Web based "timesheets"

[Confused]

We are thinking of having a web based "timesheet" here at work, so people can just log into the intranet from any PC, and access their timesheets, which will have a record of hours worked and can easily be reached by HOD's and the managers etc.

I have kind of volunteered to design this, if a readily-available product/script etc isn't available which will do exactly what we want it to 🙂

I'm thinking of PHP as the language, running on Apache on one of our Windows 2000 servers, and a MySQL database for the data and login names etc. We are running a Novell 4 server, would it be possible to get the usernames/passwords from that, so the users only have one username/password to remember. The Novell passwords change every 180 days, and it would be nice if the same passwords can be updated for the web based timesheets.

If there are any guides/links for myself, a total PHP/SQL nub, then they would be much appreciated 🙂


Confused

 

[CADsortaGUY]

My company uses such a device to record time. The only problem is that I'm sure they'll want $$$ for you to use it😛

I'll take some screenshots and then PM you.

CkG

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

can't you set it up to where it just logs them in based on there windows/novell login.
So to them, they open the page and BAM, they're ready to go.

Heck, to make it easy, you could prob just make it an Acess database.

 

[Descartes]

I use Microsoft's free TimeTracker. It's geared more towards developers, but I'm certain a knowledgeable user could get it going.

It works great for me. I was rolling my own before I found that, and it does most of what I need; what it doesn't I implement myself. I have a scheduled SQL Server job that sends my director my time for the day in an Excel spreadsheet so that they can bill the customer. I also wrote another program that listens to a given pop3 server on a certain account waiting for commands; one of which is "GETTIME MMDDYY" which sends them my time for the day.

Good stuff!

 

[43st]

My company uses this: Replicon

It's ok I suppose. I don't manage it so I can't say either way. It's always worked, so I guess that's a good thing.

 

[Nothinman]

My company switched to a web based timesheet and it's a PITA compared to the VMS timesheed we used to use. Most of the problems are because it requires IE and the MS JVM and the rest I attribute to the backend ERP system it's a part of. I mean really, who makes a web application that only supports one web browser on one platform?

I'm thinking of PHP as the language, running on Apache on one of our Windows 2000 servers, and a MySQL database for the data and login names etc. We are running a Novell 4 server, would it be possible to get the usernames/passwords from that, so the users only have one username/password to remember. The Novell passwords change every 180 days, and it would be nice if the same passwords can be updated for the web based timesheets.

Well if you were using Apache on Linux I'd say you could just use PAM to authenticate the page, since there are PAM modules for just about everything it would be easy to use any authentication backend you want. Since you're on Windows you'll have to find out what authentication APIs are supported by PHP.

 

[BigLinc]

No clue the costs, but my group was just recently switched to using (Niku for Timesheets. Looks promising, HODs have access to everything and you just go in and update the info. All from within the Intranet.

 

[hudster]

before you go reinventing the wheel, perhaps one of these over at hotscripts might be what you're looking for straight out of the box, or at the very least, might be a good starting point for you to further modify for your particular needs.

 

[crazydave]

I just created a simple webapp for my dept that keeps track of time using VB.NET. The actual time in/out gets recorded by a login script that writes it to an Oracle db. I just use Windows authentication so that regular users can only view their own info based on their Win2k login; managers can see everyone.

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
My company switched to a web based timesheet and it's a PITA compared to the VMS timesheed we used to use. Most of the problems are because it requires IE and the MS JVM and the rest I attribute to the backend ERP system it's a part of. I mean really, who makes a web application that only supports one web browser on one platform?

I'm thinking of PHP as the language, running on Apache on one of our Windows 2000 servers, and a MySQL database for the data and login names etc. We are running a Novell 4 server, would it be possible to get the usernames/passwords from that, so the users only have one username/password to remember. The Novell passwords change every 180 days, and it would be nice if the same passwords can be updated for the web based timesheets.

Well if you were using Apache on Linux I'd say you could just use PAM to authenticate the page, since there are PAM modules for just about everything it would be easy to use any authentication backend you want. Since you're on Windows you'll have to find out what authentication APIs are supported by PHP.

Not attempting to hijack the thread, but a lot of web applications are geared towards a single browser. When attempting to develop a fairly rich user interface in a web application, often you need to take advantage of facilities only offered by a given browser. It's a sacrifice most people are willing to make in the context of an intranet-deployed app...

Things are changing this regard, but just remember back in the 3.x days of the browser wars.

 

[Nothinman]

It's a sacrifice most people are willing to make in the context of an intranet-deployed app...

I understand that, I'm more annoyed with the ties to the MS JVM than IE. But we have a handfull of Linux desktops now and those of us that use Linux have to do our timesheet from another machine, I usually use Citrix since I use that for Outlook too but it's a minor annoyance.