UPGRADES We’re continuously improving i-Timesheets , to make the application more effective, efficient and accessible for your time tracking needs. Use the links below to find out what’s new in the latest version of i-Timesheets .

What's New In:

• i-Timesheets v4.6 (released February 2007)
• i-Timesheets v4.5 (released February 2006)
• i-Timesheets v4.3 (released October 2005)
• i-Timesheets v4.2 (released May 2005)
• i-Timesheets v4.1 (released February 2005)
• i-Timesheets v4.0 (released January 2005)
• i-Timesheets v3.7 (released June 2004)
• i-Timesheets v3.5 & v3.6 (released March 2004)
• i-Timesheets v3.4 (released June 2003)
• i-Timesheets v3.3 (released April 2003)

What's New in i-Timesheets v4.6 (released February 2007)

Major Enhancements

• Compact Interface

The Compact Interface provides users with a neat and compact entry interface for core time-entry activities. This serves two very good purposes:
1. PDA Users: The Compact Interface makes i-Timesheets accessible to users of mobile PDA devices, Pocket PCs, Palm Pilots and Blackberrys. The i-Timesheets Compact Interface makes i-Timesheets more readily available to a mobile workforce, such as staff out on site or on the road.
2. All Users: It makes i-Timesheets a very useful tool for your desktop, providing a more convenient time entry screen in a compact interface.

The Compact Interface includes key standard i-Timesheets features, including:

• Secure login
• Weekly timesheet view
• Daily timesheet view
• Time entry
• Time update
• Start/Stop time recording at the push of a button
• Timesheet validation with your i-Timesheets database
• Calendar control
• Staff Manager authorization

i-Timesheets v4.6 introduces a new level of authorization - that of Staff or Line Manager authorization. i-Timesheets Administrators can now choose to assign a Manager to a Staff Record, and choose to set the Use authorization configuration in i-Timesheets to enable authorization of Staff timesheets by Managers. Once set to this configuration, timesheets require approval by the authorizing manager associated with Staff before they are marked as complete.

The Staff Manager authorization complements the previous Project Manager authorization by giving organizations the option to choose between Project-based or Staff-based authorizations for submitted time records.

• Access Control

i-Timesheets v4.6 comes with the new 'Access Control' configuration, which lets you release specific administration pages, including Admin-only reports, to other users of i-Timesheets. Used in conjunction with the Custom Reports feature under i-Timesheets Settings, this feature lets you make the standard i-Timesheets Reports, which were previously available only to Administrators, available to non-Administrator Users.

The Access Control feature can also be used to make particular Administration pages within i-Timesheets available to non-Admin users.

• New 'Admin Data Export'

The new Admin Data Export in i-Timesheets v4.6 expands on the export options available to Administrators. Now, i-Timesheets Administrators can export Admin-related information from the system. Unlike the Time Data or Expense Data Exports which will only include records which have times/expenses recorded against them, the Admin Data Export will include all the data regardless of the existence of associates time/expense records. The Admin Data Export outputs Admin records in Tab Delimited Text, Comma-Separate Values and HTML.
• New Time and Expense Data Export options

i-Timesheets v4.6 introduces two new filters for limiting data exported via the Time Data Export and Expense Data Export operations in i-Timesheets:
1. Limit export data by Manager: choose to export data associated with a type of Manager, and then further refine your export to records associated with all managers, records with no managers, or records associated with a specific manager.
2. Summary export: summarises time or expense records in the export.

Minor Enhancements

• Addition of a new General Configuration Setting - "Staff Administer Own Projects - Notification". If this is set to "On", the Project Manager or Staff Manager, whichever is appropriate, will be notified by email of any project assignments made by Staff. If there is no associated Project Manager / Staff Manager then the timesheet system administrator is notified.
• New configuration setting item - "Session Refresh Period". This lets the i-Timesheets Administrator define the automatic page refresh interval to be performed on the View Timesheets screen and the Compact Time display screens. Using this feature can help to alleviate unwanted session timeouts due to inactivity.
• The Categories in Configuration Settings have been restructured so that all Time Entry settings are now grouped as a "Time Entry" Category, which can be selected from the Categories drop down.
• When a i-Timesheets session has timed out, the user/Administrator is shown a screen with login fields. This lets them log in again to the system.
• The handling of two-digit entry of worked hours in Time Entry has been adjusted slightly. In previous versions of i-Timesheets two-digit values entered up to 10 were treated as hours and other two-digit values were treated as minutes, this has now been adjusted so that two-digit values up to 14 are now treated as hours with other two-digit values being treated as minutes.
• i-Timesheets v4.6 will check for invalid characters entered in the password field, and displays an error message if these characters are used in the creation of a password. Invalid characters, for example, are <, > and the double quote character (").
• The option in i-Timesheets Settings to 'Allow multiple projects' has been removed in i-Timesheets version 4.6 as it has been made redundant. The configuration is now set to 'On' in v4.6, hence a Project can be included more than once in a day's time records. If you have set this configuration to 'Off' in your instance of i-Timesheets, you might like to consider the implications of setting this to 'On' permanently before you upgrade to v4.6.
• 'Save Changes' and 'Cancel' buttons are now located at both the top and bottom of a timesheet input screen, to make it easier for users to input and save time in i-Timesheets. You can now also use the ENTER or ESC keys to Save or Cancel time records entered in the timesheet input screen.
• The 'Timesheet Footer Note' field now accepts the use of carriage returns when formatting text in the bottom of the web page in which the timesheet is viewed and on the bottom of timesheets generated by i-Timesheets.
• If the 'Round Worked Hours' Configuration Setting is set to 5, 10 or 20 minute intervals, then the Worked Hours Time Display is set to h:mm, otherwise Display is in h.hh format.
• The performance of the Print Detail Timesheet and Batch Print functions have been significantly improved: This is especially useful for customers with a large number of projects as it reduces the amount of time i-Timesheets takes to generate the batch Timesheets for printing.
• i-Timesheets In-house ver4.6 is now compatible with Microsoft SQL Server 2005.

