, live airline flight tracker you can track all airline flight in progress within United States, Europe, Asia and all over world wide destinations.

Flight Tracker clever to go back catalogs of establish flights corresponding measure by airline, depart site and arrive site, plus in-flight in order such as elevation, pace, slowness, arrive and exit terminals. Elevation and pace information, though, is merely obtainable for flights traveling as of within United States, and to the UK and Mexico. Subsequent to a flight is chosen, Flight Tracker visualizes the flight trail information by estimation the geodesic so as to most competently connect the leave and turn up site around the globe. The software then use a Mercator outcrop to map this row on the 2D flight tracker map picture, and estimate flight site.

A small recognized information about real time flight tracker: Flight Tracker display a little plane image by a fall shadow on the geodesic flight lane. When elevation information is accessible, the counterbalance of the drop shade below the airplane is haggard relative to the present elevation. The result is so as to flights now taking off or hallway has drop gloom right away under the airplane, at the same time as flights in middle air have bigger offset flanked by the airplane and the drop shadow.

want to learn more about flight tracker & real time international flight tracker, then you can visit http://www.cheapflighttracker.com

Niche offset mortgages go mainstream as new rates from Woolwich make them cheaper than most lifetime trackers

2008-01-17T03:23:00.001-08:00

The Woolwich Offset mortgage is now guaranteed to stay at 0.39 per cent above base rate for life (current rate of 5.14 per cent). At the same time Woolwich will be re-launching its best selling flexible lifetime tracker mortgage at a new rate of 0.17 per cent above base making it the best priced long term tracker on the market. The launch of the two new products is aimed at appealing to as broad a cross section of borrowers as possible, those with no savings going for the lifetime tracker and those with some savings looking at the offset. They follow on from the launch of Woolwich?s ?City? offset mortgage last week.

Andy Gray, head of mortgages for Woolwich, explains: ?The latest offset mortgage means that a borrower with an average mortgage of ?100,000 would only have to offset an average ?4,200 to keep monthly payments as low as the best in market Woolwich Life Time Tracker set at a mortgage rate of 4.92 per cent. However, if you can?t muster that amount of savings the Lifetime Tracker makes absolute sense.?

?When we first launched offset six years ago the rate was set at 0.75 per cent above base and although it became a very popular product it was seen as one that benefited those with large savings balances the most. However, today with the rate at just 0.39 per cent above base rate, offset is better value than most trackers in the market. Even compared to other offset deals it easily beats the rates of our major competitors like the One Account, which has a best rate of 5.85 per cent, 0.61 per cent higher than the Woolwich product.?

The consumers who will benefit most from Offsets are:

- Those who hold modest to large balances on their savings or current accounts - money held in savings will get an effective interest rate of 6.59 per cent per cent for basic rate tax payers, and 8.57 per cent for higher rate payers, much better than all but the shortest term savings products on the market.

- Those who are self employed and pay a year-end tax bill but hold the money in reserve throughout the year

- Anyone who has a disciplined approach to their financial circumstances and who makes regular overpayments to their mortgage or contributions to their savings.

- Higher-rate taxpayers can pay in bonuses and reduce their mortgages with this deal

Barclays is also offering its home insurance price guarantee as part of the Offset mortgage. The insurer?s guarantee states that it will beat any customer?s current home insurance renewal quote on like for like cover with two years no claims and if not they will drop their price up to a maximum of ?100 and give the customer ?50 when they switch to Barclays.

List of competitors offset products available in the market, based on a ?100k mortgage:

Woolwich, Rate Base +0.39% (5.14%), Fee ?595, LTV 80%, Total cost over a 5 year term ?26,295

Abbey, Rate Base +0.49% (5.24%), Fee ?499, LTV 90%, Total cost over a 5 year term ?26,699

IF, Rate Base +0.74% (5.49%), Fee ?499, LTV 85%, Total cost over a 5 year term ?27,949

Clydesdale, Rate Variable 5.54%, Fee ?349, LTV 90%, Total cost over a 5 year term ?28,049

C&G, Rate Base +0.90% (5.65%), Fee ?0, LTV 95%, Total cost over a 5 year term ?28,250

The One Account, Rate Variable 5.85%, Fee ?0, LTV 50%, Total cost over a 5 year term ?29,250

Source: Moneyfacts for rates, fee, LTV and Woolwich for total cost over a 5 year term.

Both Woolwich products have no early redemption fees and are fully flexible, they have free legal fees and surveys for remortgages. Applications fees are ?595 for the offset and ?795 for the lifetime tracker. Customers can find out more about all our new and existing mortgages by visiting their local Barclays or Woolwich branch, via the internet or by phoning 0845 607 1111.

An advertising campaign on Woolwich mortgages across TV, radio and press will begin on 19 October.

Contact Barclays:

Woolwich mortgages

Andrew McDougall

0207 116 6159

andrew.mcdougall@barclays.com

Emma Austin

0207 116 6145

Emma.austin@barclays.com

Michael is a keen writer living in Edinburgh. Michael's Website: Belfast Airport Taxis

Automated Time-Trackers

2008-01-14T01:53:00.000-08:00

InformationWeekTenrox's Time & Expense and Sage U.S.'s TimeSheet Professional help employees keep track of their projects and help companies better manage workers and their expense reports

Keeping track of the time you spend on every project is the best way to ensure that you get paid for the work you perform. Writing out these hours by hand on time sheets is sure to drive you crazy when you're working on more than two projects at the same time. The work life of any project-oriented or often-interrupted support team can be simplified by using a time-tracking software package. Several packages are on the market, including HourTrack from Vitrix Inc., which we reviewed last year "Make Short Work Of Employee Scheduling," InformationWeek, April 20, 1998), TimeSheet Professional 6.5 from Sage U.S. Inc., and Tenrox Time & Expense from Tenrox Corp.

A good time-tracking system will not only let your users record when they've worked on a particular project, but also track the comings and goings of employees, update project time lines in project-tracking tools such as Microsoft Project, exchange paycheck information with payroll software, and let employees enter expense-report information to be processed as part of the standard payroll run. Of the two packages considered for this review, Tenrox Time & Expense is the better choice, although neither package may fill all of your needs.

Tenrox Time & Expense

Tenrox Time & Expense comes close to the ideal for a time-tracking system. It supports multiple projects and clients, provides a link to Microsoft Project for updating tasks and assignments, exports payroll and billing information to Computer Associates' Accpac for Windows (not included), and lets users enter expense-report information.

However, the package doesn't include an interface for handling workers who only need to clock in and out for the day, without requiring the rest of the project time-tracking features. An upcoming release, due soon, will include this feature. Tracking an employee's location--for example, at lunch, in a meeting, or out of town--is also not a part of the product's feature set.

The user interface for Tenrox Time & Expense resembles Outlook, with a list-oriented task bar on the left to select the form view and the form viewer occupying the remainder of the application's main form. Multiple forms can't be opened at one time.

Tenrox Time & Expense is a client-server application, with support for back-end Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL Server, and Oracle Server databases. Only Access support is included for free; Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle support are priced at $1,600 to $5,000, depending on the number of users. The client application can run on Windows 95, 98, or NT. Tenrox Time & Expense also supports a Web-browser client for entering time and expense information, as well as performing management and reporting functions. The server portion runs on NT 4.0.

Time sheets can be entered in a detailed (including the start and stop time) or summarized (total hours only) view. These hours can be assigned to specific projects, clients, or tasks. Once an employee has completed a time sheet, he or she then specifies that the time sheet is complete. This affirming step will help prevent premature data uploading to the payroll package. The employee's manager also then has an opportunity to approve or reject the employee's time sheet. Budget tracking is also included to control how many hours and expenses can be assigned to a particular task or project. Budget overruns, incomplete time sheets, and upcoming evaluation dates can be configured to trigger an automatic E-mail notification.

Reports within Tenrox Time & Expense use the Seagate Crystal Reports 6 engine, letting you create and add your own reports as you need.

Overall, Tenrox Time & Expense has a lot to like, provided you aren't managing hourly assembly-line workers.

