ShopClock has the wrong time - how to correct it
How to update ShopClock
How to move the ShopClock server to another computer
How to delete employees but keep thier data (make them inactive)
How to keep employees from accidently clocking in/out as someone else.
How to process a pay period
How does ShopClock work with QuickBooks (Complete Over View)
How to enable Windows Internet Explorer to work with LogMeIn
How to use single ShopClock subscription (database) in multiple locations
How to run ShopClock from a limited user account
Installing ShopClock on Server 2008. 
How do ShopClock clients find their server, what can go wrong, and how to fix it.

Whenever an employee clocks in or out ShopClock asks the computer it is using as the server what time it is. (the single computer version uses the local computer time). Computers are notoriously bad time keepers so Windows has the ability to sync the computers clock with an atomic clock on the internet once a week. But in some cases, the computers internal clock is so drifty that this is not adequate. In this case you may want use software that will sync your computer with an atomic clock more often.

check out ClockWatch at http://www.beaglesoft.com/index.htm

or Atomic Clock Sync v3.0 at http://www.worldtimeserver.com/atomic-clock/

There are several ways:

• Click onStart/All Programs/ShopClock-3/Check for Updates.  If an update is found a little square icon will appear on the in the system tray on right hand side start bar (over by the clock). Click on the Icon to tell it to download/install the update
• From version 58 on you can also click on the Check or website for updates option of the Help menu on ShopClock’s time clock window. If an update is found a little square icon will appear on the in the system tray on right hand side start bar (over by the clock). Click on the Icon to tell it to download/install the update
• You can also configure it to check for updates in the middle of the night. Click on Start/All Programs/ShopClock-3/Setup Automatic Updates. This puts another little icon in the system tray. When you click on it a wizard walks you through the steps to setup up the automatic update. I you choose to download AND install the updates (that way you won’t be pestered by them during the day).
  

1. Download and install ShopClock on the new server.
2. Start ShopClock and from the Network Setup task on the Admin Window download and install another ShopClock network server.
3. Backup the data on the old server to somewhere that that it can be accessed by the new server (Perhaps a USB Flash drive).
4. Restore the data to the new server.
5. On each client start shopclock and in the “Network Setup” task of the Admin Window click on “Use Network Server Button” ShopClock will report that there are two network servers. Choose the new one. Repeat this step for each existing ShopClock Client on the network.
6. Finally, Uninstall the Old ShopClock server. (DO THIS LAST)
7. You may also want to look at this section: How do ShopClock clients find their server, what can go wrong, and how to fix it.

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An employee has left. How do I take him/her off the time clock – but still save his/her data for the reports?

Simply change the employee from Active to Inactive in the Add/Edit Employee task of the Admin Window.. The employee will no longer be able to punch in or out , but all of the employees data will still be included in the reports.

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1. Download and install ShopClock on the new server.
2. Start ShopClock and from the Network Setup task on the Admin Window download and install another ShopClock network server.
3. Backup the data on the old server to somewhere that that it can be accessed by the new server (Perhaps a USB Flash drive).
4. Restore the data to the new server.
5. On each client start shopclock and in the “Network Setup” task of the Admin Window click on “Use Network Server Button” ShopClock will report that there are two network servers. Choose the new one. Repeat this step for each existing ShopClock Client on the network.
6. Finally, Uninstall the Old ShopClock server. (DO THIS LAST)

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An employee has left. How do I take him/her off the time clock – but still save his/her data for the reports?

Simply change the employee from Active to Inactive in the Add/Edit Employee task of the Admin Window.. The employee will no longer be able to punch in or out , but all of the employees data will still be included in the reports.

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Employees keep clicking on someone elses name when clocking in (usually the name above their own).

You can make the buttons bigger and/or assign a unique password to each employee, or use the optional finger print scanner.

1. Select the date when the pay period ends
2. Print the report (if necessary edit time cards and print it again)
3. Export the data (now that everything has been corrected in the previous step)
4. Close the Pay Period. Closing the Pay Period clears the data off of the time cards so that they can start accumulating data for the next pay period.

If you closed the pay period before you meant to, you can reopen it. Chose an employee for whom the pay period was closed. Click on Examin Closed Pay Periods and then click on the closed pay period. the buttons above the closed time card let you reopen the pay period the chosen (current employee) or for all employees

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Security Settings for using LogMeIn-Rescue with IE 6 & 7

Make www.shopclock.com a trusted website, and then Enable Active X

For IE 6.x and 7.0 for Windows:

1. Click on "Tools" menu in the browser.
2. Select "Internet Options" from the pull-down menu.
3. Click on the "Security" tab on the top portion.
4. Click on the "Custom Level" button on the 'Internet' zone option.

