This is the Virtual Stopwatch Enterprise tutorial. It shows how to set up a system step by step, and some of the features of implementing it. If you wish do download the database that was created with the tutorial, click the button below.
Getting Started...
1) Download and install Virtual Stopwatch Enterprise/Administrator. Use the custom install option to install both products.
2) Run the included administrator program (VSWAdmin.exe). The first time you run it, you will be prompted for a directory in which to create the database. Select the folder where you want the database file created. This is usually the same folder in which you installed the software.
3) Next, you will be notified that there are no administrators in the system. Press OK to close this message.
4) Go to the Users View by pressing the 
button on the tool bar or select View->Users from the menu. Virtual Stopwatch
Administrator will look like this:
5) Next you need to add a new user. Either press the 
button or select Users->Add. The Add/Edit user dialog will
come up. Fill it in as shown below.
The permissions give this user the ability to add, edit or delete accounts and log data entries. It also gives the user access to certain log reporting features. The permissions do not apply to users logging time and selecting accounts when logging time. Note that Administrator has been checked. This user has been flagged as an administrator and will be able to log into VSW Adminsitrator with his User Name and Password. The next time you restart Virtual Stopwatch Administrator, you will need to log on as Robert Johnson (user "bob", password "bob"). If any accounts had been previously added, they could be assigned here as well. Since none have been added yet, the list is blank.
6) A couple more users have been added in the same way as above. The new use list is shown below. Add these new users yourself and give them all permissions except Administrator.
7) Next, go to the Accounts View. Press the 
button or select View->Accounts. The Accounts View is shown below:
8) Next, add a new account. Either press the 
or select Accounts->Add. The Add/Edit dialog will come up.
9) Account information for Universal Parts has been filled in. With the exception of the Users list, the rest of the fields are exactly the same as defined in Virtual Stopwatch. The Users list allows you to select which users are able to log time to this account. In this example, Robert Johnson and Theodore Smith are able to log time to Universal Parts. William Jones will not see this account when logging in or out. Press OK to save the changes.
10) A couple more accounts were added and the updated Accounts View is shown below. All the users were given permission to access both new accounts.
The user list on the right shows which users have log rights to the selected account. Right now it shows the users who have rights to log time under Universal Parts. Close Virtual Stopwatch Administrator.
11) Install Virtual Stopwatch Enterprise on any network computer. If you are running on the same computer as the Administrator, it should already be installed.
12) Run Virtual Stopwatch Enterprise (VSWEnt.exe) and log in as William Jones (User Name: bill, Password: bill).
13) Double-click on the time display and select the Time Log tab of the configuration dialog.
You will notice that only Gordy's Parts Shop and Sprockets 'n Gears are listed. This is because these were the only accounts that William Jones was given access to in Virtual Stopwatch Administrator. Make sure "Prompt when logging in" and "Prompt when logging out" are both selected. Press OK to save and close.
14) Now, just use Virtual Stopwatch Enterprise to do time logging. You can run more than one instance of Virtual Stopwatch Enterprise on the same computer, or run them on different networked computers. Try logging in with all the users to generate a variety of data.
15) After you have logged time, run Virtual Stopwatch Administrator. Since you
have given a user administrator access, you must use their user name and password (bob, bob) to log in. You should
see the Log Data View. If you leave the Log Data View, you can get back to it by pressing the 
button or select View->Log Data.
16) This is where you can maintain all the log data in the system. It works basically the same as the Log Report dialog in Virtual Stopwatch. You can select a specific user and/or account from the drop down lists at the top to easily filter the data. The Actions button brings up a menu that allows you to select/unselect records, and set the billing information. Note that in the above list, all February entries have been marked as "Billed". There are many other things you can do here such as: filter data by date and/or notes, export data, copy data to the clipboard, and print customizable reports.
17) Next, go to the User Status View by pressing the 
button, or select View->User Status. This view shows all current
activity.
The checkbox indicates which users are logged into the system. If you only want to see users that are logged into the system, check the box at the bottom of the screen. If you uncheck the box, it will log the user out of the system. You may need to do this if a user's system crashes while Virtual Stopwatch Enterprise is running. Since any given user cannot log in more than once, they will need to be manually logged out of the system before running Virtual Stopwatch Enterprise.
This view also shows which accounts they are logging time to and how much time they have currently logged. Note that Theodore Smith is logging time to Sprocket 'n Gears even though he is not logged into the database. This is possible because he may have closed Virtual Stopwatch Enterprise without logging out.
You can refresh the data on the screen by pressing the 
button, or selecting View->Refresh. You can force Virtual
Stopwatch Administrator to refresh the data on a set interval by enabling Auto Refresh. Select View->Auto Refresh...
to set this up. If Auto Refresh is enabled, the refresh button () will stick down while Auto Refresh is turned on. Press the refresh button again if
you want to turn Auto Refresh off.
This has been a brief tutorial. All the major features have been touched upon. If there is anything that you cannot
get to work, or something that you need to do but cannot figure out how to do it, please contact us.
The basic feature of the system is that you can maintain a number of users and accounts, granting account access arbitrarily to each user. Each one of those users can run Virtual Stopwatch Enterprise, and log time data to a central database. The Administrator program gives you the ability to create users and accounts. It also has the ability to create reports based on just about any data criteria.
As the data is located in a Microsoft Jet database, you can use Microsoft Access to create your own custom reports,
perform custom data querys, and export the data in any form for use by other programs.