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Allegro
Timeclock was designed to be powerful, yet
easy to use. The standard FileMaker menu has
been streamlined. Difficult or potentially dangerous
commands have been hidden. Others have been
enhanced to do more with fewer steps. Navigation
has been simplified.
The
user interface is divided into four main tabs:
Contacts
- where you can store information about each
of your clients, suppliers, etc.
Estimates - where you can estimate a job
Invoices - where you can log hours and other
expenses, and also generate invoices
Help - where you can setup and get instructions
on how to use Timeclock’s features
The
need for searching for records in Timeclock
has been greatly reduced. Navigation Panes,
on the left side of each tab, let you easily
find, filter and sort the most commonly needed
records. When you click on a record in a Navigation
Pane, it appears in a Detail Pane on the right.
Every client is automatically linked to his
estimates, invoices, and notes. Clutter is kept
to a minimum by allowing you to archive old
records and restore them in one step, if needed.
Click
the thumbnails below for screenshots (will open
in new window):
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Each
Contacts record represents one person or
organization. They are listed in the Navigation
Pane, on the left side of the screen. Clicking
on a contact name brings up his record in
the Detail Pane, on the right. A contact
may have a billing address, a shipping address,
and a virtually unlimited number of representatives. |
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Contacts
can have a virtually unlimited number of
phones and extensions. You may store one
general e-mail address per organization
and one personal e-mail address for each
of its representatives. If your e-mail client
is supported by FileMaker, you can send
messages right from the contact records.
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The
History table allows you to keep a record
of your phone calls, meetings, and other
interactions with a contact. The list is
automatically sorted by date and time, with
the most recent records appearing on the
top of the list. |
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A
free form Notes field is also provided for
each record. It can hold plain or formatted
text. This is a good place to store information
about a contact that doesn't fit anywhere
else. |
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If
you have entered the contact's URL in
the Website field, the Web subtab will
allow you to view it from within Timeclock.
If you leave the Website field blank,
you will see the results of a Google search
on the Company name instead. Radio buttons
allow you to switch between this and Google
maps of the contact's addresses.
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You
can view a contact's estimates, invoices,
and payments from the Billing subtab. This
is much faster and easier than searching
in the Invoices Tab (see below). The contact's
current balance is also displayed. A "Report"
button allows you to print a client's billing
history (all invoices and payments) for
any date range you specify. |
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Timeclock
allows you to archive old estimates, invoices,
and payments. You may wish to do this
at the end of a job, or at the end of
the year. The "Unarchived" subtabs
show only the records that have not been
archived. The "All" subtabs
show both archived and unarchived records.
(This does not effect your reports, which
can include both archived and unarchived
records.)
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By
popular request, this new version of Timeclock
allows you to generate estimates. Estimates
can include labor costs and materials (expenses).
Like Invoices, Estimates can be printed
or exported as pdf files. |
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Invoices
and Estimates can include comments that
appear on the document you give to your
customers, as well as notes that remain
private. |
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The
Invoice Tab functions like a virtual timeclock.
You "punch in" and "punch
out" with the buttons at the bottom
of the page. The date and time are entered
automatically, but can be modified if you
wish to round the figures up or down. You
can create timesheets for any contact that
you have marked as a "CLIENT"
on the Contacts tab. The contact's addresses
are automatically entered when you print
an invoice or export it to a pdf file. |
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Your
timesheets become invoices when printed.
The "Punch In" and "Punch
Out" buttons create the line items.
The "+" button in the upper
right corner of the grid is used to enter
payments, credits and other adjustments.
One timesheet may represent a single day
or multiple days. You can link Estimates
to Invoices (although these relationships
are not printed).
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You
can link one estimate to any number of invoices,
or link a single invoice with multiple estimates.
In the latter case, Timeclock will prevent
you from using the same Estimate Number
twice. Estimates are always filtered records
by the invoice's contact, so there is no
danger in assigning it to the wrong record.
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Allegro
Timeclock has an integrated Help system
that explains its features in more detail.
It contains a link to an HTML help file
on the Internet that you can check for additions,
corrections, and update notices. |
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The
Setup layout allows you to customize your
estimates, invoices, and labels with your
business logo and contact information. |
If
you have a Dymo
LabelWriter printer, you can print billing
or shipping labels from any record on the Contacts
tab. (Timeclock has been tested only with Dymo
LabelWriter printers and size 30572 or 30252
labels, though it may work with similar printers
and similar sized labels made by other manufactures.)
If
Timeclock doesn't suit your needs, feel free
to contact Allegro Data
Solutions about building a similar solution
customized for your business needs.
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