Q. We are looking to update to the Enterprise version of TimePilot, and our IT department asked me to ask if the product is able run on a virtual server. Is it?

A. Yes, the Enterprise edition of our software is compatible when running on a virtual server.

Q. Can the software be installed on more than one computer if we are NOT using our network?

A. Yes, you can install TimePilot Central on as many computers as you want without a network, but you won’t see much: Only the computer that is also running the TimePilot database will be able to see the clock-ins and clock-outs. You’ll see the benefit when you get a network, though. When you have a network and the database is placed on the network’s server, you can install TimePilot Central on as many computers as you want and all can see and work with the data (if they have the password).

Q. Will TimePilot work on our Windows XP computers?

A. Yes. But be aware that Windows XP is 12 years old—ancient in computer terms—and Microsoft will stop supporting it on April 8. That doesn’t mean your computer running XP will stop working, but it does mean that Microsoft will no longer issue security updates, which could leave your PC more vulnerable to security risks and viruses—even if you are using an antivirus program. Also, as more software and hardware manufacturers continue to optimize for more recent versions of Windows, you can expect to encounter greater numbers of apps and devices that do not work with Windows XP.

Q. Why don't you have a system that uses a fingerprint scanner?

A. We just don't think they're reliable enough. One fingerprint timeclock manufacturer suggests that employees put "scan enhancer" liquid on their fingers before clocking in. Here's a quote from the maker of the liquid: "A lot of times the fingerprint quality is poor because the finger doesn't make good contact with the scanner glass." We agree, but we don't think the solution is to make employees put chemicals on their fingers. By the way, these are the same chemicals used by police to get fingerprints from dead bodies.

Q. I have TimePilot Vetro and a new computer I want to install the software on. However I’ve misplaced the install disk and I don’t have my serial number. Is there any way I could retrieve one?

A. Yes. Contact our Support technicians at support@TimePilot.com or 630-879-6400. They can verify your ownership and set you up to download the software. (You can also order a CD if you prefer.)


What's that per hour? In 1904, the Central California Redwood Company mills paid $30 to $50 a month and board for an 11-hour workday. The time worked was carefully set. When one man signed up for work at one of the mills, the timekeeper took his watch and hung it in a case with dozens of other watches. “The whistle blows at 6, 12, 1 and 6,” he said. “You won’t have any need for a watch here.”

Source

Drip, drip, drip: Sundials were an ancient way to mark time during daylight, but how was time measured at night? The clepsydra, or water clock, was perhaps the most accurate timekeeping device of the ancient world and only surpassed when the pendulum clock was invented in 17th Century Europe. The water clock—a specimen of which, found at the Egyptian Temple of Ammon in Karnak, dated back to 1400 B.C.—was shaped like a bowl with a small hole in the bottom. Water dripped at a nearly constant rate from the hole. Inside the vessel were markings to measure the passage of "hours" as the water level reached them.

Source

And not a single oscillation more! A second is officially defined as 9,192,631,770 (that’s 9 billion, 192 million, 631 thousand, 770) oscillations of a cesium-133 atom in an atomic clock.

Source

Welcome!
TimePilot newsletter No. 31

Whether you're a current or future TimePilot customer, we're glad to see you.

Every month we'll offer news about TimePilot products, tips on how to use them more efficiently, some of the "cool stuff" our employees have come across and a special deal available only to those who receive this newsletter!

In this issue:

  • TimePilot Q&A: Enterprise on a virtual server; bad biometrics.
  • TimePilot Best Practices: All about Reverse Extraction.
  • Cool Stuff: RightPSI.
  • The Deal: 10 additional iButtons when you buy a Vetro system.

TimePilot Best Practices

All About Reverse Extraction

What's Reverse Extraction?

Reverse Extraction takes the clock-in and clock-out data that you extracted into a separate file and dumps the data back into Current Transactions. This is commonly used if you entered the wrong start or end dates of a pay period during extraction and find yourself missing some of the period's clock-ins or clock outs. Reverse Extraction gives you a chance to "start over" and re-extract with the correct start and end dates.

A little background: When your clock-ins and clock-outs are downloaded from your clocks to the TimePilot software, they are kept in “Current Transactions.” At the end of the pay period, you “extract” just the clock-ins and clock-outs that occurred during the time period and put them in a separate database. From there, you can run reports, make corrections to individual transactions, etc.

To visualize the concept, imagine the database is a huge pot. Every day, the TimePilot timeclocks dump more clock-ins and clock-outs into the pot. Now it’s the end of a two-week pay period, so you want to remove just clock-ins and clock-outs for the last two weeks from the pot. With the TimePilot Central software, you “extract” just those transactions and move them to a separate, smaller pot. In the smaller pot, it’s much easier to see what you have and it keeps the big pot from eventually overflowing.

 

So let's say you've extracted your pay period, but by mistake you only specified the start and end dates for the first week of a two-week pay period. That means that your extracted pay period contains only your employees' clock-in and clock-out data for the first week of the period, while the clock-in and clock-out data for the second week is still sitting in Current Transactions. You don't want your employees to be paid for only one week when they worked two. What do you do?

To get things back to normal, you’ll need to move the transactions from the erroneous past pay period back into the Current Transactions “pot,” and then extract both weeks of transactions.

  1. Start TimePilot Central, then click the “Periods” menu, then “Open Past Time Period.”
  2. Find the erroneously extracted pay period (you’ll be able to tell by the dates) and open it. You’ll know it’s a past time period by the yellow bar across the top of the screen (the bar is green in Current Transactions).
  3. Click the “Administrative” menu, then “Reverse Extraction.” Click OK.
  4. The transactions that were in the extracted pay period will be dumped back into Current Transactions. Please note that if you have changed any settings in TimePilot Central since the erroneous extraction, those settings will be changed back to the way they were just before you extracted. For instance, if you deleted an employee after the first week of the pay period, that employee will be back in the list of employees, because otherwise his or her transactions would not have a name attached to them.
  5. Now extract your pay period as you normally would, entering the correct start and end dates of the pay period.

This month’s special offer
to TimePilot newsletter readers:

Buy a Vetro, get 10 more iButtons

For a limited time, when you buy a Vetro timeclock at the link below, you'll receive 10 additional iButtons, bringing you to a total of 20 and saving you $59!

Special price for newsletter readers:

Just $349!

(save $59 over list price)

To learn more about the deal, click here, visit www.TimePilot.com/newsletter/newsletter4.htm or call us at 1-630-879-6400.

Every once in a while, our employees come across “cool stuff.”
This is where they share their finds.

RightPSI

RightPSI is an easy and inexpensive way to check the air pressure in your car, truck, motorcycle or bicycle tires.

It screws on to your tire, replacing the valve cap, and changes color if the tire runs low on air or is overinflated. When you’re inflating your tires, you pump right through the RightPSI’s cap, so the device can tell you when you have exactly the right pressure.

The maker of the RightPSI is raising money to produce the product—which has won the Popular Mechanics Editor's Choice Award for Outstanding





Achievement in New Product Design and Innovation—on Kickstarter. There is a variety of choices: two for $15, four for $25, etc.

RightPSI on Kickstarter