Minor changes and misbehaviors corrected

• The import program in i-Timesheets 4.6 has been improved to allow for files based on standard i-Timesheets CSV templates (eg. Project Task Import files) to import more gracefully into i-Timesheets.
• It was previously possible, under certain i-Timesheets configuration circumstances, to copy a timesheet to a time period prior to a Lockdown date using the 'Copy Timesheet' function. i-Timesheets has now been fixed to disallow this. Timesheets can now only be copied to a time period after a specified lockdown date.
• The validation of email addresses has been improved on the Staff and Manager screens.
• If 'Customer' is selected as an Input Time Field Option, then selecting the default 'Select Customer' option in the Customer field will now show all Projects as selectable in the 'Projects' field.
• Several very minor miscellaneous bugs have also been fixed.
• Some i-Timesheets display formatting has been improved.
• The import program in i-Timesheets 4.6 has been improved to allow for files based on standard i-Timesheets CSV templates (eg. Project Task Import files) to import more gracefully into i-Timesheets.
• It was previously possible, under certain i-Timesheets configuration circumstances, to copy a timesheet to a time period prior to a Lockdown date using the 'Copy Timesheet' function. i-Timesheets has now been streamlined to disallow this. Timesheets can now only be copied to a time period after a specified lockdown date.
• The Lockdown function has been improved so that when an Administrator sets a new Lockdown date in the system, it prevents currently logged on users from amending time records for unsubmitted timesheets prior to the new Lockdown date.
• The Customer Code field has been amended to allow entry of Customer Codes with more than 10 characters.
• The Expense Code function has been revised so that Expense Codes which have been set to ‘disabled’ are no longer selectable in the Add/Edit Expenses screen.
• The validation of email addresses has been improved on the Staff and Manager screens.
• If 'Customer' is selected as an Input Time Field Option, then selecting the default 'Select Customer' option in the Customer field will now show all Projects as selectable in the 'Projects' field.
• The Staff Time Tracking Report has been improved to prevent non-Administrator Users from displaying other Users’ Staff Time Tracking Quick Reports by editing the Staff ID embedded in the Quick Report URL.
• Several very minor miscellaneous bugs have also been fixed.
• Some i-Timesheets display formatting has been improved.

What's New in i-Timesheets v4.5 (released February 2006)

Major Enhancements

• Weekly Time Entry

i-Timesheets’s time entry function has been made even more flexible with the addition of the Weekly Time Entry feature. This gives i-Timesheets users the choice of either entering worked hours by day or by week. Please note that this feature is only available when the i-Timesheets system has been set to enable Worked Hours time entry (done via the ‘Settings’ tab in i-Timesheets).

In Weekly Time Entry, i-Timesheets users select the Customer, Project and Task as per Daily Time Entry, and enter their hours worked for the Project or Task for each day of the week. The Weekly Time Entry grid will automatically calculate and display the total hours recorded per day and per project/task as they are entered, giving i-Timesheets users an immediate view of the time spent within the week on specific projects.

Weekly Time Entry has been developed with the needs of your staff in mind – it allows staff to more effectively match and manage their time entry activities to work priorities and time recording methods.

• New, easy-to-use Toolbar

Your use of i-Timesheets has been made easier and more accessible with the provision of a new Toolbar. This Toolbar gives you easy access to frequently used functions and timesheet reports, as well as a new timesheet report: the Summary Timesheet, which is explained in more detail below.

