Assigning Security functions to a User in Time Manager

Part of the new security module in Profess Time Manager allows you greater flexibility in what the users see and what they have access to.

You are now able to set up Security groups that can only have access to the projects menu under setup and no other option.

Two security groups are defined automatically:

Administrator – this has access to all menu options (with a quirk)

Default – this has access only to core functionality required to enter time, expenses etc.

You can add additional user groups, and define alternative menu options by using the Setup, Staff, Security Groups menu.  Then check on or off the options you want that security group to have.  Finally, assign the new security group to those staff you would like to make use of it.

On occasions new menu options are added to Time Manager to provide additional functionality.  By default these new menu options are not available to existing security groups.  When we do add menu options, you will always be informed of this.  To make these options available you just follow a simple process:

Open each security group inn turn.  As the page is displayed, all new options will be automatically ticked on so just scroll down, click on Save and the new features are made available to the group.

Of course, you might also want to consider whether you wish to make any new feature available.  If you do not open and save a Security group the new feature are not available.

Using Security groups means you can configure the entire access structure of Time Manager, simplify menu options just to those required by groups of staff, disable entire menu trees such as Administration or Setup, and make the user experience more tailorered to individual groups of users.

Clearing Event page filtering

New clear buttons have been placed to the right of each drop down on the Event page.

When you click on one of these, the item in the drop-down is cleared down.

If you clear the Project, then all other values are also cleared to ensure data integrity.

This is useful in two scenarios’:-

1. You start search-typing for a Project and the drop-down finds a match, but then you release you’ve typed the wrong one and want to change it – it is now quicker to use the Clear button.
2. You have copied an Event (using the Right-Drag on a Week Journal view (where Right-Drag Copy is turned ON)), this will have copied the Project and Activity combination of your original, but you want to change the Activity – simply use the new Clear button to clear the Activity and the use the drop-down to select the alternative you want to book to.

Previously you would have had to highlighted the line in the search field and press delete.

E-mail notification

Are you using Time Manager?

If you are then you should also be receiving our newsletters and release notes as and when they become available.

The last one sent out was to inform users of the latest build details but newsletters also include special offers (some not found elsewhere on our website or blog) as well as news of any events we’re planning.

If you haven’t received this yet then let us know and we will add you to our list of contacts – or you can sign-up for yourself by clicking here.

Help us help you to keep up to date.

Quicker Picklists

New in the next release of Time Manager.

A number of performance improvements have been made in this release. Where possible, drop down lists for Projects and Activities are now cached so that they do not need retrieving from the database each time they are requested. This caching occurs only when you request the full list and not when you are filtering it by typing a search value in.

New timesheet view features

A new feature for Time Manager 2010.2 in Timesheet view is the removal of the buttons labeled Delete, Complete etc. These have been replaced by icons for the same functions. We think this tidies up the screen and makes these tasks simpler. If you are unsure what the new icons represent then simply hover your mouse over them which should provide a useful description.

We have also added favourites to timesheet view. These are very popular with clients who use the journal view, so we thought we should offer them on both screens. This means you can now drag and drop favourites from the left hand side onto your timesheet, which makes time entry faster.

11 Years of marriage

That’s right, not only have I been working at Pillar Software for nearly 11 years (some of my best working years Dave) but next weekend will see my 11th Wedding Anniversary to my beautiful wife Suzanne.

So the big question is what do I buy as an anniversary present. Traditional or Modern? Some say (Wikipedia) Scent i.e perfume others say Steel (Saucepan? not a good idea if you knew Suzanne).

Last year was easy - a lump of coal - and if I make it to 13 a barometer, and at the 20 year mark I have to buy China, not sure how Hu Jintao will feel about that what with him being the President there.

Suggestion on a postcard to PO BOX OHNO

Speed

One of the biggest problems reported by Time Managers users is speed. There can be many reasons for this, but the most common is a slow network connection. A way to identify whether your network is slow is to run the following test and check your Ping rate.

Go to http://speedtest.net and click on the Begin Test Now button. This will run a useful Speed test which will tell you your Download speed, your upload speed and, most importantly, your Ping rate. 

Another site you could try is www.pingtest.net. This site is similar to Speedtest.net, but it will tell you if you have a good connection for Web Applications. When you are on this site click on the Learn More option when hovering over the PING results.

Our office averages 36ms. Go on, what’s yours…?

Trust your Time Manager

With today’s ever increasing need for online security it would be of no surprise to find that everything your computer does regarding the Internet (or even Intranet) is monitored for viruses and potential threats.

This will have an effect on Time Manager which is constantly passing information back and forth, all of which is getting checked. This will slow down Time Manager’s processes quite a lot.

What you can do is to set Time Manager as a trusted site. This will reduce the level of monitoring.

For more information on speed optimization please contact the Pillar Helpdesk on 01531 821199 or support@profess.co.uk

Each Virus checker is different so you may need to speak to your IT department to make sure that the correct site is trusted.

Time Manager Alerts

For anyone who doesn’t alreay use it, the alerts button can save you a lot of time. When it lights up red, this button shows you have new requests to approve for leave or expenses, or new timesheets have been submitted by your team.

It is then simple to approve these:  click on the alerts button, then on the requests you want to look at, check whether they should be approved, then tick the box to approve them. If it’s a leave request, the member of staff will then get an email reply automatically, whether they’re in or out of the office.

All done in a matter of seconds.  Simples!

Characters that cannot be used

There are certain characters that cannot be used when creating a reference. They will often create an error message when you attempt to use them.

These characters are apostrophe ( ‘ )  and ampersand (@).

These are reserved SQL commands and will interpret the reference as part of a command.

In general, these characters are sometimes used in what is sometimes called a “SQL Injection attack”.  This is where someone types in a single quote, hoping the programmer was not careful enough.  This single quote ends a SQL statement, and what follows is interpreted as the next command.  So sometimes people do nasty things like add a single quote then type in DELETE DATABASE XYZ.  Not nice!

Throughout Time Manager we use only techniques that check for and strip out any such attempt to inject SQL script into the system, so your data is safe.