CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION...2 WHAT IS ISUPERSUITE?...2 WEB-BASED APPLICATION...3 CHAPTER 2 - INSTALLATION CONFIGURATIONS...4 STANDALONE...

Transcription

1 CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION...2 WHAT IS ISUPERSUITE?...2 WEB-BASED APPLICATION...3 CHAPTER 2 - INSTALLATION CONFIGURATIONS...4 STANDALONE...4 LOCAL AREA NETWORK...4 WIDE AREA NETWORK...4 CHAPTER 3 - SECURITY...5 CHAPTER 4 - HARDWARE & SOFTWARE MINIMUM REQUIREMENT...6 CHAPTER 5 - MAINTENANCE & SUPPORT...7 BACKUP AND RESTORE...7 UPDATES AND PATCHES...7 CHAPTER 6 - ISUPERADMINISTRATOR...8 CHAPTER 7 - ISUPERSUITE LOGIN...18 CHAPTER 8 - NAVIGATING ISUPERSUITE...19 INDEX...20

2 Chapter 1 - Introduction If you cannot wait to use the application, jump to Chapter 6 on page 8 to create your first company. If not, go to Chapter 7 on page 18 to start learning how to use the application. Otherwise, read on What is isupersuite? isupersuite is an integrated Human Resource and Payroll software package. It is a multi-user and multi-company application and comprises mainly of modules like isuperleave (leave application), isuperpay (payroll application), isuperhr (HR application) and isuperclaims (claims application). More modules can be added later. In view of its modular nature, companies can purchase the application on a modular basis. As the company grows, more modules can be integrated seamlessly into their existing isupersuite. isuperhr isuperclaims isuperpay isuperleave isupersuite It is a software application written using the technologies inherent in the internet. Therefore, our isupersuite products are web-ready. They can be deployed as a standalone, in a local-area-network or in a wide-area-network which includes the internet. It is a form of client-server application where the server is the Web Server and the client is the web browser. Most Windows operating systems come with the Internet Information System (IIS) server and a browser (Internet Explorer). So by leveraging on the Windows platform, our customers need not invest heavily on the purchase of proprietary clients which can be costly. Throughout this guide, it is assumed that you have a basic understanding of all the statutory requirements with respect to the employee and the employer. Copyright@Integra2000 Ltd 2005 Version 1.0 Page 2 of 20

3 Web-based Application Below is the how your PC will communicate with the web server. isupersuite installed Your PC Web Server These are the steps on how it works. You enter in a website address, click on a link, or request to open a file. Your computer Internet browser then attempts to resolve or contact the host of find the file that you requested. That information is compressed and transferred through the Internet bouncing of multiple computers until it reaches the web server. The web server then finds the document on its hard drive and parses the file. The file is compressed and transferred to your computer and shows up on your computer screen. Copyright@Integra2000 Ltd 2005 Version 1.0 Page 3 of 20

4 Chapter 2 - Installation Configurations There are 3 general ways for you to install isupersuite. The one that you choose depends on how you want the application to be used. Standalone This is the simplest of all the three configurations. Your computer serves as a web server (IIS), where isupersuite is installed, and the client (Internet Explorer) where you access the application. Local Area Network This setup allows you to share the application with more users in your office. A web server is required where the isupersuite is installed. The administrator can grant or revoke access to users to the application. The users can access the application using their web browser. isupersuite Wide Area Network isupersuite INTERNET As your company grows, you can easily expand the setup to include those other users from offices which could be located around the world. Or you may just want to let your user access the application from anywhere and at anytime. Copyright@Integra2000 Ltd 2005 Version 1.0 Page 4 of 20

5 Chapter 3 - Security The alarming escalation in security breaches constitutes a real threat for corporations. It becomes critical, then, to implement sound security measures to dramatically reduce potential losses. Since we cannot eliminate the threats, we can however minimize the risks posed by internal and external threats to our business network. Before you start to get panic over the security of using isupersuite, you need to do a risk assessment. From the standpoint of isupersuite, most of the data processed, though sensitive, are not critical enough to disrupt your business operations. You can always do your processing in the manual way albeit at a much slower pace. It is unlike other operations where the system must have an almost 100% uptime. Hence, the risk of using isupersuite can be equated to using a spreadsheet program on your computer. It will not cause your company s operations to shut down! Even if your data is known to the perpetrators, what benefit can they derive from knowing the salary amounts, leave balances or the claims that an employee makes? I do not think that blackmail will work or reaping a monetary return from those data. However, it is expected of the company to provide a disaster recovery plan. In event your system goes down due to hardware failure, theft of the hardware, system crash, fire, natural disasters and so on, you will need to recover your data and find an alternative computer to install isupersuite. Since the application is not critical to your whole business operations, you can afford to wait for new replacements while you revert to some manual processing to get the pay out or approved the leave or claims applications. When the system is back on again, you can update your data. The standalone configuration is supposedly to be the safest of all the three configurations. It is safe because you can be the only one accessing the application. However, as in all the other configurations, you will still need to protect your computer from internal and external threats. It is beyond the scope of this guide to go into the various precautions that you should take against the threats. These are some of the basic (commonsense) precautions that you can take to safeguard your system: Keep your computer or server in a safe place. Do regular backups. Keep the backups safely secured. Install a firewall (hardware and/or software). Block the port to your database except from the web server. Install anti-virus software and regularly update their anti-virus definitions. Use strong passwords and change them regularly. Do not display them openly. In isupersuite, you cannot re-use the last 3 passwords. Copyright@Integra2000 Ltd 2005 Version 1.0 Page 5 of 20

