Timeslips 2011 – First Look

Sage Timeslips 2011 was previewed today at the Sage Insights Conference, and the finalproduct  release dates were announced. Product shipments will begin to customers on June 18, 2010. It was noted at the conference that this is the 25^th anniversary of the Timeslips product, quite an achievement in the turbulent world of technology.

This year’s release focuses on four product areas:

1. Performance improvements, especially in the bill approval process
2. “de-infestation”, a rather curious term which essentially means that a lot of the “third party” subroutines which have been part of the code base for years have been removed (e.g., the calendar picklist function, graphing, etc.). These changes  will be generally transparent to users, but should lead to performance improvements, and will  pave the way for a more comprehensive re-work of the product to prepare for the emerging 64-bit operating system platforms. The current version will presently run in the “x86” area of a 64-bit server.
3. Reporting and Billing Engine enhancements, including the addition of more custom fields, additional custom calculations, and overall performance improvements in billing and reporting
4. New features based on customer surveys and the development “backlog” from previous editions that never made it to the final release.

Some of the more interesting (and requested) new features include the following:

• Beefed-up slip entry restrictions – where in the past clients could be put on “restriction” so that a warning was generated if charges were entered against that client record, the restriction can now actually prevent the charge from being processed at all (based on user security);
• Editing of slip descriptions can now be made from the box on the lower left side of the slip listing window, a marked improvement in user workflow;
• Custom fields for clients, timekeepers, and activities have been increased from 30 per area to 90; these custom fields can be further organized into “types”, and will be displayed on sub-tabs opening from the “Custom” tab on the “master” record. This should open up many new possibilities for integrating data from external applications into the billing system, to be used for reporting filters and sorts;
• PDF-generated invoices can now be assigned a unique naming scheme based on “tokens” supplemented by user-entered text (e.g., CustNo+date+invoice#)
• Cash receipts entries can now have a payment “type” (e.g., cash, check, VISA, MC, etc.) associated with the payment, and the user can custom define payment types
• Timeslips will now allow processing of electronic payments, via the new Sage Payments Solutions service; credit card transactions can be processed directly from the cash receipts screen;
• New workstation-level configuration settings will permit a user to disable various external “links” (e.g., to TalPro, Outlook, etc.) eliminating the annoying alert message that appears when the user logs in and does not have the external application running

All in all, Sage Timeslips 2011 appears to be a worthwhile product upgrade, which should both add stability and performance enhancements to the product while also introducing some interesting new functionality and configuration opportunities.

Licensed To Bill

Several clients have recently asked me about how the Timeslips licensing works so it seems like a good topic to discuss here.  I will try to explain it as simply and clearly as possible so you can figure out how many licenses you may need as we move into upgrade season.

I like to think of Timeslips licenses like books in a library.  The first time you open Timeslips on your computer is like checking the book out of the library.  Even if you close the book/program you still have it in your possession and no one else can read the book while you have it out, so that license is considered “In Use.”  You can open and close the book/program as many times as you like but that license is yours until you return it to the library – or clear it using the Station Administrator.

The Station Administrator is a separate application that allows you to view how the licenses are being distributed.  You can access Station Administrator from within Timeslips via the Special menu, or from outside of Timeslips via the Timeslips program group on your Windows start menu.

When you open Station Administrator the first screen you see will show you the location of the Timeslips database and any users that are currently logged into that database.  These are the people that are currently reading their books.

Click the Options menu and choose Licenses In Use to see how the licenses are being distributed – who has the books out from the library, whether they are currently reading them or not.  You will see the name of the computer that each license is being used on as well as the Windows User ID.  This is a good reason to give your computers descriptive names and make sure each of your users have a unique Windows login.  If two people share the same computer, but use two different Windows logins, they will use two Timeslips licenses.

There is also a column for Session Type, which identifies whether the user is working via a remote Terminal Services connection.  Unlike local licenses, Terminal Services session licenses are released when the user exits Timeslips.

If no one is currently logged into Timeslips (no one is listed on the first Station Administrator screen), you can clear any or all of the licenses in use, making them available on a first come, first served basis.

In the lower right corner of the Licenses In Use screen you can also see how many licenses you have purchased, how many are in use and how many are available.

You may also notice two radio buttons at the top of this screen labeled Full Licenses and API Licenses.  API licenses are licenses used by other programs that connect to Timeslips, such as Time Matters, Outlook, Amicus, PC Law, Peachtree and Quickbooks.  Timeslips provides 100 API licenses.

All of this licensing information is stored in a file on the server called Timeslip.cfg.  Some people make the mistake of using the CD to install Timeslips on each computer and this puts a separate Timeslips.cfg file on each computer.  Two computers cannot access the same Timeslips database if they are using different Timeslip.cfg files.  The second person that tries to log in will get an error message.

If you do install from the CD, you can tell Timeslips to use the configuration file on the server by using the Station Administrator.  In Station Administrator, click the Options menu and choose Change Install Path.  This will then allow you to browse to the Timeslip.cfg file located on the server.  You should then delete the Timeslip.cfg file on your C drive.

When you use the Setup.exe file in the LoclInst folder on the server to install Timeslips on workstations, each computer automatically uses the Timeslip.cfg file on the server.

Still have questions about Timeslips licensing?  Need to order additional licenses?  Contact one of the experts at TriStar Data Systems.

Timeslips 2011 will be released early this summer.  You can save up to $320 if you pre-order before May 28^th.