Q. Can I just continue to use the same USB drive each pay period to collect the data from my Extreme clocks without first deleting the existing data files on the drive? Also, can I use the same USB drive to collect data from multiple clocks?

A. Yes, there's no need to delete any files from the USB drive. You may also use the same USB drive to collect from as many clocks as you like.

Q. I understand the Vetro clock will hold only so many transactions—does the data from the clock get erased after each download into the USB Drive or do I need to manually reset something?

A. They don't get erased after each download and there's no resetting needed. At any time, a Vetro's memory holds the last 12,000 transactions collected by the clock. Even when you download the data to the USB drive, the transactions remain on the clock until the 12,000 "slots" are filled, then as new transactions arrive, space is made for them by deleting the oldest ones. Because the transactions remain in the clock's memory for a while (depending upon how fast the slots fill up), they're a nice backup if you should lose your USB drive or your hard drive dies.

Q. How long do the batteries on Extreme last?

A. Weather conditions and the amount you use your Extreme are a factor, but in normal use, the two AA batteries should last approximately six months. That’s with average weather conditions, used five days a week by 20 employees and collecting data weekly.

How do you know when the batteries need replacing? When you try to download the data onto your USB drive, the clock will emit six fast beeps, you won't see the sequence of flashing lights that you see during a successful download and no data will be transferred. That’s a signal that the batteries need changing. Your data is safe and the clock can still accept clock-ins and clock-outs—transferring the data to the USB drive takes more battery power than recording a clock-in or clock out.

We recommend using alkaline batteries. When you replace the batteries, make sure you get the new ones installed within about 15 minutes of taking the old ones out; any longer and you'll need to reset the time on the clock.

Q. How do I change the time in the TimePilot Central from military time to regular time?

A. You can choose how you want the time displayed with the "Set Time Format" function in TimePilot Central's Administrative menu. There are two common ways of telling time: The 12-hour format (with a.m. and p.m.) and 24-hour format (also known as "military time"). Examples:

  • If it's 6 hours after midnight, it's 6 a.m. in a.m./p.m. time and 0600 (or "oh-six hundred") in military time.
  • If it's 7 hours and 20 minutes after noon, it's 7:20 p.m. in a.m./p.m. time and 1920 (or "nineteen hundred twenty") in military time.

You can see a conversion table on our web site by clicking here.


I spent a year on Venus one day...: One day on the planet Venus lasts longer than one year on that planet. Venus takes 224.65 days to complete each orbit around the sun—not that different from an earth year. But instead of a similar rotational period to Earth’s 24 hours, Venus takes 243 days to rotate once.

Source

Music for speeding: Music can affect our sense of time and speed: In 2004, Britain’s Royal Automobile Club Foundation for Motoring announced that Wagner’s "Ride of the Valkyries" was the most dangerous music to listen to while driving. The frenzied tempo of the music challenges drivers’ normal sense of time and distance and causes them to drive faster than they ordinarily would. (Sorry, "Apocalypse Now" fans: No studies yet on the effect on helicopter pilots.)

Source

Welcome!
TimePilot newsletter No. 36

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: USB drives, Vetro's memory and military time.
  • Lead story: Some of the lesser-known features of the TimePilot software.
  • Cool Stuff: The Biolite Camp Stove.
  • The Deal: 25% off iButtons.

TimePilot software:
Secret shortcuts

A sampling of some of the lesser-known features of the TimePilot Central software:

Insert Pay

There may be a time when you want to reward an employee with a bonus in dollars. To do this, you'll use the Insert Pay function. (If you want to reward them with extra hours of pay, you can use the Insert Time function.)

When you Insert Pay, you specify the employee and the amount of his or her bonus. You can also specify the time, and date of the bonus as well as the location, shift, department and company where the employee was working when they earned the bonus. There's a place to add a note, too.

A transaction will be created for the employee in Current Transactions in TimePilot Central. A dollar sign will appear in the first column of the Transaction List to signal that a transactions is a bonus. To see the amount of the bonus, make sure you have a heading called "+Pay." To do so, right-click the green row of headers in the Transaction List and check the box next to "+Pay" in the list that appears.

Ignore Transaction

Let's say you don't want the TimePilot software to consider a transaction when calculating work hours, but you also want to keep a record of the transaction. The "Ignore Transaction" function allows you to do that. Click the transaction to highlight it, then choose "Toggle Ignore Transaction" from the Edit menu. In TimePilot Central, this symbol will appear in the first column: , the transaction will be flagged with the word "Ignore" in the "Trans" column and the employee's work hours will be recalculated without including that transaction. Want to remove the "Ignore Transaction" flag? Repeat the actions above.

You can find the "Toggle Ignore Transaction" command in TimePilot Central's Edit menu.

Location

Many organizations have employees working at other branches, facilities or even another part of a building. With the Location function, you can specify in the software where each employee works, and later create reports that include only employees at a particular location. The Location function is found in TimePilot Central > Setup > Location Setup.

You'll assign a location to an employee when you create or edit their profile. The system comes with a location already created called "Main." You can create new locations by clicking the "Add a Location" button, or edit an existing location (including "Main") by highlighting the appropriate location in the list and the clicking "Edit Location."

If you don't see a column labeled "Location" in TimePilot Central's Transaction List, you can add one easily. To do so, right-click the green row of headers in the Transaction List and check the box next to "Location" in the list that appears.

Measuring time

TimePilot uses the decimal system to measure time, and records it to the hundredth of an hour. This makes it simpler for users to translate hours worked to dollars paid. For instance, when you see that an employee worked 8.50 hours, they worked eight-and-a-half hours, or 8 hours and 30 minutes.

Here's a quick conversion table:

Displayed

=

Time in hours & minutes

8.10

=

8 hours 6 minutes

8.20

=

8 hours 12 minutes

8.30

=

8 hours 18 minutes

8.40

=

8 hours 24 minutes

8.50

=

8 hours 30 minutes

8.60

=

8 hours 36 minutes

8.70

=

8 hours 42 minutes

8.80

=

8 hours 48 minutes

8.90

=

8 hours 54 minutes

Note: 0.10 hours = 6 minutes; 0.01 hours = 36 seconds. 

There's a downloadable conversion chart available here on the TimePilot web site.



This month’s special offer
to TimePilot newsletter readers:

25% off iButtons!


Choose your color, choose your quantity!

5 iButtons: $30 (regularly $39.50)
10 iButtons: $44 (reg. $59)
30 iButtons: $119 (reg. $159)
50 iButtons: $187 (reg. $249)
100 iButtons: $337 (reg. $449)
200 iButtons: $536 (reg. $715)

These prices are available for a limited time. 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.

Biolite Camp Stove

The Biolite Camp Stove has two interesting features:

  • It uses twigs and wood chips that you'll find at your campsite as fuel. No propane bottles.
  • It converts some of the heat generated by the stove into power that will recharge a cell phone or headlamp.

It might also be a nice thing to have if you lose power frequently or in the event of a natural disaster.


 

Biolite Camp Stove: $129.95 at the Biolite web site.