The new Toolbar replaces some of the buttons in previous versions of i-Timesheets, and also incorporates new features. Functions that are now available via the Toolbar are:

• Copy Timesheet: This button allows users to copy the time records for the currently displayed period to another time period. It replaces the ‘Period Copy’ button in previous versions of i-Timesheets.
• Print Summary Timesheet: This button, a new feature with this upgrade, generates a Summary Timesheet report. See the section below for more detail.
• Print Detail Timesheet: This button replaces the ‘Print Staff Timesheet’ button, previously located adjacent to the ‘Quick Reports’ button in the Timesheet View screen. The ‘Print Detail Timesheet’ button will generate a printable timesheet displaying worked hours for all projects and tasks in the time period.
• Print Expenses: This button replaces the ‘View Quick Report on Expenses’ button, previously located next to the Expenses button in the Timesheet View screen. This button will display an Expenses Quick Report for printing, if your i-Timesheets system has been configured to enable ‘Expenses Tracking’.
• Submit Timesheet/Complete Timesheet: i-Timesheets users can now use this button on the Toolbar to submit their timesheet (if Use Authorization is enabled) or complete their timesheets at the end of the time period. For convenience, this button is also available at the end of the Timesheet View screen. Please note that once a timesheet has been submitted or completed, this button becomes unavailable – shown as a ‘grayed out’ button on screen.
• Summary Timesheet

With a single click of a button, i-Timesheets will generate a Summary Timesheet report that will show Project Totals and Sub-task Totals of hours worked for the given time period. The report also shows sub-totals for the day and week, and period totals.

Minor Enhancements

• The functionality of time records deletion has been altered. In earlier versions of i-Timesheets, time records were permanently removed when the user chose the Delete option. Now, time records are first marked for deletion and only permanently removed when the user presses “Save Changes” in the i-Timesheets entry screen. This gives the user the ability to back out if records have been deleted by mistake.

• Several very minor miscellaneous bugs have been fixed.

What's New in i-Timesheets v4.3 (released October 2005)

Major Enhancements

• Staff Copy Feature

A Staff Copy feature has been added. This works in a similar way to the Project Copy feature. The main benefit of the Staff Copy function is to expedite the creation of Staff Project records by basing your new Staff member on an existing similar Staff member who is already allocated to Projects. When copying a Staff member, the Staff Project Description, Charge and Cost rates can be overridden, if required, in the newly-created Staff Project records.
• Customer Selection on Time Entry screen

You can now choose to have the Customer displayed as a primary selector for Projects in the Input Time screen. A new configuration setting, 'Input Time Field Options' is now available. This configuration setting also determines the order in which fields are displayed on the Input Time screen. Options available include:
• Project-Time-Task-Description
• Project-Task-Time-Description
• Customer-Project-Time-Task-Description
• Customer-Project-Task-Time-Description

If a selection is made in the Customer dropdown on the Input Time screen, the Projects dropdown shows only the Projects relevant to that Customer. However, choosing a Customer is optional, you may also directly choose a Project without a Customer having been selected.

• Staff Listing Enhanced
  
The Staff Listing screen has been enhanced with the addition of a Staff Type drop-down selection list. For customers with large i-Timesheets systems >= 100 Staff, the screen is also no longer populated when first accessed, in this case Staff will only be listed once the Display button has been pressed, significantly improving response times.
• Staff Deletion Enhanced
  
A Staff member and their Staff Project records may now be deleted from the Staff Listing page as long as there are no Time or Expense Records recorded for the Staff member. Previously you would need to delete all associated Staff Project records for the Staff member before deleting the Staff member.
• Staff Projects Listing Enhanced
  
The Staff Project Listing screen will by default now only show records for Staff with an Active Status. To view Staff Project records for Disabled Staff, you will need to change the Status field on the Staff Project Listing screen to Disabled or All.
• Project Copy Enhanced
  
The Project Copy function now also optionally allows the copying of any associated Project Task records.
• Reports
  
• Two new reports have been added to i-Timesheets:

• Project Cost and Expense by Week Report - allows you to display a Project Report, detailing the Period, Worked Hours, Charge Amount, Expenses and Total for Staff on a specific Project.

• Project Cost and Expense by Week for Period Report - allows you to display a Project Report, detailing the Week start date, Worked Hours by day, Total Worked Hours for the week, Charge Amount, Expenses and Total for Staff on a specific Project.

• Custom Reports can now be displayed selectively to non-Admin users. The display of Custom Reports can be achieved on three levels:

1. show a Custom Report to ALL non-Admin users,
2. show a Custom Report to a group of non-Admin users via Staff Types and
3. show a Custom Report to a single non-Admin user.

If you wish to have some of i-Timesheets existing Admin reports made available to some non-admin staff, please contact the i-Timesheets support centre.

Minor Enhancements

• Password Change: If the user enters the default or existing password as the new password on the Password Change screen, the new password will now be rejected.

• Default Staff Project Description: There is a new configuration setting to enable a Default Staff Project Description to be defined. The value entered here will be automatically supplied as a default Description for Staff Project records (eg. "Professional services provided by"). This is useful to save time when setting up new records as it prompts for the usual value and helps maintain consistency in the Description.

• Project Cost and Expense by Week for Period Report: Explanatory text has been added to explain why no data could be found if the specified date range does not include the project activity.

