New employee setup [in-depth guide]
Guide contents: New employee entry form | Employee details | Security controls | Accounting | Projects & time | Default calendar | Notifications | Resources
When adding a new employee, several basic fields need to be populated on the employee record to ensure projects, billing, and reporting will contain the correct information for your staff.
New employee entry form
Go to the Main Menu > Admin/Manager > Employees >
You will see this form when you start a new employee record. For more options, please take a look at the sections below for the full employee record.
There are 3 major areas to enter when creating a new employee record. After creating an employee record, there are other options in the created record you may want to update as well.
Details
- Note that not all information needs to be filled in here. If you are tracking by office, department, or GL company, fill in that information in the selected fields. Otherwise, feel free to leave them blank.
- Email - Important: This address is used by the system to send all notifications to this particular staff member. Some system emails also use it as the 'from' address. Ensure there are no ‘spaces’ in front, back, or internally when keying in the email address.
- Enter First name and Last name. If you have staff members with the same first and last initial, select the ‘Detail view' check box and add a middle name or initial. Initials are used to display assignments in the project schedule screen and can be confusing if you have multiple users with the same first and last initial.
NOTE: Make sure there are no spaces in front or back of any name, as the system sees these as characters and will cause problems in the system's reporting function
Login information
- User ID - We recommend setting this to the user's email address. People tend to remember their own email addresses, and you will share an app server with other companies. Each user ID on that server will need to be unique.
-
Password - There are no requirements on passwords by default, eg. length, special characters, etc., though you can set these restrictions in your security settings. Using the 'change password on next login' option will prompt the user to create their own password the first time they log in.
NOTE: If you have implemented LDAP, this setting is incompatible with LDAP and should NOT be used. Using 'change password on next login' will cause an error during the login process. - Security group - Determines the user's access level in Workamajig. There is a preloaded list of role-based security groups in the system. You can select the one that matches this user's current role.
- Timesheet approver - Select the name of the individual who will be reviewing this user's submitted timesheets. A user can be set as their own time approver.
Services
-
Default service - Choose the service this employee provides most often and will be designated to the user when added to the project team. Additionally, you can click the + sign to add services they can manually choose from when entering time.
NOTE: This will allow users to override the service they are assigned to a task.
Time entry
- Timesheet required - When checked, the employee must submit a timesheet for approval. Failure to submit a timesheet or account for a minimum number of hours will result in a notification being sent to the employee and other designated employees. If unchecked, they may still enter timesheets, but no notifications will be triggered.
- Require start and end time on time entries - If selected, the employee must enter a clock-based start/end time on the time entry.
- Require a minimum hours per day - If selected, the employee cannot submit a timesheet containing fewer hours than the minimums designated in the Monday-Sunday boxes.
After you have finished reviewing this information for accuracy, click save. After saving, the full employee record will open up, allowing you to add more detail if needed.
Just so you know, employee records can be accessed by going to Main Menu > Admin/Manager > Employees.
Employee details
Once the record has been added, you will be shown the entire set of employee settings.
- Active - when checked, this signifies an active employee that is allowed to enter timesheets, have full use of the calendar, etc. Active employees count towards the number of licenses you have purchased.
- Timezone - set the timezone to the correct location for the employee. The system will auto-correct meetings and reminders according to this setting.
- Culture - (optional) set the culture for the correct location for the employee. The system will automatically display numbers and calendars according to this setting.
-
Language - (optional) this setting will change the UI language to the selected language.
NOTE: Some fields will remain in English. -
Addresses - There are preset address labels called Personal Work, Home, and Other. You can add custom address labels as well.
NOTE: The preset label for Personal Work is the only one that will copy over if you click Create New Vendor from the employee record. - Date of hire - This allows you to set the date you hired the employee. When this date is set, the Missing time sheet notifications will not report on any time sheet period before this date.
Security controls
Login Information
- User ID - This must be unique in the system. Email address is preferred.
- Set password - click to enter a password with a confirmation password. Passwords are case-sensitive and may include special characters.
- Security group - Select based on the employee position.
- System ID - Leave blank, as this is used for specific self-hosted server needs.
- Usage level - Prevents this user from assigning Security groups (that are set with a security level) to employee records higher than what they are assigned to.
- Signature font - Used to stylize your name is a different Font for approved estimates where you are the approver. For more info on this, see the Printing/emailing estimates [guide].
-
Administrator - This gives the user All Access: We recommend at least two users be permanently designated as administrators. You may select other core group members to have this as a temporary designation during the initial setup and implementation period.
NOTE: Although this does grant access to most areas of the system, there are exceptions: such as report visibility and file access are controlled by the security group setting on the employee record. - Active - will be checked already. This is to designate that this user is active in the system.
- Locked - This allows you to prevent the user from logging in yet keep them as an active paid user. It can get checked if you have a security setting set to lock the user out after X bad login attempts.
- Change password on next login - When checked, the user will be asked to enter a new password. At which point, this gets unchecked.
Accounting
Project tracking
- Billable rate - This field is often the best-left blank, it is used in specific workflows as the rate to be billed to a client for one hour of this user's time.
-
Hourly cost - Enter the amount the employee costs per hour to the company. This can include benefits, etc. This becomes 'labor at net' in reporting.
Update (hourly cost) - When you click to Update, all time entries for this user will have their labor cost/net updated to what is currently in the Hourly cost field. There is a date option, allowing you to update the Labor cost/net for a specific time frame. If you leave the date fields blank, the system will update all Labor costs/net for all time entries for this user. Otherwise, only the time entries within the date range will be updated.
