Portal/MDT

The Time and Attendance Portal is a website where employees can obtain their electronic time data, clock in and out, and request time off (if your organization has this enabled); its URL is https://portal.silverlining.synovia.com.

The MDT (mobile data terminal) is a tablet device that can be installed in your vehicles, which enables your drivers to clock in and out, choose a route, navigate between stops, communicate with dispatch, keep passenger information, and perform inspections.

You set the options for the TAA Portal, which employee types have access to it, and which employee types will be shown on the MDTs on the Portal/MDT Settings screen. To begin, click Portal/MDT Settings under Portal/MDT.

Note: Go to TAA Portal for information on how to use the portal, Request Time Off to see how to make an absence request, and Tablet and its subpages to see how to use the MDTs.

Employee Settings Tab

The first tab that appears is Employee Settings.

Portal Functions Settings

In the first area on this tab, Portal Functions Settings, you can specify which screens will appear for your portal users and other options:

• Enable Time Off Request?: Turns on the Request Time Off screen in the TAA Portal, on which employees can make an absence request.




Note: For more information about how to set up absence requests, go to Portal/MDT ›› Setting Up Absence Requests.




• Time Off Advance Notice Required?: Necessitates prior notice for requesting time off in the portal. If you select this, the drop-down list to the right becomes enabled, in which you specify the required number of days' notice.
• Time Off Supervisor Email Notification?: Sends an email to an employee's supervisor when the employee requests an absence.
• Limit Time Off Request Duration?: Restricts the number of days an employee can request off. When this is selected, you specify the maximum number of days using the drop-down list.
• Enable Review Past Work?: Turns on the Review Past Work screen in the TAA Portal, on which employees can see their earlier time card data.
• Enable Display Current Work?: Turns on the Review Current Work screen in the TAA Portal, on which employees can see their current time card (and approve it if you have this option turned on).
• Require Supervisor Release of Timesheet Before Employee Can Review?: Makes it necessary for a supervisor to approve an employee's time card before the employee can review it.
• Require Employee Certification of Work?: Turns on employee approval of their time cards in the portal; however, you must also select Use Employee Approval Logic in Admin ›› System Settings for this to work.
• Require Auto Transfer When Clock-in from Kiosk?: Automatically transfers TAA Portal clock-ins to the vehicles, if you have your drivers clock in first at a portal kiosk and then in the vehicles. No time loss between "different" shifts will appear on their time cards.
• Default Job Type: Sets the job that is defaulted to when employees clock in using the TAA Portal. You click the drop-down arrow and select the job from the list.




Note: The job types that will be available in the drop-down list are those that appear in Admin ›› Job Types.




Note: When clocking in in the portal, employees will have the option of using the default job type or choosing a different job.

After you make a change to these settings, click Save.

TAA will report that the portal settings have been saved.

Reset Employee Portal Password

In the second area of the Employee Settings tab, Reset Employee Portal Password, you can reset an employee's password if they forget it to their employee ID.

To do so, follow these steps:

1. Click the Employee Name down arrow and select the employee whose password you need to reset.




• The employee's ID will automatically appear in the Employee ID field.




Note: Alternatively, if you have the employee ID, you can select it first from the Employee ID drop-down list, and the name will automatically appear.




2. Click Reset Password.




• TAA will report that the employee's password has been reset to their employee ID.









• The employee will then be able to log in to the portal with their ID as their temporary password, at which point they will be prompted to reset their password.

Which Employee Types Have Portal/MDT Access?

In the third area of the Employee Settings tab, Which Employee Types Have Portal/MDT Access?, you specify which employee types can use the TAA Portal, which employee types appear on your MDTs, which job types are allowed for each employee type, and the default portal jobs for the employee types.

Note: Remember the difference between the two TAA terms employee type and job type: The employee type is a general description, such as Driver, and the job type is a specific job, such as Regular Route or Field Trip.

All the employee types specified on the Admin ›› Employee Types screen will appear in the grid in the Employee Type column. To change your employees' portal/MDT access, follow these steps:

1. If you want an employee type to be able to access the TAA Portal, select the Has Portal Access? check box in its row. (Deselect the check box if you do not want that employee type to be able to use the portal.)
2. If you want an employee type to appear on the MDTs in your vehicles, select the Show on MDT? check box in its row. (Deselect the check box if that employee type will not be using the MDTs.)
3. For the employee types with portal access, click the Allowed Portal Job Types down arrow and select the job types that employee type can choose when using the portal. If All Job Types Selected is specified, all the job types your organization has will be viable options.
4. For the employee types that will be shown on the MDTs, click the Allowed MDT Job Types down arrow and select the job types that employee type can choose on the MDT. Again, if All Job Types Selected is specified, all your job types will be available.
5. For the employee types with portal access, click the Default Portal Job down arrow and select the job type that is defaulted to when that employee type clocks in using the TAA Portal.
6. Click Save.




• TAA will report that the portal and MDT access settings have been saved.

Absence Request Settings and Absence Request Ranks Tabs

The second and third tabs of Portal/MDT Settings are Absence Request Settings and Absence Request Ranks, if you have enabled portal requests for time off. These tabs are described on the help page Portal/MDT ›› Setting Up Absence Requests. To see how to approve an absence request, go to Approving Absence Requests.

IP Filtering Tab

The final tab of Portal/MDT Settings is IP Filtering, on which you can limit where your employees can access the portal by IP address.

You specify the range of IP addresses that are acceptable to use by setting the starting and ending IPs. In the preceding figure, you can see that this range is open — from 0.0.0.0 to 254.254.254.254; this means that the employees are able to log in to the TAA Portal from any IP address.

If you want to limit where the portal can be used, such as if you have two kiosks set up in a vehicle yard and want to allow only those portal access, follow these steps:

Note: First make sure that you have the IP address(es) of the kiosk(s) readily available.

1. If there is a current range that you don't want to use, such as the open one shown above, click Delete in its row on the right.




• TAA will report that the IP filter has been deleted.









2. Click the Add New Record .




• Blank fields will appear under Starting IP and Ending IP.









3. In the Starting IP box, type the lowest IP address you want to allow.
4. In the Ending IP box, type the highest IP address you want to allow.




Note: If you want only one computer to be able to access the portal, enter its IP address as both the starting and ending IPs. You may also want to do this if your IP addresses are not close in number, in which case you can add multiple entries.




5. If you want employees to able to clock in at the location(s), click the Allow Clock In? check box.
6. If you want employees to able to view their account information, current time card, and past time cards, click the Allow Employee Info? check box.
7. Click Insert.




• TAA will report that the IP filter has been added, and another set of blank fields will appear.









8. Repeat steps 3 through 7 for all the computer IP addresses you are granting access.
9. When you are finished adding IP addresses, click Cancel in the extra row of blank fields that appears.




Note: If you need to change a number, you can click Edit on the right. If you need to remove an entire row, you can click Delete on the far right.