Timesheets MTS Frequently Asked Questions

General Questions

What is Timesheets MTS
Timesheets MTS is a MS Windows project based timesheet program for companies that charge by the hour, or want to track their time, expenses, and employee travel on projects.

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 at once to be connected to its database. The database can be stored centrally on your computer network and the Timesheets MTS program installed on as many PC's as you like.

Are the reports in Timesheets MTS up-to-date?
All reports in Timesheets MTS are 100% up to date. When a user enters a time 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/MS Windows Me/MS Windows NT/MS Windows 2000/MS Windows XP/MS Windows 2003 Server. Some computers running Windows 98,MS Windows Me,MS Windows 2000, and MS Windows NT may 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 to purchase the licenses for concurrent connections then they can be purchased from the Moving Target Software. Discounts apply if you want to buy more than 1 license.

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 Moving Target Software.

Installation

How do I install Timesheets MTS
Just download the file Timesheets MTS installer from the Timesheets MTS Website and run it to install the software.

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. By default this file is called "timesheets.mdb". It is stored in the Database sub-directory of the install directory of the software (most likely to be c:\Program Files\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. This gives 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 in Timesheets MTS (see here for more information.

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 unless they associate it with a project and 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 are how you classify sub tasks of projects. You must create at least one task to enable people to book time to a project. Tasks are an ideal way of creating a work breakdown structure for a project or for tracking project costs much more accurated.

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. Users can have a user type, and it is this user type that determines how that persons time is charged out.

Can I generate reports for invoicing?
Yes of course. But Timesheets MTS allows you to generate customizable printed invoices directly from your information. Just pick a project, the time range you want to invoice and Timesheets MTS will tally up all the costs and generate a professional invoice for printing and transmission to your customers.

Can I track my invoicing?
Yes. You can view all unpaid invoices and track them more closely using the aged debtors report.

Can I track project activity?
Again yes. You can track activity on projects by using several reports showing detailed or coarse information. Using Excel you can also plot out various charts showing project activity over time, or who has spent time on projects.

I want a Work Breakdown Structure for my projects
Just use a suitable task structure for each project.

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.

There's something I'd like to see added to Timesheets MTS
Then email Moving Target Software. Much of the on-going development of Timesheets MTS is based on feedback from our users. And don't think you have to be a paying customer either, we want suggestions from all of our users. Examples of user-suggested features within Timesheets MTS are invoice tracking, most of the reports, and some of the user security features.

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 "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 Moving Target 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 to four weeks!