New features in Replicon

This topic gives an overview of the new features added to Replicon and Polaris in the past few quarters.

Q3 2024

In Replicon

In Polaris

Q2 2024
New features video

In Replicon

In Polaris

Q1 2024
New features video

In Replicon

In Polaris

 

 

 

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Q3 2024 - In Replicon

TIME OFF & SCHEDULING

Option to mark shifts as non-working time

In our job-based scheduling UI, you’ll soon be able to add non-working shifts to schedules. There are a few reasons you might want to do this:

• To assign pay rates to certain types of time off, such as on-call days
• To identify on-call hours, so they’re not booked for work or for time off
• To identify times when employees can’t be scheduled
• To create validation and pay rules that apply to days off
• To help employees better understand why they have certain days off (e.g. holidays, weekends, etc)

To identify a shift as non-working, first an admin creates the types of non-working shifts you might need, just as they’d create any other shift, but selecting Non-Working Shift from the new Type field.

Then, schedule managers can add those shifts to schedules; they can filter by the Non-Working Shift radio button to find non-working shifts.

Shifts can be for a partial day up to 24 hours.

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Time off balance report enhancements

We’ll soon be adding the following new balance fields to the Time Off Balance report template:

• Time Off Reset: Any reset that occurred within the selected date range
• Time Off Policy Change: Any change in balance due to a policy change in the selected date range
• Time Off Credit Expiry: Any time off balance that expired in the selected date range
• Time Off Adjust Balance: Any manual balance adjustment made in the selected date range
• Time Off Limit Accrual: Any accrual limitation applied within the selected date range
• Time Off Sell Back: Any sell back carried out within the selected date range

The following balance fields are already available in the report: Time Off Accrued, TOIL Deposit, Time Off Taken, Time Off Balance, and Starting Balance.

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Q3 2024 - In Replicon

COMPLIANCE

Schedule validation rules and schedule policies

We'll soon be launching the ability to validate user shift schedules using schedule validation rules.

Schedule validation rules are similar to our timesheet validation rules, except they apply when user schedules are being created. For example, you could set up a rule that checks that a user has sufficient rest periods within their scheduled shifts, that returns an error or a warning when you're creating a schedule involving that user.

The warning or message will display in the top, right-hand corner of the job-based scheduling interface.

These rules can help enforce compliance with labor laws, or with your company's unique policies, and can help schedule managers set up schedules more quickly.

These are the rules that will be available when this feature launches:

• Prevent Scheduling for Consecutive Days
• Prevent Scheduling for Multiple Shifts in a Day
• Require Advance Notice for Shift Scheduling
• Required Rest Days
• Validate for Daily Break Hours
• Validate for Daily Rest Period
• Validate for Max Daily Hours
• Validate for Max Weekly Hours
• Validate for Daily Rest based on Reference Period
• Validate for Weekly Rest Period

To assign schedule validation rules to users, an administrator must first create one or more schedule policies, where they can assign validation rules that are applicable to a user or group of users. Then, they can assign these policies to users in their user profiles. 

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Some rules will now validate Timesheet Grid data in hybrid timesheets

A hybrid timesheet includes both a time capture component (either Punch or In/Out times), and the Time Distribution Grid component, where the user can allocate the hours they capture to projects and tasks.

Previously in these types of timesheets, validation and accrual rules always checked only the time capture (payable) component, since this is typically the source of truth for hours and pay.

But, some customers use hybrid timesheets to associate working hours with activities using the Timesheet Grid. So now, we’ve added validation of the Timesheet Grid component to certain rules, so timesheets with this configuration can be validated.

This second validation will run only if the hours and activity data isn’t found in the payable component.

These are the affected rules:

• Validate for Number of Days Worked timesheet validation rule
• Compensatory Rest time off accrual rule
• Validate Approved Hours to Activity timesheet validation rule
• Min/Max Activity Durations timesheet validation rule

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Updates to statutory pay rules

Replicon offers a library of statutory pay rules that promote compliance with regional labor laws.

