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T I M E C A R D
Version 2.80
(C) Copyright 1993
Stephen Balbach
Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction 2
1.1 Hardware and Software Requirements . . . . . 3
1.2 License and Liability . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 How To Contact the Author . . . . . . . . . . 4
Chapter 2 Before You Begin 5
2.1 Installing Time Card . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.1.1 Floppy Disk Installation . . . . . . . . 5
2.1.2 Hard Disk Installation . . . . . . . . . 5
2.1.3 Printer Installation . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2 Starting Time Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.3 Additional Notes for Floppy Systems . . . . . 6
2.4 Network Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Chapter 3 Getting Started 7
3.1 What is Time Card? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.2 Getting Around . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.3 Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.4 What the Files Contain . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.5 Exiting Time Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Chapter 4 Ready to Use 9
4.1 A Note on the Famous Persons Database . . . . 9
4.2 Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4.3 The Configuration Menu . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.3.1 System Operators Name . . . . . . . . 10
4.3.2 Card Path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.3.3 Soft Password . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.3.4 Enable Employee Passwords . . . . . . 10
4.3.5 Log Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.3.6 Day of Week . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.4 Saving the Configuration Data . . . . . . . 11
Chapter 5 Loging In and Out 12
5.1 Loging in and out from the Command Line . . 12
5.2 Loging in and out from the Graphical
Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Chapter 6 Viewing Log Records 13
6.1 Viewing Daily Activities . . . . . . . . . 13
6.2 Viewing Period Totals . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Chapter 7 Using the Message Base 14
7.1 Reading Bulletins . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
i
7.2 Posting Bulletins . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
7.3 Deleting a Bulletin . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
7.4 Reading Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
7.5 Posting Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
7.6 Deleting Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
7.7 Editor Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Chapter 8 System Operator Menus 17
8.1 Accessing the System Operator Menu . . . . 17
8.2 Creating a New Employee Account . . . . . . 17
8.3 Deleting an Employee Account . . . . . . . 18
8.4 Editing an Employee Account . . . . . . . . 18
8.5 Editing Log Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
8.6 Printing Log Files . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
8.7 Printing the User File . . . . . . . . . . 19
8.8 Special System Operator Message Commands . 19
8.8.1 Global Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
8.8.2 Deleting Bulletins . . . . . . . . . . 19
8.9 A Note on Backing Up Log files . . . . . . 20
Appendix A Bounds 21
A.1 Employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
A.2 Log Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
A.3 Log Entries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Appendix B Errors 22
ii
Chapter 1
Introduction
Time Card is an innovative tool designed to replace established
methods of accounting for employee work hours. Traditional tools
such as punch cards or log sheets work as well as Time Card in
so far as entering the time worked. It is just as easy to punch
into a punch card as it is a computer or sign up on a log sheet.
However, this is where the similarities end. In the older
systems manual tabulation is required at the end of each work
period. With a computer, this can be done effortlessly and
instantly. With a computer, data can be viewed in new and
interesting ways and exported into other applications such as
spreadsheets. Finally it can be printed and kept for records.
Time Card provides a common meeting ground for all employees
through the Electronic Mail feature. In the older systems if an
employer wanted to leave a message for an employee it would have
to be through word of mouth, a phone call or whatever other means
were available. Because Time Card informs employees of mail
waiting upon log-in, an employer can be assured his employees
will receive their messages the next time they come to work. The
public bulletins also allow an extra dimension for communication
among the employees at work further enhancing interoffice
communication.
Because of its two-tier password protection Time Card may be
used in public areas without fear of unauthorized use. In fact
it was originally developed for a college lab where security was
of prime importance. Some features of Time Card:
o Accurate and complete accounting of employee work hours.
o Formatted reports of hours worked, in decimal and minutes.
o Printed reports.
o Electronic mail so employees may leave private mail to
each other and the operator. Upon log-in, employees are
notified of any mail waiting in their mail box.
o Global mail, allowing multiple copies of a message to be
sent.
o Public Bulletins.
- 2 -
o Full password protection of the system so Time Card may
be left in a public place without fear of unauthorized
use. This may be optionally turned off for quicker
operation.
o Full video support from monochrome to VGA.
o A network version for use on a server/peer network.
o And much much more...
1.1 Hardware and Software Requirements
Time Card runs on the IBM PC family of computers, including the
XT, AT, and the PS/2 series, along with true IBM compatibles.
