What's New in TimeControl Version 8.5?
Here is more detail on some of what’s new and enhanced in this update:
New features and enhancements for all TimeControl editions
The all-new TimeControl BI
Our new TimeControl Business Intelligence Dashboard is an impressive addition to TimeControl. TimeControl BI allows administrators to create views of TimeControl data as it trends over weeks, months and years to provide a unique perspective in how the organization is working. It is available for both TimeControl on-premise and TimeControl Online as well as TimeControl Industrial on-premise and TimeControl Industrial Online. Just like the TimeControl Report Interface, TimeControl BI comes with its own viewer mode and designer mode and pre-existing templates to get you started.
See TimeControl.com/features/timecontrolbi for more details and examples.
Inline Debit/Credit
Inline Debit/Credit is a huge change to how our auditable Debit/Credit system works for post-posted adjustments. With Inline Debit/Credit, the changes to a posted timesheet are simply made as though the timesheet was still in draft mode. The Administrator or adjuster can add lines, change, remove or add to the existing values. The look and feel appear much simpler which will appeal to some users. In the background, however, TimeControl will still be creating the detailed Debit/Credit changes with negative values to offset lines that have to have their values reduced. The user can see the details changes at any time. Security for this feature will allow some users to use the Inline Debit/Credit option or not.
Inline Debit/Credit effects on PM Validation and Line Item Approval
Along with the new Inline Debit/Credit there is a major enhancement to how this affects both Project Manager Validation and Line Item Approval. Now, when changes are made to a posted timesheet with Inline Debit/Credit, as those changes are posted, they will shift the status of lines in PM Validation and Line Item Approval to pending. This will be a big help for those who do have done many adjustments and then had to go back to Line Item approvals and manually re-status the changes. This has the potential to dramatically streamline multi-level approvals when project managers, account managers, client approvers and more had to work through the line item and project manager approval aspect of their approval process.
TimeRequest Approval Release Path
TimeRequest has had a major upgrade with the new TimeRequest Release Path Wizard. Now, not only can the approval workflow for a TimeRequest be different from the timesheet workflow, it can follow rules for the type of request. For example, perhaps personal time off should go to an employee’s direct supervisor but a vacation request goes to someone in the HR department. The new TimeRequest Approval Release Path functionality can handle that. It can differentiate between different types of charges and make rules for how approvals will move based on who is making the request and the category of request being made.
TimeRequest Validation Rules
Along with the changes in TimeRequest Approvals comes a feature new to TimeControl. Our extensive Validation Rules system which already included the ability to create definitions of what would make an acceptable timesheet or crew timesheet has been extended to include TimeRequests. This can serve to catch obvious errors such as “no more than 8 hours can be requested in a single day for vacation” but can also catch much more complex requests such as “you cannot request more vacation than you have earned in your vacation bank”.
Link to Primavera includes overtime options
We have enhanced the Link to all Primavera editions to allow TimeControl Rate codes which represent overtime to be used to move overtime hours and costs into the Primavera overtime fields instead of just total hours.
Timesheet Optional Grid Lines
We try to keep up with the times and when TimeControl 8 went through a major update to its interface, we did our best to adopt the look and feel standards of the software industry. That being said, sometimes the old way is the good way. So, we’ve brought back the ability of TimeControl’s timesheet to have grid lines once again. It’s an option that was often request. It will be optional by user so those who like the look and feel the way it was can keep it. Those who want to go back to grid lines on the grid, can have that. What could be fairer?
Support for LDAP Authentication for on-premise implementations
Our TimeControl on-premise and TimeControl Industrial on-premise clients have a change for something under the covers. We have now enhanced how TimeControl links to its database so that clients who wish to use their own internal Active Directory or other LDAP to authenticate the database user for TimeControl can do so.
New features and enhancements for TimeControl Industrial
Line Item approval for Materials, and other non-labor categories
Line Item approval is a popular aspect of TimeControl Industrial and TimeControl Industrial Online and has allowed our Matrix Approval Process for Labor Actuals™ to be a key part of the product for decades. Now this same type of matrix approvals extends to non-labor entries such as Materials, Equipment and Production Values. Not only can an entire Materials Entry sheet be approved in an organizational fashion but each line item in it can appear in the Line Item Approvals module prior to its export into an external system.