This quarter, we’ve introduced updated versions of three existing regional rules to our pay rules library:

• Portugal - We’ve simplified how the pay rule operates and ensured full compatibility with the related compensatory rest accrual validation rules
• Poland - This pay rule’s calculations are now based on Poland’s most widely used flexible working hours system, which uses a monthly reference period. Plus, we’ve also simplified how this rule operates and ensured compatibility with the compensatory rest accrual rules.
• Turkey - We’ve introduced more ways to apply multiple weekly overtime thresholds, including a method based on the user’s scheduled hours

These three countries all have complex overtime and pay laws, and allow for a number of accepted configurations. These updates makes these rules more configurable and more flexible, so they can more efficiently support statutory compliance.

The statutory compliance requirements for these regions has not changed; these updates reflect our mandate of continuously iterating, innovating, and expanding our out-of-box statutory pay rules to cover additional best practices scenarios and configurations.

Note: To create a different configuration of a pay rule, simply make a copy of the rule, then edit the new rule’s parameters as needed.

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Updates to the Compensatory Rest accrual rules

We’ve added a new Compensatory Rest accrual rule, and updated the existing rule.

New rule: Compensatory Time Off for Reduced Daily Rest Period

This rule is more efficient and flexible in how it meets labor requirements in countries like Portugal, when an employee is entitled to compensatory rest if they miss all or part of a daily rest period. Unlike the old rule, these calculations are handled outside the pay rule.

Updated rule: Compensatory Rest Accrual Rule

The update to this existing rule offers a better way to meet a wider variety of requirements for accruing compensatory rest, with a focus on user entitlements when they exceed scheduled hours. The rule now supports:

• A flat amount of accrual for above scheduled hours
• A flat amount of accrual for at or above scheduled hours
• Hybrid timesheet scenarios

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Q3 2024 - In Polaris

PROJECTS

Project statuses and checklist items are now customizable

Project statuses and checklists are used to track progress on projects. Currently, status names are unchangeable, and it is impossible to update the default checklists for each stage, which doesn’t work well for customers who organize project processes differently.

Soon, PMs will be able to rename project statuses and default checklist items on the Administration > Projects > Project Settings page.

These new project names will update across the app and in reports, and the default checklist settings will be applied to any new projects created.

Please note, we will not be changing the number of stages – four stages will still be available -- though as always, you can add additional checklist items.

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Q3 2024 - In Polaris

BILLING

Client billing defaults can be customized for each project

Currently in Polaris, you can assign default billing settings to each client that are then copied to any invoices for that client you generate.

However, sometimes a client uses different invoice settings for different projects. For example, a client may use different payment terms, tax profiles, or columns.

To help clients speed up billing in these scenarios, we’ll soon populate the Billing card in each project UI with the client defaults – that is, we’ll automatically add the client defaults to all new and existing projects for each client.

Then, using the Billing card, project managers can customize the defaults for that project, and their modifications will be saved going forward. The project settings will be used when an invoice is generated for that project.

Note: If an invoice includes multiple projects, the client defaults will be used.

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Option to display comments on customer invoices

Customers often need the invoices they send to clients to include details of the work that was completed.

Soon, you’ll be able to automatically include the comments entered in timesheets for each project or task on an invoice, on a per customer basis (i.e. you can enable this option for some customers, but not others, as you prefer).

To show comments, on each client’s billing defaults card, check the Show Comments on the Invoice option, and comments will always be included on the last page of each invoice generated for that customer.

Comments will not display on invoices that were generated before enabling the check box for that client.

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Q3 2024 - In Replicon & Polaris

TIMESHEETS

Option to show time off in the Time Distribution Grid when using a hybrid timesheet

A hybrid (or complex) timesheet includes both a time capture component (either Punch or In/Out times), and the Time Distribution Grid component, where the user can allocate the hours they capture to projects and tasks.

Currently, time off hours are not subtracted from the expected hours in the Time Distribution component. Therefore, if a hybrid timesheet user takes time off, they can never fully match their captured hours to their expected hours in the grid.

Soon, we’ll be updating the out of the box Schedule Based Hours distribution category to account for time off hours by default. So, users will be able to account for all of their expected hours in the grid.

