January is usually the busiest month of the year at Redcort Software and this year is no exception. The engineers are busy putting the finishing touches on Virtual TimeClock '12. I think it's going to be our most significant upgrade since Virtual TimeClock '09. The new administrative command center is awesome! It unites all the administrative tools under one password umbrella. I can also share with all you Intuit fans that Virtual TimeClock '12 will have time clock payroll integration with QuickBooks desktop for Windows. You'll be able to import hours from Virtual TimeClock directly into QuickBooks timesheets for easy payroll processing. Sorry Mac users, but QuickBooks for Mac doesn't allow importing into timesheets.

Be on the lookout for the Virtual TimeClock '12 announcement. It's right around the corner!

Jeff Morrow
Virtual TimeClock Product Specialist
Redcort Software, Inc.

While 2011 has been a productive year, I'm really excited about what's planned for 2012. At the risk of personal injury (engineers don't like it when I share what's on the drawing board), here are the time clock software features we're working on for 2012:

• Personal time clock client - designed for single user workstations with all the administrative functions removed for easy setup and use.
• PIN client for groups - designed for multi-user time clock stations with ID based access to provide more anonymity and make it easier to use with large worker lists.
• Administrative control panel - all the administrative functions consolidated under one command center.
• Security enhancements - challenge questions and biometric integration to completely eliminate buddy punching.
• Multiple time zone support - run time clocks in different time zones without the need for separate time clock servers.
• iOS apps - Iv'e seen the iPhone and iPad user interface mock ups, prepare to be blown away!

We'll keep you posted on new developments.

Jeff Morrow
Virtual TimeClock Product Specialist
Redcort Software, Inc.

2011 has been a busy year at Redcort Software. We have some new faces and talent, we lost a long time customer service team member to motherhood, and we have big plans for 2012. We started 2011 with the United States Patent & Trademark office registering Virtual TimeClock and Virtual TimeClock Pro as trademarks of Redcort Software, Inc. We're proud to celebrate our 25th year by having our time clock software brands officially recognized. Next, we released Virtual TimeClock '11 which was designed to control employee overtime by introducing new shift rules. We added more free time and attendance resources to our website for employers. And we finished up the year with Virtual TimeClock '11 Release 2 to give users an Apple OS X 10.7 Lion compatible time clock.

Here's to a productive 2012!

Jeff Morrow
Virtual TimeClock Product Specialist
Redcort Software, Inc.

Time clock software programs are designed to accurately and impartially record employee hours and display those hours clearly and automatically for any given payroll period. There are few things more disconcerting to new time clock software users than to see an occasional employee time card that appears to have a one or two-minute difference between the daily hours worked and the total hours worked for the period.

Learn how Virtual TimeClock accurately reports every minute your employees work by reading our online article called Are Your Employee Time Cards Accurate? The Riddle of the Missing Dollar.

We have some new faces and talent on our time clock software team. We also lost a long time customer service team member to motherhood.

Angie joined our technical support team in October. Angie has done extensive work in information systems technology so she knows her hardware and software. She also spent quite a few years working at a call center supporting products from companies like Sony and D-Link. Angie is new to the time and attendance industry but she's learning quickly. We're glad to have Angie as part of our team.

David joined our engineering team in November. David has done everything from consulting to programming for Northrop Grumman. We think his precision and clear thinking will be a great addition to our engineering team. We're putting him to work on some exciting new time clock software projects that have been on the back burner for some time.

I'll keep you posted on what's coming.

Jeff Morrow
Virtual TimeClock Product Specialist
Redcort Software, Inc.

Virtual TimeClock is a great business tool for veterinary practices and animal hospitals. Our time clock software gets mentioned several times a year in Veterinary Practice News and we receive regular referrals from the folks at DVMAX software, so we know our time and attendance solutions are a good fit for veterinary practices. In fact, Virtual TimeClock was mentioned in an Apple science profile of Dr. Michael Broome of Advanced Veterinary Medical Imaging, a Virtual TimeClock software user for over 10 years.

If you're a busy veterinarian trying to run your own practice, let our time and attendance software free you from the burden of time consuming employee management and payroll processing so you can focus on what you love to do.

Jeff Morrow
Virtual TimeClock Product Specialist
Redcort Software

There are many ways to capture employee time punches: from an old mechanical punch clock to sophisticated biometric systems designed to completely eliminate buddy punching, and all manner of time and attendance systems in between. Virtual TimeClock has long held a unique position in the time and attendance industry because of its ability to fill the role of multiple business systems at once. For example, not only do you get a completely automated payroll process, but you get the advantages of improving office communication with real-time monitoring of the status of every employee with the in/out board that's built right into the time clock interface. However, we're beginning to discover that some businesses want more anonymity from their time clock. They're looking for a way to have multiple employees clock in and out from a single time clock kiosk, without having to first select their name from a list, which could be quite long depending on how many workers you have using the time clock. Businesses are also concerned about employees, students, or patients being able to see when others are coming and going.

These are some of the reasons why we're planning a PIN entry time clock that will allow employees to clock in and out from a public time clock station without being able to see what other employees are doing. The exciting thing is that this really becomes the foundation for a biometric time clock software solution, with a finger swipe replacing entering a PIN with the keyboard.

Jeff Morrow
Virtual TimeClock Product Specialist
Redcort Software

There's a common question we often get asked by new Virtual TimeClock users: What other software do you guys make? The reason we get asked this question is because our time clock software users find Virtual TimeClock so easy to set up and use, they want to know what other business operations we can help them streamline. Business owners are always looking for ways to better manage employees, so we have a lot of business owners asking about employee scheduling software.

Employee scheduling is definitely on our development dashboard. In fact, the new shifts and schedules feature in Virtual TimeClock '11 laid the groundwork with its built-in clock in and out rules to control employee overtime. Different shifts can be assigned for each employee for every day of the week. This works great if you have fixed weekly schedules. It's not currently designed for rotating employee schedules and is not a substitute for an employee scheduling program.

We're planning a true employee scheduling program that can be integrated directly with Virtual TimeClock. This means shift rules, a scheduling calendar, when to work email reminders, and employee load planning/balancing are just some of the features we're thinking about.

What else do you need an employee scheduling program to do? Leave me a comment and let me know.

Jeff Morrow
Virtual TimeClock Product Specialist
Redcort 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

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.