TimeSheet Professional

Sage U.S. sells a couple of time-tracking products, including TimeSheet Professional 6.5. TimeSheet Pro provides numerous configuration settings, but it is difficult to use and complicated to configure. It's also missing several desirable features, including support for a mechanical clocking system for hourly workers, real-time employee location tracking, and budget handling. The application doesn't include direct links to project-management or accounting packages, although they can be purchased separately.

TimeSheet Pro supports billing hours to clients, projects, or specific activities. You can also add six more levels of classification, and assign expenses to these same classifications, although the user interface is overly cumbersome for entering anything more than a single expense item at a time. Entering hours and expenses is accomplished with dialog boxes, the results of which are then shown graphically in either a daily summary or a hour-by-hour view. TimeSheet Pro's user interface doesn't support a number of common Windows functions--such as drag-and-drop--that would have simplified the user's interaction. One useful feature is the ability to use a timer for a meeting or phone call; once the timed activity ends, TimeSheet Pro automatically records the time spent against a project or activity.

TimeSheet Pro has numerous configuration options, including the ability to define holidays, task rules (linking activities or employees to a particular client or project), pay rules (including exceptions), and application terms. Another example of the product's unnecessarily difficult user interface is the way you enter holidays. The user is expected to enter the date of the holiday for each year tracked by the program. TimeSheet Pro offers no automatic way of defining when a holiday occurs. Once the holiday is defined, you can't go back and graphically view all of them at once on the calendar; users also aren't provided with any visual cues about a day's holiday status.

TimeSheet Pro is configured either to support only desktop databases or as a client-server application. Only Windows 95, 98, and NT are supported for the client application. The application's database can be created and stored in an Access database or--in the case of the client-server version--a database engine from Informix, Inprise, Oracle, Microsoft, or Sybase. Web access via Internet Explorer 4.0+ or Navigator 4.0+ is available to provide remote users with a way to enter time and expense information.

Reporting, as with Tenrox Time & Expense, is accomplished using the Seagate Crystal Reports 6 engine, and several reports are included with the package. You can also add your own reports. However, as with the rest of the product, the way you select and manage your reports is very confusing and unnecessarily difficult.

TimeSheet Pro provides a lot of features, but the user-interface hassles will limit its appeal.

Tom Jacobs writes for http://www.superbtimesheets.info where you can find out more about timesheets and other topics.

11 Basics You Need to Know About Time Tracking

2008-01-14T01:52:00.001-08:00

Tracking time and attendance for your workforce can be a difficult and tedious task, especially if you have not yet upgraded to an automated time and attendance system. Automated Time and Attendance systems produce real-time performance data by orchestrating people, processes and technology. Implementing a Time and Attendance system will typically yield an 80% reduction in manual effort, a 3% savings in total payroll (labor cost) and the visibility to make better workforce management decisions.

When discussing a time and attendance system, "time" is referring to the collection, calculation, reporting and integration of all information necessary for employee compensation while "attendance" references the tracking of infractions and leave in order to provide a fair, unbiased and uniform application of your attendance policy. The following terms are defined below to give you a better understanding of what "Time and Attendance" is and how using an automated system can save your company time and money.

A quality Time and Attendance solution will provide depth, flexibility and utility in the following areas:

1. Data Collection - The ability to directly interact with the employee to gather raw time, leave and labor data through the use of any data collection method that is appropriate for your employees. Data collection methods include biometrics, web, badge readers, telephone (IVR), and PC. These methods will report information directly to your time and attendance software. By recording the time and attendance data correctly from the beginning, your organization will see an improvement and cost savings in downstream processes.

2. Exempt Time Collection - Provides a solution for the non-hourly employees and allows for a different method of time accounting for the salaried employees. Examples of other time accounting methods include Honor Time Reporting which records only the hours that the employee does not work, or Positive Time Recording which records time for project management purposes.

3. Time Accounting - Calculates time by applying your rules to the raw data collected-including overtime, premiums, rounding and labor distribution. Robust time and attendance systems will have the ability to customize the system as necessary in order to handle more complicated pay rules.

4. Labor Distribution - Accounts for time worked by location, department, branch, cost center, job, position, project, or any other names you may need. Most time and attendance applications are unable to calculate complex rules such as the handling of an employee who is working on two projects simultaneously because they only have one simple formula to calculate hours for a single cost center.

5. Scheduling - Provides a user friendly method to schedule both work time and time off. Group schedules, individual schedules, rotation schedules and demand based schedules should all be a part of the solution. Your bottom line depends on your employees' schedules being aligned with organizational goals and your time and attendance system can help maximize this labor potential.

6. Reporting - Generates accurate, real-time data to the appropriate decision makers. Few time and attendance systems have the ability to utilize Push Technology; a capability that ensures specified reports are automatically emailed to your in-box. Additionally, you will want the ability to customize standard reports to your own specifications.

7. Leave Tracking - Calculate, display, and track sick, vacation, PTO, FMLA and all other types of leave. Leave tracking should integrate with the employee schedule, the timecard and your current Human Resources or Payroll application. Leave tracking is an important part of an employee self service system in which the employee is able to submit the request directly to management for approval.

8. Attendance Tracking - Maintains an attendance calendar for each employee with multiple years of data, and eliminates favoritism by enforcing the organizations attendance policy in a fair, non-biased manner. Attendance tracking, also known as Exception Reporting, tracks such infractions as absenteeism, tardiness, early arrival, late departure, long breaks, meals, or other attendance events that might be important to your organization. Plus, this information can be automatically archived in order to help with compliance issues related to increasingly stringent regulations.

9. Interfacing - Using XML, ASCII files or database integration, Time and Attendance should fluently communicate with applications including Payroll, ERP and HRIS.

10. Workflow - Uses your approval structure to provide logical event routing and notifications via e-mail or other messages. Automated time and attendance systems can eliminate the paper chase, compress pending approval times and streamline the entire workflow process.

11. Hosting - This method, also known as SaaS (Software as a Service, an upgrade from the commonly known ASP hosting), provides all the benefits of a time and attendance system without the IT requirements for the database, server hardware, operating system, data backups, security management, system management, service packs and patches. In fact, an advanced time and attendance system can be setup without ever having to install any software on your employee workstations or network.

Time and attendance systems have the potential to truly improve your workforce productivity and increase your profitability. Researching the best system for your companies needs will take time, but knowing what features are out there will help you make the right decision.

Legiant is a leading provider of web-based time and attendance and time accounting systems for payroll, attendance, productivity, leave and project tracking. Flexible productivity time tracking solutions help Legiant's enterprise customers maximize the profitability and productivity of their workforce. Legiant solutions can be customized to meet the unique needs of any organization including mobile workforce tracking, payroll automation or automated time and attendance and workforce productivity reporting. Legiant integrates software, hardware, and professional services to create a comprehensive accounting solution, easy-to-use and accessible from anywhere through a Web-based interface.

For more information, visit http://www.legiant.com .

iClock - Time Clock for Employee Time Tracking

2008-01-14T01:51:00.000-08:00

Today's time-tracking solutions can cultivate companywide productivity. Very few delivers cost savings while optimizing employee productivity along with iClock, the newest and most innovative of their Web-based line of time, HR, payroll, and benefit tracking products.

iClock extends the general cost-conserving business trend away from decentralized systems to Web-based, hosted systems. Far from a physical clock, iClock is a Web-based approach to time and attendance tracking that simplifies the payroll process, improves accuracy, and reduces expenditures. Not only does this technology present an innovative alternative to traditional time and attendance tracking methods, but it offers real advantages over these options.

For example, iClock allows managers to see the "in/out" board on their own PC over the Internet. It also includes a nightly backup of the day’s labor-tracking data and a full menu of reports.

REINVENTING THE TIME CLOCK
Traditional time clocks require employees to travel to the location of the device, potentially creating a physical logjam that interrupts their workflow. iClock moves beyond this with its Web-based approach, which provides easy access from any computer connected to the Internet, as well as from existing time clocks, badge swipe readers, and fingerprint readers.

For the employer, iClock puts an end to labor tracking maintenance issues. Some providers maintain and hosts iClock on its own servers and store all of the data. Not only does this streamline the everyday attendance tracking for employees in a workplace, but it is especially convenient for nontraditional employees. A traveling salesperson, for example, can punch in and out just as easily as her coworker in a cubicle at company headquarters!