Time Card requires:
o A single or double floppy system or a hard-disk system.
o DOS 3.0 or higher
o 512K of free RAM
1.2 License and Liability
Time Card was written by Stephen Balbach and is protected under
the United States copyright laws. You must treat Time Card like
any other copyrighted material. You can, however, make copies
for back up or archive purposes and transfer the program to hard
disks.
WARRANTY
Stephen Balbach makes no warranty concerning the function or
fitness of any program and/or subroutines reproduced on the disk
and shall have no liability or responsibility to any recipient
with respect to liability, loss damage caused -- directly or
indirectly -- by the use of the disk and the programs and/or
subroutines, including but not limited to, any loss of business
or other incidental or consequential damages.
- 3 -
1.3 How To Contact the Author
I may be contacted at:
Stephen Balbach
17530 New Hampshire Ave.
Ashton, MD 20861
(301) 774-1545
Please note this is an address and phone change from previous
versions.
- 4 -
Chapter 2
Before You Begin
This chapter provides all the information you need to get Time
Card up and running on your computer.
2.1 Installing Time Card
Time Card is distributed on a single floppy disk. To install on
a floppy disk or hard disk, insert the Time Card distribution
disk in drive A: and follow the instructions in Sections 2.1.1
and 2.1.2 for your system type.
2.1.1 Floppy Disk Installation
Before installing Time Card for your system you will need a
blank formatted floppy. If you have two floppy drives, insert
the blank floppy in drive B:. Then, copy the contents of the
distribution disk to the blank disk by typing A:copy *.* B: If
you have only one floppy type A:DISKCOPY A: A: The copy is now
your work disk and the distribution disk should be stored in a
safe place.
2.1.2 Hard Disk Installation
To install Time Card on a hard disk go to drive C: and type
C:\cd \ Then type C:\md tcard, and then C:\cd tcard You
should now be in directory C:\TCARD on your hard drive. With
the distribution disk in drive A: copy all files from drive A: to
the TCARD directory. ie. type C:\TCARD>copy A:*.* C:\TCARD
Time Card has now been installed on your hard disk and the
distribution disk should be stored in a safe place.
Note: In the above instructions TCARD was used as the directory
name. This was for example only and you may name the Time Card
directory any name you wish.
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2.1.3 Printer Installation
If you have a printer Time Card will automatically detect the
port to use (LPT1, LPT2 or LPT3). No printer installation needs
to be done at this time, other than making sure the printer is
on-line before printing.
If you are using the network version you will need to redirect
printer output from the parallel port to your network printer.
Consult your network documentation on how to redirect parallel
port output to the network printer.
2.2 Starting Time Card
If your not there already, change to the directory that contains
your Time Card files (probably C:\TCARD) and type "card" to
start. For command line options type "card ?".
2.3 Additional Notes for Floppy Systems
This section is for those who will run Time Card on a floppy
system. It is recommended that Time Card be used on a minimum
740k floppy, preferably on a 1.2meg or 1.44meg floppy. The
starting data files alone make it impossible to use on a 360k
floppy. It will be important to monitor free disk space as Time
Card adds information to the databases.
2.4 Network Installation
This section is for those users who are using the network
version of Time Card. Time Card is installed as above but on
the file server. To run properly DOS SHARE.EXE must be
installed. If it has not been installed Time Card will report
errors on opening files. See the section above on printer
installation.
- 6 -
Chapter 3
Getting Started
This chapter will introduce you to what Time Card is all about,
what the different files contain, how to get help and how to
navigate through the user interface.
3.1 What is Time Card ?
Welcome to Time Card - Stephen Balbach's fast and easy employee
time management tool. Time Card is a computerized replacement
for the traditional punch-card system and in addition has
uncommon features usually not found in business accounting
programs. Time Card is suitable for any environment where
employee hours need to be tracked and a computer is available.
Time Card does not need a dedicated computer to operate so you
may quit out of Time Card to run other applications, returning
only to punch in or out.
3.2 Getting Around
All Time Card menu commands are in clear, understandable
English, so they're mostly self-explanatory. Remember, when you
want to clear a menu from the screen, press ESC. To choose a
menu choice, use the arrow keys or the first letter of the menu
choice to move the scroll bar to that choice. Then press ENTER.
From the main screen the left and right arrows move the scroll
bar across the top of the screen and the up and down keys move
the scroll bar on the "Logged In" window.
3.3 Getting Help
If you need help on the keys or what each function does you may
get help by pressing the F1 key. Help is available from any
menu.
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3.4 What the Files Contain
This section briefly describes the data files used by Time Card
in order that you may better understand how Time Card works.
- USERS contains all employee information (Name, SS#, ect...)
