Happy Holidays!

'Tis the season to be introducing enhancements to your Spokeware timekeeping system! 

Time and labor management is not immune to the frenzy that comes with the Holiday season. From Vacation and Holiday pay to car trouble and sick days, employee management can be stressful this time of the year. We are happy to inform you of a few new features designed to make timesheet review and approval a little bit easier. As always, enhancements are made with you in mind and your continued feedback is welcomed and appreciated. If you have any questions, please contact your friendly Support team. 

Daily Entry Acknowledgment: Each Spokeware timesheet is approved once before it becomes available for import to payroll. For those that manage a number of employees, waiting until the end of a timesheet period to review and approve timesheets can easily become overwhelming. These managers often adopt a strategy of daily review to limit the amount of work required at the end of the period (not to mention to keep current on labor cost and pending Overtime). The only problem is that it can become difficult to remember which entries have (and which have not) been reviewed come time for final approval. 

There is now ability to flag each hourly entry as reviewed. When viewing timesheet details, you will now see a check box in the Entry Date column of each of these entries. After reviewing and mentally confirming or approving the entry, you can simply check this flag. The next time you navigate to the timesheet, the flag will have been replaced by a green check mark denoting the entry has been reviewed and approved. If the entry is updated for any reason, the check mark will be removed and it can be acknowledged again.  

**Please note: Daily Acknowledgment is not required for final approval. It is simply a tool to use as a reminder of what has and has not yet been reviewed.

Timesheet Entry Notes: Managers often need to add an entry to an employee timesheet for various reasons. Perhaps an employee forgets to punch in and out for a shift or a new hire does not yet know their punch process and credentials. Whatever the reason may be, it would be useful to attach notes to these entries for reference. 

There is now ability to add a Note when adding a timesheet entry. The note will display in the Audit column of the entry itself.

There is not currently ability to add a Note to an existing entry. This functionality wll be expanded upon in the future.

Have a happy and safe Holiday Season!

Daylight Saving Time

It is our pleasure to remind you that your Spokeware timekeeping system automatically accounts for changes in local time due to Daylight Saving Time (DST). For those respecting DST, an hour will be gained on the morning of Sunday, November 3rd. We encourage you to spend that extra hour at leisure, knowing your timesheets will accurately capture worked time for anyone on the job during the changing of clocks. 

For those who do work during the transition, all punch in/out times will reflect the change and total hours worked will calculate accurately. For example, Sally Swanson begins her shift at 10PM CST. She ends the shift at 4AM CST (after local clocks have been set back). The timesheet will correctly reflect 7 hours worked. 

If you have any questions about DST accomodations or time zone display in general, please contact Support. 

Override Default Hourly Rate

We are happy to introduce the latest software enhancement released to your Spokeware timekeeping system. If you have any questions or would like to take advantage of new functionality, please reach out to your friendly support representative.

Overriding Default Hourly Rate by Entry: Currently, all time entries in Spokeware are tied to an earning code. When those hours are approved and imported to payroll, the rate associated with that earning code is pulled from the payroll system. We have received feedback that there are scenarios in which designated timesheet managers would like to override the default rate when adding a timesheet entry (without using a different earning code). 

We have added the ability for authorized users to override default employee rate when adding a timesheet entry. Users granted access will see new "Rate" fields within the timesheet. When adding an entry, they will have the option to enter a rate, which will then be tied to that entry (and will override the default rate displaying). Once an overriding rate has been entered, it will display in the timesheet "Rate" column. 

*Please Note: 
1. Users not granted access will not see any rates
2. If an entry is added without an overriding rate, nothing will display in the Rate column within the timesheet
3. There is not currently ability to edit the Rate tied to existing entries

If you would like to grant this ability to any users, please reach out to Support.

Open Punches and New Punch Option

It is our pleasure to present enhancements recently made available to your Spokeware timekeeping environment. If you have any questions, please contact your support representative.

