ClockIt Easy Schedule Creator Review

very good
key review info
application features
  • Custom queries
  • (4 more, see all...)

For all those employers out there with a small number of employees, keeping track of activity is easy, and it can be done without any assistance. But when we're talking about a good management and administration system, it's time to get a software solution that can schedule each employee's activity thoroughly.

ClockIt is such an application, and it will not allow you to monitor the "punch in" and "punch out" operations (for which you need other specialized programs), but it will help you organize the tasks and shifts for every single person that works in the company.

Work, work, work!

When first running the program, you will get an empty gray screen, and the first instinct is to go to the file menu, or the first icon on the left of the built in toolbar, to open a template or create a new file.

There's a wizard that will help you through the whole process, making things more comfortable.

The first step that you need to take is to establish the schedule's time range, and you can select from one day up to several months. After that you have to define the holydays; the program has predefined ones, depending on your region, and if your country isn't on the list, you have the option of adding new holydays to the database. This is, of course, to point out extra days off, other than weekend, and not for celebration purposes.

After this step, you have to enter the employees in the program's database; for each one you can add the full name only, and this is because the program's profile is centered on scheduling, and further personal details are not relevant for now; you can, however, enter detailed information about each one later on, and include details such as work agreements, minimum hours per week, specific weekend work restrictions, availability and shifts that can be assigned.

All personnel being added to the program's list, you now have to enter the shifts information; for each shift you can define the working hours and a small suggestive icon. When I've first filled in a shift, I was a little confused because there were no instructions as to what I was supposed to do, nor were there any buttons that allowed me to add the working hours; but there is a small information button which shows a clip which informs you about what's needed in order to create, edit or delete shifts.

After this you've pretty much finished all the work, and only have to choose the general colors of the resulting report.

Should you encounter any difficulties when working with this wizard, you can use the demo movie (there's a link on the bottom left part of the window, all the way through the wizard) as your starting point; it gives clear instructions for you to understand how the program works.

You will now face a table-like report which shows the days, weeks and months in columns, and the employees in rows. It's easy to assign a shift to a particular day, and you simply have to select the correspondent one from the drop down shift list (which contains all shifts created in the wizard), and then click the day you want it to be assigned to. Removing a shift from the "calendar" is also allowed, but you cannot add two shifts in one day. This is only fair, since a double shift day has a special treatment, and this is where overtime hours kick in. Since overtime is overpaid, it must be pointed out separately. The program allows you to add overtime, or absent time info to each employee, for each day.

A good feature is the fact that all the data that you've edited or created with the wizard is fully editable afterwards, and you can edit the existing settings, delete them or create new ones if needed (should you hire part-time students, you would need to create a new shift, and add new entries in the employee section).

Also a nice feature is the fact that you can create queries so that you can obtain more detailed activity reports. There are three predefined types of inquiries you can perform: worked hours, shifts per days, and employees per day. You can also add custom queries, but they're quite limited, and you can only define one custom query at a time. But giving the program's resources, this is too much already!

You can generate duty roosters by days or by shifts, so that you get an overall look at how work has been done. Also you can check out the month and year planner in a calendar-like view, with all shifts for a selected employee.

Furthermore, the program allows you to record and play macros, so that you can automate repetitive operations for better results.

The settings panel is easy to work with, and it provides access to all the settings that you've worked on in the wizard stage; also, the help menu is consistent and really helps you out when you've bumped into a conundrum.

The Good

The program's interface is nicely designed, and the features that you can work with make scheduling your business' activity an easy task.

The Bad

You can only work with the trial version for 30 days, and in this time you're not allowed to save your files (you can only save your progress in the current session, but it will be lost when you close the program).

The Truth

This is not the best employee scheduling program out there, but it has many features that make it a good candidate to be the program that you will use from now on. You can work with some of the samples it comes with, and get an idea about its functionality.

Check out the screenshots below to get a glance at the program in action:

Installing:

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Working with the program:
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user interface 4
features 4
ease of use 3
pricing / value 3


final rating 4
Editor's review
very good