Easy Attendance

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1. What is Easy Attendance?

Easy Attendance is a flexible web based attendance, leaves, overtime and vacations management information system. You can easily configure the system to suit your own organization needs with options to allow employees to view their own data and optionally enter their own records. Reports are available with data aggregation so you can see a summary of vacation status for a certain department or all employees. Monthly attendance and summary by month are also available. Easy Attendance also works for institutions with flexible work hours. It does not require a time clock.

2. How to get Easy Attendance?

A. Download ealvo.zip - zip file (1.8 MB, 1,797,438 bytes, updated March 6, 2012), unblock it (right-click, properties, security section, unblock) and extract/unzip it to a temporary folder. Setup instructions are in the Easy Attendance Setup Guide (in PDF format). See question 5 for system requirements.

3. How do I register my Easy Attendance copy, and how much does it cost?

A. If you decide to buy the full version of Easy Attendance, you provide us with your Client ID and get a license key. You will find a link to purchase Easy Attendance under the About tab (in your copy, not this demo - which will also display your Client ID). Make sure you enter your Client ID carefully with your order (the Client ID box is on the checkout screen). Your license is sent immediately after you place your order. See the screen shot to the right for the location of the Client ID, order link and where to enter your license key. After you enter your license key, you should see the word (Registered) next to your Client ID and no further text shows. There is no user limitation on the license (for the same sub-web application) and you pay only once (no subscription fees).
Online (secure) orders of Easy Attendance cost $550 ($385 after 30% discount if still applicable). Payment options: credit card, PayPal or wire transfer.
Our e-commerce provider is FastSpring.

4. Do we need special hardware or software or Internet Connection or a public website?

A. Short answer is no. You do need at least one computer with licensed operating system. Some additional updates may need to be installed (all are free). Easy Attendance works on a single computer, or over a network (local or public although it is very unlikely to use a public site). Notice that Easy Attendance does not also require a time clock.

5. What are the system requirements?

A. Before installing Easy Attendance, you should have the target computer ready. This will include an installed copy of .Net Framework 4 or later (release, not beta), MVC3 Framework or later (release), a copy of MS SQL Server Express 2005 or later with preference to SQL Server Express 2008 R2 (or your own licensed copy if you have one), SQL server user account with db creator role and a functioning (within your environment) default website on IIS 7 or later or IIS Express. For the operating system, a 64 bit Windows server 2008 is recommended although Windows 7 Professional is adequate. You will need enough hard disk space to store your backups (mainly database backup). There is no memory recommendation except that needed by the operating system. The frameworks, MS SQL Server Express and IIS Express are free, you just need a licensed operating system (including client access for your users).
To check if .Net4 is installed, use the MS official article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318785/en-us (or check an application pool properties in IIS, the .Net Framework version drop down). For MVC3, unless you know already it is installed, you can just go ahead and install it (basically, the application will fail if it is not installed with an error that reads, in the message section (Parser Error Message), something like: "Could not load file or assembly System.Web.Mvc"). You may also see "404 - File or directory not found" based on the configuration file (default).

6. What are the limitations of the trial/free version of Easy Attendance?

A. The trial version has full functionality, but it is limited to 10 client records. If you have 10 employees or less, you can use Easy Attendance for free.

7. Where can I download the required updates?

A. It is recommended to use the Web Platform Installer (http://www.microsoft.com/web/downloads/platform.aspx) first. This will make installation of other updates easier. Dot Net 4 is at http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=17851 (web install) or http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/confirmation.aspx?id=17718 (download), IIS Express: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=1038, MVC3: http://www.microsoft.com/web/gallery/install.aspx?appid=MVC3 (web install) or http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=4211 (download). Notice that MVC3 requires .Net4 to be installed already. For sql server express: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=26729 (SQLEXPRADV_x64_ENU.exe is the 64 bit and SQLEXPRADV_x86_ENU.exe is the 32 bit - get the 64 if your operating system is 64 bit).