CUTTING COSTS
Traditional time clock systems involve a significant investment in hardware and other IT infrastructure, such as cables, servers, and networking concerns. iClock requires no special hardware. Upgrades are automatic each month and are delivered at no extra cost-this in addition to the original cost savings over the thousands of dollars associated with physical timeclock purchasing and installation.

In fact, even for companies with card swipes of fingerprint readers as their punch-in mechanisms, the iClock system requires no physical time clock. It effectively eliminates the expensive middleman by connecting the card swipe directly to a PC that is running iClock.

PERFORMANCE BOOSTER
iClock creates substantial savings in time as well as cost. When tested from a usability standpoint, iClock demonstrates multiple productivity and time-saving benefits for payroll departments, managers, and employees. Managers can access all time-tracking data for employees from a centralized In/Out Board, thereby decreasing administration time and giving managers the ability to control overtime and reduce overall payroll costs.

With traditional paper timesheets, someone would have to key in all of the individual data. But with iClock, paperwork is eliminated, and automatic data visualization is at the managers’ fingertips. They can review a history of missed and late punches, as well as a full suite of standard and ad hoc reports.

Employees can select from multiple clock-out reasons and view their own attendance history, which greatly improves employee accountability.

ROBUST INTEGRATION
Several Web-based offerings for time and attendance tracking already exist on the market. Oracle and SAP are both trying to deploy such technology through a kaleidoscope of platforms and partners. iClock, however, is a part of a fully dedicated, fully developed application suite that can integrate completely with HR, payroll, time-off, timesheets, expense-tracking, and salary-planning solutions. The data from iClock can be exported into any payroll system.

EASY ACCESS TO EMPLOYEE DATA
Another standout feature of iClock is the wide range of interfaces it provides. Other time and attendance solutions usually provide one or two interfaces to track employees’ time. iClock delivers multiple options to best fit your company’s environment. For example, a Web clock terminal could be available at the gate, office, or kiosk, and can be configured with a card swipe, fingerprint reader, or keyboard.

To create the feel of a traditional time clock, iClock can also connect with any clock and provide complete time and attendance functionality. With these options, the robust functionality may be invisible to the employee, but still in place for management, and the cost savings associated with eliminating the physical time clock still apply. Many companies prefer these traditional devices, and what iEmployee provides that competitors do not is the inexpensive option of a PC connected directly to them, rather than costly physical time clocks.

PRODUCTIVITY DEFINED
iClock delivers time management at a fraction of the cost of traditional methods. It is both more efficient and requires less cost and effort to maintain---a true triumph of technology.

Considering the productivity benefits of iClock, combined with the robust functionality it delivers, this innovative and affordable product rises to the surface as the best solution on the market today for time and attendance tracking.
iClock – Online Time Clock Software
Time and Attendance Solution
Web Based HR Software

Cost-Effective Employee Time Tracking

2008-01-11T02:19:00.003-08:00

Log your time, one of the leaders providing online web based employee tracking or project tracking software solutions helping quick and fast goal achievements in an organized way.

With our best web-based time tracking software you can easily connect to our services via internet and there is no need of further installations which saves money and time. Means no more investments in software, hardware or any technical supports

I-manage is basically a web-based project tracking or employee time sheet management software which tracks employees performances and status of projects assigned to them.

It also helps to track out employees performances as well, how much time they are investing on their projects or they way they are managing their projects.

Better Employee Scheduling
I-manage is more than just a employee scheduling, it can easily track the followings:

- Employee joining date
- Date of Birth
- Projects Assigned
- Vacations Time
- Sick Time
- Compensation Time
- Appraisal Time

Thus it can easily analyze the past activities of employees which help in payroll preparations.

Employee Time Sheet Management Module
Employee Time Sheet Management Module Helps Keep Tracking of Employees Performances and their role on a particular project assigned to them.Based on these details managers take further decisions regarding employees promotions based on their performances.

Client Invoice and Billing Management
This Module helps managing client invoices for the services offered and keep track of payments. Multiple Invoices can be raised for a client the billable amount is calculated on the basis of billing rates, discounts and currencies.

Employee report management module
This Powerful Reporting Module Helps In better Real Time Analysis of Financial and Other Details Regarding the Status of Projects or Project Time Sheet Management.Employees can manage their performance reports and can easily add their additional skills to their profile which helps further in better internal job postings.

Thus the capacity to track, report and analyze large volumes of historical activity improves our ability to manage human resources and reduce payroll costs.

Time management software

Time Tracking for Greater Productivity

2008-01-11T02:19:00.001-08:00

We sell our optimization services in packages so we really don't keep track of "billable" time. But my organization fetish has recently let me to start having my employees keep track of exactly how much time is spent on client activities vs. other work activities. Since we began this tracking the results have been quite revealing.

The office average appears to be about 2/3 of our time is spent on actual client work. Now granted, everybody is required to spend at least an hour a day on educational activities (i.e. blogs, forums, SEO/marketing books, and other industry related research), which is currently a little more than 1/3 of that "unbillable" time at a minimum. Of course, more time is encouraged, as necessary for job growth, improvement and keeping up with the industry overall, but it's also important, for profitability reasons, to spend adequate amount of time on billable activities.

While some team members had a higher percentage of billable time, by far I spent the least amount of time on billable activities, less than 1/3 of my time each week. This makes sense, since it's my job to run the office, develop policies, procedures, etc. I also spend a good deal of my time writing proposals, talking with prospective clients, staying dialed in to the industry and guiding each of the team members in their roles as they work on billable activities. I also spend a good chunk of time writing articles and blog posts as well.

The time spent on billable activities is important information to know, and not just to have a better picture of the bottom line. How our time is spent affects both us and our clients. The more time we spend on unbillable activities the more we have to compensate by adjusting package pricing, but the less time we spend on billable activities, the less we are actually doing for our clients.

For the purposes of this discussion, let's give a hypothetical. Let's say that we built our packages based on how many hours we estimate goes into a project each month. We take that and then assign an hourly rate that allows us to stay profitable based on salary and office expenses. If the unbillable time must be factored in as an office expense in order to stay profitable.

Now let's say that some accounts need more work from time to time than others. Assuming we put in the full number of estimated hours on all accounts and now we have to put in overtime on others, we are in unprofitable territory and are actually losing money unless we increase the "hourly rate." This in-turn increases package prices. Of course, the more advanced the services are that we provide the more time needs to be spent on each client, again effecting overall package price (good copy takes longer to write than poor copy, good links take longer to get the junk links, etc.)

Until I started calculating actual time spent on actual client work I made assumptions that were incorrect. I assumed that, aside from the occasional in-office meeting, that a larger portion of our time was spent on billable activities. That assumption was wrong. And it's not that time is being wasted, its just a simple matter of accurate tracking of what everybody does throughout the day.

The biggest surprise was my time. I knew I spent a good chunk of time on unbillable activities but was amazed by how little I actually performed billable work. After all, as the project manager I do know virtually everything there is to know about each campaign, each client, each project, etc. But then, my job is to run an effective business and that can't be done if my time was spent doing all of the actual client work myself. That's what I hire my team for. My job is to run the ship, develop the systems, make sure everybody does their job and ensure total client success. And that's the way I like it.

Knowledge is power. This new knowledge I'm armed with, knowing billable/unbillable time ratios, is extremely important to the overall success of the business. There is much more to company financials that just tracking where money comes and goes. Knowing how time is spent and figuring out what is important and what's not is crucial. I know it's important for everyone in this office to spend time on educational activities. Without that they would be less successful in their jobs. That too affects the clients.

While we may be able to spend more time on their account that time is less valuable if we let our knowledge stagnate. But its also important to be spending enough time on each client account. A healthy balance to both is necessary to ensure success.

Stoney deGeyter leads a spectacular team of seasoned marketing experts at Pole Position Marketing. You can read Stoney’s blog posts at the E-Marketing Performance blog and more of his work on several well-known SEO and marketing news sources including Search Engine Guide and Web Pro News. Stoney has authored two website marketing books: E-Marketing Performance: Effective strategies for building, optimizing, and marketing your website online and Keyword Research and Selection: The definitive guide to gathering, sorting and organizing your keywords into a high-performance SEO campaign.

