Timesheets MTS Frequently Asked Questions

• General Questions
  • What is Timesheets MTS
  • Can Timesheets MTS be used by more than one person in my company?
  • Are the reports in Timesheets MTS up-to-date?
  • What platforms does Timesheets MTS run on
  • How much does Timesheets MTS Cost
  • Do I have to pay for every Computer I Install it On?
  • How to I buy licenses?
• Installation
  • How do I install Timesheets MTS
  • How do I get started once it is installed
  • Where is my Timesheets MTS data stored?
  • Where should I put my Timesheets MTS stored data?
  • How do I uninstall Timesheets MTS
• Using the Software
  • What are projects?
  • What are tasks?
  • What are users?
  • Can I generate invoices directly?
  • Does Timesheets MTS handle tax?
  • Can I track my invoicing?
  • Can I track project activity?
  • I want a Work Breakdown Structure for my projects
  • I want to book time to customers not to projects
  • I want to track non-billable time
  • Can I Track Employee Expenses?
  • I want to charge by the time unit, not by the hour
  • There's something I'd like to see added to Timesheets MTS
• Support and Troubleshooting
  • I get the error "430 Class does not support Automation or does not support expected interface" when I run the software
  • I get the error "3704 Method '~' of object '~' failed has been raised by ADODB.Recordset" when I run the software
  • I get the error "3706 ADO could not find the specified provider. has been raised by ADODB.Connection"
  • I'm getting some other error when I run Timesheets MTS

General Questions

What is Timesheets MTS
Timesheets MTS is a MS Windows project based timesheet/expense tracking program for companies that do project based work and charge by the hour. Timesheets MTS allows you to track time, expenses, and travel associated with projects and then invoice your customers quickly and accurately for your actual costs.

Can Timesheets MTS be used by more than one person in my company?
Timesheets MTS is a multi user system that allows up to 30 people using the standard MS Access backend or optionally hundreds of users using the SQL Server backend. The database can be stored centrally on your computer network and the Timesheets MTS program installed on as many PC's as you like. We've found that 30 connections is usually good for 60-90 employees.

Are the reports in Timesheets MTS up-to-date?
All reports in Timesheets MTS are 100% up to date. When a user enters time, expenses, or travel into the system this is instantly updated to the main database.

What platforms does Timesheets MTS run on
Timesheets MTS runs on MS Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista. On Windows 98,Me,2000, and NT some computers will require some updates installed from Microsoft.

How much does Timesheets MTS Cost
That depends. Timesheets MTS is licensed for each database connection you would like open at one time. A database connection is used up by each person who is logged into Timesheets MTS. Experience has shown that as long as all your users dont want to use the Timesheets MTS task timer, that one database connection is usually OK for 2-3 users. If you want more than one concurrent connection then they can be purchased from the Timesheets MTS Software Shop. Discounts apply if you want to buy more than 1 license. Prices are $149 (US) per license or less, with decreasing costs based on how many licenses you want.

Do I have to pay for every Computer I Install it On?
No, just for how many concurrent database connections you want to buy. See the topic above for more information.

How to I buy licenses?
From Timesheets MTS Software.

Installation

How do I install Timesheets MTS
Just download the file TimesheetsMTS_install.exe from the Timesheets MTS Software website. Just download this file and run it and the installer will do all of the work for you.

How do I get started once it is installed
Timesheets MTS adds an entry you your Program Files list under the Timesheets MTS folder. Run it as normal for your operating system.

Where is my Timesheets MTS data stored?
Timesheets MTS stores all of it's data in a Microsoft Access 2000 database or optionally an SQL Server database. By default the Access database is called "timesheets.mdb" and is stored default application data directory. On Windows XP this directory is C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Timesheets MTS\Database. On Windows Vista this is c:\Program Data\Timesheets MTS\Database. The file is not password protected and can be opened with MS Access. You DO NOT need MS Accesss to be able to run Timesheets MTS.

Where should I put my Timesheets MTS stored data?
In a directory on your computer or on your LAN that is backed up. If you put the file on your network on a common mapped drive then other users of Timesheets MTS can also use the file. Giving you a multi user system. To point an installation of Timesheets MTS at a "timesheets.mdb" file stored on your network use the "Options" screen (found under the Tools menu) in Timesheets MTS.

How do I uninstall Timesheets MTS?
Timesheets MTS adds an entry to the "Add/Remove Programs" applet under MS Windows (which can be found under the control panel on many Windows versions). Just remove it from there.

Using the Software

What are projects?
Projects in Timesheets MTS represent the jobs and tasks that you want the people in your company to book time against. Users cannot book time, expenses, or travel unless they associate it with a project and a task. Projects don't have to be paying projects, you might have some generic internal projects like "Company Meetings", or "Leave", or other such activities. Projects don't have to be projects, they could be customers. Accountants commonly tally up all the billable hours spent on a client in a month regardless of what project their people were working on. So why not use projects that are named after your clients if that is appropriate.

