Managing Employees
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Employees


You need to create an employee account for each user that needs to record time or log into Pacific Timesheet. Employee accounts are where you specify the login name, email address, timesheet template and other properties.


Note: You can change the terminology for 'Employee' to suit your organization's needs. The Terminology topic has more information.


Employee accounts have the following properties:


Property

Description

Login Name

The employee login name. This is required, and must be a unique value up to 80 characters. The login name is NOT case-sensitive.


Note: If you are integrating with an LDAP server or an Active Directory server then you will want this value to match the login name used for those accounts. See the Security help topic for more details.

Password

The employee password, up to 40 characters. The password IS case-sensitive. The complexity of the password is controlled by application's security settings. See the Security help topic for more details.


Note: If you are integrating with an LDAP server or an Active Directory server then the employee will use the password configured in those accounts. See the Security help topic for more details.

First Name

The employee's first name, up to 80 characters.

Last Name

The employee's last name. This field is required and can be up to 80 characters.

ID

The employee ID, up to 80 characters. This value is not required, but if a value is entered it must be unique for all employees. The value here is commonly used when synchronizing with external systems such as payroll processing.

Status

The employee status, either Active, Inactive or Locked.


Note: Accounts can become automatically locked after too many unsuccessful login attempts in a short period of time. See the Security help topic for more details.


Note: Locked or inactive employee accounts are not counted when checking your Pacific Timesheet license to see if you have reached your maximum number of employee accounts. You can have as many Locked or Inactive employees as you require. For instance, when an employee leaves the company you will generally just change their status to Inactive so that you can retain their historical information, rather than deleting the employee account.

First Day

The first day of employment. Specifying a value can be important for several reasons:


- The employee will not be allowed to enter time for dates prior to their First Day value.


- The employee will not be allowed to submit leave requests for dates prior to their First Day value.


- This value will affect balance accruals that vary based on the years employed (see the Balance and Accrual Rules topic for more information).

Last Day

The last day of employment. The employee will not be allowed to enter time for dates after to this date. It is good practice to set this value when inactivating an employee.

Last Login

This is a read-only field showing the date and time of the employee's last successful login.

Photograph

An optional employee photograph. Supported formats are PNG, GIF and JPG, and it is recommended the image be square and approximately 180x180 pixels. You can specify an image up to 500x500 pixels, but it will be scaled to 180x180 in web pages. Also, the file size must be no greater than 48K bytes. Note that setting the photograph results in a copy of it being stored in the application database, so you do not have to maintain the photograph in the same location that you used when uploading it.


You can bulk set employee photographs by using an auto-import file. You can upload all of your employee photograph files to an FTP site, then send an employee CSV file with two columns as the following example shows:


Login Name,Photograph

employee1,emp1-photo.jpg

employee2,emp2-photo.jpg

...


When the auto import directory is scanned and the CSV file is read, it will look for each photograph file in the same directory as the CSV file and set the user's photograph. You can optionally put the photographs in a subdirectory, e.g.


Login Name,Photograph

employee1,photos/emp1-photo.jpg

employee2,photos/emp2-photo.jpg

...


When the CSV file is processed it will look for files in the "photos" subdirectory within the directory containing the CSV file.


Alternatively, if you have an existing repository of photographs you can use URLs for the Photograph field values in the import file, e.g.


Login Name,Photograph

employee1,http://xyz.com/images/photo1.jpg

employee2,ftp://xyz.com/pub/foto2.gif

...


Supported URL formats for the Photograph field in the import file are HTTP, HTTPS and FTP. Another advantage of using a URL is that you can manually import the file via the web interface, rather than using the auto-import directory. Note that setting the photograph results in a copy of it being stored in the application database, so you do not have to maintain the photograph in the same location that you used when importing it.

Permission Level

The permission level determines the maximum permissions an employee has for the application. The exact permissions may depend upon which objects a user is assigned to, and the permission level they have for that object. For example, an employee may be given a default permission level of Manager, but will not be able to manage a project unless they are assigned to it and given the role of Manager for that project.


When editing an employee, the list of permission levels will be limited to only active permission levels. This list will be further limited depending upon the default permission level of the logged-in user. For instance, an Administrator will see the full list of active permission levels, whereas a Manager will not see the Administrator role as it is considered to have a higher security level.


For more information on permission levels see the Security help topic.

Employee Type

The type of employee, for example Non-exempt, Exempt, Hourly, Salaried, etc. This property is essentially a label used for categorizing your various types employees. The list of employee types can be customized from the Employees > Employee Types page, available under the More menu on the Employees page.