And, the Allocation Matches Allocation Category timesheet validation rule will be updated to account for this new time off support.

Plus, custom hybrid timesheet distribution rules can new be set up to account for time off.

Note: This new capability can also be added to custom distribution scripts.

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Q3 2024 - In Replicon and Polaris

INTEGRATIONS

Costpoint integrations

We now offer two new bidirectional integrations for those using Deltek’s Costpoint ERP with Replicon or Polaris.

These integrations allow customers to manage their project data within Costpoint, which acts as the source of truth for the data, while taking advantage of Replicon’s powerful time tracking capabilities and/or Polaris’ advanced resourcing functionality.

For more information on these integrations, contact your Customer Success manager.

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New User add/update API service

For customers who use the Replicon API, we’ve added a new service: /ImportService2.svc/CreateUserOrApplyModifications. You can use this service to add new users or update existing user settings.

This service has several advantages over the existing User add/edit services:

• It reduces the number of API calls required to add or edit a user, which reduces costs
• It allows you to identify parameters by name, rather than by URI, which can simplify usage
• It allows you to assign time off policies to users without having to use an additional service and step
• It offers add/update capabilities within one service

Note that this service does not support bulk updates.

Refer to the Replicon API User Guide for more information about this new service and about using the Replicon API.

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Q2 2024 - In Replicon

TIMESHEETS

More complete and filter-friendly timesheet approval history

Previously, when a timesheet was automatically approved by the system, the approval was not recorded in the timesheet’s approval history.

Also, if a timesheet included a time off booking that is approved after the timesheet, we didn’t add an entry in the history to record the final approval, even though the timesheet remained in Waiting for Approval state until the booking was approved.

These cases can caused confusion, and may also have created issues when customers tried to filter by approval date in reports, like the Timesheet Day report. We previewed this change on May 30.

To provide a complete record, we now include more approval entries on the timesheet and in reports:

On the timesheet

The Approval History on the timesheet now shows an entry when:

• A timesheet is automatically approved by the system

• A time off booking on the timesheet is approved after all of the timesheet approvals have been completed

In reports

You’ll now see the following changes in reports:

• When using the Approver Name, Approval Date, or Approver’s Comments columns in timesheet reports: (1) For system-approved timesheets, values for these columns now match the new approval history entry (previously they were blank), and (2) When time off is approved after the timesheet, a new row is included in the report with the new approval history data
• When filtering by Approval Date in timesheet reports, timesheets are now filtered based on the date of the new approval entries, as they are the last approval entries
• In reports based on the Timesheet Audit Trail template, the new approval entries are shown as additional rows under the Approve action
• If changes are made to a timesheet after it’s system approved, those changes are now shown in reports based on the Timesheet Correction template (currently the report only includes changes to timesheets that were approved by a user)

These changes only apply to approvals going forward. There is no change for previously completed approvals.

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Option to prevent time entries from being reopened

You can now prevent the reopening of time off entries (i.e. ones from entry-based submission timesheets) if the project for those entries has been closed.

This option might be useful to customers who use ERPs that don’t allow changes to entries after the project is closed. When using these types of systems, if a user reopens and changes an entry for a closed project, an error occurs in the ERP when that change is exported.

To disallow reopening of entries:

1. Go to Administration > Timesheets > Timesheet Templates.
2. Ensure Time Entry Workflows > Submit Time Entries is enabled.
3. Find the new Time Entry Reopen Conditions component, and click Reopen Conditions.
4. Select the Prevent a time entry from being reopened if the project is closed condition, and click Save.

Then, if the user attempts to reopen an entry whose project is closed, they’ll see an error.

You can also enable the other default condition:

• Prevent a time entry from being force rejected if the project is closed

Or, have custom conditions scripted.

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Submission Status report filter for identifying never submitted timesheets

We now offer a new Submission Status column and filter in certain report templates.

The primary use of this field and filter is to identify timesheets that have never been submitted, which show a value of Never Submitted, to help users address submission compliance issues.

The existing Approval Status field cannot be used for this purpose, since its Not Submitted option doesn’t distinguish between timesheets that were reopened or rejected and ones that were never submitted.

