Configuring actiTIME

You can configure actiTIME to fit your company’s specific requirements and workflow processes. To do this, go to the Settings > General Settings. You need to have the “Manage System Settings” permission to access this interface.

Structure Levels Naming

actiTIME allows you to set up custom names for the work structure levels and user groups. By default, they are called Customers, Projects, Tasks, and Departments, respectively.

For each level, you can select any other predefined names or enter custom ones of your choice. The new names will be instantly applied to all related interfaces.

Date & Time Settings

You can set up the following time settings:

• Calendar layout – Set up the first day of the workweek here, for example to start it on Sunday, Monday or Saturday.
• Date format – Select a date format according to your company’s standards. This setting affects all pages where a date is displayed (for example, task lists and reports).
• Default time zone group – Choose the time zone that will be applied to all new users by default. If it is different from the default, you can adjust it later in the user’s settings panel.

Timesheet and Work Schedule Parameters

In this section, you can set up the following parameters:

• Maximum reported time per day – Limit the number of hours reported by one user for one day (up to 24 hours) or set it to unlimited. Removing the limit is useful when several people report time as a single user (for example, multiple subcontractor’s employees).
• The default work schedule – Define the system-wide work schedule that will be automatically applied to new users. If a user’s schedule is different from the default, you can adjust it in the user’s settings panel.
• The default workday duration – Define the standard length of a working day here. It will be used for conversion of leave time balances from hours to days.

PTO and Sick Days Settings

Here you can configure default PTO and Sick Days accrual rules that will be automatically applied to new users. For more information on the available accrual rules, please see How to Manage Paid Time Off and Sick Days Settings.

You can also configure individual accrual rules for any system user in the Users > PTO Settings or Users > Sick Days Settings tabs. Note that you need to have the “Manage Accounts & Permissions” right to access this interface.

These settings are only available if you have the PTO Balance Calculations and Sick Days Balance Calculations features turned on in actiTIME.

Overtime Settings

In this section, you can configure the following:

• Default overtime calculation mode that will be automatically applied to new users. If user’s overtime settings are different from the default, you can adjust them in the user’s settings panel.
• Default overtime pay rate set up as a coefficient of a regular user rate.

These settings are only available if you have the Overtime Registration feature turned on in actiTIME.

Format Settings

In this section, you can configure the following formats:

• Number format (decimal and thousand separators)
• Currency
• Format of a CSV report
• Default time format in reports and charts (except for CSV reports which always use the decimal time format)

Data Access Restrictions

In this section, you can fine-tune levels of access for system users in addition to the core user permissions. Here is what you can do:

• Allow certain users access everyone’s data on time reports and in tasks
• Hide time-track details in certain interfaces
• Hide the list of not assigned users in the Users tab
• Allow managers to edit automatically approved timesheets

See How to Manage Permissions section for a detailed description of all options.

Password Policy

In this section, you can set up password length and complexity level to meet your company’s password strength requirements. These rules will apply to all actiTIME users. The following parameters can be set up:

• Minimum password length in characters;
• Password complexity requirements: characters in upper and lower case, numbers, special characters.

After modifying the password policy, you can reset passwords for all active users in actiTIME. To do that, click Save Policy and Reset Passwords for All Users. This action requires entering your own password.

If you’ve configured a stronger policy than the previous one and want to reset all users’ passwords, you will be prompted to change your own password first. This helps ensure that the admin can access actiTIME after all passwords are reset.

After that, actiTIME users will receive emails with password reset instructions at the addresses specified in their accounts.

If you don’t want to reset users’ passwords, just save the modifications with the “Save Settings” button at the top or bottom of the General Settings. The policy will be applied to new passwords only. Passwords configured before the policy change will not be affected.

Lockout Policy

A lockout policy is a standard tool used by administrators to block users from entering their accounts after a certain number of unsuccessful sign-ins. Such a measure serves to reduce the threat of malicious attacks and minimize the risk of account abuse.

Under the default security settings in actiTIME, users are automatically locked out of their accounts for 30 minutes after failing to log in 6 times in a row. However, admin users can set up preferred lockout policy rules in the Lockout Policy section of the general settings.

To do so, check the Use lockout policy box and then specify desirable values for:

• Lockout duration – a period for which an account gets temporarily disabled after a series of login failures. The timeframe can vary from 0 to 1440 minutes, whereas the value of 0 means that disabled user accounts can be unlocked only manually by admins (in other cases, it happens automatically).
• Lockout threshold – the number of possible sign-in attempts before an account gets blocked. The threshold value can be anything from 0 to 999, whilst 0 indicates that the number of unsuccessful logins is unlimited, and users never get locked out.
• Reset lockout counter after – a period during which a user can retry to log in after the first failure until the sign-in attempt counter is reset to 0. This period can last from 0 to 1440 minutes. If the selected threshold value is more than 0, the reset value must be either LESS THAN or EQUAL TO the lockout duration value.

Whenever you need to unlock some of the blocked IPs manually, you may use the Reset All Locks button. After the reset request is successfully processed, you will receive an on-screen notification in real time, and all the previously locked out users will be able to sign in their accounts right away.

Notification Settings

In this section, you can configure the standard notification parameters, such as:

• Prefix in the subject field – You can use it for convenient filtering of actiTIME notifications in your inbox.
• Message footer text – Add some information or instructions for actiTIME users here.
• Time to send notifications at – This setting will apply to all email notifications configured in the Settings > Notifications interface. Note that all users will receive the notifications in their time zone, for example at 10 am local time.

Email Settings

In actiTIME Online, you can specify the email address of the system administrator who should be informed when actiTIME cannot send a notification to its recipients or a user cannot recover their password.

In actiTIME Self-Hosted, you also have additional settings:

• Mail server parameters such as SMTP server name or port. You have to specify them in order to make the notifications work. For more detailed instructions please see our Administration Guide. Note that you can only use the encrypted connection option when you are running a custom installation of actiTIME.
• Message parameters such as “From” address for system notifications and the URL of your actiTIME installation. It will be used to direct you to relevant actiTIME interfaces right from the email notifications. See the FAQ section on how to find out the correct URL address.