Certified Payroll just got easier! With PIC - Import Employee Time Cards, you can now import time cards directly into Certified Payroll from an ASCII comma delimited text file. You can import up to 99 time card entries for each employee with up to 10 different pay rates. PIC will omit any lines with errors and will report them to you on an easy to read control report. This easy to use import will even allow you to review the imported lines on the fly, allowing you to make manual adjustments without aborting the import! You can add additional time cards or modify existing time cards after you finish your import. Even if you are not required to submit Certified Payroll Reports, PCR - Certified Payroll and PIC - Import PCR Time Cards make it easy to update your Payroll and Job Cost files quickly and easily!

After PIC - Import Employee Time Cards is installed, you will see a new function key light when entering time card hours. When you are at the "Time Card Date" prompt [Shift F8] will bring up a box to allow you to import time cards:

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|PRPROC4 E302          Certified Payroll Time Card Entry    COMPANY ID: SP     |
|11/16/95                  Software Professionals, Inc.     GENERATION #: 57   |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Time Card Date: 11/20/95 Mon                                                  |
|                                                          Reg     OT1     OT2 |
+------------------------------- Import Options -------------------------------+
|Append to existing lines (Y/N):N                                              |
|Review each Employee (Y/N):N                                                  |
|File name:                                                                    |
|C:\PCA\PIC.TXT                                                                |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Answering Y to this prompt will add imported hours to timecard hours that were entered manually or through a previous import.

Answering N to this prompt will erase ALL previously entered timecard hours for any employee included in the import.

File name: Enter the name and full path of the file to import.

(For example c:\Timecard\Import\PIC1225.TXT")

After selecting the options and entering a file name, you will be asked to select a printer for the control report. PIC - Import Employee Time Cards will then start importing time cards and the screen will display all new time card entries. If you selected "Y" to review each employee, PIC will pause after importing each time card and you can review the entries and adjust them if necessary. After you have finished, press [F10] to continue the import.

Notes for Programmer:

The file you must create is a simple text file and conforms to the standard normally called "Delimited" or "Comma Delimited ASCII". There are 13 fields that are required for each time card entry.

The text file must contain each type of data on a separate line. Each line contains fields which are separated by commas. If any field contains spaces or commas, the field must be enclosed in quotes. You can optionally surround all fields with quotes, even numeric fields.

Note: Dates must be left padded with zeroes in "MM/DD/YY" format. Example: January 1, 1995 must be imported as 01/01/95 NOT 1/1/95.

PIC - Import Employee Time Cards can make extensive use of default values, limiting the amount of information required in the text file. The following chart outlines the line format requirements along with additional information regarding default and valid field values.

Import File Format:     Order and Type
TimeCardDate            Date (8 characters)
                          Defaulted to the current system date.
EmployeeID              Alphanumeric - 6 Characters
                        EmpDept (2) + EmpID (4)
                          Defaulted to the current employee in PCR or
                          the last imported line with an EmpID.
Hours                   Numeric between 0  and 99.99
                          Defaulted to 0.
TypeOfHours             Alphanumeric - 1 Character
                          Valid Entries are R,1, or 2 From the
                          Employee File or the previous line.
ShiftCode               Alphanumeric - 1 Character
                          Valid Entries are 1,2 or 3 From the Employee
                          File or the previous line.
HoursWrkdDate           Date (8 Characters)
                          From TimeCardDate or the previous line.
JobNum                  Alphanumeric - 6 Characters
                          Not Defaulted
EquipCode               Alphanumeric - 4 Characters
                          Not Defaulted
PhaseCode               Alphanumeric - 2 Characters
                          Not Defaulted
CostCode                Alphanumeric - 6 Characters
                          Not Defaulted
BaseWage                Numeric
                          Range:
                          Between -999.999 and 999.999
                          From the Employee File or the previous line.
CashEQ                  Numeric
                          Range:
                          Between -999.999 and 999.999
                          0
GLAcct                  Numeric 5 or 6 characters
                        (GL account size)
                        Payroll Options Gross Pay account or the previous line.

The below line will import a time card dated "01/01/96", for employee "01BRAD", for "40 Regular Shift 1 hours" worked on "01/01/96". It will be distributed to Job # "HOUSE", Equip Code "TS", Phase "PLUMB" and Cost Code "CSTCD". The Base Wage is $10.00 with a Cash Equivalency of $1.50 per hour. It will be distributed to GL account # 50600.

Example

01/01/96,01BRAD,40,R,1,01/01/96,HOUSE,TS,PLUMB,CSTCD,10.00,1.5,50600

(Please note that enhancement PCR - Certified Payroll is also necessary to import Certified Payroll Time Cards.