This field and filter is available in the following report templates:

• Employee Pay Details (no filter, column only)
• Project Time Actuals
• Project Time Allocation
• Punch Timesheet
• Time Entry Details
• Timesheet Day
• Timesheet Period

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View tasks without the full task hierarchy in the timesheet task selector

Currently in timesheet task selectors, tasks display in their project hierarchy by default.

While this works well for users assigned few tasks, it can be a problem for those assigned to many projects, and to projects with very large task hierarchies. These users often have to scroll and search and struggle to find the tasks they’re looking for in these long lists.

To help these users out, we'll soon be adding a new display option to the task selector – users will be able to view tasks within a single level only.

Using this new View by Level mode, if you choose a task, only its child tasks will display.

Users will be able to toggle between the View as Hierarchy and View by Level modes, as needed.

Administrators will be able to choose the mode that displays by default in timesheet templates., However, if the user overrides this selection by choosing the other mode, their task selector will default to using the user's selection the next time they access the timesheet.

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Option to enter time in days

You can now allow users to enter hours in days rather than hours in Time Distribution Grid timesheets.

The primary purpose of this option is to support forfait jours policies offered in France. Forfait jours is typically used by senior executives with flexible schedules, who only need to record the number of days they’ve worked per year, rather than the specific hours they work each week.

We don’t recommend enabling this new option in timesheets used for payroll purposes, since it presents a compliance risk.

You can assign this option by enabling the Enter time in days field in the Time Distribution Grid component of timesheet templates.

You’ll also need to enter the hours per day in the template; days entered will be converted to and stored as hours based on this factor. Note that the user’s scheduled hours are never used for this purpose.

With this option enabled, the user can choose to enter time in either days or hours, from within their timesheet.

We’ve also added a new timesheet validation rule you can use to limit entry to a particular increment of a day (e.g. 0.5 day or 1 day).

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Q2 2024 - In Replicon

SUBSTITUTE USERS

Option to limit substitute user access to Team only

Currently, if you grant a substitute user access to your instance, your only option is to grant them access to all data you have access to. So, depending on your permissions, they could view and edit your personal timesheet and time off balances, plus payroll data, user profiles, and other system settings.

Soon, you'll be able to limit substitute users to accessing your Team section only.

With this level of access, substitutes can carry out approvals and manage team members’ time and expenses, without being able to access any other data.

Users will still have the option of granting full access to substitutes who need it. And, if they choose to forward email notifications, the substitute will only receive notifications that relate to the data they can access (i.e. teams data).

You can assign substitutes via the Substitute Users tab, which is accessed by clicking User Settings (or the settings icon) located in the bottom, left-hand corner of the page, and clicking Settings.

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Q2 2024 - In Polaris

RESOURCING

Preferred resources

Project managers can now request one or more preferred resources by name when submitting a resource request in Polaris. They can also set the importance of the preferred user criterion, relative to the importance of other request parameters.

When viewing candidates in SmartMatch, resource managers can choose to display only preferred users, or all users listed according to how well they match all other request criteria.

In the latter case, a star displays beside any preferred resources in the list.

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Q1 2024 - In Replicon

TIMESHEETS

Option to require project managers to include comments when reopening timesheets

You can now require project managers to include approval comments when they reopen a timesheet.

This can help timesheet owners understand what they need to fix on the timesheet before resubmitting. For example, a PM could indicate that the wrong task was selected in the timesheet, and that it needs to be updated.

To enable this new permission:

1. Go to Administration > Employees and Organization > Permission Sets, and open the desired Project Management permission set.
2. From the Timesheet Approval Permissions section, find the Allow Reopening Previously Approved Timesheets permission.

Select the Allowed with Comments option, and click Save.

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Quick Add options on timesheet can be shown as auto-recalculating buttons

Administrators have long been able to include Quick Add population methods on user timesheets. Now, they can specify that up to three of those options display as separate buttons on the timesheet, rather than in the Quick Fill drop-down.

