Palm Pilot Program

The Main Screen of the Palm Pilot is shown on the left. The top row shows a customizable title in the upper left, followed by the current day, date, and time. The next row shows the Foreman name and the Week Ending date.  The next row shows 'Reports' and 'Group'.
'Reports' is used to call up Job Reports on the Palm Pilot, and 'Group' is used to select categories for workers or jobs. The fourth row shows the Worker timesheet date, the worker's name, and 'SetJob'
The next 8 lines contain job assignments, one per 1/2 hour. The checkboxes designate overtime, and the initials of the assigning foreman appear to the right of the job name.

When the Palm Pilot is turned on, or when the program is started by tapping the Timesheets icon, the Timesheets program scrolls the time and date to the current time and date. Days can be scrolled back by tapping anywhere in the upper three day fields, and can be scrolled forward by tapping anywhere in the lower three day fields.

The following description summarizes the Palm Pilot operation.

1. 1    To Show Foreman List - Tap on the foreman name
2. 2    To Scroll to the Current Time and Date - Tap on the WE field.
3. 3    To Show A Job Report - Tap on 'Reports'. This brings up the job list. Tap on a job in the list.    This brings up the Report for the selected job. The report shows the names of all  the workers who are assigned to that job, which days each worker was assigned and the number of hours, and the total hours for each worker. Tapping on an entry will bring up the worker's timesheet starting at the first hour the worker was assigned.
4. 4    To Select Category - Tap on 'Group'. Worker and Job categories are optional. If you want to select a category, tap on 'Group' . Then when you assign a worker or a job, this will bring up the list of worker or job categories. When  you select a category from the list, this brings up the worker or job list from which you can select a worker or job in the selected category.
5. 5    To Select a Worker - Tap on the worker name. This brings up the list of worker names. Scroll the list using either the large black scroll switch on the Palm pilot, or by tapping on the scroll arrow in the list. Select a worker from the list by tapping on the worker's name in the list. If you want to select a worker in a category, then first tap on 'Group' as explained above.
6. 6    To Assign a Job in the Current Timeslot - Tap on 'SetJob'. This brings up the job list. Scroll the list using either the large black scroll switch on the Palm pilot, or by tapping on the scroll arrow in the list. Select a job from the list by tapping on the job name in the list. If you want to select a job in a category, then first tap on 'Group' as explained above. When a foreman assigns a job, the foreman's initials appear in the field to the right of the job name.
7. 7    To Show Assigning Foreman's Name - Tap on the foreman initials
8. 8    To Scroll the Day - Tap on any of the upper three day fields to go back one day. You will not be able to scroll back beyond the beginning day of the timesheet. Tap on any of the lower three day fields to go forward by one day. You will not be able to scroll forward beyond the current date.
9. 9    To Scroll the Hour - Tap on any of the upper three hour fields to back four hours, or use the large black scroll switch on the Palm pilot. If the hour scrolls through midnight, the day will automatically scroll back. You will not be able to scroll back before the begin hour of the begin day of the Timesheet week. Tap on any of the lower three hour fields to go forward four hours, or use the large black scroll switch on the Palm pilot.  If the hour scrolls through midnight, the day will automatically scroll forward. You will not be able to scroll ahead of the current hour of the current day.
10. 10   To Set or Clear Overtime - Tap on the checkbox. Only the foreman which assigned the worker to the timeslot can set or clear overtime.
11. 11   To Assign a Job in Any Timeslot - Tap on the job name in the timeslot. This will bring up the list of jobs. Scroll the list using the large black scroll button on the Palm pilot, or by tapping on the scroll arrow in the list. Select a job by tapping on a job name in the list. If you want to select a job in a category, then first tap on 'Group' as explained above. When a foreman assigns a job, the foreman's initials appear in the field to the right of the job name.
12. 12   To Copy a Job Assignment - Tap on the Copy button. Then tap on the job name to copy. Then tap on the job slot to which you want to copy the job. The Palm pilot assigns the job to all the timeslots between the selected name, up to and including the selected ending timeslot. This makes it easy for a foreman to assign a worker for the whole day.
13. 13   To Add a Job - Tap on the AddJob button. This feature is used when a foreman needs to assign a job which is not in the job list. It brings up the Palm pilot keyboard with which the foreman can tap in the new job  name. Job names are not case sensitive and can contain only alphanumeric characters and no spaces. This restriction is necessary to control errors.
14. 14   To Add a Worker - Tap on the AddWkr button. This feature is used when a foreman needs to assign a worker who is not in the worker list. It brings up the Palm pilot keyboard with which the foreman can tap in the new worker's name. Worker names are not case sensitive but must follow the format Name,J.k., that is the worker's name followed by a comma, and two initials each followed by a period. This restriction is necessary to control errors.

