Customizing Timecard Reports

Timecard Report Writer Overview

At the heart of all employee time clock software programs is the ability to access employee time and attendance information for payroll, labor costing, and even client invoicing. If gathering the information you need to effectively manage your business is a burden or the result of redundant processes, then you’re less likely to experience the time and cost saving advantages of automating your time tracking process in the first place. We understand the importance of having the information you need readily accessible and have worked hard to make it easy to gather that information. A powerful and efficient SQL database engine makes totaling and viewing reports accurate and instantly available.

Virtual TimeClock accomplishes this by providing a number of customizable, ready to use timecard reports for immediate reporting by activity, department, leave category, or worker.

Viewing and Printing Timecard Reports

The built-in timecard reports are immediately available from the Reports menu of Virtual TimeClock. The list of available reports can be set differently for each time clock based on the display group assigned. Each one of these built-in reports offers a different look at the timecard data, automatically grouped to reflect hours, overtime, leave, and unpaid time for any date range. Detail reports allow you to look at your timecard data as individual entries for each activity for in depth analysis. Summary reports are perfect for a snap-shot look by management and accounting, or to streamline your payroll entry.

Since workers most often have the need to simply view and print their own current regular hours and overtime, they simply click the Timecard icon on the toolbar in the main time clock window. After entering their password, a dialog confirms the worker and date range, and then displays the selected timecard.

Choosing Timecard Report Options

The Virtual TimeClock Report Writer offers a variety of report options to choose from, with three panels for configuring your timecard reports, plus some general report settings.

Report Type

The report type determines how the report will display time and attendance data. Detail reports list every recorded start and stop time for the date range selected, the date of all leave entries, and any timecard notes associated with the entries. Summary reports only display the totals for each group for the date range selected.

Default Date

This becomes the default date range selection when the report is run. All of the date range selections are relative to the current calendar date. This is helpful, for example, if you usually run the Activity Summary report for the prior month. You can use the custom date range selection to always set a specific date range for a report.

Selection

The Selection panel allows you to choose what timecard entries are to be selected, and how they are to be grouped and sorted for each timecard report. Think of this as the ‘Who’ and the ‘What’ of the Report Writer.

Hours, overtime, and even wages need to be grouped in order to be meaningful. If the report is grouped by ‘Worker’, then the report can be printed in First & Last Name or Last Name, First order.

You’re also able to determine whose timecard entries will be displayed and printed on the report. Timecard entries for all workers, any number of workers or departments can be chosen.

Finally, you can decide what specific timecard entries you want displayed and printed on the report. Timecard entries for all activities and leave, or any combination of selected activities or leave categories can be chosen.

Options

The Options panel provides an easy to use interface for choosing what optional features to include on the report.

Report Totals

Setting the report type to a detail report enables a series of checkboxes in the Report Totals section that determine which subtotals will be calculated and displayed on the report. You can subtotal daily hours, weekly hours, and hours for the entire group. Determine whether each group within the report is to be printed on a new page, if salaried worker hours are to be totaled, and whether gross wages and worker wage information are to be displayed on the report.

Summary Totals

In the Summary Totals section, optional leave, activity, and worker summaries can be included on the timecard report.

Include

There are a series of checkboxes in the Include section that determine if employee identification numbers, social security numbers, and timecard notes are displayed on the report.

Columns

The checkboxes in the Columns section allow you to separate paid leave hours into a separate column on the timecard report. If not selected, all paid leave hours will be included in the regular hours column. In addition, you can optionally include the activities column on your timecard reports.

Signatures

There are also checkboxes to determine if employee and supervisor signature lines print at the bottom of the report. Custom signature line text can be created for each report.

Format

The Format panel provides an easy to use interface for formatting the page layout of the report. The Time Display section determines whether total hours worked are displayed in decimal or time format. For example, total hours worked of eight hours and fifteen minutes can be displayed as either ‘8:15’ when hours are displayed in time format, or as ‘8.25’ when hours are displayed in decimal format.

The report margins, font size, line spacing, and page orientation can be configured for each report. A different font can also be selected from the available list of font names.

Creating and Customizing Timecard Reports

Using the various selection, sorting, grouping, and display options, there’s a near infinite variety of timecard reports that can be created using the Report Writer. A new report can be based on an existing report or entirely designed from scratch. Timecard reports created with the Report Writer will automatically be listed in the Reports menu of all display groups.

To create a new report, click the + button beneath the list of reports, name the report, configure the report as needed, and save.

To create a new report from an existing report, select a report name from the list of reports, click the tools button beneath the list of reports and select Duplicate Selected Report. Now rename the report, configure the new report as needed, and save.

How to Use the Timecard Report Data

Now that you’ve got the data, the question becomes what to do with it. Here are some ideas.

Simplify Payroll

This is probably the main reason you’re using time clock software. Generate instant timecard reports from all of your employee punch in and out times based on your payroll rules. Regular hours, overtime, and paid leave time are instantly calculated and totaled for easy input into your payroll software, or sent to your accountant or payroll service. Manual and modified timecard entries are flagged for easy followup and monitoring. Timecard notes from employees explaining a late or missed punch allow you to quickly adjust timecard entries and print new timecards before sending off to payroll.

Manage Labor Costs

This one may be less obvious, but certainly has value for your business. Use those same employee timecard payroll punches for labor costing. By including employee gross wages, your timecard reports can be summarized to provide you with labor hours and dollar costs for any activity, job, or department for any period of time. Labor costing reports will quickly show you actual labor hours and costs on a per job basis.

Automate Client Billing

If you’re already summarizing timecard reports by client, job, or department for labor cost analysis, then turn that same information into the accurate billing of client labor hours. Run timecard status reports to make sure you’re remaining within project budgets before the project ends. Set your Virtual TimeClock rounding calculations for billing to the nearest minute, or in tenth or quarter hour increments. Your time tracking labor totals can now be easily entered into your invoicing or accounting software for accurate and timely billing of your labor.

©2010 Redcort Software. All Rights Reserved.