Organizing Time Tracking

2008-01-09T01:46:00.000-08:00

When you work for a small IT company, you will have each tech invoice at the client's site when the job is completed. This may not have worked very well for you. Often jobs span many visits, the tech needs to run out for an emergency, etc., etc. As you may guess, you often run behind in invoicing. I personally believe that we should invoice on-site for small jobs (like one time clients), but invoice on a monthly basis for those clients that do not have a monthly service plan with you, but still require steady IT service throughout the year. Is this how most small IT companies do it, or is there a better way?

In order to accomplish monthly invoicing, you need to have our techs consistently and accurately record their time for each job. Would this be best done via a printed out weekly time sheet? Well, once you have this, you then need to aggregate all time sheets into one database.

The easiest option considered is using an Excel file to track your techs' time? Design the file to meet your requirements, including one for time accounting and one for providing call details (actions taken, parts used, etc.). We may not be familiar with how the data is entered into the pay system at corporate, but a CSV export imports into almost everything.

This is merely an example from a small industry of this various infrastructural setup across the globe. Everyone talks about employee time tracking. Here is an example of organizing the time tracking systems that fits the job profile as well. Small areas of wide industries, however can easily turn a successfully implemented system a total failure.

Resources:
Online Time Tracking
Time and Attendance
Employee Timesheets

Time Clocks and Time Tracking

2008-01-09T01:45:00.000-08:00

Many new tools have evolved with time to track work hours in this fast developing technology world. One common term used for many of them is Timeclock. The funny part is when you search for the term "Time Clock" in Google, you result in viewing website informations from the world of clock manufacturers, however the moment you combine the two words that is "Timeclock" the search result page is loaded with website information of companies providing you software and gadgets to track employee time.

Thats how it goes, a single character space changes the entire industry in the search result page. Well, when you move further, into the website for "Timeclock", you find gadgets used to track employee time. Gadgets like swipe cards, biometrics are all there for the taking. So many gadgets, so much technology development to track the working hours of an employee. Man, life was very easy the olden days, just a watchman with a register to enter your in and out time, another accountant to manually calculate them all. Everything was so simple. At times a thought pops up into the mind that is technology easy or manual work simple.

No hard feelings, hats off to all those who keep developing these new advanced technology based solutions to automate our work process. No success is accomplished without pains and we have hundreds and thousands of people working day in and day out to develop all these new advanced tools all around the world.

Maybe the approach is different, simplicity and automation cannot go hand in hand.

Paul

Resources:
Employee Timeclocks
Time Labor Management Tracking (TLMT)
Time and Attendance

Can We Define Time Tracking

2008-01-07T01:08:00.001-08:00

The agenda is simple and straight, can we define time tracking? Here we are not talking about time tracking of a athlete, we are not talking about the time tracking of a swimmer. We are going into a very different domain, falling into the working hours of an employee.
Earlier we read a lot about the intellectual definition from many places very well written by industry experts, here lets discuss about what you think an employee time tracking is.

Some points for reference:

Employee time tracking is about calculating the working hours of people working in a company.

Time tracking is about keeping a check on employees.

Time tracking is keeping a record of labor.

Time spent by the staff in the workplace.

A solid way of maintaining a check on your workforce.

Electronic methods of maintaining employee work records.

Well, you can take it from here and build in your own way of understanding and making others understand what employee time tracking is all about. Maybe this is what a definition is all about, understanding and making others understand.

After you are through with your very own definition, please consider understanding how and why is this important for any person running an organization of employee size more than 100, to maintain a full proof record of employee working hours. Imagine you are paid on gross work hours basis or manipulated calculations. Not worth digesting for anyone. Think from a positive mindset, every new technology is not just made to fill pockets of a few, however it also directs the masses to a better considered path.

The purpose is resolved when you start stepping into your bosses shoe and consider him to also be a human.

Paul

Resources:
Workforce Time and Attendance
Electronic Time and Attendance
Online Time and Attendance System

Time Tracking or Employee Time Management

2008-01-03T23:14:00.002-08:00

Employees, the most important source of any organization to grow, grow & grow. Industry is full of jobs & requirements. You name it and there is a company looking to hire such professionals. The connecting lines these days are internet. Many and many job hunters look forward to internet portals for new jobs and are successful in reaching out to the right employer.

Internet has slowly become an integral part of much organizational growth these days. Today for all small-scale industries to move ahead and get into a mid size company, internet plays a very important role. Just imagine the amount of business happening these days with internet as a resource. With Google, playing one of the most important gateways to connect these business happenings, it is growing with a pace of 200% every year.

Coming back to employees, it is not just hiring an employee for any company; it is also about retaining the same for a long time. Facilitating them with loads of benefits, better workplace, holidays, incentives & bonuses are some ways used by good corporate companies to refresh and retain their employees. Amidst all these, is an important segment and that is employee time management. The first step to it is employee time tracking.

In days past, all these was done manually on paper, then came computers, excel and then software to manage. Now we find the buzzword "On Demand" and that means all software features are available online. You need not manage your database, files backups etc. The service providers do all for you. All we need is a PC & Internet connection.

Slowly and gradually, companies are moving towards the new technology and find it very easy to adapt, since in the package we get the setup, an account manager, a support personnel and training for implementation as well.

Can we predict with the pace technology is moving, what can be the next step to it…

Paul

Resources:
Employee Time Tracking Software
Time and Attendance Management
Human Resource Workforce Management

Does Time Tracking Automation Help Us?

2008-01-03T23:14:00.001-08:00

Most small to medium sized software companies use Excel or a "home grown" application to track and manage employees time. The price for the in-house time management application is usually a well-guarded secret buried inside countless other projects. To make things even more exciting, these applications are usually been developed by multiple developers some of whom no longer works in the company.

One of the most fundamental aspects to the creation and implementation of an effective leave time and overtime tracking system involves the ability to effectively reduce costs through the reduced amount of time calculation required of managers and supervisors throughout the company. In other words, while it is easy for overtime and leave time benefits accrual to be misreported in a system that does not utilize advanced time and attendance tracking software, the right solutions will provide automation that can tangibly reduce management’s time spent monitoring by hours every day. This way, time and attendance software automatically monitors employees’ accordance with pre-established rules for time off and overtime limits. Traditional employee tracking software systems catered to a workplace with only hourly employees who used badges to record their time. Many companies are now interested in collecting data and information for salaried or professional workers. With employee tracking software solutions, you can collect data for any type of employee.

Time tracking software systems offer robust and flexible so they integrate seamlessly into most environments while delivering the functionality to support the complex time management and tracking requirements of your organization.

Key features for enterprises that seek to track their employee's time include the following:

• Automated assignment of work
• Team member collaboration
• Manager-level dashboards
• Executive-level dashboards
• Indicators of project health
• Integration between various project tracking applications
• Automatic timesheet data coordinated to project schedule updates
• Employee scheduling
• Worforce analytics
• Labor distribution metrics
• Automation of attendance policy rules
• Employee benefit tracking
• Easy export to external payroll systems

One in thousand companies even find it difficult after migrating to automated systems and soon opt out of it. With the pace, we are moving ahead its time to think what’s more important. Its time to think how much time the management wants their administrators / supervisors / employees to spend on different tasks including managing their own timesheets.

The point is with automated systems, you end up with one person handling it all rather all-managing part of it.

Resources:
Time and Attendance Labor Tracking Management Software (TLM)
Time and Attendance
HR Workforce Management

Does Time Tracking Automation Help Us?

2008-01-01T22:38:00.001-08:00

Key features for enterprises that seek to track their employee's time include the following:

The point is with automated systems, you end up with one person handling it all rather all-managing part of it.

Resources:
Time and Attendance Labor Tracking Management Software (TLM)
Time and Attendance
HR Workforce Management

Benefits Of Proper Time Tracking

2007-12-29T02:09:00.000-08:00

Have you ever written down time when you have started and finished your work? Maybe you have had multiple jobs to do and you needed to calculate multiple periods when pausing the work on one project and starting the work on another one? Of course, it is not an easy task without proper time tracking.

