Tips and Tricks: May 2008 Archives

Based on my experience on working with contractors it is not all that unusual to receive an invoice for every project they happen to be working on with you. In some cases this isn't a bad thing and actually makes your ( the customers) internal accounting procedures a little easier. Of course some customers don't like getting one invoice for every project and would prefer to receive one invoice bundling up charges for all projects that you, as the consultant, are working on. Timesheets MTS allows you to use either of these two methods. In a nutshell here's how to do it:

1. Log into Timesheets MTS with a user account that can generate invoices (financial user or super user) and go to the Invoices screen (using the main toolbar).
2. Click the New Invoice button.
3. Give the new invoice an invoice number (if you don't have auto numbering switched on) and select the invoice customer.
4. Now we have to allocate billable activity to the invoice. Click on the Invoice Line Items tab and then click the Get Invoice Line Items button.
5. On the left hand side of the new window that will pop up you can see a project list. This is where you can choose to invoice one, many, or all of the projects for the selected customer. Just select the projects you want to invoice.
6. Select the date range for the activity you are going to bill, and then click the Get Details button to get the billable activity. If you are happy with the details click the Accept Details button. You'll be taken back to the main Invoice screen now.
7. If you are happy with the invoice you can now save it, and print it out for issuing to your customer.

A common question I am asked is whether you can use Timesheets Lite data with Timesheets MTS. The simple answer is no, the products are very different, the data used is very different, and the databases themselves are very different. However, I do have a tool I can use to upgrade the database for you. Here's what you need to do to get your Timesheets Lite database upgraded:

1. Email me your Timesheets Lite database.
2. The Timesheets Lite database can be found in c:\Program Files\Timesheets Lite\ unless you have moved it.  Ideally you should zip up the database with Winzip or something similar before emailing it.
3. When we have received your database we will export all of the data from it into a brand new Timesheets MTS database.
4. Within 24 hours we will email this new database back to you.  Just unzip it and copy it over your existing Timesheets MTS database.
5. The Timesheets MTS database can be found in different locations depending on your version of Windows.  In Windows Vista you'll find it in c:\ProgramData\Timesheets MTS\Database.  In versions of Windows prior to Vista you'll find it in c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Timesheets MTS\Database . Of course in both cases if you've moved your database then it will be somewhere else.
6. All Timesheets Lite projects will have equivalent projects created in Timesheets MTS.  Timeshets MTS tasks will be created for each Timesheets Lite Common Activity.  Time data not booked to a Common Activity in Timesheets Lite will be booked against a non allocated task in Timesheets MTS. All time activity booked against a common activity in Timesheets Lite will be booked against the corresponding task in Timesheets MTS.

That's all there is to it. If you do want to upgrade your Timesheets Lite database to try out Timesheets MTS then just let me know.