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Determining which program is right for you:

TimeSheet Professional, Carpe Diem and Timeslips have distinct applications and user communities. Their functions also overlap. In some cases it may be that the best solution can be achieved by using a combination of these products – as can be seen from these scenarios. For advice on which application or combination will provide the best solution for your requirements please call or email us.



Overview of Application and core functions

TimeSheet Professional is a project-oriented time and expense recording solution. It is ideal for businesses that want to gather data daily or weekly on actual time spent and cost incurred on each task and/or project.

TimeSheet can be used as a stand-alone time management solution or be integrated with other applications.

Carpe Diem is a service-oriented time and expense-tracking system, allowing users to track time as it is spent and validate it against what can be large lists of clients, jobs and activities.

Carpe Diem is primarily used to record time and expenses and pass this information to other applications.

Timeslips is a complete time and expense tracking and billing solution for up to 50 users.

Timeslips may be integrated with financial systems’ general or nominal ledgers.

What sorts of organisations use these solutions?

Typical TimeSheet users include corporates, government bodies, engineering companies, PR firms, architects, IT departments and other project-focused organisations.

Typical Carpe Diem users include larger professional services firms and corporates in banking, finance and insurance plus government bodies and other activity-focused organisations.

Typical Timeslips users include small to medium professional service firms such as lawyers, accountants and a wide range of service-based businesses. The common element amongst most Timeslips users is that timekeepers wish to record all of their time and, predominantly, bill it. Billing maybe based on actual hours or a flat fee, as appropriate.

How will my users record their time

TimeSheet users typically use the Sheet (or timesheet) view, a grid display that can be set to show up to two weeks. Timekeeping is normally done at the end of each day or week after the work has been done.

TimeSheet also provides two other user interfaces, a daily view and timecard view.

Users are able to record their time entries through a variety of platforms, including Web or Windows clients; Palm Pilot and TimeSheet Remote.

Carpe Diem users typically use floating on-screen timers to record time as it is spent, creating entries on the fly with the use of nicknames that can be validated later.

Carpe Diem also provides two other user interfaces a diary-like daily, weekly or monthly view and a list view for timekeepers who enter time on behalf of another.

Users are able to record their time entries through a variety of platforms, including Web or Windows clients, CD Remote as well as Blackberry and Palm Pilot.

Timeslips users typically use a unique ‘event entry’ “slip” interface or floating on-screen timers that work from a single click of the mouse to record time as it is spent.

Timeslips also provides a spreadsheet-like grid entry.

Users are also able to record their time remotely using Timeslips Remote and via solutions for the Palm and Pocket PC.

Web Client

TimeSheet Professional provides a Java-based web client for time and expense tracking with a standard web browser. The client works with Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 and higher, and is also compatible with Macintosh workstations using OSX with IE5.

Carpe Diem provides an HTML based web client for entering time and expenses with a standard web browser that works with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or higher.

No direct web interface available for Timeslips, although it is possible to use the product via Microsoft Terminal Services or via Citrix.

 

Expense Tracking

TimeSheet Professional offers expense tracking and the ability to link those expenses to cost codes. These are tracked to projects on a daily basis, and a Detail Report can be generated.

Carpe Diem Electronic Time Sheet features expense tracking, independent of time records, which makes it ideal for environments where detailed expense reports are needed.

In Timeslips, expenses are recorded as slips, containing the name of the fee-earner, the client, the expense category, a description, a date and a value. These can be used for reports and bills. Expenses can be set to apply a mark-up and may be subject to VAT.

Task Creation

With TimeSheet, users may create their own tasks from pre-validated component lists. Alternatively, managers predefine most or all tasks for a group of users involved in a project.

Tasks may also originate from project scheduling systems such as Microsoft Project or Primavera P3. Tasks may be on a user’s timesheet for days, weeks or indefinitely.

This model is best suited for project management types of applications, where work to be done in a given day can be defined and categorised in advance.

Carpe Diem users select tasks for each time entry from validation lists that often originate from a billing or costing system such as SAP, Oracle Financials, Elite or CMS Open.

Tasks change frequently, often daily. This method of task assignment is best suited for billing and other service focused organisations where work to be done in a given day is not predefined.

Tasks can be created on the fly during slip creation or pre defined and assigned to users as a grid entry.

Timeslips really suits small to medium-sized professional services organisations where day-to-day activity may be client driven. Users could be working on any client, project or activity throughout the day.

Employee and Task rates

TimeSheet Professional provides highly flexible rate assignment against employee and task.

Each employee has a standard rate with the ability to attach a set of pay rules based on up to 20 conditions and rate multipliers. If required rates can also be assigned to each task. The time entry rate can be changed if needed.

In Carpe Diem, rates are handled by the back-end billing or finance system.

Timeslips offers up to 20 hourly rates per fee-earner, client or activity, as well as an overhead rate used for comparison reporting.

Complex charging and billing arrangements are defined on the client record with Rate Selection Rules. Timeslips flexibility provides for billing exceptions, if required. And Rules are also provided to handle Split Billing arrangements.

Budgeting

TimeSheet provides flexible budgeting at the both the task and project level that can easily be extracted using TimeSheet Summary Reports or optional Crystal Reports.

With Carpe Diem, budgeting is handled by your back-end billing or finance system.

Timeslips lets you track and compare budgets against clients, projects, activities or fee-earners. Budgets can include hours, fees and expenses for the client, sub-analysed by stage and date.

Reporting Capabilities

TimeSheet Professional contains a simple-to-use Summary Reporting engine and a large selection of Detail Reports. These include client, project, activity and employee oriented reports. Users can also link to Crystal Reports to create more customised reports.

