MetriQ Environment > Folders > Folder Profiles (New

Folder Profiles with MetriQ Time Tracking Software

All Folders in MetriQ must have a Folder Profile which is a name for a selected group of settings. MetriQ itself can have any number of different Folder Profiles, and its only when you are building a new Folder or User Folder that a Folder Profile is to be selected. This typically happens when opening the Folder Wizard. When creating a Folder or User Folder directly from the Folder View, the designated 'Default' profile is used.

Why have Folder Profiles?

Each User Folder in MetriQ needs to be given key parametric information, outlining how that folder is to behave and how icons contained by that folder are to be managed. As each User Folder is different, it is possible to have an number of different configurations for the folder's behavior. However, for convenience and ease of use, these settings are grouped together into 'Folder Profiles', and rather than pick and choose what settings each folder is to have when its created, selecting a Folder Profile allows this to be done in one quick and easy selection.

To open and edit the different types of Folder Profiles, press the Profile button from MetriQ's main window, or go to Tools > Profiles.

Buttons:

	Add: For adding a new Folder Profiles to MetriQ.
	Edit: To Edit a record, simply make your changes in the text boxes or combo boxes provided. MetriQ will save your data automatically.
	Delete: Select a Folder Profile from the listing and press delete. If the profile is in use with a folder deletion will not be allowed. IMPORTANT: Deletion of a record cannot be undone.
	Abort: Cancel out of an insert.
	Select By: Only display Folder Profiles by alphanumeric search of Profile Name
	Notes: Use Notes as a free form text field.
	Save: Save all changes and quit.
	Help: This Help Document.

Details Tab:

Name:	The name of the Profile. A mandatory field that requires a unique value.
Use Client Lock:	When checked this option places a password restriction on access to a Folder's Property Page. When opening the folder's property page, the clients password is requested. If the password is correct the property page allows editing. If the password is incorrect the property page is displayed in Read Only mode. Checking this option automatically brings up a password dialog screen.
Default Profile:	Select which profile is to be set as the default for each new Folder.

Icon Properties Tab:

Time Away:	The amount of time that must elapse before MetriQ stops timing an open application or file and open the Time Away Screen.
Auto-Save:	The amount of time that must elapse before MetriQ auto-saves all timing data to the MetriQ database.
Cool-Off:	Each Icon has a Cool-Off period. Before this cool-off period is reached, icons can be removed from the desktop. After the Cool-Off period has passed, Icon timing must be reset to a value below the Cool-Off period prior to deleting an icon. Use this value as a safety mechanism to ensure that valuable timing data is not lost, verses the ability to delete icons that have been added and started in MetriQ by mistake. The ability prevent timing icons from being manually updated is also a profile setting (below).
Display Time:	Either: Today's Time: The total time accumulated for today for this Timing Icon. Total Time: The total time accumulated for this Timing Icon. Note: This setting is used purely for MetriQ's initial startup condition. You may choose to modify what is displayed at any time by choosing View > Show Total Time/Show Today's Time. The next time MetriQ starts, this value will be re-used.
Use Persistence:	Determines if Icons on the User Folder are allowed to be set to Persistence (see also Timing Icon Popup).
Display Icon Time:	When checked, the logged time for each Timing Icon is displayed under each icon.
Allow Manual Update:	Determines if a Timing Icon can be update manually (see also Manual Update).

Work Days/Time Tab:

Start Work:	Your organization's start time for a normal working day (see also Folder Properties).
Finish Work:	Your organization's end time for a normal working day (see also Folder Properties).
Work Days:	The days of the week your organization works (see also Folder Properties).

Units Tab:

Unit Interval:

Unit Interval defines the working unit size for this folder Profile. Typical value is between 6 and 15 minutes, depending on the organization. When used (in conjunction with Display Format found in Options), all accrued times are rounded up to the set unit interval size. So 3 minutes 36 seconds accrued by an icon will be treated as 1 complete 6 minute interval.

Note: Each time a software package is opened and closed, MetriQ treats this a unique 'session'. Opening and closing an application 3 times, and timing each for 10 seconds will accrue 3 units of time.

Note: Charge-out costs, when in Unit Mode (see also Options), are also made relative to a complete unit. Thus $60/hour gives $6/unit cost.

Force Update:

Use the Force Update Button at any time to update MetriQ's timing data with any new changes to Unit Interval.

Note: If you are using a different Unit Interval size in different profiles, then using this option will force MetriQ to update the database to the once stipulated Unit Interval size, and should be used with caution in this scenario!

Notes Tab:

Notes:

Free form text for notes and comments on a profile.

Settings Tab:

Settings:

Use the Settings List box to hide/show different profile fields.

Notes on using a different Role for each Folder: Technically, each folder can have it's own unique profile. However, when using different Profiles, there are some limitations when it comes to defining Unit Size. Specifically, within the Reporting module, MetriQ will use the specific Profile of the Folder selected for reporting. Sub-Folders will also be forced to use the same value of Unit Size as determined by the parents profile, regardless of it's own individual Profile selection and associated Unit Size.

As a 'rule of thumb' therefore, if there is a requirement to use Profiles with different Unit Size values on different Folders, then all Sub-Folders to a root Folder should use the same Profile. Failure to do this will result in erroneous cost values.

Next: Profiles

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