Minor changes and misbehaviors corrected

• A small issue with the display of Staff Time Sheets for printing has been corrected. The inclusion of Task Descriptions was being done only if Global Tasks were enabled, so that Task Descriptions were not displayed if ONLY Project-specific Tasks were enabled. This has been corrected so that Task Descriptions are displayed if either or both of these features are enabled.

• The Unchargeable Project Summary Report could fail with some date formats. This has been corrected.

• Previously, Task Descriptions which included apostrophes caused problems with dynamic population of drop-down lists during time entry. This is now fixed.

• The Check Times page was not correctly listing Uncompleted Time. This has been corrected.

• A compatibility problem with Firefox browsers has been resolved where normal i-Timesheets users could not access the Settings tab.

What's New in i-Timesheets v4.2

Major Enhancements

• TimeRecord Copy Facility
  A "Period Copy" facility has been introduced on the View Timesheet screen which gives the ability to copy the currently displayed period's Time Records to any other period (via the standard drop down period selection list). This can save a significant amount of time for Staff members who have very similar timesheets from one period to the next. The only restriction is that no Time Records already exist in the destination period.
  Note : The Period Copy facility is only applicable if your i-Timesheets system has been configured for a "Weekly" rather than "Monthly" Period Type.
• New Project Report
  • Project Cost Detail Report - A very powerful new report that reports at the individual Time and Expense Record level, giving you the most detail yet available in a standard i-Timesheets report.

Minor Enhancements

• Custom Reports now available for non-admin Staff
  Custom reports are now selectively available to non-Admin users. Any Custom Reports contained within Report Groups starting with the word "User" will be visible to non-admin users.
• Data Drill Down
  The Drilldown page now orders displayed data by Time Record Date and Start Time if "Start and Finish Times" are used, and Date if not. Previously the Drill Down screen ordered data by Time Record Date only.
• Interface Improvements
  
  1. A new unambiguous "Brief" date format has been introduced in i-Timesheets. "Brief" dates are now displayed as dd mmm rather than dd/mm. For example dates on the View Timesheet screen are now display as "10 May" rather than "10/05".
  2. Some cosmetic changes to appearance have been made on some pages.

Minor changes and misbehaviors corrected

• None.

What's New in i-Timesheets v4.1

Minor Enhancements

• Clearer Feedback if no Suppliers Defined
  For consistency of appearance, the Staff Edit page now supplies a dummy dropdown with the single entry (none defined) if no suppliers have been defined, instead of a text display stating only that suppliers are not defined. This field is relevant only for contract staff.
• Project Task External ID
  Project Tasks have an external ID which was originally defined as an integer. In response to a customer request, this is now a text field, and is consistently labelled Exernal ID.
• Global Task Changes
  In response to a customer request, Global Tasks now allow for an external ID, allowing additional information to be recorded against a Global Task. For example, the field can be used to store the Task Code from previous i-Timesheets versions or an external system, or any other information up to 30 characters in length.
• Password Notification Emails Enhanced
  Automatic emails sent to users when an account is created or a password is reset now include detail explaining how to log on, and provide a link to the logon page.
• Focus Override Removed
  Time and Expense input pages used to set the input focus to the first field on the page. If data speed was slow, this focus could happen as one was trying to select a project from the dropdown and would close the dropdown. To avoid this annoyance, the automatic focus change no longer takes place.
• Cosmetic Changes
  Some cosmetic changes to appearance have been made on some pages.

What's New in i-Timesheets v4.0

Major Enhancements

• Drill Down Data Viewer
  
  A new drill down data viewer icon has been added to almost every screen and report throughout the application allowing you to instantly drill down to the time and expense records that underlie a particular row of data.
  
  Once the Drill Down screen has been displayed you may further refine the data shown by entering or changing the Date range and pressing the Display button. You can leave the Date fields blank to show all associated data.
  
  There is an Export button which can be used to easily export the data in CSV format suitable for use in a spreadsheet program or other external tool. There is a separate Export for Time records and Expense records.
  
  
• Project Specific Tasks
  
  i-Timesheets has always supported Tasks in the form of Global Tasks applied to all Projects. In our new release we have added a menu option for Project-specific Tasks . The Global Task list is still supported as an option for all Projects which do not have their own specific Task lists. You can choose to use both options together or, if you prefer, only one.
  
  Project-specific Task lists can be entered manually, copied from another project or imported from a text file saved in CSV (comma-separated-value format). Our online help provides details on how to set up a mapping table using the MS Project Import/Export Wizard.
  
  Project-specific Task lists and recorded Actuals can also be exported in CSV format by clicking on the Export button. The import and export features provide a bi-directional and recurring flow of task-related information between i-Timesheets and third-party software such as MS Project and MS Excel.
  
  New and enhanced reports complete the package by providing on-line real-time statistical and analytical information.
  