8. I am using IE (Internet Explorer) or another browser/web agent and the interface looks awful. What can I do?

A. Easy Attendance uses parts of the HTML 5 standard (working draft to be accurate). Earlier versions of IE do not have full standards support, but IE9 and later are fine. Easy Attendance does not have any preference in terms of web browsers and it is not enhanced to work with a certain browser. You just use browser of personal preference (unless your organization has browser policy). If you already have FireFox, you can use it instead (or upgrade IE). You may also use Chrome. We implemented a work-around to support IE7/8 and you may be able to use those versions as well.

9. Can we change the colors and/or logo?

A. Colors and the user interface in general is controlled by a style sheet (EasyAttendance.css). A few other styles are set in EasyAttendance js files. You should not try to adjust the styles if you do not have enough technical experience (make a backup copy of the original files first). The logo.png is a 80 by 81 pixels image and you may replace it by your institution logo of same size. You can change the display name (Easy Attendance) under the logo by setting the OrganizationName key in the web.config file. Changing both logo and display name may violate the license terms. Issues arising from logo and style changes are not eligible for technical support.

10. The font size, especially on my laptop, is very small and very large on a desktop. What can I do?

A. Most browsers have a zoom in or magnify functionality. Try CTRL+ (CONTROL and + keys together) to increase font size and CTRL- to decrease it. You can do that several times to get the size you want. To reset the size back to default value, user CTRL0 (zero)

11. We use both Arabic and English or only Arabic. Does Easy Attendance support other languages?

A. Although the user interface is in English, you can use Arabic as well. Other languages are supported, but we are using English as a standard language for communication at this time.

12. What is that Remember Me! checkbox on the login screen?

A. usually, if you walk away from your screen or do not use the system for a while, your session will time out and you will be asked to re-login. With Remember Me! checked, you ask the system to keep you logged in for a longer period. You should determine whether or not to use this feature based on your security environment (ex. not if you log in from a public pc).

13. I can't get the application to install. I just get "500 internal server error" when I try to run the application

A. If you have access to IIS manager, try to check (do not make changes) an item like Connection Strings under ASP.Net. You will be notified if the configuration file in invalid. Also, make sure the parent site is working correctly.

14. When should I apply vacation adjustments?

A. Adjustments should be applied as early as possible in the year they apply to. For example, if vacation days are to be transferred from 2011 to 2012, you should apply the adjustment early in 2012 (specify a date in 2012 as the adjustment date). Adjustments days added as a reward (or removed as penalty) should be entered in the system on time to avoid vacation overdraft. Only the year part of an adjustment date is used and the adjustment record should be in the system to count.

15. What is the Time Muliplier field on the leave types and overtime types configuration screens?

A. This is how you calculate total leave time (or overtime time) for an employee in a month. The Time Multiplier indicates weighted absence or work in regular time.
For example, you may consider field work the same as regular work and so use a zero multiplier for leaves of type "field work", while personal leaves could have a multiplier of 1 (full absence) and an emergency leave may count as 0.8 absence. For overtime, let's say you treat each hour after work hours as an hour an a half (for payment purposes), so you use a multiplier of 1.5 and so on. The monthly report will calculate running total for each type and the grand total. You have full control as what to do.

16. We have less than 10 employees. Do we need to buy a license?

A. No. The free version supports up to 10 employees. The application will function normally and the only difference you will notice is just the status note under the About tab.

17. How do I know about updates to Easy Attendance?

A. The download file ealvo.zip in question 2 is the latest version. If you have already installed Easy Attendance, you can download the latest ealvo.zip file and only replace the contents of the /bin and /Content folders in your web application. No changes to the database or any other file unless explicitly specified here.

18. Can we customize the help system?

A. The help files are static html files. You can edit or expand them (or even change the language) if you know how to work with html. It is recommended to make backup copies in case you break something (will not affect the application functionality, but the affected help file will not display correctly). Another easy option is to edit the EasyAttendanceDataEntryGuide.pdf file in the help folder for both guidelines and how to.

19. I still have a question (ex. having problems installing Easy Attendance)

A. If you have any question related to Easy Attendance, please feel free to contact us.
For setup help, please refer to the Easy Applications Setup Guide (detailed steps, with screenshots).
If your question is related to installation issues, please include relevant information (error messages, operating system, when error occurs ... etc.).