- *.LOG contains the log time data .
- BULL contains messages from the E-Mail system.
- TEMP contains information on employees currently logged
in.
- PARMS.CLK contains system passwords, pay period
configuration and path information.
3.5 Exiting Time Card
When you would like to leave Time Card move the main scroll bar
to "Exit" and press return. Remember, because all information
about currently logged in employees is kept on disk you may exit
Time Card at any time without fear of losing data. Simply
restart Time Card to log out.
- 8 -
Chapter 4
Ready to Use
You have installed Time Card and are ready to begin using it for
real to log your employee hours. This chapter details how to
configure Time Card to your specifications.
NOTE: If this is the first time you have configured Time Card
you will need to read section 4.1 first.
4.1 A Note on the Famous Persons Database
The distribution disk comes with an employee database of Famous Persons.
This database can be used to learn how to use Time Card. When
you are ready to configure Time Card for permanent use it is
necessary to remove the database. Before configuring
Time Card for the first time, delete every file in the Time
Card directory except for "card.exe" and "card.hlp". Time
Card will generate all other necessary files. You may want to keep
the documentation files in you directory.
4.2 Passwords
This section describes the passwords you will need in order to
configure Time Card.
Time Card works on a two-tier password system. The main
password is soft-coded meaning it is chosen by you during system
configuration. The emergency password is hard coded meaning it
never changes. Therefore it is important you never use the hard
password unless needed and keep it in a secure place - preferably
written down away from the computer.
In order to access the System Operators menu, you will need the
soft password. In order to access the Configuration menu you
will need the hard password. The initial soft password is simply
"password". The hard password comes with the distribution disk
in a separate file called hard.pss. Remember to delete this file
after you have written the hard password down.
Note: If you ever forget the soft password the hard password may
be substituted in its place until a new soft password has been
entered.
- 9 -
4.3 The Configuration Menu
This section describes how to configure Time Card to your
specifications. If you have not done so please read section 4.1
on the Hobbits database and section 4.2 on passwords.
To access the Configuration menu follow these steps:
1. Start Time Card by typing "card".
2. Press <CNTRL><F10> and enter the soft password ("password"
if this is a first time configuration).
3. Choose the "Config" option and enter the hard password.
You are now in the configuration menu and may enter Time Card's
configuration parameters.
4.3.1 System Operators Name
The System Operators Name is used in the E-mail facility. You
may substitute a company name, title or keep as SystemOp.
4.3.2 Card Path
This is the home directory where Time Card knows where to find
the data files. If you plan on using Time Card on a network you
must include this directory in the PATH variable defined in
AUTOEXEC.BAT. Refer to your DOS manual for more information on
the PATH variable.
4.3.3 Soft Password
The soft password is described in section 4.2.
4.3.4 Enable Employee Passwords
In order to increase system security you may want to have the
employees enter their Social Security number when logging in and
out. To enable this option enter yes.
4.3.5 Log Period
The log period is used in determining the amount of time between
pay periods and may be set at one week, every two weeks, twice
monthly and monthly.
4.3.6 Day of Week
Here you enter the day of week for the pay period to start. This
is only applicable for one and two week pay periods and may be
skipped if the pay period is twice monthly or monthly.
- 10 -
4.4 Saving the Configuration Data
Once you have entered all the configuration data and are ready to
save the information, press ESC. You will be prompted to save
the configuration data, and any old configuration will be
replaced with the new configuration.
Time Card has now been successfully configured and is ready to
go.
- 11 -
Chapter 5
Loging In and Out
This chapter describes how employees may log in and out.
5.1 Loging in and out from the Command Line
Employees may log in or out from the command line. This allows
quick access to Time Card and permits batch files to be custom
made for each employee for quick log in and out.
Employees who log in or out from the command line are informed of
any mail waiting in their mail box and the time they logged in or
out.
To log in or out from the command line type "card xxxxxxxxx"
where "x" represents the employees password. Note there are no
hyphenations. To receive command line help type "card ?".
5.2 Loging in and out from the Graphical Interface
Employees may log in or out from the Time Card interface by
typing "card". Choose the "Login" menu choice by using the
arrow keys or pressing "l" and enter the password. The employee
will be informed of any mail waiting and the time he/she logged
in or out.
- 12 -
Chapter 6
Viewing Log Records
This chapter describes how employees, or anyone with access to
the computer, may view log record activities.
6.1 Viewing Daily Activities
Daily activities is a hour by hour account of log activities.
From the main menu choose "Daily Log" or press "D".