You will see a scroll-down menu with radio buttons. Select the 'Enable' radio button for the following menu choices:

• Run ActiveX Controls and Plugins
• Script ActiveX Controls Marked Safe for Scripting

1. Click on the "OK" button to exit and save.
2. Click on the "OK" button again to exit out of Internet Options menu.
3. Now, exit your browser and restart. ActiveX should now be enabled.

Use VPN Connections to connect ShopClock to Multiple Locations

Multiple locations can be serviced by ShopClock by connecting the locations to a common database via VPN connections. A VPN (Virtual Private Network) connection allows you to securely connect one computer to another through the internet.

There are several advantages to this.

• Only a single network subscription (large enough to cover the total number of employees needs to be purchased).
• Time cards for all locations can be processed at the same time.
• The administrator has instant access to all the time time cards at all the locations.
• ShopClock can be configured (by using departments) to allow only those employees belonging to particular department access to the time clock. This way employees at each location only see the employees working at that location.

Third party companies have made VPN inexpensive and easy to setup and manage. Here are two links to companies offering this service

• LogMeIn.com
• Comodo.com

The ShopClock network server is installed at one of the locations, call it the head office. Computers in the remote locations simply access the ShopClock's network server via the VPN connections to the home office.

Each location can be defined as a Department. Then the computers at each location can be easily programmed to display only those employees working at that location.

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Running ShopClock from a Limited User Account

ShopClock does not need to be run with Admin Privileges, but the the local database does need to be accessible by the limited user. That is, the limited user must have read/write privileges on the folders containing the local database.

The location of the local database varies across versions of windows, but it's location is listed in the "About ShopClock" window. Just click on Help and then on the bottom option "About ShopClock. The location of the local database will be listed on the right hand side of the About ShopClock window.

In Windows 7 the local database is usually located in the C:/Program Data/Pacific Rim Software Inc/ShopClock-3 folder. The limited/Standard user must have read and write permission on both the ShopClock-3 folder and the Pacific Rim Software Inc folder.

In Windows XP the local database is usually located in the C:/Documents and Settings/All Users/Application Data/Pacific Rim Software Inc/ShopClock-3 folder. The limited/Standard user must have read and write permission on both the ShopClock-3 folder and the Pacific Rim Software Inc folder.

ShopClock clients will look for and usually find our named instance (SHOPCLOCK_SS) of SQL server when they are first started.

If a ShopClock client fails to find the server by itself it will default to the "local database". The Local database (ShopClockDB.sdf), which is a Microsoft Compact SQL database, is copied from the Program Files/ShopClock folder to its working folder when ShopClock first starts. The location of the local database varies by OS version but is listed in the "Help/About" ShopClock window. ShopClock must always have read/write access to this folder. On a Single Computer installation only the local database is used. In the network version the name of server on which SHOPCLOCK_SS resides is saved in the local database. ShopClock itself never writes to any .ini file or to the registry.

If ShopClock does not find the network server (or if it finds more than one of them), it will default to using only the local database. If ShopClock client is using the local database, it can be pointed to the network server via opening ShopClock's Admin Window (the password is 1), clicking on the Network Setup Task (#14) and then on the "use network database" button.

If it finds only one instance it will attach to that instance and save the name in its local database.

If it finds more than one instance it will give you your choice of which to use by listing all of them in its dropdown box.

If it doesn't find any instances of the network server it will default to using its local database. In this case you can "Right Click" on the button and select "Edit" from the popup menu. The name of the button will change to "Edit Network Server". After clicking on the "Edit Network Server" button, ShopClock will again search for the server; but this time if it doesn't find one it will remain open and allow you to enter the name of the server (enter it as: "SERVERNAME\SHOPCLOCK_SS", or by IP address as XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX\SHOPCLOCK_SS where XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX is the IP address of the server.

Sometimes ShopClock cannot resolve the IP address of the server based on its name (even though it found the name by itself). In this case you can enter the IP address of the server rather than the name of the server (Do Not put double slashes (\\) in front of the IP address. If you use the IP address you must of course insure that it is a static or fixed IP address. When attaching to the server via a VPN connection, the IP address is almost always required.

Once ShopClock has attached to a network server it will exit with an error message if it cannot connect to that server when it starts up. This allows non IT gurus a chance to turn the server on, configure the firewalls, or call me without changing the name of the server or it's IP address (which they often cannot remember). If the name of the server did change you can begin the process of pointing it to the server over by starting ShopClock from the run command and adding a Reset argument to the end of the path. For example: C:\Program Files\ShopClock-3\ShopClock.exe" Reset. Note that the Reset argument is outside of the quoted path and begins with a capital "R".

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Beta Versions

For Server 2008