School Time Clock Software

Since all the kids in our area started hitting the books again, I was reminded of how many schools use our Virtual TimeClock software. I've talked to a lot of schools about their time and attendance software needs over the years and I've come to realize that in most cases, schools use time clock software for three reasons.

Employee Payroll
One reason schools use time clock software is to track hours worked for non-salaried employees to make payroll processing more efficient. They need a time tracking solution for bus drivers, custodial workers, food service staff, administrative employees, and even for teachers that may get paid an hourly rate for after school programs.

Student Workers
Another reason schools use time clock software is to track hours for student workers. These may be paid student workers or just volunteers that need to keep track of their hours for other reasons. These are usually part-time workers and the department roster changes every semester. We see this a lot with our colleges and universities.

Classroom Hours
The third reason schools turn to time clock software is to log the number of hours spent in the classroom by students. We see this a lot with our technical and adult education schools that require minimum classroom training hours for certain technical fields. It also helps instructors keep up with attendance requirements since students just punch in as they enter the classroom.

I'm sure there are other reasons schools use time clock software, but these are the three I hear most often. Visit our website to find out what other schools are saying about Virtual TimeClock.

Jeff Morrow
Virtual TimeClock Product Specialist
Redcort Software

History of Time and Attendance Systems

The Industrial Revolution brought major changes to the economies of Europe and the United States by ushering in sweeping technological changes for both manufacturing and transportation. With the arrival of machine based manufacturing, entire families began moving from their rural farm homes to the cities to find work in the newly industrialized factories, which was often dangerous, unhealthy, and paid very little. It wasn't long before the government stepped in to help improve factory conditions and regulate how many hours people were made to work. This gave rise to the first time and attendance systems.

Learn how modern time and attendance software has revolutionized employee time tracking by reading our new online article called History of Time and Attendance Systems.

Personal Time Clock Software

Deploying new time clock software in any business can be a challenge if you haven't taken the time to review your office workflow and how you want the time clock to be utilized. One of the questions you need to ask yourself is whether you want the time and attendance software to just function as a simple networked time clock, or you also want to use it to improve office communication.

Virtual TimeClock has the flexibility to be deployed as a personal time clock or as an in/out board time clock. Personal time clocks are great if you have employees working at dedicated computer workstations and you don't want them to be able to see when other employees are coming and going. The way to accomplish this is by creating display groups for each employee and assigning that single employee display group to the computer time clock they use. We hope to have a new Virtual TimeClock Personal Client out soon that won't require the set up of individual display groups because the user display will be automatically assigned based on user login.

I have to admit that I do love the time clock in/out board. It's a great tool for always knowing where your employees are at and what they're working on. This is a huge productivity booster, especially when trying to route calls or customers. The Virtual TimeClock Pro Client will continue to be an option for those time clock software users like me who can't live without the in/out board.

Jeff Morrow
Virtual TimeClock Product Specialist
Redcort Software

What Do iTunes and Virtual TimeClock Have In Common?

iTunes is a perfect example of a program that seamlessly bridges the gap between a traditional desktop app and a web app. Here's what I mean. The iTunes software needs to be installed locally on each computer. That's the desktop part. But when you open the iTunes Store, it's like you're using a web app. Your locally running software populates with information based on an Internet connection, but you don't need to use a web browser to get there.

We hope to bridge the same gap with our Virtual TimeClock software. A time and attendance system that gets installed like a desktop app but functions like a web app. What could be better? We hope to offer several different deployment models in the future, so each time clock software customer can choose which configuration best fits their needs.

Traditional
This deployment option is for customers who want to host their database on their own Windows or Mac business server or computer workstation, and connect desktop clients over the local area network or over the Internet. This is our current time clock software deployment option with licensing based on the total number of computers that need to run a time clock.

Hybrid
This deployment option would allow customers to host their database on their own web server and connect a combination of desktop and web time clocks. Licensing will most likely be based on the total number of employees that need to access the time clock. This is the time clock software deployment option for those customers who want to keep control over their own time clock data, but want more flexibility when deploying time clock clients.