For the chosen pay period Daily log will list an hour by hour
account of what time an employee logged in and out and the total
time for that session.
6.2 Viewing Period Totals
Hour log is a total of the hours accumulated for each employee
for the specified pay period. From the main menu choose "Hour
Log" or press "H".
Hour Log will list the total time each employee has accumulated
for the specified pay period in minutes and decimal format.
Employees with no accumulated time are not listed.
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Chapter 7
Using the Message Base
This chapter describes Time Card's rich message base facilities.
There are two types of messages that may be posted. The first is
a public Bulletin which has the characteristic of being available
to be read by anyone with access to Time Card and are thus
"Public" in nature. The second type of message is Mail which has
a sender and a receiver and is accessible only to the sender and
receiver for reading and deleting and is thus "Private".
7.1 Reading Bulletins
An employee may read a Bulletin by choosing the "Bulletins" menu
choice from the main menu by using the scroll bar or by pressing
"B". A menu will appear asking for the operation to perform and
to read a bulletin you should choose "Read Bulletin".
If no Bulletins are available a message will appear saying so.
NOTE: Unlike all other message base functions, the "Read
Bulletins" function does not request a password to be entered in
order to access the message base. Therefore, anyone may read
bulletins whether they have an employee account or not.
NOTE: When reading a bulletin it is possible to perform editing
functions on the message. These are temporary and the bulletin
will appear as originally written the next time it is read.
7.2 Posting Bulletins
In order to Post a Bulletin choose "Post Bulletin" from the
Bulletin menu. Enter a Tittle or ESC to abort.
See section 7.7 for commands available while editing a Bulletin
or press F1 for a command list.
When done editing press ESC and you may now either save the
Bulletin or abort.
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7.3 Deleting a Bulletin
Bulletins from time to time need to be deleted in order to
maintain a reasonable size database of messages. Bulletins may
only be deleted by the original poster of the bulletin or by the
System Operator (see section 8.8).
In order to delete a bulletin choose "Delete Bulletin" from the
Bulletin menu. A list of Bulletins from that employee will
appear. Choose the Bulletin to be deleted. You will be prompted
to make sure it is OK to delete that bulletin.
7.4 Reading Mail
Mail may be read by choosing "Read Mail" from the Mail menu.
If no mail is available for an employee a message informing him
or her will appear that no mail is available.
See section 7.1 for more information.
7.5 Posting Mail
Mail may be posted for the private eyes only of another employee
or the System Operator. Choose "Post Mail" from the Mail menu.
See section 7.7 for commands available while editing Mail.
7.6 Deleting Mail
Mail may be deleted by the receiving party by choosing "Delete
Mail" from the Mail menu.
Only that mail which has been left for the employee may be
deleted by him or her and no one else.
- 15 -
7.7 Editor Commands
Time Card offers a complete and useful text editor with many
commands and functions for editing a message. Below is a list of
all the commands available and what they do.
Many of these commands, search and replace for example, may not
be needed on a regular basis but are provided for the more
experienced users benefit. Remember, the ESC key always backs
out and quits editing.
Movement The Up, Down, Left and right keys as well as
PgUp, PgDwn, Home, End and Tab move the cursor
around the text. Space inserts new text and
Delete deletes one character to the left and
Enter adds a new line.
Mark Block To mark a block of text for deleting, copying or
moving press <ALT><M>.
Copy Block To copy a block of text, mark the block of text
to be copied as above. Then press <GREYPLUS> to
copy the marked text to the copy buffer. Move
the cursor to the place where the text is to be
copied and press <INS>.
Move Block To move a block of text mark the block to be
moved and press <GREYMINUS>. Move the cursor to
the place where the text is to be moved and
press <INS>.
Delete Block To delete a block of text mark the block to be
deleted and press <DEL>.
Search To search for a string from the current cursor
position press <ALT><S>. Enter the string to be
searched for pressing <ALT><S> for each new
matching find.
Search and Replace
You may search for a string and automatically
replace it by pressing <ALT><R>. Enter the
search string and the replacement string,
pressing <ALT><R> for each new search and
replace.
Other features include automatic word wrap and layout save so the
text is restored in the exact format as it was saved.
- 16 -
Chapter 8
System Operator Menus
This chapter describes the various functions available to the
System Operator. These functions include database maintenance,
report generation and special message base abilities.
8.1 Accessing the System Operator Menu
Because Time Card is a user friendly and secure program the
System Operator menu is not readily apparent to the average user.
In fact the system Operator menu may only be accessed by pressing
a special hot key sequence and entering a password. See section
4.2 for more information on passwords.
