Configuration

Setup your employees, activities, teams and clock templates to start.

Employee Roles

On the online portal only administrators and farmers can add clocks for employees that are visible to them.

When clocking employees on the device, the following user and employee roles have access to the time and attendance module:

1. User Administrators

   1. Users with the administrator role can log in on the device by using their email and password.

2. Employees with the following roles:

   1. Foreman

   2. Packhouse Supervisor

Clock templates

Please refer to the introduction section on shifts and clock templates for more information.

To get started with clock templates, navigate to Manage > Clock Templates. Here, you can either edit an existing template or create a new one to suit your needs.

Please refer to our Best Practices section for tips and tricks on how to get the most out of your clock template setups.

Manage clock template

Click on "+ Add clock template" to create a new template, or click on an existing clock template in the table to make changes.

When creating a new clock template:

Name & Assign Teams

Assigning clock templates to a team is not valid anymore. We have implemented an improved mechanism to link clock templates to employees. Please follow the instructions here: Linking Employees to a Clock Template

Provide a name that will describe the clock template and the employees that will be linked to it.

Clock template name

If all employees have the same shifts and configuration parameters. Create only one clock template and link all employees to the single clock template. This makes it easier to fine tune your settings at a later stage.

Set up working hours

Working hours are where you configure your shifts for each day of the week.

1. Weekdays: Typically, Monday to Friday have the same working hours, reflecting a standard workweek.

2. Variable Weekend Hours: Saturday and Sunday might have different working hours, accommodating weekend-specific schedules.

Work week configuration

Days of the week

Choose one or more days of the week to apply specific shift times. It's important to note that you cannot set up more than one shift per day.

Optional Working Hours

When a shift is marked as "optional working hours", it indicates that working on these days, typically weekends like Saturdays and Sundays, is not compulsory for employees. This designation has important implications for how employee attendance and budget hours are managed.

1. No Obligation to Work: On days marked as optional, employees are not required to work.

2. Optional Work Days Don't Count as Leave: Choosing not to work on these optional days is not the same as taking a leave. It's just a day off that doesn't affect leave balances.

3. Ordinary Working Hours: Budget hours on optional days to not contribute to the total ordinary working hours for a week.
4. Attendance Record: When an employee doesn't work on an optional day, it won't be marked as an absence in the system.

Types of Shifts

Select between Start & End Times and Fixed Duration:

• Start & End Times: Fixed start and end times for a shift on a work day.

  • Specify the start and end time of the shift

  • Optional: Add one or more breaks

• Fixed Duration: Flexible shift where only the total hours required to work is specified.

  • Specify the duration of the shift

  • Optional: Add the duration of the breaks.

Only specify a break for a Fixed Duration shift if employees do not clock out for lunch / tea breaks.

For more information on the difference between these two types of shifts refer to:

• Introduction: Shift Setup

  • Basic explanation between the two types of shifts

• Best Practices: Start & End vs Fixed Duration

  • When to use which shift

Optional Clock template settings

Here you adjust several types of other Clock template settings. These are all considered optional.

Optional clock template configuration

Monthly repeat

This action is not valid anymore. Clock templates can be assigned to employees periodically. Please follow the instructions here: Linking Employees to a Clock Template

Overtime & Short Time Flex

These flex settings are applicable across the entire template. If Flex was configured within a shift, those settings will take precedence over these for that shift.

Default to shift end

If it is not possible for someone to clock out, this setting will automatically assign 'n clock out for all employees working against this template. The clock out will default to the end of shift.

Weekly and Period Overtime Aggregation

When configuring clock templates in Agrigistics, you can also set up how overtime for a period will be calculated. By default, the hours worked each day can be divided into normal hours, short hours, and overtime hours, depending on whether they are more or less than the budgeted hours. However, South African law allows employers to average out hours worked by employees on either a weekly basis or over the entire pay run period.

Please consult your labour lawyer about averaging overtime hours, as it depends on your implemented contract and bargaining councils.

A basic overview of how the aggregation method works: you configure which hourly components need to be included in the aggregation. All the hours are aggregated over each week and the entire pay period. If the aggregated hours exceed the required working hours within the week or period, those hours are classified as overtime. Required working hours are calculated by aggregating all budgeted hours on days that are not marked as optional working days in the clock template.

When averaging overtime hours, you need to specify which hours will be used.

The hourly components that can be included in the weekly and period aggregation:

• Weekday Normal Hours ✅: All hours worked Monday to Friday that are less than the budgeted hours each day.
• Weekday Overtime Hours ✅: All hours worked Monday to Friday that exceed the budgeted hours each day.
• Saturday Hours ✅: All hours worked on Saturdays.
• Sunday Hours: All hours worked on Sundays.