Job Report Screen

The Timesheet Week in this application was customized to begin at 6:00PM on Wednesday. The program will accept any Timesheet week begin day and begin hour.
The report shows that Gross worked 0.5 hours on Monday, and 0.5 hours total for the week. It shows that Hubert worked  0.5 hours each on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and 1.0 hours on Monday, and 3.5 hours total for the week. It shows that McDowel worked 1.5 hours on Monday and 1.5 hours total for the week.

If the foreman taps on any assigned day for any worker, the Palm pilot immediately displays the timesheet for that worker, starting at the first timeslot of the day in which the worker was assigned. When the timesheet is displayed, the foreman can tap on 'Reports' again and the Palm pilot will re-display the Job report and the foreman can select another day or worker. The white cursor indicates that worker Hubert for Thursday is being selected in the picture.

The foremen find this report to be extremely usefull and convenient for verifying and/or correcting worker assignments made anytime during the timesheet week.
 

Other Features

The scrolling of days and hours on the Palm pilot will scroll seamlessly through the two weeks of data, and the Week Ending date is scrolled accordingly. Job reports are generated for whichever week is being displayed when the 'Reports' field is tapped.

A HotSync can be done at any time, several times a day if desired, and a HotSync can be done directly to the Company network or host computer, through a telephone modem, or through a wireless modem. This way, the Company timesheet is always kept up to date.

During any HotSync, only the days which have been used are uploaded or downloaded, and only the active jobs and  active  workers are ever downloaded. Only new workers or jobs entered by the foreman are uploaded. These techniques shorten the amount of time needed to do a HotSync, and are a sign of the built in quality of this Palm Timesheets program.

The Palm Timesheets programs easily handle the case where two or more foreman both enter new job names or worker names. A conflict file is automatically generated if two foremen assign the same worker to different jobs in the same timeslot. The Windows interface used by the Office accountant provides features for resolving conflicts, and for re-assigning jobs from one worker to another such as might happen if a foreman creates a worker with a mis-spelt name and assigns jobs to that worker and then the office finds out that that worker is really the same as an existing worker.

Workers and jobs may be deactivated by the office between uploads without affecting the integrity of the Palm Timesheets database. In this case, after the NEXT download, the foreman is prevented from assigning any new jobs to a deactivated worker, or assigning any deactivated jobs to any worker. However, the inactivated jobs or workers are kept in the Palm Timesheets database for that week so that they can be properly shown in the timesheets for PREVIOUS weeks. Another sign of the built in quality of this Palm Timesheets program.

There is a foreman called the Office which is built in to all foreman lists. This is provided so that jobs which are assigned by the Office can have priority. If a foreman wants to change an assignment by the office, a warning message is displayed asking the foreman to call the Office.

There is a worker called NoWorker which is built in to all worker lists. After a HotSync, this is the timesheet which comes up when the Palm pilot is switched back on. This is provided in case the foreman neglects to select a worker before starting to assign jobs. It provides a convenient means for the Office accountant to re-assign all such jobs.