Starting a New Time Clock Database

Virtual TimeClock Support Blog

Starting a New Time Clock Database

January 7, 2020

Occasionally we hear from Virtual TimeClock customers who want a fresh start with their employee time clock database. Virtual TimeClock makes it easy to save your historical records and start over with a new database. This article will explain how to do a completely new database, or how to save employee info and delete everything else.

Create a brand new time clock database
The steps below will help you start a brand new database.

Basic and Pro Edition

    1. Create an archive backup of your current database. Select Turn Administration On from the File menu. Choose the Backup option from the admin toolbar. Save the backup to a safe location.
    2. Close the current database. Select Database from the Configure menu. Click the Close button and confirm.
    3. From the Open a Company Database window, choose New to start a new database.
    4. For help getting started again, see our Basic Setup Guide or Pro Setup Guide.

Network Edition

    1. Create an archive backup of your current database. Open your TimeClock Server Manager program and choose the Backup tab. Click Backup Now and save the backup to a safe location.
    2. Close the current database. Select the Database tab and click the Close button.
    3. Once the database is closed, click the New button to start a new database.
    4. For help getting started again, see our Network Setup Guide.


Create a new database while keeping current employees
Want to remove old activities and former employees while keeping current employee names and user information? Follow the steps below to clear out old data and move forward with employee names and core time clock settings.

  1. Create a backup of your database. Follow the steps in our Manual Backups Knowledge Base article. Name your backup appropriately with an archive date. This file will contain your historical timecard data if you should ever need it.
  2. Remove former employees. Delete all former employees who will not be returning to your company.
  3. Open all payroll periods. Change your payroll period Start Date to include all dates your company has used Virtual TimeClock. This will open all payroll periods.
  4. Remove old timecard entries. Open the Entry Editor from the admin In/Out Board. Choose Select Entries, select all employees and change the Date Range to cover about a year. Delete all entries in the window. Tip: select all entries in the Entry Editor window by pressing Ctrl + A on Windows keyboard or Command + A on Mac. Repeat this step until you've removed all entries for all years.
  5. Delete any old activities. Select Activities from the Configure menu and delete all old activities.
  6. Compact your database. Go to the Database window in the Pro Edition, Basic Edition or Server Manager program. Click Compact.
  7. Reset your payroll period. Follow the directions in our Configure Payroll Settings article to reset your payroll period.

After you create a new database, ensure that you store a copy of your old database in a safe place. The FLSA requires that you maintain timecard records for employees for a minimum of two (2) years.