  
• Enhanced Security
  
  The enhancements to security have been designed to a) make it simple to reset a given staff members password and notify them, and b) protect all passwords in the system.
  
  a) Password Reset Facility - located on the Staff admin screen alongside the password field is the password reset icon. When you click on this icon i-Timesheets automatically resets the user's password to a default as set up by the System Administrator. Staff are notified by email that their password has been reset by the system. After a password has been reset it will need to be changed the next time the Staff member logs on.
  
  b) Protecting Passwords - all passwords are now protected on the Staff admin screen by being masked with a series of asterisk characters, i.e.'*****'. Since all users have to reset the password the first time they log on, it means that the application is now even more secure from unauthorized access.
  
  
• Project Delete
  
  In previous versions it has only been possible for the System Administrator to remove Projects by first manually deleting any related data, i.e. Time Records, Project Staff records and so on. Our new Project delete functionality makes it easy to remove a Project and its related data in a simple and safe two-step process.
  
  1. The first step is to mark a project as 'Disabled'. If you try to delete a project that is not disabled then you will be prompted by the system to first mark the project as disabled.
  
  2. Once the project has been marked as 'Disabled' then if you try to delete the project you will be prompted to confirm your intention to delete. If you do not wish to proceed you can exit the process by pressing the 'Cancel' button. If you choose to proceed then the project and all its related data will be permanently removed.
  
  
• Session Longevity
  
  i-Timesheets has always had a session timeout period parameter that is set up by the System Administrator. However, depending on server load of the application, there have been times when the user session could be ended after only 20 min of inactivity. Enhancements have now been made to the application that will allow a user session to survive despite periods of inactivity.

Minor Enhancements

• Timesheet View
  
  In the previous version, once a timesheet was locked by a user, the underlying time records could only be viewed by running a report such as the 'Staff Timesheet Listing All Projects'. Now once a timesheet is locked, the Add/Edit buttons appearing on the Timesheet View screen are replaced by buttons. If the user clicks one of the buttons then the time record and details for that day are displayed in a view-only screen.
  
  
• User Email
  
  The user email icon has been added to the general user application toolbar and allows them to email the System Administrator. If the user clicks on this icon a new email message is created and the subject title of the email is automatically populated with the text "i-Timesheets query from ".
  
  
• Quick View/Edit
  
  i-Timesheets has new links added to the Project Staff screen that make it easy to navigate to View/Edit any selected Project or Staff detail record. This saves the user from having to navigate back to the main application toolbar and then select either the Project or Staff maintenance screens to locate this information.
  
  
• Field Focus
  
  To further enhance the useability of using the keyboard when entering Time and Expense records, we have added functionality that will set the focus of the cursor for the user so they can type or select options without having to use the mouse.
  
  
• Rounding Hours
  
  i-Timesheets has always supported the ability to force the rounding of hours entered to be precisely to a quarter hour, i.e. rounded to.00, .25, .50 or .75. Our new release provides more flexible rounding of hours worked and supports the following intervals: any times, 3-minute, 5-minute, 6-minute, 10-minute, 12-minute, 20-minute, quarter-hour, half-hour and whole-hour.
  
  
• Interface Improvements
  
  1. Users of i-Timesheets would be familiar with the Edit, Delete, Copy options which appear on the administration screens. To improve the look and feel and general usability of the application, these options together with the newly added Drill Down option have been logically grouped into one column titled "Actions".
  
  2. The option for Expense Codes used to be located on the main application tool bar under the Admin Tab. This has now been relocated under the Settings Tab.
  
  
• Timesheet Templates
  
  The design and format of our Project timesheet templates has been improved so it is easier to read multiple Task selections and/or descriptions entered for different working times on the same day.

Minor changes and misbehaviors corrected

There were several minor changes and a few minor bugs that have now been fixed.

• When you delete a record, i-Timesheets asks you to confirm the deletion giving you the description rather than a code. If the text included apostrophes or quote characters, the confirmation failed. A new filter function now sorts out the characters so they work, and all deletion confirmations have been corrected.
• Numerous cosmetic changes have been made to improve the consistency of appearance throughout i-Timesheets.

What's New in i-Timesheets v3.7

Enhancements

• Time Entry Past Midnight
  
  i-Timesheets has a new parameter which will allow staff such as shift workers to enter their hours past midnight on any given day. For example, assuming the parameter has been enabled, i-Timesheets will allow a shift to run from Monday 20:00 to Tuesday 04:00 and will record this entry as 8 hours worked.
• Other Enhancements
  • Project Budget Summary Report - Additional drop down list to allow selection by Staff.
  • Project Budget Summary Report - Additional check box to show/hide projects with zero budget amounts.
  • Project Task Report - Additional drop down list to allow selection by Staff
  • The company name is now displayed on all i-Timesheets Quick Reports.

Fixes

• Additional validation in Time Entry to prohibit the entry of alphanumeric characters.
• Staff Cost by Week Report - rounding of Total Hours to 2 decimal places.
• Fix of possible error where the last Project Code defaulted has been disabled and could come up as disabled in the new Time Entry screen.
• Only show the Mail Server Name parameter for i-Timesheets+ systems.
• Future periods drop down list in Time Entry screen has light grey background.

