Time tracking blog

Does your business operate with mobile crews? If so, this new feature is sure to please. You can now clock in other users via a text message (if you are an admin or manager of those people).

All you have to do is send your text message as usual, but add @username for each user that you want to perform the clock-in/out for. Let’s view a few examples. If you’re new to text messaging with TSheets, be sure to check out our wiki page on Time Entry Using Text Messages.

• You want to clock in user1, user2, and user3 to the ‘construction’ job code – easy:
  • t in construction @user1 @user2 @user3

• You want to switch user2 and user3 to the ‘cleaning’ job code:
  • t in cleaning @user2 @user3

• You want to add a note to all three users’ timesheets (make sure you don’t put the usernames after the ‘notes’ keyword, else we’ll just include them as part of the note and only put it on your own timesheet):
  • t @user1 @user2 @user3 notes Everyone worked hard today

• You want to clock user1, user2, and user3 out:
  • t out @user1 @user2 @user3

• What if you want to include yourself in the list of people you’re clocking in or out? Just use @me to indicate yourself:
  • t in construction @user1 @user2 @user3 @me

This is a really powerful feature and we believe you’ll agree that it is a real time saver. Have a crack at it and let us know what you think!

Service Outage Notifications
Recently we’ve received requests from people wanting a way to instantly find out when we’re having any sort of service outage. As mentioned in the previous post we’ve set up a Twitter status page. Want to receive instant text message alerts whenever we update our status page? Here’s how.

1. Create an account on Twitter

• Go to http://twitter.com/
• Click the big “Sign Up Now” link
• Follow the instructions
• When it asks you to find your friends you may click the “Skip this step” link at the bottom of the page
• When it asks you to “Follow” people from the list of Twitter stars you may click the “Skip this step” link at the bottom of the page

2. Linking your cell phone to Twitter

• From your Twitter home screen, click the “Settings” link at the top right of the page
• Click the “Devices” tab
• Enter your cell phone number, check the box allowing Twitter to send you text messages, and click save
• Send a text message to Twitter (40404) with the confirmation code on your screen
• Great, you’re phone’s linked to Twitter!

3. Requesting text message alerts when we post updates

• Go to the TSheetsStatus Twitter page
• Click the “Follow” button
• Click the new cell phone icon that shows up where the follow button was

You’re done! Now whenever we post any sort of service issue you’ll instantly be notified via text message.

Quick Update
Yesterday afternoon our primary Text Message number, 68398, quit working. This was caused by a power outage at a major telecommunications datacenter that affected much of the city of Bellingham, WA. You can read the news article here: http://bit.ly/4iX3Iv

We Have A Backup Number!
Last time we had a text message outage we told you we were working on a backup plan. Well, we’ve got it. TSheets’ new backup text message number is 313131. It works exactly like our other 68398 number. There are two small things to note:

• You might need to send a text message with just the letter “T” to 313131 it before it will allow us to send replies to your phone.
• If you include the word “stop” anywhere in your text message it will unsubscribe you until you send another text message with just “T” in it.

Please continue to use 68398 as the primary number for texting to TSheets, but let everyone know about the backup number too.

Want Instant Notifications of Outages?
We have setup a new TSheets Status page on Twitter where we will be posting TSheets outage notifications in real time. You can even set it up to send you a text message anytime we post an update to that status page if you’d like. Here’s the URL: http://twitter.com/TSheetsStatus

• 2009-10-23: Status Update: Our primary 68398 number is working again!

What went wrong?
Midnight on Aug 26th our text message provider stopped forwarding your text messages to us. It turns out that they preformed a software update that caused all sorts of problems that affected not just TSheets, but several other companies using their services. We received no advanced warning that this software update was going to take place, and now almost 24 hours and dozens of phone calls later, they still don’t have things completely fixed. We are very disappointed with our upstream providers (Tatango and 4Info) and couldn’t be more sorry for the inconvenience this is causing.

It’s working! (mostly)
One of the things changed by our provider’s software update is they are now intercepting all text messages with the word “start” or “stop”. Since 95% of the text messages sent to TSheets are “t start” or “t stop”, none of those messages are getting to us. To work around this we have setup the new words “in” & “out” to replace “start” & “stop” respectively. So if you would have previously texted “t start at 0800″, you will need to replace that with “t in at 0800″ instead.

Confirmations may not work
If you happened to text “t stop” to us during the last 24 hours, chances are that we won’t be able to send messages back to your phone. Our provider is intercepting the word “stop” and blocking your number so that we can’t send messages to you. We don’t have a work-around for this yet, but will keep you posted.

A backup plan
Be assured that we are completely committed to restoring a reliable system for tracking your time via text message as quickly as humanly possible. We are working through the night researching other text message gateway providers and alternatives to get a reliable system in place. Expect another announcement in very the near future with backup number you’ll be able to text to.

Please call or email if you’d like more details or just feel like venting.

Brandon

• 2009-08-28: Status Update: Our provider will be applying a patch tonight. Read my update in the comments below.
• 2009-08-31: Status Update: Things are back to 100%! Read my update in the comments below.

We wanted to take a moment and introduce you to a feature of ours that has surprised us in its popularity.  Sending a text message is something that nearly every cell phone owner on this planet has done at least once in their lifetime.  And if you haven’t, I’ll bet that you’ve at least received a text message at some point.

Did you know that you can use a text message to clock in and out of TSheets?  Check out this video to see how easy it is.

Something you should know – when you install the Texting Addon in your TSheets account, you gain the ability to assign short codes, or aliases, to all of your job codes.  This means that instead of texting “T start Project WannaPayMe”, your life is simplified by being able to text “T start pw”.  And we even make it easy to print out a nice little SMS Cheat Sheet that contains a list of your job codes and their corresponding aliases, so that you can stick it in your wallet for easy reference when you’re traveling about.

Of course, we need to mention that you’re responsible for any charges on your phone plan related to text messages, but most plans include it nowadays.  Also, right now our texting addon is only available to customers who are able to send texts to a US short code.  However, we have plans for a way to accommodate all of our international customers out there.  Stay tuned!