Tasks

Set up tasks on your server to perform operations like polling punches and backing up the database. Use the Windows Task Scheduler pointing to either the Ta.WinAdmin.exe executable, the Ta.DBU.exe executable, or to a batch file that will run multiple tasks in sequence.

Using a command line argument of ? with the Ta.WinAdmin.exe executable will show all currently available command line options. Note: if the executable path is enclosed in quotation marks, then place the space and the switch outside the quotation marks.

The tasks can also be setup as a shortcut that a user can execute directly. A shortcut to run a report is one example.

The Ta.WinAdmin.exe command line options are:

•  ? – will show you the available command line arguments.
• P – polling and processing of active employees. This is the same as selecting Poll and All Employees in the Tools / [ Processing] screen. This gets all the punches from the time clocks, processes them and then performs all the calculations for the previous (if open), current and next pay periods regardless of whether or not the employee punches. This includes building schedules, checking holidays, checking auto punches as well as calculating hours for any punches. This is recommended as a daily task, especially if you have auto punching or auto hours employees.
• PP – polling and processing of employees with punches. This is the same as selecting Poll and Employees With Punches in the Tools / Processing screen. It is recommended that this be done at least every hour and is typically run every few minutes if you are using Ethernet communications. If you are using modem communications and paying for each phone call, then you will want to limit the number of times you poll per day.
• PO – polling only. This is the same as selecting Poll and No Processing in the Tools / Processing screen. If the computer doing the polling is used by an employee, then this is the least intrusive method. However, punches will not show in the time cards until the processing is done through the P or PP task or from the Tools/ Processing screen.
• QS – quick synch. This synchronizes the hand templates in the same manner as Synch Users (see below), but not to any HandPunches marked as “No Quick Task Synching.”
• S – synch users. This synchronizes the hand templates in the best possible manner. New templates will be distributed, existing templates will be updated, and employees no longer required to be punching will be removed. Recommended as a daily task, and more frequently if using multiple HandPunches.
• T – set time (if successfully updated from NIST). If the computer successfully connects to the NIST atomic clock service, then this time will be sent to all time clocks as well as setting the time on the computer. Recommended as a daily task.
• R – report. The report ID/Name is the second argument, with an optional third argument:
  • VIEWER will open the report on screen. This is used to allow a user who does not directly use the software to be given a shortcut to run and view a report “live”.
  • PRINTER will send the report directly to the default printer. An optional fourth argument allows the printer name to be provided.
  • EMAIL will have the report emailed as an attachment to the list of email recipients supplied on the Schedule tab, when the saved report was created.
  • A list of email addresses will have the report emailed as an attachment. An “@” in the third argument is the identifier that this as a list of email address.
  • A path and file name will have the report saved to disk. A “\” in the third argument is the identifier that this is a path and file name.
  • If the third argument is not specified, then it will default to EMAIL.
• H – update holiday dates table from internet. This gets a file from our website that contains the dates for each of the holidays. This is recommended as a daily task.
• US – update the employee settings based on the current date. This primarily inactivates employees once the pay period in which they were made inactive in has been processed and paid but also determines the current employee settings for the date based settings provided as part of the employee’s history. Recommended as a daily task.
• DST – gets the current daylight savings time information and updates it to the HandPunches.

The Ta.DBU.exe command line options are:

• B – backup the database to the folder path supplied as the second argument. This is recommended as a daily task.
• DI – defragment database indexes. This is recommended as a daily task.