Lately companies used to face difficulties in managing their employee time records. This resulted in leave records of employee work hours and time off were often went missing or incomplete. With unreliable leave card information, the company spent excess resources to manually reconstruct benefits to which employees were entitled based on the time they worked. Instead of relying on leave card information, Administrators used informal methods to calculate overtime, compensatory time, and annual leave due to employees.

Companies have started looking for systems capable of supporting online enrollment and employee time tracking to enable them to manage records, payrolls effectively. Time tracking and billing application not only helps in-house employees but also freelancers manage their work and are paid for it.

Some of the benefits of a Time Tracking Software’s are:
Interfaces with most Time Clock Hardware’s
Email notifications and reminders
Seamless interface to accounting system
Leave balance management
Online pay stub information
Company-wide Bulletin Board
Employee Scheduling
Allows data to be exported to text files, spreadsheets
Ad hoc reporting capabilities
Available to employees and management from any Internet enabled computer
Tracking, management, and accounting of employee time on multiple projects
Saves you money
Reduces time spent by manager on nonproductive administrative task
Enables management to share time critical information
Provides audit trail of time sheet updates and changes
Eliminates lost time sheets
Restricts unauthorized project charging

The user-friendly interfaces available makes it simple for employees to report their time worked. Employees can punch in and out from their PC via an assigned user name and password.

Paul

Resources:
Online Employee Time Tracking Software
Workforce Management Software Solution

How To Cut Business Costs With Employee Time Tracking Software

2007-12-26T23:19:00.001-08:00

"Time" is the key word as it relates to money and software that saves and tracks time, increases efficiency and cuts project costs. Whether a company is small or an enterprise wide corporation, software that assists better time tracking, project time tracking and employee time tracking will ultimately increase your profits.

By reducing the time spent on time sheet data entry and project reporting, your organization will see cost reductions and productivity increases, which equals money saved. Understanding where each individual employee's time is spent and realigning that time as needed to best suit the needs of the current project is a major step toward greater profitability. Another important key to implementing great time management is the ability to move resources quickly between projects and tasks without effecting existing time entries.

The ability to access real time data on how any one or multiple employees' time is spent will allow you to make appropriate changes to reduce internal costs, realign project resources and time projections of project deliverables. Time is money! Time management and profitability are in direct correlation with how well time is managed and how well one can generate reports based on the numbers. This then reflects in the bottom line.

Having easy access to time management history allows your company to guesstimate (with accuracy) the man hours of a particular project, what that project will cost in labor and resources, the cost effectiveness of pricing, as well as effective quoting based on similar past projects.

Time tracking and project costing software applications should include time sheet software, time attendance software and time billing software in one easy to use graphic interface. Software designed for business intelligence reporting and including over 135 powerful reports and graphs in real time for time sheet management, performance management, project tracking, and project management will undoubtedly reduce waste of employee time and company resources.

DOVICO Software, which is compliant with DCAA, Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX) and other quality control programs such as CMMI, COBIT and Six Sigma, will provide a software solution that delivers measurable results straight to the bottom line. This project tracking, project time costing and project time management software will provide real time informative data to shape your teams' production to full capacity. Training should always be easily implemented and user friendly in order to ensure employee adoption of the new software system.

A programs' adoptability rests in how easy it is to implement into your existing system with the least amount of impact on your business. The right software provides you with fast access to data, and should integrate with your existing software (example: Microsoft Project, QuickBooks & Active Directory). The right software for tracking projects and employees easily increases a company's productivity and the bottom line. The right software will give your company better control of time and that is a statement of power.

Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as time managment software at http://www.dovico.com

Time Tracking Software

2007-12-23T22:49:00.000-08:00

Time tracking software is software that allows you to accurately measure the time spent on a particular task or project. There are various types of tracking software depending on the needs that you are looking for. A simple use is to utilize it as a planner. It allows you to record and monitor your schedules and set reminders for your daily activities. A common use of time tracking software in the business world is used to monitor the attendance of your employees in the company. There are those that are simply used to record timesheets and generate reports. There is also a different variation that can integrate with your accounting system and generates your account summaries. Contractors or professionals such as doctors or lawyers may use time tracking software to record the time spent with a client and automatically calculate the fee and generate the invoice for billing. Another use is to integrate it with project management software to calculate the efficiency and keep track of the progress of the project.

Just like every other acquisition, there are considerations you would need to make before purchasing your time tracking software. You need to make sure is that the software you find has the functions that you need. With the various types of time tracing software, it is best to make sure that you purchase the software that is right for you. With the emergence of technology, a good consideration is to find software that allows you to synchronize your data with a mobile device like a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) or a notebook. Along with the ability to transfer data, you have to make sure that the synchronized data is accurate, encrypted and secure. After taking these into consideration, one of the most important aspects is the affordability. A product can be the best in the world, but if it does not fit into your budget, then it is useless for you.

Employee Time Tracking Software

2007-12-20T22:51:00.001-08:00

Collating the employee time records has always been a problem for a lot of businesses. Because of the accuracy, the sheer quantity can be overwhelming. The things you have to consider in computing for proper compensation of your employee per payday can be confusing. Items that you have to take into considerations are the attendance, holiday and vacation leaves, time spent on projects and overtime to name a few.

By having proper employee time tracking software that allows you to connect to your accounting system, you are able to generate automated reports in real-time. If your system has web capabilities, this information will be available to you any time you need it. A basic need for the system is to be able to compute for the proper compensation of your employees, based on attendance records. If late or absent, these days will be deducted accordingly. If they have an attached consent of leave, no deductions should be made to the salary of your employee. Sometimes because proper paper works was not filed or there are missing documents, confusion could arise. With the aid of a software system that keeps track of this information, the compensation is adjusted accordingly. The record of leave is accessible also anytime, avoiding confusion.

Aside from keeping track of the compensation, times tracking software can be used to keep track of your employees’ progress. The software system can generate a comprehensive report that can help you evaluate the efficiency of your employees. For example, if an employee has been working on the same project for over a year without any progress, you can narrow down your findings and determine if the problem is with the project, or the work ethics or style of the employee.

Want to Save Time and Be More Productive? Time Tracking Software Can Help

2007-12-18T22:59:00.001-08:00

Juggling numerous clients and projects can be really hard! Recording work hours on a spreadsheet is time-consuming and inaccurate. Trying to gather team hours is usually a mess. Then there is the frustration of creating billing reports for clients. Fortunately, consultants, programmers, contractors, architects, lawyers, and other professionals are finding an easy solution to these problems: time tracking software.

Just hit the button!

No more constantly looking at the clock. Simply hit a button to start timing a task and then hit it again to stop if you finish or take a break. Some software will begin a new task every time you hit the start button, others will let you add more time to an open task after you've stopped timing. This ease of use increases accuracy in billing so “estimating” work time is a thing of the past. Time tracking is precise and always updated.

Easy Reporting

Time tracking software will help you be more efficient by storing your timed tasks in conjunction with a client and project. You may also add a description of the task. Forget trying to remember what happened to all your hours at the end of the day or week! These tasks are archived and then you can retrieve them when creating reports weekly, monthly, or during a customized time period.

Seamless Teamwork

When working on team projects, I would highly recommend using software that supports team time sharing online. Team members can log into an Internet workspace to track their hours even when away from the office. Reports can then be created with everyone's billable and non-billable timed tasks. No time is wasted gathering information...the data will always be updated and ready to go...just print it!

Don't be stuck in the dark ages of spreadsheets and manual entry. Modern technology is making mundane tasks quick and easy! For those that want to spend more time working for their clients and less time sifting through data and making reports, time tracking is the answer!

Bridget Fair is the VP of Marketing for Toggl. Toggl is an online time and meeting tracking solution. http://www.toggl.com

Personnel Time Tracking Software

2007-12-15T04:49:00.001-08:00

A problem that comes with taking care of personnel records is the accuracy and the quantity of the information that needs to be considered. Your human resource personnel are often overwhelmed by this task because amount of information that has to be considered. This information needs to be accurate to compute the proper compensation an employee is to receive. Things to consider are the attendance records, the number of holiday and sick leaves used and the actual leaves that are still allotted. Overtime pay can also be a headache, because personnel may not be paid the same in cases of overtime.

