Setup Quick Start

If you are an administrator setting up Pacific Timesheet for the first time you will want to read this page to familiarize yourself with some basic concepts, and learn how to get up-and-running quickly. Please note that you can always get detailed information for each page of the application by clicking the context-sensitive Help link in the upper-right corner.

Step 1. Configure System Settings

The first steps you should take to set up your system are to configure the following global or system-wide settings:

Set the default time zone for your employees on the System > General page.
Specify your work break down structure (WBS) on the System > Work Breakdown Structure page. For example, one business might track time against customers, projects and tasks. Another business might track time against clients and jobs.
Configure timesheet periods appropriate for your payroll or other reporting cycles from the System > Time Periods page.

Note that you can change the above settings at any time, but doing so after employees start entering time might be disruptive.

You may optionally want to do the following before rolling the system out to your employees:

Set your list of company holidays from the System > Holidays page.
Change the wording or terminology used for some labels from the System > Terminology page.
Upload your company logo and make other branding changes from the System > Branding page.
Configure bill and pay rates from the System > Bill Rates and System > Pay Rates pages.

Step 2. Configure Timesheet Templates

The System > Templates page is where you configure the data fields that are displayed on timesheets. You can create any number of different timesheet templates for different needs. Two sample timesheet templates are provided:

The "Attendance Timesheet" template is for attendance-oriented time entry, and captures daily in/out times and pay codes (e.g. Regular Time, Over Time, etc.).
The "Project Timesheet" template is for project or job-oriented time entry, and captures hours against customers, projects and tasks.

You can use and modify these templates, or create any number of new ones to suit your needs. When adding employees (described below), you will specify the timesheet template as part of their profile.

Step 3. Configure Employee Policies

Employee policies allow you to control a variety of timesheet options, such as rounding rules, leave accruals and over time calculations. You should review the "Standard Policy" settings on the System > Policies page, then make changes or create new policies as desired. You can have any number of different employee policies, such as separate policies for exempt and hourly employees. When adding employees (described below), you will specify the policy as part of their profile.

Step 4. Configure Pay Codes

The System > Pay Codes page lists the available pay codes. Pay codes are customizable values that you can use to track different types of work and leave hours. Work pay codes can include regular time, over time, etc. Leave pay codes can include sick, vacation, etc.

Work pay codes are often used for tracking overtime. With Pacific Timesheet you have two choices about how overtime is handled:

You can have your employees select whether their hours are regular time, overtime, etc. on their timesheet via a pull down menu. To do this you add the Pay Code field to your timesheet template(s).
You can have overtime be computed automatically by enabling overtime rules for the employee policy. If you do this you will generally want to remove the Pay Code field from the timesheet template, as you don't want the employee to enter their overtime values. You will still be able to report on overtime hours even if there is no Pay Code field on the timesheet.

Leave pay codes, such as sick and vacation, can have an associated balance. Any hours an employee enters on their timesheet for these pay codes will automatically have an equivalent amount deducted from their balance. Rules for whether balances are allowed to go negative, as well as automatic accruals, are configured by editing the balance rules on the appropriate employee policies.

Step 5. Add Projects/Tasks

Depending upon your work breakdown structure, you may need to visit the Tasks page and create lists of customers, projects, tasks, jobs, etc.

Note that you can also import tasks, etc. in bulk from an external system via import files. The Importing/Exporting help topic has more details.

Step 6. Add Employees

The Employees page is where you add and edit your list of employees. Make sure the appropriate policy and timesheet template is selected for each employee.

You will also want to select the appropriate permission level for each employee, for example "Employee" or "Manager". Permission levels control what access to the timesheet system the employee will have, as well as giving fine-grained control over some aspects of time entry. You can modify the permissions from the System > Security page, as well as create entirely new permission levels.

Note that you can also import employees in bulk from an external system via import files. The Importing/Exporting help topic has more details.

Employee groups can be created from the Employees > Group page. Employee groups can represent a variety of different logical entities, such as cost centers, permission groups and construction crews.

Step 7. Miscellaneous

Here are a few other topics worth being aware of:

A variety of reports are available, and can be customized for your requirements. Pacific Timesheet allows you to publish your custom reports and make them available to any suitable permission level. For instance, you can make a customized billing report available only to managers, or an hours summary report available to employees.
You may want to modify the audit level if you have stringent auditing requirements, such as DCAA. You can do this from the System > General page.
Most objects can be customized to add additional data fields. For instance, you might want to add an employee photograph to the employee object, or a location pick list to the timesheet template. Choose the "Manage Custom Fields" menu option in the pop-up options menu in the upper-right corner of most lists of objects.

Please let us know if we can help you by contacting your sales representative or visiting our support site at https://www.pacifictimesheet.com/. Thank you for using Pacific Timesheet!