With Carpe Diem, collected time and expense data can be analysed using built-in User Defined Reports, a Calendar Report, Admin Reports, or by writing custom-built reports using Crystal Reports or other reporting applications.

Timeslips includes over 120 standard reports, plus tools for developing custom reports and an interface to Crystal Reports.

Approvals

TimeSheet has a fully definable sign-off process. This allows managers to report and sign off weekly timesheets. They may also reject timesheets, this process can involve sending e-mail to the individual to correct their time and re-submit the timesheet.

Carpe Diem provides an optional approval process. Once the approval process has been enabled, user time entries must be approved or rejected by an authorised user. This process prevents the system manager from transferring inaccurate or incomplete entries to the back end billing system.

In Timeslips, managers can run reports to approve time entered, prior to billing.

Built-In Integration with other Software Applications

TimeSheet Professional’s ODBC compliance means that it can be linked to most accounting systems. It has built-in integration for the industry's most popular Project Management applications such as Microsoft Project 2003 and 2000, Microsoft Project 98 and Primavera P3, as well as the ability to customise links for almost any payroll, costing or financial application. TimeSheet Professional also features built-in integration with Timeslips and may be integrated with Carpe Diem.

Carpe Diem has the ability to "map" or "read" external validation tables directly from the back-end system without the need to import the validation data in to the Carpe Diem database.

Carpe Diem has built-in integration for the industry's most popular billing applications such as Elite Information Systems, CMS Open, Tabs, Juris, Timeslips, Javelin, and more, and may also be integrated with TimeSheet Professional. A supplied Export API assists in the development of your own program to write time and expense data directly to your billing application's database.

Timeslips optional Crystal Reports link allows you to create custom links to almost any accounting package that has the ability to import ascii delimited data files. Other links include TimeSheet Professional, Carpe Diem, Microsoft Outlook, Goldmine, Quick Books and over 20 other accounting packages.

Remote Functionality

TimeSheet Professional has a remote module perfect for travelling employees, that can allow them to add components and tasks for easy and accurate time and expense tracking. The time can be added to the host system via e-mail or by placing the file on a shared drive.

Carpe Diem validation data and time and expense data are transported back and forth via file format for imports and exports with the host installation. Includes user-defined reports, spell check, and ability to send time and expense data to the host via email.

Timeslips has a remote module for fee earners to create time and expense slips from a skeleton copy of the main database. These slips are transferred to the main system via e-mail, using the database synchronisation utility. This also transfers any new clients or activities from the main platform to the remote database and vice versa.

Underlying Databases supported

TimeSheet Professional supports Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, Sybase, Informix and InterBase.

Carpe Diem supports Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, Sybase, Informix and InterBase.

Timeslips uses the Paradox database and supports multiple databases with automatic synchronisation between them.

Administrative Functionality and Security

TimeSheet Professional features the Admin view for a visual way to administer employees, pay rules, components and security profiles. Using the security features, an administrator can limit the access to administrative functions to a small group of users, protecting them from the user community generally.

Comprehensive Multi-level security enables the administrator to define what users can and cannot see. Access can be hidden from users as required.

The Carpe Diem administrative program, CDAdmin, allows administrators to customise the Carpe Diem interface to meet the needs of their company and users.

A Windows interface allows administrators to view and modify the database tables and their properties, to manage user security, to produce administrative reports, to import validation data and to export time and expense data.

The Timeslips Setup menu is used to customise the data names and to setup templates to aid the creation of new records.

There is a comprehensive security module to control access to each area of the system - linked to individual users, groups of users and supervisors.

Additional Features

TimeSheet Professional also features Gantt bars for a visual view of task start and stop days for easy project management.

Job Scheduling allows administrators to do resource heavy applications during periods of low network activity. Jobs include importing and exporting of remote files and shared data files and running reports. Job Scheduling has e-mail notification to let you know at your desk or at home when each job has been completed and the status of that job as successful or unsuccessful.

Site switching allows administrators to manage the installations of Carpe Diem in other offices or servers across the LAN/WAN with one instance of CDAdmin.

TimeReporter for Carpe Diem allows a timekeeper to enter his/her time on a handheld device running the Palm OS and then synchronise the time data to the main database.

Timeslips includes a Report Designer utility which is used to create, Bill and Statement layouts and bespoke reports

Bills are generated using the Billing Assistant which consolidates the client and slip information. In addition, the Billing Assistant displays a single screen with comprehensive drill down areas which are used to select or exclude slips from being written off during a bill run and selecting one of the many fee arrangements. And once created, bills may be reprinted at any time.

Timeslips is supplied with a powerful import utility which can be configured to convert Time, Expense and Client records into Timeslips data.

Payroll Integration

TimeSheet has payroll rules built into the system and can produce reports highlighting overtime and flexi time.TimeSheet can also be integrated with most major payroll applications, allowing you to import User, Client and Activity records into your payroll software.

Carpe Diem can be used as a front-end interface to collate time data, payroll rates would be held within a payroll system.

Timeslips can export relevant data for other systems via ascii delimited data files as required.



Copyright® 2005 Deepak Sareen Associates plc. All Rights Reserved. Time & Billing Software Logo

 

 

Product Comparison

Overview
User Demographics
Recording Time
Web Client
Expense Tracking
Task Creation
Employee & Task Rates
Budgeting
Reporting Capabilities
Approvals
Integration
Remote Functionality
Database Support
Administration & Security
Additional Features
Payroll Integration


Products

TimeSheet Professional
Carpe Diem
Timeslips