Set Minimum Travel Time

Set Minimum Travel Time

This feature will allow the company to set the portion of time spend traveling between jobs that is considered "unpaid time."  This can be useful in case limits for driving time are enforced within the company.  Example: if the first 30 minutes of driving are not paid, you can use this feature.

The next screen allows you to set the minimum unpaid driving time:

To finish click the "Set Minimum Travel Time" button.

It is very important to have a task called "Travel" for all of the employees whom this feature applies.  This task must be used when traveling or the "Minimum Travel Time" will not be recognized.  The name must be "Travel" with no spaces or other words for this feature to work correctly.

When an employee clocks into the task bar - there will be a task/job called "Travel" for the employee to clock into:

If you attach an address in the sub-task and this address is selected it will open the "turn-by-turn- direction" functionality. Or you may skip the sub-task and the screen will revert to the log-in screen:

ADMINISTRATORS:  When this feature is activated, the configured "Minimum Travel Time" determines how long a field worker must be traveling before any "Travel" time" is counted on payroll.  Hence any "Travel" time less than the configured "Minimum Travel Time" will be deducted from the total hours worked. You will see this effect on reports that give you the total hours per day worked (e.g. like the Timecard Detail Report).

Other reports that give you details of each task done, will still show full details on the "Travel" task so you can see how much actual traveling was done by each field worker (e.g. like the Timecard Task Detail Report).

Clock In and Clock Out Reminders

Clock In and Clock Out Reminders

If you wish to remind your employees/team members to clock in or out, reminders can be sent to the devices.  To enable this feature log into Pacific TimeCard and go the the Adminstration tab, under the "Staff" section, select the option "Manage Clock In/Out By Times." 

Once inside, tick the checkbox to "Enable Clock In/Out By Times" and set your times for each:

Employees in this example are suppose to clock in by 9 AM and out by 5 PM, so if an employee has not clocked in by 9 AM or out by 5 PM they will get a message like the following, respectively:

Taking Multiple Pictures

Taking Multiple Pictures

This feature will allow the team member to take multiple pictures at a job site.  Once the team member has clocked in, open the "Menu" with the three dots at the right top of the screen and select "Add Task Info."

After selecting"Add Task Info" select "Photo Capture":

Selecting "Photo Capture" will launch the Camera application allowing a picture to be taken.  When happy with the results, tap on "Submit" and type the picture description, select "Submit" again.

The Photo Capture field will now list the newly taken picture in the menu.  To add another photo, tap on "Add." Take the new picture and repeat the process again.

Repeat the process until you have taken all the photos you need.  All photos taken will be listed in the Photo Capture custom field and be attached to the task you are currently clocked into.  If you need to take pictures from another project, be sure to log into that project/task first.

Daily Mileage Report

Daily Mileage Report

Our "Mileage Report is focused on total miles traveled per task..  Our "Daily Mileage Report" will calculate gasoline costs or monitor travel distance.

To access the "Daily Mileage Report", go to REPORTS tab and to the "GPS Location Reports:

Make sure to select the appropriate teams or the user you wish to focus on (or leave unfiltered to view the whole company), select your "Start" and "End" dates and click "Generate Report," or "Produce as CSV file" if you prefer to download the report to a spreadsheet.

This report will allow clock in and clock out times, total hours and traveled distance all on one line.

Premium Pay Configuration

Premium Pay Configuration
The Premium Pay Configuration will enable companies to keep track of their employee's meals.  This feature will allow for different settings.  1) Assign meal time breaks for specific periods of time.  2) Setup a default time for the meal break, which will be used to determine if employees had to finish their break before time due to work requirements. 3) Set up rules allowing the system to provide a number of automatic alerts, such as break reminders of too short or too long a period.

To enable 'Premium Pay" go to the Administration tab and click on "Manage Premium Pay Configuration." The options below will appear.  

"Enable Premium Pay" must be checked to activate this setting.

The following list explains each of the configurable fields.

1)  First Meal Entitlement Duration: minimum shift duration that entitles an employee to a first break. Enter the minimum number of hours needed to work to receive the first break.

2) Second Meal Entitlement Duration: minimum shift duration that entitles an employee to a second break. Enter the minimum number of hours needed to work to receive the second break.

3) First Meal Within Duration: maximum time where the first break must be taken. Enter the maximum number of hours needed to work to receive the first break.

4) Second Meal Within Duration:  maximum time where the second break must be taken. Enter the maximum number of hours needed to work to receive the second break.

5) First Reminder After Duration: time after shift start when the worker will be reminded to take the first meal break.

6) Second Reminder After Duration: time after shift start when the worker will be reminded to take the second meal break.

7) Reminder Frequency:  how often the system will remind an employee to take a break if it hasn't been done after the specified time.

8) Duration of the Meal Break: how much time the employee is expected to take as a meal break.  

The above example shows 30 minutes.  Employees will be entitled to take a first break if they work at least 4 hours and a second break if they work 8 hours.  A meal break is require if they work 5 or more hours.  If the staff hasn't taken the break once the maximum worked time is reached, a notification will be shown every 15 minutes.

The following example shows a worker who is approaching the 4th hour worked and not taken a break.

Once the employee has passed the 4-hour mark, they will receive the following reminder:

If the meal was taken after the first or second period (according to the order the breaks are setup) the user will be prompted to confirm that it was either at their election or due to work requirements.  Completing this step will require a signature.