Management of Open Punches: Prior to the latest release, admin users managing timesheets were able to add and update closed entries only (those entries with clock in and clock out time both defined). When employees missed punches and/or informed managers of incorrect punches during a shift that was not yet closed, the admin user would need to wait until that entry was closed to correct it.

We have now introduced ability to both edit and add open entries. If an entry is open, it will appear in red as usual. When a user makes an Update that does not close the entry, they will receive a note stating "You have not completely specified in and out times. Are you sure you want to proceed?" When they click Ok, the update will be saved.

When adding an entry, there is a new flag available entitled "Still Punched In." When this is checked, the entry will be added with only the Time In specified. When the employee clocks out at the end of their shift, the entry will be closed.

Hours/Earnings by Date Range: The Hours/Earnings by Date Range Report has been limited to a date range spanning no more than 60 days. This was by design to ensure the data-intensive report did not crash if run for too large of a dataset. We've expanded this range limitation to 1 year to give some more flexibility in reporting. Please note the report may take a little while to generate if run for a large date range, depending on the number of employees and timesheet entries being reported on.

Simple Punch Page Option: As you may know, we have various punch capture methods designed to cater to different business needs and preferences. We have introduced a new punch capture option devoid of some of the other punch page bells and whistles, for those users who would like an even simpler and quicker way for employees to clock in and out. This page provides an on-screen keypad that the employee will use to enter a unique identifier they have been assigned. They can enter their numeric identifer via their keyboard or using the on-screen keypad with a touch screen or mouse. They then simply hit or click Enter. If the employee is not currently clocked in, it will clock them in. If they are currently punched in, it will clock them out.

Please Note: This punch method does not allow Go To Break or other declarations of the action being taken.

If you would like to learn more, or are interested in using this page in lieu of your current capture method, please contact your support representative.

Time Zone Display and Unpaid Time Off Declaration!

We are happy to introduce features recently developed for your convenience. If you have any questions, please contact your support representative. As always, we appreciate your feedback and are excited to continue to provide software solutions with you and your business in mind.

Declaration of Unpaid Time Off: We are occasionally asked about functionality to automatically deduct time off for unpaid breaks/lunch each shift. In an effort to do what we can to promote your company's compliance with DOL guidelines, and given the increasing number of claims against employers for not accurately paying employees due to automatic deduction of time, we have decided against implementing this functionality. In it's place, we are happy to introduce the ability for employees to actively declare their unpaid break time taken at punch out for the day, as part of the eXtended Punch (XPunch) page option.

While we always encourage the real time capture of all punches, we have developed the option for employees who cannot punch in and out over the course of their shift for unpaid breaks. When enabled, the employee will see an "Unpaid Time Off" section at punch out using the XPunch page. This will default to NONE, and employees who took unpaid break(s) will enter the number of minutes (up to 60) here before clicking "Punch Out."

When this is done, the minutes declared will be tied to the entry (and thus subtracted from total paid time) and the record will be audited within the timesheet (showing the employee declared the time at punch out).

Time Sheet Time Zone Display: As always, punch times are captured in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and then converted to local time zone for display purposes based on a variety of ways to assign time zone, otherwise defaulting to Central Standard Time (CST). We've now introduced visibility around time zone display for both the punch entries and entries to be added.

Within timesheets, the time zone tied to each entry will now display as part of the "Entry Date." For employees and/or managers adding entries themselves, there will also be a note below "Add Entry" letting them know the time zone the added entry will be tied to (based on computer registration). If you have any questions about altering your registered time zone(s), please contact your support representative.

Back-to-Back Punch In Control: It has come to our attention that some employees are punching in multiple times in succession, either because they think the first did not register or because they do not remember if they had already punched in. We have added a control to prevent this. If an employee attempts to punch in within four hours of an existing open punch in (no punch out), they will receive a note saying:

You Have Already Punched In For The Day. Please Contact Your Manager If There Is A Problem With Your Punch Time. 

