All about the Employees view

An employee is any person who enters time and expenses, or who manages, monitors or reports on project activities. In Dovico, the terms 'employee' and 'user' are used interchangeably.

 

This lengthy topic details the Employees view and all properties included in an employee's profile (name, login credentials, hourly pay/billing rates, etc.) and how these properties are used in the software.

 

However....

  • If you just want to quickly add a new employee, go to the Add an employee help topic.

  • To remove an employee from the database (free up a license), go to Deactivate an employee help topic.

 

These employee properties are only available/editable to employees who have access to the Employees view.

 

In this help topic... (All About Employees)

Navigating the Employees view

Complete employee properties

Copy Assignments

Export

Licenses available

Editing more than one employee at a time (Bulk Editing)

 

EMPLOYEES

 

Basics

How to add an employee

Change password?

Adding hourly rates for a new employee

Login access

Complete Employee Properties

Employee FAQs

Operational Questions

Free up a license

Copy an employee's assignments

Deactivate an employee

What is Limited Access?

Approval workflow

 

To access the Employees view, select Employees from the navigation bar (Projects & Employees > Employees).

Navigating the Employee view


All employees in the database are displayed in this view.

 

SORT - You can sort the list by clicking on a specific column header's name. The column used for sorting is identified with a small arrow next to that column's name. You can sort up (A-Z, 0-9) or down.


 

 

SEARCH

Use the search box to locate a specific item in the view. The search looks for matching data in the displayed columns (excluding dates).

  • Type in the text and press Enter to return any data that includes the text entered. Do not enter wildcards as these are automatically used.

  • Click the graphic to clear the search parameters and return to the full list.

  • To search only in a particular column, type the column name followed by a colon (:) and then the term you want to find

    • Example: Type  group: support to only display the items in the view that have a group that includes the term 'support'

 

 

Complete employee properties

You access an employee's full properties form by clicking the Edit button.

 

At the very top of the form is the employee's name and his or her status within the software.

  • Active - The employee has login access to the software and is using 1 license. The license can be released by deactivating the employee.

  • Deactivated - The employee can no longer log into the software. The license is released. The employee can be reinstated by clicking the 'Activate' button at the bottom of the form.

  • Invited - The employee has been sent an email invitation to create a password and log in. One of your available licenses is used for each invitation sent. The invitation can be revoked by using the Cancel Invitation button at the bottom of the form.

  • Invitation expired - Seven days after being invited, the invitation is revoked and the license is released. You can re-send the invitation using the 'Re-send' button at the bottom of the form.

 

First and Last name: The employee's First and Last names (up to 100 characters each).

 

The Security level defines what views and tools are available to the employee: The software has 5 pre-defined (built-in) security levels designed to meet typical scenarios.

  • Administrator: This security level has access to all areas in the software.

  • Auditor: This level can only view and print reports in the Administrative area. All other views and tools are inaccessible.

  • Manager: This security level has access to projects, tasks, assignments, reports, budgets and other areas required to manage projects.

  • Team Lead: This security level has access to the views used to create projects, tasks, assignments, approve time, etc.

  • Time and Expense entry: (default selection for new employees) Employees assigned to this level only have access to the time and expense entry tools and are only able to view their own time and expenses. Information relating to rates or costs are not displayed. Access is also denied to all Administrative functions.

  •  

Email address (up to 250 characters). This email address is used as the employee's login page User Name.

 

Send Invitation: - This field is only displayed when adding a new employee. When checked, an email is sent to the person inviting him or her to create their own password.

 

Password: - This is only displayed when the Send Invitation box is unchecked or when editing an existing employee's profile.

This is the employee's login password (case sensitive, up to 100 characters). If 'Strong Password' has been enabled by your administrator, the password is required to contain at least 8 characters, contain at least 3 of the following character types - uppercase letter, lowercase letter, number or special character and cannot contain the employee's email address. If you enter or modify an employee's password in this field, you should forward the new password to the employee. Employees are able to change their own passwords.

 

Start and End dates. Both of these dates are used for reporting purposes.

 

Groups are keywords that you associate to employees. You can later perform a search for employees associated with specific groups. Groups are created by your Administrator using the Groups view.

  • Select one of the available groups for the employee.

 

 

Rates

Background: There are 2 types of employee hourly rates: Pay rate and Billing rate. These rates are multiplied by employee hours to calculate company (pay) costs and client (billing) costs. If you are not using Dovico for costing or billing, then you do not need to enter rates now. Rates can be entered at a later time if required.