A personnel time tracking system can help your human resource officer keep track of the attendance record of each employee. Your time tracking software can be configured to alert your supervisor if an employee has excessive absences or tardiness. By entering all the data into your system, leaves of absences can be automatically monitored, and personnel will automatically be denied request, if a leave is requested when the allotted number leaves are already used up. A monthly report can be generated for your supervisor to help keep track of the attendance records of your personnel under their jurisdiction. Having a system with web capabilities also allows you and your personnel to access attendance records to be aware of your own actions.

Another tedious task and often difficult task is to evaluate the progress of your personnel. Sometimes without any tangible method of calculating the progress of your personnel, it is very hard to justify a pay raise. By keeping track of their progress via the time they spend on their job responsibilities determining whether or not a pay raise is warranted is an easy task.

IT Consulting: Time Tracking and Invoicing

2007-12-13T22:30:00.001-08:00

As a new IT consulting business, it is important to learn about the most common mistakes made with time tracking and invoicing so you can avoid them.

Doing so will put your company in a better overall financial position. You will also be able to sleep better knowing you have greater financial control over your business.

Time Tracking, Billing and Other Issues

Time tracking, billing, invoicing and dealing with credit and collections are big issues in IT consulting. A lot of people wonder which software they should use for time tracking and billing. If you’re just focusing on that, you’re probably missing the bigger point here.

It’s a heck of a lot more important than the software you use. Of course you should use a piece of software that makes it a little easier to do your IT consulting job, but the software is not going to fix the underlying problems.

Your Service Gives IT Consulting Clients Peace of Mind

Steady clients will perceive your IT consulting business as an insurance policy. A steady client is motivated to pay your IT consulting business on time.

Joshua Feinberg, co-owner of Computer Consulting 101, gets computer consulting businesses more steady, high-paying consulting clients. Now you can too. Just sign-up now for your free access pass to these field-tested, proven computer consulting secrets at Computer Consulting 101

Time Tracking Programs

2007-12-07T23:04:00.001-08:00

Time tracking is the act of recording the time spent on each activity in a day or in a particular period of time. It is a very important part of time management, which is very important to keep pace in today’s fast-moving world. Time tracking was first used to keep track of the way employees use their time during office hours. Today, it is used for a multitude of functions like revenue management, invoicing, database management and project management to improve productivity. Time tracking is especially beneficial for attorneys, writers, programmers, self-employed professionals, consultants, contractors, artists and other professional who do not work as per scheduled timings.

Time tracking programs are software packages and applications that enable effective time tracking and management. These programs are designed to do a number of other things also, like keeping detailed notes about each activity; organizing tasks, meetings, contacts and even inventory; generating reports; client management; creating invoices; and more. They are very easy to install and use, and also include many other attractive features like language translation, easy-to-learn tutorials, e-mail management, customized options and more.

Time tracking programs are basically database packages and software programs that can be made compatible with many other types of software, like spreadsheets and datasheets, to make the import and export of data easier. TimeWhiz, Timesheet, Titrax, Hours, Seconds Count, AllTime, PicoTrack, Standard Time, Doing, SDS Time, Track-it Light, Proj Clock Pro Time, TraxTime, and TimeMate are some of the popular Time Tracking programs available today. Most of this software works on windows, Linux and Mac platforms.

There are free versions of time tracking programs available over the internet. These can be downloaded for free, for a limited time period. Suppliers are also providing customized versions of time tracking programs to suit particular user requirements. Prices range extensively depending on the kind of program and its features.

Time Tracking provides detailed information on Time Tracking, Time Tracking Software, Time Tracking Programs, Employee Time Tracking and more. Time Tracking is affiliated with Time And Attendance System

Time Tracking

2007-12-04T22:56:00.003-08:00

Time tracking is the act of recording the amount of time spent on each activity in a day. Typically, time sheets are used for time tracking. A conventional and simple time sheet lists the start and end time of tasks or the duration of each task. It can also have a more detailed breakdown of the various tasks done, as well as the results obtained from each of these tasks. Traditionally, time sheets were designed to keep track of the employees’ time management, in order to determine their productivity. Time cards or punch cards are the most basic form of time tracking programs.

Time tracking is very beneficial for businesses. Time sheets can also be used to track other things like billing, payroll, project cost and estimation, and others that are very beneficial for management. There are several direct advantages of time tracking: make payroll processing easier by tracking the exact hours an employee worked, increase revenues by correct invoicing, and make database management easier. It also helps the user to determine exactly what went wrong with a project. There are also some disadvantages of time tracking: employees do not appreciate it they feel too much pressure for showing results for every minute; or the information may not be used properly. Time tracking is especially beneficial for attorneys, writers, programmers, self-employed professionals, consultants, contractors, artists and other professionals who do not work as per scheduled timings.

There are sophisticated time-tracking programs and software packages available today. These software packages are very easy to install and use, and they can be used in any environment. They can also be custom-designed to suit all kinds of requirements. Some time tracking software also contains other functions like invoicing, billing, expenses tracking, project management and other applications. Some of these are offered as freeware, while others have to be purchased. Standard time tracking software costs around $100 for a single user and $1,200 for a 10-user program. However, prices vary significantly depending on the program. TimeWhiz, Timesheet, Titrax, Hours, Seconds Count, AllTime, PicoTrack, Standard Time, Doing, SDS Time, and TimeMate are some of the popular time tracking software packages available today.

Time Tracking

2007-12-04T22:56:00.002-08:00

Employee Time Tracking

2007-12-04T22:56:00.001-08:00

Time tracking is the act of tracing out the time spent on each activity in a particular period of time. With so much pressure on time these days, time tracking and management has become absolutely necessary. Though time tracking was initially just a method for keeping track of the way employees use their time, today it is a major program that is used for several other things like: payroll processing, employee productivity, revenue management, client management, invoicing, database management and project management.

Employee time tracking was first done using simple time cards or punch cards. Employees had to punch in their cards, when they came in or out, into a machine that would record the time. The timings were later copied onto spreadsheets and analyzed manually to determine how much time an employee spent in the office. This simple mechanism was sufficient in the days when there was not too much stress on the productivity of employees. However, with technological diversions like the Internet, e-mails, and phones, it has become very important to track the exact time the employee spends working. Besides, some enterprises have thousands of employees located at different locations across the world, working in different time zones, which make employee time tracking even more important. There are several advantages of employee time tracking: it makes payroll processing easier by tracking the exact hours an employee worked, increases revenues by correct invoicing, and makes database management easier. There are also some disadvantages: employees do not appreciate it they feel too much pressure for showing results for every minute; or the information may not be used properly.

Today, there are hundreds of employee time tracking programs and software packages available. These not only make tracking, but also billing, payroll, project costing and estimation easier. Besides, they can track the employee’s use of time in the absence of the supervisor. Employees located even thousands of miles away can be tracked using this software. These software programs can be downloaded easily onto any platform and used either offline or online. They can also be customized to suit exact requirements. Information about this software can be obtained over the internet.

Time Tracking Software

2007-12-03T03:05:00.000-08:00

Time tracking means keeping a detailed account of each action and deed performed in a particular period of time. Time tracking and management have become very important in today’s fast-paced world. Time tracking as a program is finding applications in all fields, especially business and industry. This is because it eases other related functions like payroll processing, employee productivity, revenue management, invoicing, database management and project management. Time tracking has a proven record of increasing the productivity of organizations significantly.

Time tracking software has special applications that can be used on a computer. These have various features, like keeping detailed notes about each activity; organizing tasks, meetings, contacts and even inventory; generating reports; client management; creating invoices; and more. Other features include translation into many languages, easy-to-learn tutorials, e-mail management, customized options etc. There are sophisticated time-tracking programs available today. This software is very easy to install and use, and can be used on any kind of environment. It can also be custom designed to suit all kinds of requirements. Some time tracking software also does other functions like invoicing, billing, expenses tracking, project management and other applications. Time tracking software is especially beneficial for attorneys, writers, programmers, self-employed professionals, consultants, sales reps, contractors, artists and other professionals who do not work as per scheduled timings.

