Freetime Build 20.24.0.5/6 Update Notes
We are excited to announce the latest update to Freetime, version 20.24.0.5. This update brings a range of new reports, features, and improvements designed to enhance the user experience, streamline workflows, and improve overall system functionality. Below, you will find detailed notes on the key changes and enhancements included in this release. This release is currently being rolled out to all servers and systems so will be applied within the next few weeks if your system has not already been upgraded.
New Reports and Improvements
Employee List Report
- A new employee list report is available in Excel format, providing basic information such as shift, department section, payroll ID, and employee ID.
Allowance Report
- Introduced a new “Allowance Report” within the Absence menu. This report allows users to select employees using standard report logic and the absence year. The report output can be in PDF or Excel format, displaying the selected year’s absence allowance totals for the selected employees without detailing individual absences, resulting in a more compact report.
Automated Fire Report
- A new scheduled Fire report can now be emailed on the days and times requested.
Weekly Payroll Report to Excel Option
- A new option allows the Weekly Payroll Report to be exported to Excel.
Daily attendance Report to Excel Option
- A new option allows the Daily Attendance Report to be exported to Excel.
Global Absence Calendar to Excel
- Added a “Report to Excel” button to the global absence screen, allowing users to export the calendar to Excel.
Labour Cost Report
- A new report detailing labour costs in Excel format, including hours worked, pay cost, company cost, and charge-out cost. This relies on hourly rates set in each employee’s payroll section.
New Sort Orders for Exports
- Additional sort orders (by section, Employee ID, and Payroll ID) have been added when exporting to CSV or Excel.
Exceptions Report Schedule
- You can now automate exceptions reports to be emailed.
Exceptions Report Additional Filters
- Added options for filtering by Today, Yesterday, and Last 7 Days.
User Experience Improvements
- Export to CSV/PDF Issue: Resolved an issue where the first export produced a blank file, and the second export added data.
- Global Absence Calendar: Removed the “Print Screen” button, replaced by the new “Report to Excel” button.
- Scheduled Reports: Enhanced setup and performance of the scheduled reports to email feature.
Emails
Hiding Manager Email on ‘Absence Update’ Email to Employees
- Manager email addresses are no longer visible to employees when sending ‘Your Absence Request has Updates’ emails.
Workflow Notices Email
- Improved the information included in workflow notices emails sent to employees.
Automatic Shift Allocation Email
- Emails now contain clearer details of the date and shift the employee has been allocated to.
Absences
Booking of Absences
- Improved the process and information shown when booking absences, including remaining balances and prompts if the booking exceeds allowances.
Edit of Allowances to Decimal
- Allowances can now be edited to include decimals (e.g., 10.5), and calculations will correctly reflect this.
Deselecting Absence Categories
- Operators can no longer deselect an absence category for an employee if the employee has absences for that category booked for that year.
Group Absence Booking
- Improvements to ensure smooth group absence bookings.
Absence Calendar for Workflow Employees
- Enhanced the view when employees navigate to their Absence tab in Workflow.
Employee Absences Tab
- Added a save button in the absence tab to save changes to the absence year start date.
Bank Holiday Settings
- Improved saving of bank holiday settings.
Carry Over Absence Entitlements
- Improved functionality for carrying over absence entitlements from one year to the next.
Group Absences Display
- Resolved an issue where the last day of a group absence was not always shown on calendar.
Employee Absences Buttons
- Moved the “Add Absence(s)” and “Calendar” buttons into view in the Employee absences section.
Mobile Apps
Display of Absence Category Allowances
- Updated the category totals to allow a more accurate view of the remaining balances, with a scroll facility for more than the default three allowances.
Permissions for Mobile Apps
- Additional permissions can be set for mobile app features.
Clocking
- Buttons for IN/OUT are greyed out if the user does not have permission to clock via the mobile app.
Absences
- The Absences tab is not shown if the user does not have permission to request absences via the mobile app.
Roll Call
- The Roll Call button is greyed out if the user does not have permission to run a Roll Call via the mobile app.
Logs Button
- The “Logs” option now displays the employee’s clocking for the current month by default, with options to expand the results.
Editable Email Address and PIN
- The email address and PIN are now editable for employees set as mobile app users.
Roll Call Display Issue
- Fixed an issue where long employee names caused display problems on roll call.
Login Screen Enhancements
- Removed the requirement for HTTP/HTTPS selection and port number input on the login screen for greater security.
HR Improvements
Health Section
- Improved the creation of records to prevent duplicate entries.
Add/Edit Appraisal
- The comments box is now correctly populated on the first load.
Personal Section
- The Expiry Date box now loads the correct date when the page loads.
Payroll/Pension Details Section
- Auto-calculated ‘Age of Entry into Scheme’ and ‘Length of Time in Scheme’ from date of birth and entry date.
Gender Options
- Added “Non-Binary” and “Other” options within the ‘HR Data’ -> ‘Personal’ area.
Document Upload
- Resolved issues with document uploads.
Rotas
Simple Rotas Improvements
- Added “Copy from Last Week” and “Copy from Yesterday” features, allowing quick copying of rotas, with an option to also copy employee allocations and send email notifications if appropriate.
View Options
Employee Absences Tabs View
- Added a new option to set the default tab when viewing Employee Absences within employee records.
Show Day of Week
- Added an option to show the day of the week on the Absence Calendar, adjusting column width accordingly.
Workflow Default View
- Updated the default workflow elements for new operators to enhance the initial experience.
Employee Time Sheets View
- Reduced space between timesheets to enable viewing of 7 days across a standard screen.
General User Experience Improvements
System Navigation
- Improved navigation styles, with a seamless transition between current functionality and left navigation style, and the ability to return to blocks style via the dashboard.
Edit Times Screen
- The page no longer forces a refresh and move to the top when employee times are edited and saved.
Employee Delete
- Improved the process of deleting all employee history to ensure no records remain.
Next and Previous Employee
- Added “Next” and “Previous” buttons for easy navigation through employee records.
Filter to Employee Drop List
- Added a filter to limit the employee drop-down list to a defined group, facilitating easy navigation through this group.
Multiple Timesheet View
- When navigating to this page via an employee record, it now loads the timesheet data for that employee for that week by default.
Paid Breaks
- Improved processing of paid breaks.
Login Page Information Panel
- Added an information panel on the login page for major updates and information.
Email Server Settings
- Improved usability of the email server settings screen.
Email History Section
- Enhanced stability of the view to prevent unexpected closures.
Workflow Notices Screen
- Improved page load speed.
Adding Employees
- Resolved issues with adding new employees under certain conditions.
Company Logo
- Operators can now upload a company logo to be shown on the system login screen.
Employee Status Panel
- Made improvements to this area.
Drop Clock File Pop-up
- Implemented more informative user messages for successful uploads.
Add/Edit Employee Errors
- Added better handling of duplicate ID entry and other unique entry requirements.
Alarm Notices
- Now shown at the top right of the logged-in system.
Timesheets Calendar Date Picker
- Added the ability to select the week via a calendar date picker on the ‘Timesheets’ tab, while retaining the ‘Next’ and ‘Previous’ functionality.
Terminal Manager for Faceprint Terminals
- Added usability improvements for easier employee sync between Faceprint devices.
We hope these updates enhance your experience with Freetime and improve your daily workflows. Thank you for using our software, and we look forward to bringing you more updates in the future. And of course, if you have any questions about this update, please ask our support team who will be happy to assist.
