Q. We have a bet at our office on how you pronounce the name of your Vetro clock. Is it “Vee-tro” or “Vet-ro”?

A. It’s “Vet-ro,” but the clock won’t mind if you call it “Vee-tro.” “Vetro” means “glass” in Italian, and we chose it because it signifies the clock’s sleek black touchscreen (and sounds cool).

Q. At the bottom of my TimePilot Central screen it says “Transactions need to be extracted!” What does that mean and how do I do it?

A. That message is telling you that transactions—the individual clock-ins and clock-outs by your employees—are building up in your database. When your pay period ends, we strongly recommend that you “extract” your transactions; in other words, that you remove them from Current Transactions and put them into a separate file. This May 2012 article will give you all the info you need.

Q. Our old timeclock system allowed us to set shift restrictions; for instance, if a shift started at 7 a.m., an employee's work time would begin at 7 even if the employee punched in before 7. Can TimePilot do this?

A. Yes. We call that feature “Snap-To” and it’s available in the Professional and Enterprise versions (but not the Retail version) of our software. There’s a detailed description of Snap-To and how to use it in our January 2012 newsletter.

Q. We have TimePilot Extreme, and we've noticed that our iButton Receptor only works with the computer the program was first loaded onto. How can I get it to function on another computer as well? If the first PC were to go down, I don't want to be unable to assign iButtons to new employees.

A. Yes, you can set up the iButton Receptor (also known as the Blue Dot Receptor) to work on other computers. Choose either of these two methods to install the driver you'll need:

Method 1: If your TimePilot software CD is handy, insert it into the second computer's CD drive. When the installation screen appears, click "Install TimePilot Software." On the next screen, click "TimePilot Installation Menu," and on the screen that follows, click "Blue Dot Receptor" and follow the instructions that appear.

Method 2: On the second computer, go to the TimePilot web site's Downloads page and follow the instructions to download and install the Blue Dot Receptor driver.


Maybe time travelers can't figure out Facebook: A team of scientists at Michigan Technological University has conducted a semi-whimsical search for evidence of time travelers, and, unfortunately, didn’t find any. Their theory was that important events that would be known far in the future might be mentioned by accident by time travelers visiting the past before the events occurred. Their internet search for such references turned up nothing. For instance, they looked for references to “Pope Francis” before March 2013, because Pope Francis, who was elected then, is the first Pope to have chosen that name.

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Today is the longest day in history: Because of tidal friction from the sun and moon, the earth’s rotation is slowing down by 1.7 milliseconds each century, creating longer and longer days. Dinosaurs lived through a 23-hour day; 140 million years from now, a day will be 25 hours long. (Editor's note: To answer the obvious question: Yes, TimePilot systems 140 million years from now will be able to handle the 25-hour day!) 

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Welcome!
TimePilot newsletter No. 32

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: Vetro? Veetro?; extract those transactions.
  • Lead story: More "off-the-wall" ways to use TimePilot.
  • Cool Stuff: Bobble Brush Timer.
  • The Deal: $40 off 1-Year Support Agreement.

More 'off-the-wall' ways to use TimePilot

TimePilot timeclocks do a great job tracking the number of hours your employees work, but they can be quite useful for other tasks, too. Here are two examples:

Example 1

The Challenge:

Federal health and safety regulations require that Acme Company keep a record of the amount of time each employee spends in a particular work area. We’ll call it “Safety Room A.” There are two doors to Safety Room A, and employees can enter and leave by either one. The company had posted clipboards with “In Time” and “Out Time” sheets at each door, but they just weren’t doing the job. The company uses TimePilot Vetro clocks to track overall work hours, so employees carry their iButtons with them.

The Solution:

  1. Install a TimePilot Vetro clock at each of the two entrances to Safety Room A.
  2. The manager sets up a second company in the TimePilot Central software and calls it “Safety Room A.” He or she then assigns a second iButton—for this example we’ll choose red iButtons, but to avoid confusion they can be any color except black—to each employee who will be spending time in Safety Room A. (TimePilot sells iButtons in 11 colors besides basic black.)
  3. When an employee enters the work area, they’ll tap their red iButton to the Vetro clock at an entrance and when they leave that area they tap the red iButton to a Vetro at an exit.
  4. When data is collected from the Vetro clocks, it will be easy for supervisors to run reports from the “Safety Room A” company that will contain the employee’s name and exactly when her or she entered the room and left the room to satisfy federal regulations.

Example 2

The Challenge:

XYZ Grinding Co. has a precision surface grinding machine that needs to be lubricated after every 100 hours of use. The pencil-and-paper method of keeping track of the hours has been hit-or-miss, and XYZ Grinding needs more accuracy.

The Solution:

  1. XYZ attaches a TimePilot Tap+ timeclock to the machine with Velcro.
  2. A supervisor registers an iButton in TimePilot Central and assigns the iButton the name of the grinder (“Grinder No. 1”) and hangs the iButton next to the Tap+ clock.
  3. The supervisor returns to TimePilot Central and sets the software to issue an alert when the grinder has been used for 95 hours. For more on alerts, see this article that appears in our August 2012 newsletter.
  4. The machine operator taps the iButton to the Tap clock’s “In” probe when the machine starts up and taps it to the “Out” probe when it stops.
  5. Every few days, the supervisor collects the data from the Tap clock. When the clock shows that usage has hit 95 hours, he or she starts planning a time to lubricate the machine.

This month’s special offer
to TimePilot newsletter readers:

1 Year of Support

This month's special deal is one year of phone or email support for $89—that's more than 30% off our regular price!    

Special price for newsletter readers:

Just $89!

(save $40 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.

Bobble Brush Timer

If your children use traditional toothbrushes, they probably seldom brush for the full 2 minutes that dentists recommend. The Bobble Brush Timer, a weighted toothbrush stand with integrated timer, makes it fun.

The $9.99 device comes in three colors and holds a toothbrush upright until it’s needed. When the child starts brushing, they turn the base to start the 2-minute timer. When the bell rings, it’s time to stop. Tip: Put a dot at the 1-minute mark on the timer to prompt your child to switch from brushing their upper teeth to brushing their lower teeth.



Bobble Brush Timer