Some time tracking software is offered as freeware, while others have to be purchased. A standard time tracking software package costs around $100 for a single user and $1,200 for a 10-user program. However, prices vary significantly, depending on the program. TimeWhiz, Timesheet, Titrax, Hours, Seconds Count, AllTime, PicoTrack, Standard Time, Doing, SDS Time, Track-it Light, Proj Clock Pro Time, TraxTime, and TimeMate are some of the popular time tracking software programs available today. Most of this software works on Windows, Linux and Mac platforms. These can be used online as well as offline. This software is available over the internet and can be downloaded onto the system very easily.

Reasons Your Company Needs Time Tracking Software

2007-12-01T03:15:00.000-08:00

How can your business benefit from time tracking software and how should I go about choosing it? Most experts agree that time tracking software is a great addition for most any business. As a business owner, I know that it is important that I know just how productive my business is at any given time. For the most part, when I track time accurately I am able to see what is holding me back from goals I have set. Time is important, so when you do choose your time tracking software you should make sure you get an application that is going to work right for you. Consider a few things when it comes time for you to select a time tracking software application.

First off, make sure you select time tracking software that is what you need. It should fit in with your needs as far as effectiveness and accuracy. It should also meet your specific needs in terms of functionality so that you can truly improve your business with it. There are a lot of time tracking software applications out there, but you need to make sure you get one with the additional features you need only. There is no reason you should pay more for features that will not help your business.

Make sure you shop around for your time tracking software. There are so many options out there, that it would be easy to just jump on the first one and save yourself the trouble. However, you need to remember that what you choose will greatly affect your business. Check the internet, your local business store, and talk to other business owners who may be able to help you. By shopping around you can get the most effective time management software for your specific business. In addition, if you shop around and choose wisely you can also save yourself quite a bit of money since the price range of time tracking software is large.

The whole point of having time tracking software in your business is so that you know what is going on. You want to know how much your employees are actually working, right? Find out if they are working efficiently or if there are areas in which you can improve as a business. By tracking how long things go on can also aid you in comprehending what your customers see when they see your company operate. There are a lot of software applications available to do a lot of things for your business, but a good time tracking software purchase is one you won’t regret.

If you would like to view more of my articles on time tracking, please feel free to visit my time tracking software applications website!

It's Your Time, Take Control of It with Time Tracking Software

2007-11-30T00:11:00.001-08:00

Time tracking software is an incredible tool for any business. It serves many purposes for various types of businesses, but I've found that female business owners are active advocates of using time tracking software because they recognize multiple benefits from efficiently managing their time, as well as their resources.

Historically, time tracking software has been used by professionals who bill by the hour and by employers to keep track of employees' time on the job. Time tracking software has also proven useful for project management. Women, however, have redefined the uses of time tracking software by using it as a time management tool to keep their busy lives and their businesses on track.

As a tool for tracking billable hours, time tracking software simplifies recordkeeping and billing processes making it easy to bill clients for the time spent on their projects or cases. Lawyers, accountants, consultants and even handymen (or handywomen) find time tracking software invaluable for these purposes. Bookkeepers love it because they don't have to decipher each professional's notes regarding their billable hours. The information is quick and easy to access, and in most cases (aside from human error) is pretty accurate.

As a tool for keeping up with employees' time, time tracking software eliminates the need for those cumbersome time cards that have to be hand calculated. Time tracking software that is specifically programmed to work as a timesheet tool for payroll purposes will even keep accurate track of regular time and overtime taking the majority of the manual labor out of processing payroll. This may not be an issue for a small business that doesn't have a lot of employees, but for larger businesses that are heavily staffed, time tracking software is essential to timely payroll processing.

Time tracking software is extremely valuable to project management professionals. In project management, not only do you have to make sure that the project is completed on time, but you also have to keep a close watch to ensure it is completed within budget. On many types of projects, construction projects for instance, various tasks associated with completing the project are outsourced or subcontracted. If the outsource or subcontract providers bill by the hour, time tracking software is vital to providing up-to-date information on the project and resources used for budget comparison purposes.

For quite some time, business people have recognized the advantages of using time tracking software for tracking billable hours, employee time, and project resources. Then, along came the innovative women, the home business entrepreneurs, who tout the value of using time tracking software on a personal level for the purpose of efficient time management.

For these women, time tracking software is much more than a business tool, it is truly a life management tool. Customized time tracking software can be used to track how much time they spend doing various business activities along with the time spent on their personal duties and recreational activities.

When a woman's business gets active and she needs to consider outsourcing various aspects, if she has tracked and documented her time using time tracking software, it is easy for her to make decisions regarding the value of certain activities and to determine which tasks are best outsourced. This is frequently necessary for home business owners due to the fact that having home and business in the same place can result in one overtaking the other resulting in neglected responsibilities.

One female home business owner told me, "It is so easy to become a work-a-holic when you have a home business. You really can't 'leave your work at the office' because it is sitting there staring you in the face all the time. If you end up working all the time in your home business, then you've really defeated the purpose of having a home business, which is having control of your time so you can better meet the needs of the home and family."

Reports generated from time tracking software, when it is used on a personal level, alerts home business owners right away if they are falling into the trap of letting their home businesses consume their lives. Having easy access to reports that tell you exactly how you have spent your time makes it easy to readjust and redefine priorities so you can balance your life and your responsibilities. Time tracking software makes this possible.

J. Enders. Are you at the end of your rope, fed up and confused by all the scrambled internet marketing advice you're getting? Whether you are new to internet marketing, or a website owner who wants to make more money from your website, learn the proven strategies that will sky-rocket your internet business at http://BiznessTips.com

Google Analytics vs Real Time Tracking Services

2007-11-30T00:10:00.001-08:00

14 November Google released a new service with the name Google Analytics. Google Analytics is basically a rebranded version of Urchin, a web analytics service that Google purchased a few months ago.

Web Tracking Analytics Services

Like other web analytics services Opentracker.net, shinystat.com, or truehits.net Google Analytics is a service that tells you where visitors to your site are coming from, what links on the site are getting the most traffic, what pages visitors are viewing, how long people stay on the site, which products on merchant sites are being sold and where people give up in multistep checkout processes. The difference between these tools or website analyzers is that Google tracking is not done in real-time, they use a system what's similar to log analyzers. That mean it will not measure human behavior or what's done by the visitor.

Google Analytics vs Other Website Tracking Services

Another difference between Google Analytics and other web tracking services is that Google Analytics is free and unreliable. Google Analytics doesn't work with Safari and Mac OS X. In order to view a Google Analytics report on Mac OS X, you have to be using a Mozilla based brower, IE. or Firefox. But for sharing your data with the company, Google doesn't require you to pay directly for their web analytics service.

But unfortunaly if you want to open an account with Google Analytics you will get this answer:

New account signups are temporarily suspended. If you want to be notified when signups re-open, please enter your e-mail address on our signup page. Thank you!

Should you use Google Analytics or should you pay for a better service?

Google already knows a lot of things about you. If you also use their new tracking service or log analyzer system, you will tell Google how much you earn, when you earn it, which products you sell, how often you sell them, how much you spend for ads on other sites and you will reveal much more information about your personal online business and company details.

Ask yourself if you want Google to know that much about you and your company. Do you really want to share your revenue information with Google that also wants your advertising money? Do you want to share your revenue information with any other company at all?

Google officials have declined that they will use the data to better understand how much you are willing to pay for ads, based on conversions. They also claim that they do not plan to tap into the data as a means of improving regular search results or to identify bad sites. Nevertheless, these things are easily possible if you use Google Analytics also your ranking would be in danger. Google engineer Matt Cutts even writes in his blog: "Blackhat SEO companies may be leery of using Google for analytics, but regular site owners should be reassured. That sounds as if Google might actually use the information for other purposes.

Think twice before using anything that is free

While Google's new analytics tool looks great at first place, you should think twice before using this tool. The market power of Google can make your business highly dependent on Google if you decide to use all of Google's services. The more Google knows about you, the better they can get your cash. If a company in the real world asked you to tell them everything about your interests, the shops you visit, the news papers you read, your full address and telephone number, your revenue and a lot of other information, then you probably wouldn't give that information to the company.