Enabling buttons yields two benefits:

• The population methods are easier to see and access, which should result in greater use of these options and less time spent filling out timesheets
• Custom methods that require recalculation are easier to use. Some custom rules require timesheets to be recalculated before they’re applied. Since these new buttons automatically recalculate the timesheet, users no longer have to remember to click recalculate before using Quick Fill.

To set up these buttons:

1. Find the Time Entry Quick Fill Options section within the user’s timesheet template, and choose Selected Timesheet Population Methods.
2. Add each method that should be available. Then for each one that should have a separate button, choose the Separate Button drop-down option from the field on the right.

3. For more information on adding Quick Add methods, refer to Setting up timesheet autofill and quick fill population methods.

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Option to require project managers to include comments when reopening timesheets

You can now require project managers to include approval comments when they reopen a timesheet.

This can help timesheet owners understand what they need to fix on the timesheet before resubmitting. For example, a PM could indicate that the wrong task was selected in the timesheet, and that it needs to be updated.

To enable this new permission:

1. Go to Administration > Employees and Organization > Permission Sets, and open the desired Project Management permission set.
2. From the Timesheet Approval Permissions section, find the Allow Reopening Previously Approved Timesheets permission.
3. Select the Allowed with Comments option, and click Save.

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Q1 2024 - In Replicon

TIME OFF

Time off type search and wrapping when booking time off

We’ve made some improvements to the Time Off Type field users access when booking time off.

Previously, longer time off type names were truncated when selected, so the full name wasn’t viewable. Now, we’ve increased the field’s width and allow text wrapping, so full names display.

Plus, we’ve added search functionality to the field, so users with many time off types assigned can find the type they’re looking for more easily.

This text wrapping and the search field are also available in the mobile app.

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Q1 2024 - In Replicon

PROJECTS, BILLING, & COSTING

Project managers can be allowed to reopen approved timesheets

Previously, while supervisors could be allowed to reopen approved timesheets, project managers could not. This created delays, since if a PM approving a timesheet saw an error, they had to notify the supervisor to reopen the timesheet so the error could be fixed.

Now, project managers can be given permission to reopen timesheets they approve.

The reopened approved timesheet will be sent back to its owner for correction, or the PM can fix the issue directly if they have edit permission.

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Q1 2024 - In Polaris

RESOURCING

All actual hours now display in Polaris, not just those recorded using a task’s role

In 2022, we launched our actual hours feature in Polaris, that shows the actual hours a resource worked on a project alongside the number of hours they were allocated to work.

Being able to view actuals vs estimates is important to project managers, since it allows them to see, in real time, whether or not their projects are on track, or if they require intervention (e.g. adding more time or resources).

Previous assumptions when using actual hours

Previously, the actual hours feature assumed that companies always use tasks, and that resources will always be allocated with a task’s designated role when working on that task.

This meant actuals would show only if:

hours were entered against a task + by a resource allocated to the project + with an allocation role that matched the task’s role

We recommend matching the resource role to the task role, since it allows you to predict costs more accurately. But, this is not how all of our customers carry out resourcing.

For some industries and usage scenarios, role doesn’t matter, or it makes more sense to record hours at the project level. For these customers, since resource and task roles don’t typically match, the actual hours feature didn’t work.

What we've changed

To help those customers out, we’ve started including work completed using roles other than the task role in actuals totals.

Therefore, with Actuals enabled, on the Quick Allocation and Resource Plan pages:

• You now see the actuals for each role, for any role used to enter time against a project

• Time entered at the project level or against a task with no role assigned also displays, and will be labeled No Role. Time entered against a task assigned a role is now always labeled with that role name.
• If a resource has timesheet access for a project but isn’t allocated to it, and they record time against it, their actual hours now display on this page, so you have a complete view of all billable time

• The summary tooltip shows actuals for the role, and for all roles, alongside the allocated hours

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Allocations now listed by resource name on the Resource Plan page

• On the Resource Plan page, allocations are listed by resource name, to keep this view consistent with the Quick Allocation page, to allow multiple roles to display, and to help prevent addition of duplicate resources

Note: If you always use tasks and matching roles when allocating, these changes can help you track hours that were accidentally recorded against the wrong role.

