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Alternative Business Systems has developed a Time Clock Interface (TCI) system to be used in conjunction with the Open Systems Accounting Software import file format provided by IDI (also called TimeBank) to bring time capture system data into the Open Systems Accounting Software Payroll Time Ticket journal file. This system will work with any time capture system that can provide the IDI standard import file for Open Systems. TCI is available for Open Systems Accounting Software versions 4.53 and higher. It has been developed to run within a DOS environment. Time Clock Interface is also available for Traverse Accounting Software.

TCI works by:

  1. Setting up a permanent cross-reference file of transaction codes (from the IDI import file) to the Open Systems pay/earnings codes.

  2. The import program reads the IDI import file and incorporates all the edits within the generic Open Systems Payroll Transactions entry program for the version purchased to create time ticket transactions within Open Systems. As transactions are processed, an audit report is produced that is a replica of the Open Systems time ticket journal. Any record that failed any edit will be denoted as REJECTED and not placed in the time ticket file. Those entries will have to be made manually within Open Systems with the corrected information.

  3. From that point on, payroll processing is completed using standard Open Systems functions; i.e., run journals, post transactions, calculate checks, etc.

If Open Systems Job Costing is being interfaced with Payroll, then job/phase information is validated in the same manner used by the generic time ticket entry function.

FAQ:  
Is TCI available for OSAS Version 6.1 and 6.5? Yes!

Will TCI work within an Unix environment? This product has been developed to work within a DOS environment and we do not support UNIX installations.

Do we have to use TimeBank?  No.
Most electronic time capture systems have a data export function available.  As long as the file exported is in the same ASCII file format (fixed length fields and positioning) as the one output from TimeBank, it can be used with this product. 

Can we purchase our time clocks and time capture software from Alternative Business Systems?  No. 

What are all the components necessary to use TCI?
1.    An Electronic Time Capture System (such as Kronos or Simplex).
2.    Software to export the time transactions into a set format ASCII file. This can be a software product such as TimeBank that would be provided by your time capture system dealer - or simply use the data export function from your Time Capture System to create that same file.
3.    Alternative Business Systems Time Clock Interface software.   This has been developed to be used with Open Systems Accounting Software (OSAS).

Is the source-code for TCI provided?  Yes

Can job/phase/cost code information be imported?  Yes
There are fields available within the ASCII file to store job, phase and cost code information.  If you have Job Costing installed and interfaced with Payroll within OSAS, then the job/phase/cost code information will be validated against your job costing files.  If you do not have Job Costing installed or interfaced with Payroll, then the job information is imported without any validation.