 

Note: Ignore the Backdate button if you are creating a new Employee. The Backdate button is used when editing an existing Employee's Pay Rate or Currency and you want to backdate existing time entries that used other values.

 

    • Pay Rate: The employee’s hourly paid salary used to calculate your company's costs for this employee time.

Company cost = hours worked x hourly pay rate  x Pay overtime prorating

 

    • Billing Rate: The employee’s hourly billing rate used to calculate client (billing) costs, which you can use when creating invoices.. Billing rates are not required if you are using rates for payroll purposes only or if you do not bill (or charge back) clients.

Client cost = hours worked x hourly billing rate x Billing overtime prorating

 

 

 

Enter the hourly PayRate value for the employee.

  • If enabled, select the currency for this rate. For example, 25.00 USD or 16.50 GBP.
     

Warning: If modifying an employee's Currency selection, the rate value should be adjusted accordingly.

 

Enter the hourly Billing Rate value for the employee.

  • If enabled, select the currency for this rate.

 

You do not have to bill your clients using Employee Hourly Billing rates. There are other billing options available when you create your project (project hourly, task hourly, fixed amount).

 

 

Overtime (Pay and Billing)

ClosedBackground information

Overtime selections made for employees in this view are used to calculate overtime costs (for pay and billing) when the time entered by the employee is set as overtime.

    1. Overtime Rates (prorating) are created by your Administrator using the Overtime Rates view.

    2. Overtime Rates are assigned to each employee using the Employee's view.

    3. When employees enter their time, they have the option to select an overtime using the time entry tool.

 

Select one or more overtime rate from Overtime each field. The Overtime rates selected here are displayed in the employee's time entry tool as an option when entering time.

 

Company overtime cost =  hours worked x employee hourly pay rate x pay overtime prorating

Client overtime cost = billable hours worked x hourly billing rate x billing overtime prorating

 

 

Work Hours: Enter the number of hours the employee works each day. The Working hours per day data is used when employee accruals are calculated on a daily basis (see Leave  rules). This is also used in Employee Workload and to determine an employee's available hours.

 

Work Days: Select the days of the week the employee works. This is used in Employee Workload to determine an employee's available hours.

 

Limited Access: Select which managers or Access Groups can access this employee. Only the selected managers (or members of the selected access groups) are permitted to view and report on this employee.
 

Depending on which limited access operating mode is enabled, either a list of manager names or a hierarchical tree of access groups is displayed in the limited access drop-down list. See Notes that follow.

    • Check the managers (or access groups) who require access to this item.

    • Click anywhere outside the Limited Access window to close the list.

Notes:

 

 

Leave/absences

In this step, the number of hours the employee works per day are set. Leave rules, which calculate the number of sick days, vacation, flex time, etc., that employees are eligible to take, can also be assigned. Leave rules are created by administrators using the Leave Rules view.
 

    1. Click the Set Leave/Absences Rule button.

    2. Select a Leave rule from the Rule drop-down list.

    3. When a Leave rule is selected, the Accrual information window displays, for each accrual, the calculated hours accrued and the accrual start date. Click any row to make adjustments to the Accrue From date for the rule and the number of hours (adjustment) to add to the rule. Click OK when done.

      Warning: Only 1 Accrual adjustment can be made for each accrual rule. If a second adjustment is required, then this adjustment should be the total of the previous and new adjustments. Example; Joe had a previous adjustment of 10 hours. His manager has granted him 5 additional hours; therefore the new adjustment must be set to 15.

   

 

 

 

Approval workflow

ClosedBackground information

When an approval workflow is assigned to an employee, that employee’s submitted timesheets are automatically forwarded to the manager(s) designated in the approval workflow. Employees can be assigned to a Timesheet Approval workflow and/or an Expense Approval workflow. Approval workflows are assigned through the Approval Workflows tab in the Workflows

 


Click the Show Approval Workflows button to reveal the Employee Approval Paths window. Details about the information displayed are located in Review Approval Paths.

 

 

Flag for archive

Check the Flag for archive box if you want to remove this employee from the database the next time the Archive Database function is run. ClosedEmployee archive checklist.

 

  • An employee cannot be archived if he or she has submitted time or expenses waiting to be approved. The time or expenses must first be approved before the employee can be archived. Check the Time & Expense Approval view for time or expense waiting for approval. You can also run the 'Time and Expenses Under Review' report and select 'Under Review' as the Sheet Status to see if there are outstanding sheets waiting to be approved.

