Month: April 2019

Sharing data between companies

Option 1: Share projects: This option is for when BOTH companies are clients of SYNCrew and lets one company see everything from the other company at shared projects only (work at non-shared projects remain private). This is often more information then either party wants, but it can be very useful depending on the project. 

To set this up, we connect two companies and then one company (usually the “General Contractor”) would “share” the project with the other (we’ll call it the “sub-contractor” here). Everything looks the same in the sub-contractor’s portal except that the projects will be “owned” by the other. The magic here is that all the info shows up in General Contractors portal just as it does in Sub-Contractors’. Specifically, the General Contractor would see:

  • When a Sub-Contractor employee clocks in, out, or takes a progress picture
  • General Contractor can run reports as they would with their regular employees
  • General Contractor can search photos and notes
  • Again, the General Contractor CANNOT see work that Sub-Contractor employees do at other projects that are not shared. The Sub-Contractor employees will basically disappear from General Contractor’s view if they do work for other clients

Option 2: Set up limited admin accounts: This requires no real setup and is typically used when a SYNCrew client wants to provide access to a client of theirs for just one or a few of their projects. To set this up, just create a Limited Admin account for the person you want to be able to see and configure that admin with the appropriate access. Limited admin accounts can be set up in many ways and you can consult this article or contact SYNCrew support for help.

Option 3: Email progress pictures taken by managers: This requires no real setup either. SYNCrew has many ways to share photos which may assist in sharing data:

  • Photos can be manually sent from the app at Change Task or Clock Out. The app user can just enter the email address then and all photos taken at the time will send
  • Rules can be set up so photos that meet certain criteria can be sent automatically to pre-specificied email addresses
  • Reports: Some reports including Work Block reports and Daily Site reports can be emailed automatically or manually (varies by report)

Worker Portal

Most SYNCrew users use the app in the field, but many companies have at least a few people in the office and want to have them log hours in SYNCrew as well. This feature allows those users to add hours from a web browser.

Enable Access

Access to the Worker Portal is on a worker-by-worker basis so you can enable only for those who need it. To enable access, go to their worker profile in the Admin section and check the boxes circled to allow the appropriate level of access for that user. Click Save.

If the Worker is ALSO an admin user, you can link the accounts together. Doing this will allow them to log into the admin portal and quickly go to their worker portal by going to the menu shown at right so they can manage their own hours.

To set up this connection, go to the person’s admin account and click “Link worker.” Then search for their worker account and click save.

How to use

Once a Worker is set up, they can access the portal by going to www.syncrew.com and clicking “employee login” at the top-right. Then they log in with the same phone number and password they use to log into the app. You can reset it for them if they have forgotten it.

Once they log in, they will have several options (these can vary a bit based on the level of access provided in their settings). They can track in real-time, add time in the past, or edit past hours.

Track in Live Time: Some users will want to track hours as they work. To do that, they can select the project and skill (circled in red below) and click “start working.” The screen will then show a clock for how long they have been at work and they can change task, clock out, or even upload a photo.

Add past time: The easiest way to add past time is to do it while clocked out. When the user is clocked out, they will see the information and buttons circled at the bottom of the screen shown below.

To add time, pick the day you want to add by clicking on the blue box with the date. To see a different week, click the arrows to the left or right of the blue boxes to go to the next week. Once you have the day selected, pick the project, skill (plus any optional fields your company has), select the number hours and minutes for that task. Once that is complete, click one of the buttons to add the hours:

  • Add hours in beginning: Adds hours before the earliest event. For example, if the hours currently show 9am to 3pm, using this option to add an hour will add the time from 8am to 9am.
  • Add hours at end: Adds hours at the end of the currently entered hours. In the example above, this hour would be added from 3pm to 4pm.

You can enter more time by following the same process.

Edit time: Sometimes time needs to be edited after the fact. Doing so can be done for prior days only (so you cannot do this “today”). To edit the time, simply click on the time shown in the “Total” colum (circled in red below) and change the time in the pop-over that opens.