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Total resource hours for a project broken down into allocated and requested

Previously, on the Resource Plan page, we showed the total hours and cost for each resource, and the total for all resources.

Now, we’ve started displaying the total for the Requested and Allocated hours/costs along with the Grand Total for the project.

If you click the total, a pop-up displays, showing the total Allocated hours/costs vs the total for the Requested hours/costs that are still awaiting fulfillment.

This breakdown gives project managers more knowledge about where their budget stands, which they can use to adjust resources (by cancelling or adding requests), or to request a change to their budget allotment.

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Access limits for resource pools

Last year, we launched a resource pools feature that allows resource managers to create custom groups of resources based on different criteria, like being a contractor or tenure at the company. This can make it easier for managers to find the resources they’re looking for during resourcing.

Now, in addition to helping filter resources, resource pools can be used to restrict access to resources or their data or both.

To restrict access, in Resource Manager permission sets, you can choose what user data a manager can access for all resources or just for the resource pools they manage.

So, for example, you could allow a manager to view only resource cost data for resource pools they manage. This sort of restriction is useful post acquisition, if you want to prevent a new manager from viewing cost data for all users across your organization.

Or, you could entirely block a manager from seeing resources from other pools, by restricting the Users sub-permission.

Finally, you can now also assign one or more co-managers to any resource pool, with the same or different access permissions. For example, the co-manager might not be allowed to view resource costs.

Since you can only assign one manager to a resource pool, assigning co-managers allows you to restrict access when multiple resources require some level of access to a pool.

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Ability to hide Availability data during direct allocation

The Allocate Resource > Select Resource field located on the Resource Plan page can sometimes be a bit slow to load, since it requires each resource’s percent availability for that date range to be calculated on the fly.

But, some customers don’t use availability data – often because they operate in small business units that can track resource schedules manually. These customers don’t want to wait for data that they don’t need.

So, we’ve added an icon to the top of this dialog:

Project managers can click this toggle to choose whether or not the availability percentage displays.

If they choose not to display availability, resources are listed alphabetically.

Note: If a project manager will never use the availability data, their administrator can disable the Availability permission found in their permission set; this removes that functionality for all projects.

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Q1 2024 - In Polaris

EXPENSES

Budget cost can be broken down into expense and resource budgets

Project managers can now break down project budgets into resource costs and expense costs for each project.

On the Financials card for each project, we now offer a field for Resource Cost and one for Expense Cost, plus the existing Budget Cost field, which is uneditable (grayed out), since this total is the sum of the expense and project budgets you enter.

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Monthly project expense estimates and actuals

Previously, you could only add an estimate for the total expenses incurred for a project. But, this lack of granularity meant it was hard for project managers to track spending in different expense categories, or ensure their budget would stretch across the length of the project.

But now, you can distribute that estimate across your project expense codes and across each month of the project.

If you enter a total estimate, it will be equally distributed across the months automatically, for the project duration.

And, you can enable the Show Actuals field – located in the top, right-hand corner of that table – to show actual costs incurred for each expense code, each month, making it easy to plan for cost expenses and account for them.

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Per-project expense markup

Companies often apply markup to expenses they’ll be billing to clients, and sometimes at differing rates for different expense types.

PMs can now apply a markup percentage to each billable (or billable/non-billable) expense code they assign to a project, making it easy to manage markup during billing.

The markup amounts are automatically copied to the Expenses billing type on the Bill Plan card, and you can use the amounts when billing the client.

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Billable statuses for expense codes at the project level

Previously, expense codes – like Airfare, Hotel, or Meals – could only be marked as billable, non-billable, or both by end users within an expense sheet.

But now, project managers can assign a billable status to each expense code when they assign it to a project, via the Expenses card. This can reduce classification errors, assist in budgeting, and help ensure all billable expenses get billed.

When a user later adds an expense, its Bill Client status is set accordingly:

• For Billable expenses, the field will be checked and uneditabled
• For Non-Billable expenses, the field will be unchecked and uneditable
• For Billable and Non-Billable expenses, the field will be checked, but still editable

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