  • An employee cannot be archived if he or she is set up as the only approving Managerin an approval workflow. Check all workflows in the Approval Workflows and Approval Templates tabs  (Approvals > Workflows) to see if the employee is the only approving manager for a workflow. Replace him or her as approving manager if required.

 

 

Tips:  

  • If an employee leaves your company or stops using the software, you can free that license while keeping the employee's data by Deactivating the employee.

  • The terms "Employee" and "Rates" can be customized to better fit your company's terminology.

  • You can add fields to track extra employee information by using Custom fields.

 

 

Click Apply (or Finish) to save the information and close the window.

 

Click Deactivate to remove login access to this employee. The license from this employee is released and can be assigned to another employee.

 

The employee profile is now created but there are a few other things to do or check before the employee can begin tracking time.

√ Assign projects and tasks for the new employee.

√ Add the new employee to any applicable Approval workflows.

√ Add the employee to relevant scheduled reporting or notification jobs (Job Scheduler).

√ Use the Time & Expense Options view to customize the employee’s time and expense entry screens.

√ Send the new employee the company (database) name, his/her User Name (email address), Password and the login URL (https://login.dovico.com/index.aspx#Login).

√ Train the employee how to use the software to enter time and expenses (or use our On Demand Training: http://apps.dovico.com/resources).

 

 

Delete

WARNING: Careful consideration and caution should be used before deleting an employee. All time and expense data for the employee will be deleted. Budget and Cost calculations for projects will also be affected. The data cannot be recovered. One alternative is to deactivate the employee instead. Deactivating the employee will release that license for another employee and the employee's data will remain available for historical reporting. Another alternative to deleting is to use the Flag for Archive option. The Archive function will effectively accomplish the same as delete, but the item and all associated information will be stored in a separate, archive database.

 

 

Copy Assignments

Copy Assignments is a powerful function permitting all project and task assignments for a given employee to be copied onto one or more other employees. The feature is particularly useful when assignments are based on teams and a new employee joins the team or switches teams. It is also useful when assignments are primarily based on job descriptions and a new employee joins the company.
 

Note:

  • When using this function, existing assignments to the employees receiving the new assignments are not lost.

  • Assignments from all Active and Draft projects are copied.

 

To copy one employee's assignments to other employees:

  1. Click the Copy Assignments button located above the list of employees.

  2. In 'Pick the employee to copy from' list box, select the employee whose assignments will be copied.

  3. Select which projects' assignment to copy.

  4. In the 'Copy Assignments to' list box, select the employee(s) who will receive the copied assignments.

  5. Click Apply to copy the assignments from the employee selected in step 2 to the employee(s) selected in step 4.
     

Tips:

  • If projects that are modified by this process included budgeted hours/costs, these should be reviewed and adjusted accordingly for these new assignments.

  • If using project-based approval workflows, then you should review these whenever employees are assigned to a project using this method.

 

 

Export

The Export button allows you to export/save the view's list in one of many formats (PDF, xlsx, csv, etc.). The exported file only includes those items checked in the view. If something is not displayed in the list, it is likely because the Search function was used to reduce the items in the view.

  1. Check the items to export.

  2. Click the Export button located above the list of items.

  3. Select the file format (PDF, xlsx, csv, etc).

  4. Depending on which web browser you are using, the file is automatically downloaded or you are prompted with Download/Open, Save or Save As options. Select one to complete the export/save process.

 

Licenses

You can see how many licenses have been purchased (registered) and how many are used by clicking the "licenses available" link located above the employee list.

 

One license is required for each employee who has an 'Active' status. When an employee status is set to 'Deactivated', his or her license is freed and can be used for another employee. You can deactivate an employee's license by clicking the Deactivate button located at the bottom of the employee properties window.

     

 

Bulk Editing

It is possible to make changes to employee hourly rates or security levels for more than one employee at a time.

  1. Check the employees to update.

  2. Click the blue ellipsis button located above the column of checkboxes.

  3. Select Update Rates or Security level.

Update Hourly Rates: Select the type of rate to modify - Pay or Billing. Enter the new rate value (and currency) and click Update. The Backdate button is available to apply this change to existing time entries that have used other values.

Update Security: Select the new security level to apply and click Update. The new security level will only take effect the next time the selected employees log into the software.