NOTE: The update of cost does not give any further feedback and does not provide historical information. To see if changes took effect, refer to a Time detail data-based report to view the change in hour cost or to a project budget/transaction screen. - Monthly cost - This is used to normalize time entries for salary employees via the client and/or project P & L's. For more on this use, please take a look at the Recalculate standard cost [in-depth guide].
NOTE: Hourly cost/monthly cost may be visible to others via the Project budget screen and Reports. This is controlled via the "Admin/manager > System setup > Security settings: System administration section: 'view labor net cost per hour in lookups and reports'. If this is not selected, users will only see the gross labor amount in these areas.
- Rate level: Default= 1 Leave default setting. This field applies to certain workflows and does not typically need to be adjusted.
Approvals & payments
- Time approver – All employees who will enter time MUST have an approver. There can only be ONE designated approver of a time sheet. The approver can be any other employee in the system, including themselves.
- Expense approver – If this employee will be submitting expense reports, they must have an expense approver. There can only be ONE designated approver of an expense report. The approver can be any other employee in the system, including themselves.
-
Credit card approver - Designate who will approve credit card charges that are cleared via the credit card connector.
NOTE: Designated credit card approver MUST have the security right to approve credit card charges. If not, the submitted for approval credit card charges will be sent to an undefined person that is allowed to approve credit card charges.Purchasing
-
Backup approver - This is for time sheet and expense report approval only. This setting is to designate who will take over this employee's duties of approving time sheets and expense reports that have been sent to them for approval. This will usually be left blank. The employee would set this via Menu > My settings >In out information before leaving the office and blank it out upon return.
NOTE: If this employee has the security right to approve credit card transactions, then you must ensure the selected backup approver also has this security right. If not, the credit card charges will be sent to an undefined person that is allowed to approve credit card charges.
Purchasing
-
Vendor ID - If this employee will be reimbursed for any expenses they personally paid for, they need to have a Vendor ID in the system to issue payment to them.
NOTE: The "Personal work" address will copy over when you click Create new vendor. -
PO limit - Designates the $ amount the employee can approve "up to" on a single purchase order.
NOTE: Someone must have the maximum $ amount ordered by your agency to ensure all purchase orders can be approved in the system. - Insertion order limit - Same as PO except specifically for media insertion orders only.
- Broadcast order limit - Same as PO except specifically for media broadcast orders.
Corporate position
- Default company - Used to set default GL company for this employee if you have GL companies turned on in your instance of Workamajig.
- Department - Used to set employee department if you are tracking transactions by the department.
- Office - Used to set an employee's office if you track by offices in Workamajig.
- Contractor - If selected, this employee is considered a contractor. When a voucher is entered into the system for this vendor, you can select time entries and associate those to the voucher. They will also flow into normal 1099 reporting.
Projects & time
Defaults
- Auto assign to projects - If selected, this employee will be added to the project team of every new project created. This setting is not always necessary, as a security group setting allows you to override the ability to access projects without being on the project team.
- Cannot be unassigned - If selected, this employee can not be removed from a project team.
Subscribe to
- Project conversation - When this user is added to the team of a project, they will be added to the email-to list of all new project/task conversations for the project.
- Project to-do conversations - When this user is added to the team of a project, they will be added to the email-to list of all new project/task to-dos for the project.
- Project file uploads - When this user is added to the team of a project, they will be added to the email-to list of all new file uploads to the project's files section.
Deliverables
- Default reviewer - Sets this user as an approver on any project deliverable automatically.
- Default notify of updates - Automatically adds this employee to the 'Notify' section of any submitted deliverable.
Minimum hours per day
- Time sheet required - When checked, the employee must submit a time sheet for approval. Failure to submit a time sheet or account for a minimum number of hours will result in a notification being sent to the employee and other designated employees. If unchecked, they may still enter time sheets, but no notifications will be triggered.
- Require start & end time on time entries - If selected, the employee must enter a clock-based start/end time on the time entry.
- Require a minimum hours per day - If selected, the employee cannot submit a time sheet containing fewer hours than the minimums designated in the Monday-Sunday boxes.
-
Days - Enter in the minimum hours the employee should account for. If set to 0 or blank, this is considered a non-work day for the employee. A time sheet will not be required on this day.
NOTE: This number may also be used for resource management purposes
Default calendar
This area allows administrators to pre-set access granted to the employee's calendar. You can do this by security group or specific employee selection.
Choose Security groups - Select from the list of security groups or staff you wish to view and or edit this employee’s default calendar.
- View means the designated group can view this employee's calendar. We recommend that you allow all groups to view the employee's calendar.
- Edit means the designated group can add, edit and delete calendar events from this employee's calendar. The designated group will also receive all event notifications for the employee. This setting is typical for an assistant to the employee.
NOTE: We suggest selecting by security group so when a new staff member is added to a security group, they will already be set correctly based on the security group settings of the employee's calendar.
Notifications
Notifications allow you to set conditional triggers to send this employee an email for items like new projects, missing time sheets, overbudget projects, etc.
For a description of the various notifications that can be set on the employee record, please click here.
...more settings for consideration
Assign to projects - this allows you to add the employee to project teams based on a number of criteria
Resources
Recalculate standard cost [in-depth guide]
Missing time sheet notifications [in-depth guide]