What are Tasks?
Tasks represent more detailed activities under projects. You might have a generic project structure that your company uses. This structure may include tasks such as Administration, Reviews, Meetings, Preliminary Design, or whatever is appropriate to your company. Complete project/task structures can be copied by right clicking on a project on the project maintenance screen.

What are users?
Users are the entities in Timesheets MTS that book time against projects. Commonly you would have a user per person you want to use the software. Other people have a login for each charge rate they have within the company (but only one person can log in as that charge rate at a time).

Can I generate invoices directly?
Yes. Timesheets MTS allows you to create a complete cost and billing structure for your company. You can create Employee Types, and associate different charge rates with employee types, you can set markups for expenses, and charge rates for travel, you can even set sales or consumption tax rates depending on your country. Timesheets MTS will calculate your exact costs and chargeable amounts for a time period and produce a printable invoice that is fully customisable for your company. You can generate an invoice for all projects for a customer, or individual invoices for every project. The choice is yours.

Does Timesheets MTS handle tax?
The tax elements of Timesheets MTS are fully customisable allowing to calculate the correct tax amounts for your invoices, and also to produce fully compliant invoices for your particular tax system. We are currently developing the software to enable it to deal with the three level EU VAT system.

Can I track my invoicing?
Yes. Timesheets MTS includes the usual aged debtor report and allows you to track invoices by issue status using a variety of reports and screens.

Can I track project activity?
You can track project activity by user, date, task, or any other number of parameters. This can be through a variety of printed, HTML, or Excel reports or charts.

I want a Work Breakdown Structure for my projects
Use tasks. Just create a task for each WBS item you wish to track.

I want to book time to customers not to projects
Many of our users ask this question. Rather than using a project structure in their company they simply charge clients for hours spent over a time period. To accomplish this in Timesheets MTS just raise a project for each customer you bill and have your staff book time to the relevant customer project. It's that easy.

I want to track non-billable time
On the options screen is the option to "User Non Billable Fields". This will display a check box on the time entry screen that allows users to flag a time as non-billable. These non-billable times will be excluded from all invoice calculations.

Can I Track Employee Expenses?
If your employees incur expenses from their own pocket then obviously they will want to be reimbursed. Similarly, you may have a policy of reimbursing employees for travel in their own vehicles. Timesheets MTS allows you to track both of these and produce a report showing reimbursement required for a given time period.

I want to charge by the time unit, not by the hour
Timesheets MTS allows time entry in hours, hours and minutes, or configurable time units. It also allows you to set a budget for time for each employee for a week. A simple report allows managers at a glance to see who has, and who hasn't met their budget for the week.

There's something I'd like to see added to Timesheets MTS
Then email Timesheets MTS Software. Much of the on-going development of Timesheets MTS is based on feedback from our users. Examples of user-suggested features within Timesheets MTS are data import/export, pending expenditure items, non-billable time, and the different time formats.

Support and Troubleshooting

I get the error "430 Class does not support Automation or does not support expected interface" when I run the software
This error message appears because you have some outdated Microsoft software that is used to access databases. You'll need to download and install MDAC which is here. Download the correct version for whatever version of windows you happen to be running, so for windows 98 or NT download and install MDAC 2.7 If you do that you should be up and running.

I get the error "91 Object variable or With block variable not set has been raised by TimesheetsFull. This error was raised in securityCode.enableToolBarAndMenus" when I run the software
This error message appears because you have some outdated Microsoft software that is used to access databases. You'll need to download and install MDAC which is here. Download the correct version for whatever version of windows you happen to be running, so for windows 98 or NT download and install MDAC 2.7 If you do that you should be up and running.

I get the error "-2146960888 Method '~' of object '~' failed has been raised by modReporting" or something similar when I generate a report.
This error is due to Microsoft Excel. We've found in the past that this is usually fixed by re-installing MS Excel or by installing the latest MS Office service pack for the version of MS Office that you are running.

I get the error "3704 Method '~' of object '~' failed has been raised by ADODB.Recordset" when I run the software
This error message appears because you have some outdated Microsoft software that is used to access databases. You'll need to download and install MDAC which is here. Download the correct version for whatever version of windows you happen to be running, so for windows 98 or NT download and install MDAC 2.7 If you do that you should be up and running.

I get the error "3706 ADO could not find the specified provider. has been raised by ADODB.Connection"
This error message appears because you have some outdated Microsoft software that is used to access databases. To fix this problem you'll first need to download and install MS JET which can be found here.

I'm getting some other error when I run Timesheets MTS
Then please email Timesheets MTS Software. We don't let bugs last long, and nearly all of our errors have been fixed in the next release and we are averaging a release every two weeks!