After four hours, they will be allowed to punch in without closing the prior punch, to accommodate those situations when an employee forgets to punch at the end of the shift and still needs to clock in for their next shift.

2013 Spokeware Enhancements

We are excited to announce a host of new features recently developed and made available in Spokeware. If you have any questions or comments, please contact your friendly support representative. 

New Reports: The following new reports have been developed and are available for your immediate use. As with all Spokeware reports, they will only yield information on the employees a running user has access to via security setup.

Approved Timesheets: Identical to the "Open and Approved Time Sheets" report, but only displaying those that are Approved.

Open Timesheet: Identical to the "Open and Approved Time Sheets" report, but only displaying those that are open.

Missing Punches Report: Seeing as the Hours/Earnings by date Range reports only include details for closed timesheet entries (entries with a punch in and punch out), we've added a Missing Punches Report. This report will show open entries (missing either an in or out time) within the date range the report is run for.

Daily Labor Report: We've introduced the Daily Labor Report as a tool to view cost by day for the company sub-units you've established (Location, Department, Job, etc.), as calculated based on the values in timesheets and employee hourly rates stored in your payroll system. The report will show Earning/Hours by day for each of your sub-unit combinations, as well as the calculated Cost as a dollar value.* This report only includes hourly earnings specifically designated, so please reach out to your support representative if you would like to make use of it.

*Please Note: Cost will display only if the viewing user has access to employee pay information

Holidays: Available since the end of 2012, we now have ability to support the automatic addition of Holiday entries for certain employees. Located under TLM>Setup, you'll see we have the ability to establish the following:

1. How many days before Holiday the entry is added to the timesheet. This is important in that only active, eligible employees will receive holidays at the time they are automatically added to timesheets
2. Earning Code to use for Holiday entry
3. Who is eligible to receive holiday pay based on Salary Type, Employment Type and Pay Type
4. Which company sub-units (Levels) are eligible to receive the Holiday entry

Company Holidays will pull directly from those set up in your payroll system events calendar. If you would like automated holidays turned on, please contact your support representative.
























Levels: The company sub-units (Levels) you have established are a primary driver of system functionality, from security to interface filtering to reporting. Because of their importance to system operation, their management (setup and deactivation) is the responsibility of your support representatives. We have now, however, given company super users (those with access to all company information) the ability to view and add levels through Spokeware as needed. Under TLM>Levels, you'll see a listing of your company levels. If you have the appropriate security access, you will be able to add to your existing levels through this page. 

To add, simply enter the new sub-unit in the level field of choice and click Add.

If you would like the sub-unit tied directly to a parent level so that it only becomes available when that parent level is selected, simply select the parent level you would like the sub-unit tied to and then click Add.















Daily Overview: We've introduced a visual "Daily Overview" of time worked by employee to the existing Dashboard by Location. In addition to the currently Punched In Employees and their punch times, you'll now see a Daily Overview section that visually displays employee time worked in half hour blocks. This will display employees currently punched in as well as employees who have punched out for the day.


















Allotted Lunch: We've introduced functionality to allow for the payment of tracked breaks taken up to a certain number of minutes allotted. Employees given an Allotted Lunch in your payroll system will have system-generated entries added based on this setting and their breaks taken. If an employee is allotted 30 minutes of lunch, when they return from their break the system will add an entry for their break time taken, only up to the 30 minutes allotted. If they go over their allotted lunch, that extra break time will remain unpaid.

The system-generated entry will use the same earning code as the regular shift entry unless otherwise specified. If you would like these entries added tied to a particular earning code, please contact support.

Daily OT Threshold: In addition to automatically calculating daily overtime based on state law for those states that require it, we've now introduced functionality to voluntarily set a Daily Overtime Threshold to define a point within a shift beyond which time will be recorded as overtime. This threshold is set in your payroll system on a per employee basis. Please contact your support representative should you have any questions.