What's New in i-Timesheets v3.5 and v3.6

Enhancements

• Manager authorization
  
  i-Timesheets now provides the functionality to define and assign an authorizer (Manager) to a Project. When a staff member submits timesheets which require authorization, the authorizing Manager receives an email advising that authorization is required, with a link for each timesheet (one per Project) for which they are responsible. Clicking on the link will load a Web browser page with the information to be authorized. The Manager may choose to accept a timesheet, or may reject a timesheet. If a Manager chooses to reject a timesheet, he can supply explanatory notes - these will be forwarded to the staff member.
  
  Manager authorization includes the following features:
  • New Configuration Option - Manager authorization is included as core functionality in the mainstream application. The functionality can be turned on by enabling a new i-Timesheets Configuration setting titled "Use authorization".
  • New Managers Screen - This screen allows new Manager records to be added to the system and for existing Manager records to be updated. You will normally set up a Manager record for each Manager who has responsibility for authorizing timesheets for a Project. You can also record multiple email addresses for a Manager.
  • Project authorizer Field - This new field is displayed on the Projects Add/Update screen only if the General Configuration setting "Use authorization" is selected. The default value is no authorization required, which means that when staff members sign their timesheets electronically they are immediately marked as complete. Alternatively, select an authorizing Manager from the drop-down list; in this case, when a staff member signs a timesheet electronically, the timesheet is submitted to the appropriate manager, who is notified by email of the submission, for his or her approval.
  • Check Timesheets - The Check Timesheets page can be used to review the status of the Timesheets for all your Staff. There are now 3 status levels for Timesheet completeness:
    • No: Timesheets have not yet been submitted by the Staff member.
    • Pending: Timesheets have been submitted by the Staff member but one or more of their project Timesheets has not yet been authorized.
    • Yes: Timesheets are completed and authorized where necessary for this Staff member.
  • Electronic Signature - If an electronic signature has been recorded for the authorizer then their signature and name will appear on the bottom of any printed Timesheets as the authorizing Manager.
  
  
• Other Enhancements
  • The Timesheets View screen will now allow monthly timesheet periods to have a start date other than the 1st of a given month. For example, the monthly period could be setup to run from January 15th to February 14th.
  • The already very comprehensive on-line help text has been further revised and improved. If you have printed out the entire Help Manual previously it would be a good idea to re-print the manual as there have been numerous modifications and improvements.

Fixes

• Additional checks have been put in the validation of the Project Code to reject spaces and any non-standard characters.
• The budget amount in the Cost Code report was being displayed under the cost column instead of the charge column. Also selecting the detail option combined with the start dates was corrected.
• Fixed small bug in expense input where the first day of a period (when it was equal to the lock date) was not being populated in the drop down when it should have been.
• Fixed small bug in project staff screen such that when in Edit mode, disabled Cost Codes are now still displayed but are shown as disabled.

What's New in i-Timesheets v3.4

Enhancements

• Expense Tracking
  i-Timesheets can now be used to track expenses for your Staff as well as their time! Just enable the "Track Expenses" configuration option and you've got it up and running in no time. You can even define "Expense Codes" to record your expenses against so you can relate the expenses back to your accounting or payroll systems. Expenses are recorded in a very similar way to Time records, so your staff will have no problems getting the most out of this great new facility. All functionality such as "locking" works the same way as it does for your Time records. Expense Tracking includes the following features:
  • New Expenses Launch Button - shows you a summary total of expenses claimed for a period (if any) and allows you to enter/view expenses for a period
  • New Expenses Report - quickly and easily view the details of expense claims by Staff for any time period
  • New Expenses Export Facility - export your expenses out to Excel or your Accounting system (csv format) using the newly built Expense Export facility. The Expense Export has been built with the same easy-to-use point-and-click user interface as the Time Records Export.
• Enhanced Time Entry - Task and Description
  It is now possible to record both a "Task" and a "Description" when recording time on the time entry screen. This significantly improves the power of the i-Timesheets application by allowing you to "break down" time spent on your Projects by sub-Tasks whilst still retaining the ability to enter a free format description against each time entry. Validation has been enhanced to allow you to choose from the following options:
  • Choose "Task required, Description required" to force entry of both fields
  • Choose "Task optional, Description optional" to make both fields optional
  • Choose "Task optional, Description required" to force entry of only Description
  • Choose "Task required, Description optional" to force entry of only Task
• Improved Code Compatibility
  i-Timesheets has been enhanced by increasing the length of several of its key code fields to allow greater compatibility with existing customer systems and procedures.
  • The Customer Code has been increased in length from 3 characters to 10 characters
  • The Project Code has been increased in length from 5 characters to 15 characters
  • A Reference Field has been added to the Staff table so that you can record an external ID for each Staff member to help with linking to external systems. This alleviates the need to match by name.