Extended rates can now be deactivated
The Extended Rates functionality is already remarkable but for those who use such rates often there has been a need to be able to retire extended rate combinations when they are no longer needed. To facilitate this we have added an Expiry Date field and an Inactive field. This will serve to make those combinations no longer available during the posting process.
New features and enhancements for TimeControl Project
We’ve made numerous enhancements to TimeControl Project, our premium edition of TimeControl Online and TimeControl Industrial Online.
Change the default View
Having to start TimeControl Project every time from the list of Views was not the best for those who consistently work in a particular View such a project board. So, in the MyAccount area, we’ve created a Default TimeControl Project View. You can only select those Views to which you have access of course. Then, when you select TimeControl Project, you will be automatically brought directly to that View. Closing your Default View will bring you back to the familiar list of Views.
Ability to export a Board View to Excel
TimeControl Sheets Views could already be exported but we have added the ability to export a Board View to Excel as well. Simply select More from the menu and the field values will export to an Excel spreadsheet format.
Ability to export a GANTT View to Excel
We have added the ability to export a GANTT View to Excel bringing all available fields to an Excel export file.
Create a Sheets View independent of the Posted Timesheet Table
TimeControl’s Sheets Views have been extended significantly by removing the constraint on what a Sheets View must be based on. Now Sheets Views can be created independent of the Posted Timesheet Table.
Ability to Sort cards in a Board View
Cards had been sorted in the order they were created but sorting ability has now been added to Boards Views so that you can sort them as you wish.
Ability to filter in a Board View using UDFs
Filtering capabilities within a Board has been extended to include UDFs as possible filtering criteria.
Show recent activity log for changes in a Board View
We have created audit logs of all activity on tasks in a Board View. This will allow users to quickly see who made changes on this task and what changes were made.
See the number of cards in the column header of a Board View
Knowing how many cards are in the column seemed like such a useful element of information that we decided to add it to the column header of all columns in Board Views.
Hover over a card in a board shows details of the task
Having to open a card to see all the details was not the most effective method so we have created hover capabilities. If you hover your mouse over a card, you’ll see the details in a popup.
Improve the default colors of a Board View
Cards could have their colors changed but we thought the default colors were not the best so we’ve taken some time to improve the default colors.
Save a card at a specific position on a Board View
Just sorting cards in a Board View didn’t seem like enough so we’ve added the ability save a card to a specific position. This way if you want to pin something very important to the top of a column, you can do so regardless of the sort.
Add @Mention support so a user will receive task change notification
When someone changes something on a task in a Board, someone else can now be @mentioned. Simply by using the @ symbol in a comment or description, that user will receive a notification either via email or TimeControl notification or both. As the @ symbol is entered, TimeControl Project will attempt to match the character-by-charcter typing after it to any of the TimeControl users.
Audit trails of a Task in a Board View
With possible changes being made to a task in a Board View, TimeControl now has the ability to trace all changes. This may be important for auditing purposes or just as a supervisory job of determining how a task’s work has progressed and who has been involved with it.
Ability to change the fields on a GANTT View
The GANTT View now has the ability to configure which fields appear on the left-hand side on each line. This will give a great deal of flexibility in creating and using GANTT Views by making the critical text information directly available on screen.
And…
There’s so much more. Performance improvements, particularly for large volume systems, security reviews, general improvements across TimeControl to the user interface, improvements to Batch Debit/Credit pre-posting recalculations, improvements to timesheet list filtering and maintenance upgrades of the free TimeControl Mobile App, support of start/stop times in the TimeControl Report Designer, and numerous improvements in how the TimeControl API processes requests.
How to upgrade
If you have a current service agreement for TimeControl or TimeControl Industrial you can download the new version on the support/updates page. The free TimeControl Mobile App will be updated on the Apple Store and Google Play automatically. For subscribers to TimeControl Online, TimeControl Industrial Online and TimeControl Project, these systems will be updated automatically in the coming weeks. Subscribers will receive a notification wihtin their system at least one week prior to the upgrade.
For more information on the latest TimeControl features or our upgrade services, please fill in a contact request at email info@hms.ca .