When it comes to Google, many people reveal information they wouldn't even tell their family or friends. Be Aware.!

Permission to reprint this article is granted if the article is reproduced in its entirety, without modification, including all information. Please include a hyperlink to http://www.opentracker.in.th or http://www.opentracker.net when using this article in newsletters or online.

Time Tracking: Software All Companies Need

2007-11-30T00:09:00.001-08:00

Time tracking is essential for all businesses. You need to be able to know just how productive your business is. In many cases, accurate tracking can lead to instances where you’ll be able to see just what is holding your company back from reaching its goals. Time is valuable and you do not have much to throw away on useless products. Instead, you need high quality software to get the job done correctly.

Here are some things to consider about the time tracking software that you choose.

• Make sure it is what you need. Not only should it fit your needs in function, but it needs to deliver to you effectiveness, quality and accuracy every time.

• Software programs are all different. Make sure you find the ones that offer what you specifically need. In fact, you will find that some will offer additional features as well. If you do go for one of these packaged programs, insure that you find the best fit for your needs. For example, if the features look great you may lean more towards it. But, the standard function of the tracking software needs to be high in quality as well.

• Shop around for your software. As we said, there are many options. Various brands are out there and you can find a wide range of brands. Shopping around will give you the best price as well.

Time tracking products can help you to know what is happening in your business. How long are your employees working? Are they working at a high efficient rate or can you improve things to keep them moving in the right direction? Tracking how long things happen can also help you to understand the view from your customer’s point of view. In each industry, there are various uses for this type of tracking. You will find there is no limit to the needs out there but with high quality software for time tracking, your needs will be met.

For more information please see http://www.time-tracking-help.co.uk

Don't Just Manage Your Time, Track It

2007-11-30T00:08:00.000-08:00

Decades ago we started to learn about the forthcoming paperless office due to the advent and widespread acceptance of technology. Well, that did not happen even though electronic document management and knowledge management have come a long way since then.

Then we moved on the era of ease of communication and away from fax machines.

Emails, cellphones, voicemail and video conferencing were the tools for the future designed to make us more effective and productive. A decade ago 40% of US workers called themselves ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ successful but by 2005 that number had fallen to 28%.

A common retort is now “We are never able to concentrate on one task anymore. You take a little chip out of it and then you are on to the next thing. It is getting harder and harder to feel like you are accomplishing something really worthwhile.”

The average time spent on a work computer is now around 16 hours per week, compared to 9.5 hours ten years ago. We are all now bombarded with email, computer messages, cellphone and telephone calls and endless meetings.

Many of us are moving faster and faster and still knowing and feeling that we are accomplishing less and less. From that same research, twelve years ago 82% of US workers said they accomplished at least half their daily planned work, but that number has now fallen to 50%.

So has technology made work easier and quicker? Obviously not. By speeding everything up it has paradoxically slowed us down by fragmenting what we do, and in a lot of cases people being unable to distinguish the important from the so-called urgent.

Keeping Track Of How You Spend Your Time Is Not Time Management

For effective time management, you have to apply a time management system that will help you see where changes can and should be made.

Keeping track of your many daily activities and analyzing how you actually spend your time, can help you determine what changes you need to make.

This is where many people’s attempts at time management fail.

They look at a specific day in their Day-Timer or Outlook calendar or on their PDA which is packed with activities from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and don’t know how to really analyze the information.

So they fall back on the tried and true by eliminating a few activities and prioritizing others. But they haven’t really managed anything; they’ve just rearranged it.

All the perceived problems and frustrations of the day’s activities are still there – and at the end of their day they are still just as frazzled.

Manage Your Time With Time Management Categories

How do you actually manage time? The secret is in the categories.

Look at your calendar for tomorrow. It is probably already full of events and activities that you are hoping to accomplish. As you work, or afterward, you will be filling in the blank spaces.

Now look at the list and categorize it. How much time during your working day did you actually spend:

(a) Putting out fires. An unexpected phone call. A report that’s necessary for a meeting that should have been printed yesterday. A missing file that should be on your desk. How much of your day was actually spent in crisis mode? For most people, this is a negative category that drains their energy and interferes with their productivity.

(b) Dealing with interruptions. Phone calls and people dropping by your office will probably top the list when you’re assigning events to this category. Once again, for most people, this is a negative category because it interferes with (and sometimes kills) productivity.

Looking at and answering email falls into this category also. For me the analogy is talking to someone, but when the phone rings [and without even knowing who it is] picking up the phone and ignoring the person you are meeting with.

Email is similar to this. How many of us are working away on a task and hear the ‘ding’ as an email arrives and immediately look at it? How more productive it would be if we only had our email on for say one hour per day.

(c) Doing planned tasks. This is the most positive use of time during your work day. You are in control and are accomplishing what you intended to accomplish. Planned tasks can include phone calls, meetings with staff, even answering email – if these are tasks that you have put on your agenda.

(d) Working uninterrupted. You may not be working on a task you had planned to do, but you are getting to accomplish something, and for most people, this is a very productive, positive work mode.

(e) Uninterrupted downtime. Times during the work day that are used to re-energize and regroup. Lunch or breaks may count if they are uninterrupted. We all need a certain amount of uninterrupted downtime built into our day to be productive during work time.

Realign your effort into categories which produce effective results.

Use categories to analyze your work week. Go through the entries of each working day and categorize them. Keeping a running total at the bottom of each day will make it easy to see just how you’ve spent your time each day.

You now have the data you need to make changes to the way you spend your time.

Are you spending too much time putting out fires? Then you need to make the organizational or physical changes to prevent or defer these constant crises.

Do you lack sufficient time to be effective at completing major tasks or projects?

Finally, rearrange your effort to spend more time on your CSF’s – Critical Success Factors, and not busy work.

After all it is only by achieving your CSF’s that management or the Board will determine how effective you are in your role.

You won’t be evaluated on the fact that you received and answered about 46 emails a day – half of which were unsolicited!

If you do what you have always done, you’ll get what you have always gotten. - anon

Author: Denis Orme www.leader-success.com

Denis Orme http://www.leader-success.com

As Performance Leader of the Leadership Success Institute, http://www.leader-success.com he has been heavily recruited by start-up businesses through to Fortune 500 companies to analyze operations, develop and implement change management and repositioning strategies, and return organizations to sustainable profitable long-term growth.

Cited in Who's Who in Emerging Leaders, Who’s Who in Sales and Marketing and Who's Who in Industry and Commerce. He has received leadership awards from the American Lung Association, Business Volunteers for the Arts and the Greater Houston Partnership.

Time Clock Software - Why Your Small Company-Business Needs A Time Tracker

2007-11-29T23:33:00.000-08:00

Rules on attendance and punctuality are put in place to ensure work efficiency and maintain smooth work flow in the company. A good time clock software can greatly help human resource managers and employers in ensuring these rules are strictly implemented.

What exactly is a time clock software?

Time clock software products are computer programs that manage and keep daily time records of a company's employees, replacing the time-consuming manual timekeeping equipment used in the past. The data recorded on the software can facilitate the processing of payrolls and salaries. The software is great for companies with a large pool of employees.

Different types of time clock computer programs

A standard time clock software records employees' daily time records including, ‘time in’ and ‘time out.’ It can also keep track of incidences of undertime, overtime and tardiness. The more advanced payroll time clock software, on the other hand, can calculate an employee's total working hours for a specified duration. The software will then compute for its corresponding compensation. It is useful for facilitating salary management in output-centric companies.

Choose the best software

Make sure your computer meets the minimum requirements of the program that you are interested in purchasing. There are some programs that only run on Mac, so don’t buy them if you use Windows. You should also sample the features of a particular software program by using its trial version first. Trial versions of software programs are free for downloading on the Internet. This will help you test the program's features before making an actual purchase. Lastly, choose a software product that can easily be integrated into your existing payroll system for convenience. This also minimizes hardware and program incompatibilities.

Time Clock Software Products for Small and Medium Businesses

A complete Guide to TIME CLOCK SOFTWARE is available in Picky Guide, one of the fastest growing online magazines giving free consumer advice and product information.