Policy

The policy for this employee. Policies are sets of rules affecting time entry, leave balances, overtime handling, etc. and are managed from the Policies page under the System tab.

Job Title

The optional job title for this employee, up to 80 characters.

Reporting Group

The primary or reporting group for this user. This group will be the default group associated with employee's time and asset entries. For instance, whenever an employee saves their timesheet, the employee's current reporting group value will be stored with each time entry.


Note: Reporting Group can be thought of as Division, Cost Center, Charge Code, etc. depending upon your organization. You can rename 'Reporting Group' from the Terminology page under the System tab.

Default Bill Rate

The default bill rate. The rate can be specified as either a named rate or a custom numeric value. Named rates are configured from the Rate Options page. The current bill rate, if non-zero, is used when a timesheet is saved to compute the bill amount for each time entry.

Default Pay Rate

The default pay rate. The rate can be specified as either a named rate or a custom numeric value. Named rates are configured from the Rate Options page. The current pay rate, if non-zero, is used when a timesheet is saved to compute the pay amount for each time entry.

Salary

The annual salary for non-hourly employees. The salary, if non-zero, is used to compute an effective pay rate when a timesheet is submitted. You should therefore only specify a pay rate or a salary, not both. If both are specified the pay rate is used and the salary ignored.


Note that the effective pay rate is based on the total hours for the timesheet period. Since the total hours is only accurate when the timesheet is submitted, the effective pay rate is not computed until the timesheet is submitted. You can also have the effective pay rate computed before a submit by specifying the 'Scheduled Hours' property. Then, when a timesheet is saved (but not submitted) the scheduled hours will be used instead of the total hours on the timesheet to give an approximate effective pay rate. Once the timesheet is submitted, however, the total hours will be used to give an accurate effective pay rate.

Scheduled Work Days

The days of the week the employee is scheduled to work, for example Monday-Friday. Specifying a value can be important for several reasons:


- Holidays, when automatically added to timesheets, will only put hours on days marked as a work day. See the Schedule Rules topic for more information.


- Leave requests, when added to timesheets after approval, will only put hours on days marked as a work day. See the Schedule Rules topic for more information.


- Time entry rules that require a minimum number of hours each work day will only check on days marked as a work day. See the Time Entry Rules topic for more information.

Scheduled Hours

The number of hours the employee is scheduled to work each week and each work day. The scheduled hours values affect the following areas of the system:


- When leave requests and holidays are automatically added to the employee's timesheet the Scheduled Hours Per Day will be used to determine how many hours to put on the timesheet. If no value is specified, the Hours Per Day property on the System > General page is used. See the Schedule Rules help topic for more information on how holidays and leave requests can be configured to be automatically added to timesheets.


- The scheduled hours value is used when displaying how many days of balance are available on the employee's home page. If no value is specified, the Hours Per Day property on the System > General page is used.


- Percent Time Entry timesheets need the Scheduled Hours Per Week value in order to convert percentages to hours. See the Templates topic for more information on timesheet templates.

Scheduled Start

The time of day the employee is scheduled to start work or "punch in". The scheduled start time affects the following areas of the system:


- Employee lateness is determined based on the scheduled start value, and can trigger the sending of an email notice. See the Notices topic for information about sending late email notices.


- When adding a new row to an attendance timesheet (one that has start and finish times) the start time will default to the employee's scheduled start time.


- If you configure rounding rules to round punches to the scheduled start time then you will need to specify the employee's scheduled start time. See the section on rounding in the Time Entry Rules help topic for more information.


- If you are keeping track of absence points you will need to specify the scheduled start time. See the Absence Points Rules help topic for more information.

Scheduled Finish

The time of day the employee is scheduled to finish work or "punch out". The scheduled finish time affects the following areas of the system:


- If you configure rounding rules to round punches to the scheduled finish time then you will need to specify the employee's scheduled finish time. See the section on rounding in the Time Entry Rules help topic for more information.


- If you are keeping track of absence points you will need to specify the scheduled finish time. See the Absence Points Rules help topic for more information.

Email

The email address, up to 80 characters.

Phone

The phone number, up to 40 characters.

Mobile

The mobile phone number, up to 40 characters.

Fax

The fax number, up to 40 characters.

Timesheet Template

The timesheet template for this employee. Different employees can have different timesheet templates, for example hourly workers may use a template that has fields for tracking their in and out times on specific tasks, whereas salaried workers might use a template that only requires tracking the total hours spent on each task. Timesheet templates are managed from the Templates page under the System tab.