• Leave Hours ✅: All annual, sick, and family responsibility leave taken.
• Public Holiday Clocked Hours ✅: All hours worked on a public holiday that is part of the selected hourly components.
• Public Holiday Budget Hours ✅: Budgeted hours on a public holiday that is part of the selected hourly components, provided it is not an optional day. Please note that this will increase the total required working hours for the week or period and will affect the overtime calculation.

By default all checked ✅ items are included in the configuration.

It is advisable not to include any public holidays in your weekly or period overtime calculations. Please consult your labour lawyer and review employment contracts before including public holidays in your aggregated overtime calculations.

Linking Employees to a Clock Template

Employees are linked to a clock template on a specific date. The clock template will be used to calculate the employee's hours starting from this date.

If an employee's clock template needs to be changed, you can assign a new clock template with a start date after the previous clock template. The new clock template will only apply from that date onward.

Assigning a new clock template will not affect historical calculations for the employee.

Steps to Assign Employees to a Clock Template:

Select employees and perform the bulk action

1. Navigate to Management > Employees.
2. Select one or more employees from the list.

3. The Bulk Actions menu will appear at the top of the table. Click on the "Clock Templates" button and select "Assign".

4. A side panel will appear. Provide the following information:

   • Employees: All employees selected in the previous step will be listed. You can add or remove employees at this stage.

   • Start Date: Select the date when the clock template should be applied. This can be today's date or any date in the past. Note that the previous clock template will remain active until the start date of the new clock template.

   • Clock Template: Choose the desired clock template to assign starting on the selected date. You can create or edit existing clock templates if needed.

5. Click Assign to complete the process.

Error: Clock template not the latest for the employee

If you encounter this error, it means you are attempting to assign a clock template that starts before the most recently assigned clock template. Clock templates must be scheduled to start after the most recent clock template.

Error: Add clock template before the most recent template

To add a clock template that starts before the last clock template, you'll need to remove the most recent clock template first.

Removing Employees from a Clock Template

You do not need to remove employees from their current clock template to assign a new one. Simply schedule the new clock template to start after the previous one.

If the wrong template was assigned or the start date was incorrect, you can remove the clock template schedule for an employee.

Steps to Remove Employees from a Clock Template

Select employees to remove

1. Navigate to Management > Employees.
2. Select the employees from the list.

3. The Bulk Actions menu will appear at the top of the table. Click on the "Clock Template" action and select "Remove".

4. A side panel will appear. Provide the following information:

   • Employees: Add or remove additional employees as needed.

   • Select the Date: Only employees with scheduled clock templates on this date will be affected. If there are no scheduled templates on the selected date, the action will be ignored. You will be able to view the start date of the current clock template in the list of employees:

     

     Clock tempalte name with start date
5. Click "Remove" to finalise the removal.

Employee Activities

In Agrigistics, the time and attendance module is closely integrated with employee activities to ensure accurate tracking of work performed in the field. Once activities are set up, employees can clock in on these activities through their devices. If measurement units are specified, foremen can also record these units during field operations. This functionality not only allows for precise tracking of time spent on each activity but also enhances the measurement of productivity through additional units.

Here’s how you can add and manage activities:

Setting Up Categories

All activities must be linked to a category. Categories helps you to differentiate between activities in the field and on the reports.

Activity Categories

Navigate to Management / Activities.

1. Select the Categories tab and click on "+ Add".

2. Provide a name and description for the category. You can modify these details later if needed.

3. If activities under this category are specific to packhouse supervisors, ensure to mark this accordingly.

4. Click on "Save"

Setting up Activities

Employee activities

Navigate to Management / Activities and select the Activities tab.

1. Click on "+ Add".

2. Select the category you want the activity to belong to.

3. Provide a descriptive name for the activity. This name should clearly indicate what the activity involves.

4. Code: Assign a code that may be used for additional identification, such as costing codes for later job costing.

5. Define Measurement Units (optional):

   • Measurement Unit: Specify the unit in which this activity is measured (e.g., rows, hours, kilograms). This unit will be prompted on the device when capturing information.

   • Unit Factor: If you need to convert this unit to another (e.g., converting rows to meters), specify the conversion factor (e.g., 20 meters per row).

   • Calculated Unit: Define the final unit of measurement after conversion (e.g., meters, abbreviated as 'm').

6. Click on "Save".

Archive Activity

If an activity is not used anymore they can be archived. You will not lose any data that was linked to this activity. All archived activities will be hidden on the devices.

Navigate to Management / Activities and select the Activities tab.

Employee Activities

1. Click on the activity in the table that you want to archive

2. Click on the red inactive button
3. To view all inactive activities enable the toggle switch next to the "+ Add" button

To reactivate an activity:

1. Click on the toggle button to show all inactive activities next to the "+ Add" button
2. Click on the specific activity in the list

3. Click on the green Activate button
4. The activity will now be visible on the devices

Proceed to the next section to start clocking people in on activities.