To access the System Operator menu press <CNTRL><F10> and enter
either the soft or hard password, preferably the soft password.
The hard password should only be used during initial
configuration or when changing the soft password.
8.2 Creating a New Employee Account
To create a new employee account choose the "Add Act" menu choice
from the System Operator Menu.
The only information that must be entered is the employees name
and Social Security number. All other fields are optional.
Press ESC when done entering the employees information.
- 17 -
8.3 Deleting an Employee Account
To delete an existing employee account choose "Del Act" from the
System Operator Menu.
You may choose more than one account to delete by checking off
names with the space bar. When done press <ENTER>. For each
account that was marked to be deleted you will be prompted to go
ahead and delete that account.
NOTE: Deleting an employee account does not free space for new
accounts. Time Card must keep records of deleted accounts so
old log files will maintain accurate records. In essence a
deleted account becomes "inactive" and unable to perform any new
log file transactions.
8.4 Editing an Employee Account
To edit an existing employee account choose "Edt Act" from the
System Operators Menu.
When done press ESC to update the new information.
8.5 Editing Log Files
To edit a log file choose "Edt Log" from the System Operators
Menu.
Each entry in a log includes the employees ID number, the date
and time they logged in and the date and time they logged out.
You may edit any of these fields.
Special commands available while editing log files are:
Help Pressing F1 while editing a log file pops a
special help menu with commands available to the
System Operator.
Delete Entry To delete a log entry set the employee ID to
'0'.
Show Employee ID To show the employee ID's and their
corresponding names press <CNTRL><S>. This is
helpful if you do not remember which employee
has which number.
When done editing the log file press ESC to save or abort.
- 18 -
8.6 Printing Log Files
To print a log file choose "Prt Log" from the System Operator
Menu.
You may print a log file to the printer, file or both.
The report generated by Print Log contains the daily log in and
log outs as well as the total accumulated time for each employee.
If an employee has an hourly rate set the gross earnings are
printed as well.
8.7 Printing the User File
To print the user file choose "Prt Usr" from the System Operator
Menu.
You may print the user file to the printer, file or both.
The generated report contains the employees name, Social Security
number and telephone number.
8.8 Special System Operator Message Commands
This section describes the special System Operator Message
Commands. See chapter 7 for a detailed description of the
message base. Except for the following differences the System
Operator message base is functionally equivalent to the message
base described in chapter 7.
8.8.1 Global Mail
The System Operator has the option of leaving global mail. As
the name implies a single message can be left for more than one
recipient. The System Operator may find this useful if he wishes
to send a message only to those who work on Friday's for example.
To leave global mail the System Operator posts mail as normal.
When asked to check off the recipients use the SPACE bar to check
off all those employees who will receive the mail.
8.8.2 Deleting Bulletins
The System Operator may delete bulletins posted by employees.
This insures greater control over the public message base.
To delete a Bulletin choose "Dele Bull" from the Bulletin menu.
A list of all bulletins in the message base will be displayed.
- 19 -
8.9 A Note on Backing Up Log files
This section deals with backing up your data files onto a backup
source such as floppy disk or tape backup.
You may want to occasionally create backups of your log files in
case of hard drive failure, a virus or other computer calamity.
When backing up log files it is important to include the user
file as well. Without the user file Time Card will not be able
to later read the log files. Remember, include the user file!
- 20 -
Appendix A
Bounds
A.1 Employees
Time Card supports up to 99 employees. This includes both
active and deleted accounts.
A.2 Log Files
Time Card can have up to 1000 log files in its data directory at
one time.
A.3 Log Entries
Time Card supports up to 4000 entries per log file.
- 21 -
Appendix B
Errors
The following is a list of errors you may encounter. After each
error is a recommended course of action.
Unable to open "XXXX" file
An error has occurred opening a file. Check
disk space.
File Block When logging in and out an employee Time Card
creates a zero length file called "block" and
then deletes it when done. If a process does
not complete a log in or out cycle, because of
power loss for example, "block" will still
exist. You must therefore manually delete this
file if an error occurs concerning the file
"block".
Unable to lock "XXXX"
A lock error has occurred. It is possible some
data has been lost. Quit out of Time Card and
restart. Has SHARE been installed?
To many log files
There are to many log files. Back up some or
all of your log files (see section 8.9 for more
info on backup).
To many log entries
The current log file has reached its maximum
number of log entries. Backup the current log
file, delete it from disk and start a new log
file (see section 8.9 for more info on backup).
- 22 -