about this newsletter

On Track is a publication for users of Advanced Tracker solutions. Our goal is to provide news, tips, and information to help you be more productive.

In this issue:

• Labor Tracker Is Updated
• HandPunch Template Management
• Daylight Saving Time
• Employee Self Service

Information is more valuable when it is shared, so feel free to forward this newsletter to other people. See the end of this newsletter for subscription instructions.

new and improved

Labor Tracker Gets an Update for Labor Day

Labor Tracker is a Job & Labor Costing system that streamlines the collection, calculation, and reporting of job-based labor activities. It provides you with fingertip access to labor cost and performance information. See the data sheet for more details.

The new release contains a number of functional improvements as well as some deficiency corrections:

• Speed improvements.
• Improved functionality in Labor Export.
• Improved integrity checking.
• Quicker selection of Customer in the Work Order screen.

For more information, see the detailed Release Notes, available online.

Shop Tracker, the sister program to Labor Tracker, is similarly updated. The difference between Shop Tracker and Labor Tracker is that Labor Tracker is a companion to Employee Tracker, whereas Shop Tracker is stand-alone and does not use Employee Tracker's database of employee information.

To update, download the new version from the web. Also download the latest Shop Retrieval. Then call the helpdesk at 1.888.531.3774 ext 226 so we can verify your database version and support status, and supply the password to unlock the update.

Hint for downloaders: even though you may need only the Update file, we recommend also downloading the Setup file. Save the Setup in case one of your computers has a meltdown, or you acquire a new computer, and you need to install Labor Tracker or Shop Tracker from scratch. It will be far easier to install from the most recent Setup file than by trying to locate your original Setup CD and then applying the Update.

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a "handy" new program

HandPunch Template Management

We are pleased to offer a new program for managing the HandPunch enrollments of your employees. This program will make it easier to copy enrollments among HandPunches.

Until now, you have had to use the Employee Management function in ATG Retrieval to copy hand templates from one clock to another. However in many cases ATG is setup to run from the server, not your desktop, making it difficult to manage enrollments without logging onto the server. We know that often the server is in a locked room, managed by white-smocked engineers who jealously guard access and passwords. ;-)

The new HandPunch Template Management utility can be installed directly on your computer, giving you immediate control of your employee's hand templates, and can be installed on more than one computer, so that both you and your second-in-command can maintain the templates. You can backup templates, allowing you to easily restore them if the HandPunch gets replaced or reset. If you have multiple clocks, you can synchronize enrollment templates among clocks. The new program works with all HandPunch models, including the new HP1000e, the 100-hand model with built-in Ethernet capability.

You can get this new program from the downloads web pages.

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does anybody really know what time it is? - chicago

Daylight Saving Time

The definitive guide to time synchronization is available on the Frequently Answered Questions webpage.

The latest edition of this timely guide covers the new rules for springing forward and falling back. It also details how to update the time on all the latest devices supplied by Advanced Tracker.

Even though the Daylight Saving changes for 2007 have come and gone, we recommend you keep this reference around for the spring 2008 change.

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badges? we don't need no stinking badges!

Employee Self Service

All the Employee Self Service tools have undergone an upgrade.

Employee Self Service allows your employees to use their computers instead of a physical timeclock to Clock In and Out, and to record Labor events. Employees can view their past scan history and their upcoming work schedules. Optionally, employees can send messages to their supervisors and receive their responses.

Employee Self Service consists of the following components, all of which have been updated:

• Employee Inquiry - Employee program
• Employee Inquiry - Master configurator
• Web-based Inquiry - Employee thin-client

Some of the enancements include:

• Web-based Inquiry and Inquiry Tracker Employee can have their options set independent of each other.
• Increased speed.
• New multi-field transfer in Employee Tracker Employee allows many additional fields to be entered during an In or Out transaction.
• Labor scanning can now be done on both a touch-screen and a scanning device.

To update, you can download the new version from the web. Then call the helpdesk at 1.888.531.3774 ext 226 so we can verify your database version and support status, and supply the password to unlock the update.

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