If the Meal was finished before the duration set (in this example 30 minutes) the field worker will be prompted to confirm it was at their own election or if it was because of work requirements.  A signature is also needed to proceed.  This step will be the same for both the first and second meal breaks.

At the end of the day when the employee clocks out, a series of questions will be shown as follows:

Please keep in mind that the questions will be shown depending on the answers the employee provide.  The above images with Yes/No buttons illustrate all the possible questions your staff will see.

The Premium Pay will only be recorded once in  one of the following scenarios, which will be the first one that happens.  This is using the same examples of a first period of 4 hours and second period of 8 hours setup with a meal time of 30 minutes.  Feel free to substitute these values with what your organization uses.

1)  If the first meal was taken after the 4-hour period due to work requirements. 2) If the second meal was taken after the 8-hour period due to work requirements.  3) If the meal had to be finished in less than 30 minutes also due to work requirements.

If you wished to review the information generated with this functionality such as the answers to the questions and the signatures, you can use the "Premium Pay Raw Data Report," found in the Reports section.

Changing the Job History Settings

Changing the Job History Settings

The amount of time that "Job History" (Icon#4) and attachments can be stored is determined by the settings created by the user.  To enable, make sure to open the Menu and select "Settings." Once inside the "Settings, open the menu again and choose "Extras."

Choose to "Edit" 1) Period after which attachments will be deleted. 2) How long the history will be preserved.  

These are the selections that will be available for both options. 

Make sure you select the ones that apply and "SAVE."  When Happy "SAVE" 

Setting Up User Types

 Setting Up User Types

User types are set up from 2 locations. One is from the "Field Workers" tab and the other is from the "Administration" tab. Each location sets different types of users. This post tells how to set users from the "Manage Users" section of the "Administration" tab.

"Field Workers" and "Web-Device Users" are formed in the "Field Workers Tab." The Field Worker has his own device in the field and the Web-Device User clocks in from a device along with many others. Those are done from the "Field Workers Tab" To create all other user types:

Sign in to Admin and click on "Manage Users" then "Add New" Use the drop-down menu to choose the "User Type" - NOTE: Do not use "Field Worker" from this drop-down they will not be properly entered.

*) Administrator: People in charge of managing account setup and all other users in the system. The Administrator has access to all tabs these include: Home Lists, Field Workers, Web Devices, Administration, and Reports. Their typical screen is shown below:

*) Web Manager: People in charge of monitoring or aiding with punches specifically for office-based staff. This focuses solely on Web Device Users who clock in through the Web-Based TimeCard. The Web Manager will only have access to the Web-Device TimeCard as shown below:

*) Web User: This is different from a "Web Device User" A "Web User" is a day to day user of the system for monitoring mobile staff and generating reports but restricted access to the account settings. The Web User has a more limited access than the Administrators and can only see the following limited sections: *) Home Lists *) Field Workers *) Reports. They can review team members details but can not make updates or manage settings in the account, but they can do some basic edit punches.

*) Web Team Leader: Managers that need "Administrator" level access but only focusing on specific teams or users. The "Web Team Leader can have the same tabs as the Admin but limited access to the information that is on each tab. Again those tabs are: *) Home Lists *) Field Workers *) Administration *) Reports

*) Operations Manager: Managers to approve employee time sheets assigned to them after the employee has signed off through the application. Op's Managers can see the same as Web Team Leaders with two differences: 1) They can view the entire organization. 2) Instead of being able to upload field workers on the Administration tab, they can use a feature called "Approve Timesheets:

Even though Op's Managers can view the whole company they can only view the tasks that are assigned to them, this is done through the "Maintain Task/Customer List Screen (Administrator View)

Go to existing job and click on its ID, Click on the "Task Owner/Manager" option from the drop-down menu:

This will link the job to the Operations Manager allowing them to review and approve any timesheets that an employee has signed from a device:

Custom Forms

Custom Forms

Custom forms, as the name implies, are used to create and capture form information.  These will be created with the existing functionality of "Custom Fields." The fields can be created and organized exactly as needed to insure employees will be able to access the forms and enter necessary data.

To set this up, go to the Administration tab and click on "Manage Custom Fields/Forms"

Once inside, click the "Add New" button at the top:

The "Details" menu will open as shown below:

Enter the "Name" or Title of the custom form.

The Triggers section is used to determine at what point the form will be displayed or accessed. "Manual" is used to access the custom form at any moment the employee is clocked-in.  CLOCK IN will prompt the when employee at the time they clock in to fill out the form before he/she clocks in.  CLOCK OUT prompts the employee to fill out the form the moment he/she clocks out.  "Clock Out" is used in this example:

Once the "Name" has been entered, Highlight "Clock Out" and click "add" this will move it to the side as shown above.  Click "Save"  Next, go back to the "Manage Custom Fields/Forms" section under "Administration" and our newly added form will be there at the bottom of the list. Click "Edit"

Notice there are some new options in the "Details Screen":

Use of the "Filter" section enables the form to be accessed only for a specific "Task."  This makes most sense to use when creating a "Manual" form that can be accessed at any time during the workday, but keep in mind that filters are a very powerful tool in case there are forms that are exclusive to a specific type of activity.

NEXT: click on the "Edit Form Fields."  (These fields will be covered in full in another blog) Add the fields that are relevant to your company and this form:

When accessing the mobile application the "Menu" section will show the option called "Forms."  All "Manual" forms created can be viewed there.