SaaS
This deployment option would allow customers to access their time clock from any web browser. Their database would reside in the cloud, commonly called software as a service. This is the deployment model for those customers who want the convenience of paying a monthly service fee and not have the fuss of hosting their own server or dealing with software upgrades.

We'll certainly keep you posted on the progress of these different time clock software deployment options.

Jeff Morrow
Virtual TimeClock Product Specialist
Redcort Software

Lion Compatible Time Clock Software

It's always exciting when technology takes a leap forward. Apple's new Lion operating system will certainly be changing the way we interact with our desktop computers. Being an Apple developer, we've had the privilege of working with the various Lion releases over the last several months, getting familiar with the latest incarnation of "the world's most advanced desktop operating system". This has allowed us to thoroughly test each of our time clock software products for Lion compatibility. We're pleased to announce the latest update to Virtual TimeClock provides compatibility with Apple's new OS X 10.7 Lion operating system and includes 15 program enhancements that improve the overall experience for both Macintosh and Windows PC users of Virtual TimeClock.

Get details about Virtual TimeClock Release 2 by visiting our web site. Virtual TimeClock Release 2 is a free upgrade to all customers enrolled in our time clock software Maintenance & Support program or have purchased a time clock software license within the last 30 days. We're always happy to provide enrollment or upgrade pricing for those not enrolled.

Please let me know if you have any questions about the new time clock software release.

Jeff Morrow
Virtual TimeClock Product Specialist
Redcort Software

iPad Time Clock

It's probably safe to say that touch tablet computing is here to stay. You get all the functionality and portability of a netbook with the advantages of stunning displays, the myriads of apps available for free or negligible cost, and all the touch gestures we've come to love and rely on.

We've got some great ideas for using Apple's iPad as a time clock, and those ideas will soon be coming to fruition in our upcoming Virtual TimeClock Mobile app for the iPad.

Group Time Clock
How about placing an iPad time clock in a convenient employee cross roads like a break room or employee entrance? Mount the iPad on the wall and allow employees to punch in and out quickly with the simplicity of touch gestures.

Employee Monitoring
How about giving an iPad time clock to your managers? This would allow them to monitor in real-time when employees are coming and going. Mobile managers have the advantage of being out where the action is without sacrificing the information their desk top time clock software provides for them. They can correct punch times, respond to messages, and review timecards without sacrificing mobility.

Go Mobile
How about taking an iPad time clock with you on the road? This allows you to approve payroll while on the road. Perhaps even more powerful, use mobile time clocks for workers to track the different customers they're visiting or deliveries they're making in real-time.

Did I miss any? Drop me a comment and let me know other ways to use an iPad time clock.

Jeff Morrow
Virtual TimeClock Product Specialist
Redcort Software

Job Tracking Software

You've been able to track jobs, clients, tasks, projects, and punch locations for a long time with Virtual TimeClock. We know customers are using their employee time clock software for managing labor costs, automating client billing, and assigning labor hours to different cost centers. Traditionally, those that needed to track multi-tiered projects had to turn to expensive project management software or one of the hundreds of industry specific software packages.

Unfortunately, this creates an information gap between the system that tracks time spent by employees working on different projects so you can accurately bill your clients, and your time clock system that just tracks labor hours so you can generate an accurate payroll check for your employees. This has traditionally been two separate software systems. Why not keep track of time spent working on different projects at the same time you're keeping track of hours worked for payroll purposes? That way you can kill two birds with one stone.

This is where we've received a lot of feedback from customers. They're really looking for three levels of job tracking. Who's the customer, what's the job or project, and what's the activity. For example, the customer would be 'Redcort Software', the project would be 'iPhone Time Clock', and the activities could be anything from 'User Interface Design' to 'Programming' to 'Help Doc Writing'. Next time, the customer would still be 'Redcort Software', but this time the project would be 'Web Time Clock', and the activities may still be 'User Interface Design', 'Programming', and 'Help Doc Writing'. And you should be able to enable any or all of the levels depending on your time tracking needs.

Do you have any ideas on how you'd like to see multi-level job tracking incorporated into your time clock software? Drop me a comment and let me know what you think.

Jeff Morrow
Virtual TimeClock Product Specialist
Redcort Software