Fixes

• The Staff maintenance screens have been updated to prevent the user from changing the Staff Type of the last Admin user. This prevents the possibility of someone accidentally locking themselves out of the system with no Admin access.
• Additional checks have been put in the Staff maintenance screens to prevent Admin users from exceeding the terms of their license.
• The Add/Edit Project screen now defaults the Budget field to 0, to assist with more efficient data entry.
• The "Upload Signature File" facility on the Staff Maintenance Screen has been improved to work with a wider variety of web servers. Previously there were some issues with some IIS4 Servers.
• license Key handling has been improved where a user's license key has expired. The user can now simply enter their new key immediately upon logging onto the system.
• Security has been tightened to prevent potential access by normal users to the "Batch Timesheet Print Facility" and "Audit Reports".
• The "Pop-up Calendar" has been improved to now work on most browsers (except Netscape v4, Macintosh IE, and Opera).
• Various "Error Messages" and "Hint Text" displayed by the system have been refined and improved.
• The "Charge Rates" and "Cost Rates" columns have been removed from the "Project Role Report" and "Project Task Report" so that Roles will be aggregated as they were in i-Timesheets v3.2.
• Several minor Field Alignment issues have been corrected in the Reports.
• The Application Map has been updated to provide links to all new items in the system.
• Security has been improved to prevent Proxy Servers recording logon details.
• Usability of drop down lists through i-Timesheets has been improved. Drop down lists which previously had an "All" option have been changed so that this is now the default option rather than "Please Select", which has been removed.
• The Staff Type screens have been updated to provide warnings and restrictions on the Admin and Contractor Staff Types which have special meanings to the i-Timesheets application. For example, the screens now prevent anyone removing the Admin Staff Type and thus potentially locking themsleves out of the system.

What's New in i-Timesheets v3.3

Enhancements

• Forward Time Entry
  It is now possible to enter time for future periods, making i-Timesheets a powerful tool for planning and scheduling work ahead of time. The i-Timesheets Administrator has the ability to set the number of forward periods that are shown to i-Timesheets users. Forward periods are indicated clearly in the Period Start Date selection list and separated by a horizontal line from current and previous periods.

  Forward entry of time is a very useful feature, enabling i-Timesheets users to enter Holiday Leave in advance, to schedule work, forward plan etc.
  
  

• Improved Administrator Reporting
  A number of new Project, Staff, Cost Code and Task reports have been added to the core i-Timesheets application.
  Staff Reports
     -Staff Cost Report
     -Staff Cost By Week Report
     -Staff Summary Report
     -Staff Time Tracking Report
     -Staff Utilisation Summary Report
  Project Reports
     -Project Budget Summary Report
     -Project Cost Report
     -Project Cost By Week Report
     -Project Cost Code Report
     -Project Role Report
     -Project Task Report
     -Unchargeable Project Summary Report
  Cost Code Reports
     -Cost Code Report
     -Cost Code Summary Report
  Task Report
     -Task Summary Report
  
  
• New End-User Report
  A new report has been especially created for the end users of i-Timesheets. The Staff Time Tracking Report allows users to choose any time period (start and end date) and produce a summary of the amount of time spent on all their Projects. Both chargeable and non-chargeable hours are shown allowing i-Timesheets users to gauge their utilisation percentage. The report is also very useful for checking how much leave they may have taken during any particular period.
  
  
• Email Notification of Project Allocation
  Administrators can now save even more time by choosing to have i-Timesheets send an email notification to staff when they have been allocated to a project. The email notification can optionally be sent when adding or modifying a Staff Project record.
  
  
• New Standard Print Templates
  Two new Standard Timesheet Templates have been added to the i-Timesheets suite:
  • GenericHourly (*new*)- date and day of week and hours worked;
  • GenericHourlyTask - date and day of week, hours worked and task description;
  • Generic -date and day of week, start time, end time and hours worked;
  • GenericTask - date and day of week, start time, end time, hours worked and task description;
  • StaffHourly (*new*) - date and day of week, hours worked and task description across all projects;
  • Staff - date and day of week, start time, end time, hours worked and task description across all projects;
  
  
  
• More Batch Printing Options The Batch Printing Module has been completely re-written to overcome issues with some particular web browser versions which were limiting output to approximately 35 timesheets within a batch. The performance has also been improved significantly, compatibility with Netscape browsers has been improved and new options have been added.
  It is now possible to print batch timesheets for:
  • a single project;
  • all projects flagged for batch printing, i.e. chargeable projects;
  • all projects flagged as not for batch printing (*new*), i.e. non-chargeable projects;
  • all projects, regardless of the batch printing flag (*new*);
  • all staff, showing all their projects on a single timesheet (*new*).
  
  
  
• Session TimeOut
  The Session Timeout security feature has been enhanced to allow the i-Timesheets Administrator to allow users to stay connected to i-Timesheets for up to 10 hours instead of the previous 60 minutes. This allows users to continue to run in a background window for a whole working day without the system logging them off automatically when their session timed out.
  