A blank value is allowed for the timesheet template, but the employee will not get a "My Timesheet" tab when they log in to the application. This may be desired in some cases, such as for an administrative account, or an employee who needs to log into the application to review and run reports on other employee's timesheets, but does not need record their own time.

Timesheet Memory

New timesheets are created at midnight of the start of every new time period. The timesheet memory setting allows you to specify whether rows and hours are carried forward from the previous timesheet period when the new timesheet is created. This can make it easier for your employees to track their time if they commonly work on the same tasks as appropriate rows will already be on the timesheet.


The following timesheet memory options are available:

None

New timesheets will be blank: no rows or hours will be carried forward from the previous time period. Note that even if no rows or hours are carried forward from the previous period, the application will still keep track of recently used projects, tasks, materials, etc. in order to facilitate data entry.

Rows

New timesheets will have the same rows as the timesheet for the previous period, but all hours fields will be blank. This is the default value for employees.

Rows and Hours

New timesheets will have the same rows and hours as the timesheet for the previous period. Only work hours are carried forward - leave (or paid time off) rows will carry forward, but not the hours.


Regardless of the timesheet memory setting, employees can manually copy a previous timesheet via an option in the Tools menu on their timesheet. You can hide this option from employees by turning off the "Can copy previous timesheet hours" timesheet permission for the employee's permission level. See the Permission Levels topic for more information.

Hours Format

The choice of how the employee enters hours, either decimal format (for example 7.50) or hours:minutes (for example 7:30).


Note: This setting does not affect the time format - whether a 12 or 24 hour clock is used is determined by the employee's locale setting.

Locale

The locale is a geographic/language region that determines the following:

  • The language displayed, e.g. English, French, Spanish, etc.
  • The formatting of dates and times. Note that in locations that use 12 hour time (e.g. the United States) you can optionally override the locale preference and use 24 hour time. The employee can change this on their Home > Preferences page.
  • The formatting of numbers
  • The list of company holidays for the selected location. Holidays  can be configured to only apply to employees in specific time zones. See the Holidays help topic for more information.


Note: The application will always assume the employee is in this locale, rather than pick up the locale from the browser, for instance.

Time Zone

The employee's time zone. When timesheet data is saved it will be relative to this time zone.


Note: The application will always assume the employee is in this time zone, rather than pick up the time zone from the browser, for instance.

Approver

This is the primary approver for the employee. A primary approver can review and approve or reject this employee's time entries and leave requests (depending upon the approver's permission level).


Primary approvers can also receive email reminders and notices when there are timesheets or requests that need approving, or when employees are late submitting their time. See the Notices help topic for more information.


Note: Only employees with permission to approve will appear in the list of possible approvers. If you do not see an employee in the list then you may need to change that employee's permission level, or enable the appropriate approval permission for their permission level. See the Security help topic for more information.

Approver Backup

This is the backup approver for this employee. The backup approver has the same capabilities as the primary approver, but will not receive the approval email notices that are sent to the primary approver. It is a good idea to assign a backup approver for times when the primary approver is away or otherwise unavailable.


Notes


Clicking the Notes disclosure triangle allows you to review and enter notes about the employee (up to 2000 characters).


Current Balances


Clicking the Current Balances disclosure triangle shows the list of current balances for the employee. You can edit employee balances by clicking the current balance link. The Employee Balances topic has more information. Note that employee balances cannot be edited unless your Permission Level has the "Can edit advanced properties" Employee permission checked.


Group Membership


Clicking the Group Membership disclosure triangle shows the list of groups the employee is a member of. The Employee Groups topic has more information about managing groups.

Calendar


Clicking the Calendar disclosure triangle shows the employee's calendar of holidays, leave requests and other events.


Importing/Exporting Employees


You can import and export employee data using CSV (Comma Separated Values) format files from the Employees tab. When importing data a good way to start is to do an export first - this will generate a file you can use as a  template. Once you modify this file (including removing unnecessary columns) to have your new data you can then import it back into the application. See the Employee CSV Format help topic for more information on the import file format.


Note: The default format is CSV but you can change this from the Home > Preferences page.


Importing/Exporting Employee Balances


You can import and export employee balance data using CSV (Comma Separated Values) format files from the Employees tab. When importing data a good way to start is to do an export first - this will generate a file you can use as a  template. Once you modify this file (including removing unnecessary columns) to have your new data you can then import it back into the application. See the Employee Balances CSV Format help topic for more information on the import file format.


Note: The default format is CSV but you can change this from the Home > Preferences page.


Custom Fields


Like all major objects in the application, you can customize them by creating new fields. Choosing the 'Manage Custom Fields' option on the Employees tab will let you create a variety of new fields or properties specific to your needs.


Related Topics