  
• Built-in Calendar Date Selector
  To improve ease of use, customers using Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) can now select date ranges from a pop-up calendar in all of the i-Timesheets reports and Export facilities that allow the entry of a free-format date range.
  
  
• Easier Printing
  Quick Reports now have a "Click To Print" button at the top so reports can be more easily directed to the printer.
  
  
• Auto-print of Timesheets
  When you generate a timesheet or batch of timesheets, i-Timesheets now automatically pops up the print dialogue as soon as the document is complete.
  
  
• i-Timesheets configuration Settings
  The number of i-Timesheets configuration Settings has increased significantly during the last 2 releases and we have now re-organized the configuration options into new Categories so that they are now easier to locate.

  The Configuration screen now displays the i-Timesheets version and license details including the maximum number of active Staff that have been licensed.
  
  

• license Key Modification / Company Name
  The i-Timesheets license key for version 3.3 has been increased in length so that it now holds your Company Name within the key. You will now notice that the Company Name field has therefore been removed from the System Configuration settings. If you need to make a change to your Company name you must now request a new license key via the i-Timesheets Support Centre.
  
  
• Multiple Version Support for Hosted Customers
  The Hosted i-Timesheets application has been improved to allow multiple versions of the application to be run at the same time on an i-Timesheets server. This gives our customers greater flexibility as they are now able to choose on an individual basis whether or not they wish to upgrade to new versions of i-Timesheets and also decide when they wish to upgrade.
  
  
• Charge and Cost Rate Changes
  The on-screen help and i-Timesheets Help module have been enhanced in the areas of rate changes to make the recommended approaches clearer to help i-Timesheets administrators select the correct method to get the results they are after.
  
  
• File Upload and Email Components
  Internally, the i-Timesheets system has been modified to be able to use several leading File Upload and Email components allowing much greater flexibility for customers who purchase the i-Timesheets+ solution. This has no effect on the hosted i-Timesheets product and our hosted customers.
  
  
• Application Map
  The Application Map has been simplified and improved to provide all options on the one map rather than having to drill-down into 2nd level maps on some items.
  
  
• Improved Online Help
  The already very comprehensive on-line help text has been further revised and improved. If you have printed out the entire Help Manual previously it would be a good idea to re-print the manual as there have been numerous modifications and improvements.
  
  

Fixes

• Minor changes and misbehaviors corrected
  There were several minor changes and a few bugs that have now been fixed.
• 1. Some of the list screens were not correctly retaining their context if you edited a record, so that when you returned to the list screen you saw a different set of records. Context is now correctly remembered, so that you see the same list you saw before.
  2. The General Export facility now correctly filters output by staff type.
  3. For i-Timesheets+ users, the option to populate the time input page with a user's available projects no longer results in an error if the user had no projects.
  4. The Help screen will no longer fail if your underlying i-Timesheets session has timeout out because of lack of activity, but will instead give a meaningful message explaining why Help has become inaccessible.
  5. A validation problem during addition of Staff Project records has been corrected; it used to insist, under rarely-met circumstances, on a value being supplied where one was not relevant.
  6. When entering a new license Key, a validation error could occassionally occur if the user didn't remove any line feeds from the form field after the new key was pasted in. Any additional line feeds are now stripped out to prevent this error from occurring.
  7. In all i-Timesheets reports the "Chargeable" amount column now only includes amounts that are attached to Projects that have been flagged as "Chargeable". Previously any amounts that were attached to Staff Project records that had rates were included in the "Chargeable" amount.
  8. The View Timesheet screen has been modified to show weeks running from Monday to Sunday instead of Sunday to Saturday when the system is configured to us a Period Type of "Monthly".
  9. The Sequence field has been removed from the Staff Project List screen. This field is an internal field used by the i-Timesheets system to ensure uniqueness of records, it is not reuired to be seen by users of i-Timesheets and has been removed to avoid any possible confusion.
  10. A file locking issue has been addressed for IIS4 Web Servers which could sometimes cause delays or an error when updating an "Electronic Signature" on the Staff Add/Update screen.
  11. The Staff Project Add/Update screen has been updated to hide the Suppliers drop down list where no Suppliers have been defined in the system. It has also been modified to only show Active Staff in the Staff drop down list when creating a new record.
  12. The Reports Tab now defaults to the first set of reports (Staff) instead of the second set of reports (Projects).
  13. An additional check has been placed into the "Add/Edit Time Records" screen to prevent the user from recording more than 24 hours in a single day.
  14. Project Codes of less than 5 characters in length no longer cause errors in Netscape v4 browsers.
  15. The entry of the Description field on the Staff Project Details screen has now been made optional rather than mandatory.
  16. The Staff Add/Update screen has been updated to display an error message if the user attempts to remove the last Staff member with a type of Admin (thus preventing them from locking themselves out of the system).