6 Chapter 4 - Hardware & Software Minimum Requirement These are the minimum requirements to run isupersuite. This is just a rough guide. It is preferred that you discuss the sizing of your web server with your hardware vendor. For standalone configuration or a small local-area-network with a few people accessing the system at the same time, the following requirements should be sufficient. For a larger number of people accessing the system, it is best that you discuss your needs with the hardware vendor who can best size your requirements. Hardware Server At least 5 GB hard-disk space At least 256 MB memory Software Operating system - Win2000, WinXP Pro, Win2003 servers Internet Information Services (IIS) from version 5.0 Internet Explorer (version 5.5 or later) / FireFox (version or later).net Framework Relational database (e.g. MySQL) Copyright@Integra2000 Ltd 2005 Version 1.0 Page 6 of 20

7 Chapter 5 - Maintenance & Support For technical support, you can either write in to support@integra2000.com or call our hotline number at (65) This support is only available to those who have a valid maintenance agreement with us. Please refer to the Software License Agreement for details. Backup and Restore Refer to your database vendor for instructions on how to perform the backup and restore. If you use MySQL, you can just backup the whole sub-folder c:\mysql\data. (It is assumed here that you have installed your MySQL on the c drive.) To restore, you just copy back the whole subfolder. You may need to restart the MySQL service. Updates and Patches If your isupersuite is still under maintenance with Integra2000, you can obtain any updates and patches for free. You can download the file from this web-site: You will need a Login ID and a password to enter. This is only for those customers whose maintenance agreement is still valid. Copyright@Integra2000 Ltd 2005 Version 1.0 Page 7 of 20

8 Chapter 6 - isuperadministrator The isuperadministrator or isuperadmin is the security officer of isupersuite. He or she creates new companies and the associated Administrators who will maintain them. The isuperadmin cannot log into the companies that he or she has created. Only the Administrators can do that to their respective companies. To log into the isuperadmin, type: or IP>/<iSuperSuite>/admin Press the ENTER key. (Those items in <> brackets need to be replaced with the correct values.) Hostname or IP Address : isupersuite Virtual Path : Fig. 6-1 Enter the password for the isuperadmin and press the Login button. If you were to press the ENTER key it will erase the password field and nothing happen after that. This is to prevent unauthorized automated attempt to log into the system. Please note that if you were to lose this password, you will need to get back to your vendor to reset it. This service is chargeable. Copyright@Integra2000 Ltd 2005 Version 1.0 Page 8 of 20

9 On successful login, you should see a similar screen as shown below. The Administration page allows the isuperadmin to do the following: Create new companies. Create new Administrator for the company or any other companies. Maintain the database by optimizing and/or repair it. Do some housekeeping on the database by archiving those records that are no longer needed. Change the isuperadmin's password or reset the passwords of the company's administrator. Register new software license. Track the total number of active employees in the system. Set up the SMTP server (for outgoing mails). In case of confusion, please note that there are two types of Administrator mentioned here. The first one is the company's Administrator. He or she functions as the person who will create users or employees, among other duties, for that company he or she is in charge of. The second one is the isuperadmin. This person is the administrator of administrators. He or she creates the identities (IDs) of the company's administrator. Fig. 6-2 Copyright@Integra2000 Ltd 2005 Version 1.0 Page 9 of 20

10 Fig 6.2 is broken up into various sections for easy explanation: A. The Registration button. Should there be a need to increase the number of seats or unlock new application modules, enter the new key here. A sample screen of this program is shown below. Fig. 6-3 Highlight the value in the Site Code field by clicking on it and press CTRL- A on your keyboard. Or you can just use your mouse by right-clicking and dragging it across the field and then press CTRL-C to copy the highlighted area. Paste the code (CTRL-V) in your application and send it to support@integra2000.com. On receipt of the corresponding Site Key, paste the returned value into the Site Key field and click on the Update button. B. New Company This is where the isuperadmin create new company and the Administrator. Those fields with a red asterisk (*) are mandatory. The other fields can be updated later by that company s Administrator. You must remember the password that you have entered here for the Administrator. Copyright@Integra2000 Ltd 2005 Version 1.0 Page 10 of 20

11 After you have entered all the necessary values, click on the Create Company button. You will be prompted to confirm your creation (as in Fig. 6-4). Click OK to proceed. Fig. 6-4 Fig. 6-5 Another prompt will appear to remind you to remember the Administrator s password. Click OK to move on. You will see Fig. 6-6 to indicate that the company creation process is in progress. Fig. 6-6 On completion, you will see a dialog screen as shown in Fig Copyright@Integra2000 Ltd 2005 Version 1.0 Page 11 of 20

12 Fig. 6-7 C. Change Password button This button opens a page (Fig. 6-8) for the isuperadmin to change his/her password. Fig. 6-8 Note: There is no way to reset the isuperadmin's password if it is lost or forgotten. You need to call the vendor to do so. The service is chargeable. D. Maintenance button Copyright@Integra2000 Ltd 2005 Version 1.0 Page 12 of 20

13 After a while, the database will grow large and the system s performance will drop. And sometimes the tables get corrupted because the database processes get interrupted (e.g. power failure, etc). In order to keep the database lean and efficient, you need to do some maintenance or housekeeping to it. These set of buttons allow the isuperadmin to do just that. The Maintenance button provides the isuperadmin with the task to optimize and/or repair the database (Fig.6-9). It is recommended that you do the optimization on a weekly or monthly basis. Further to that, you can enable or disable logging of processes. You check on the relevant process or processes that you want to capture into the log. The processes that can be logged are User Access, Employee Edit, Pay Items, Pay Setups and Pay Run. These log tables can grow very large easily. Should you need the logs, you can maintain them by archiving them regularly using the Archive feature discussed later. You can view the logs in the Miscellaneous menu under the Logs heading. You can view the Events Log and Transaction Logs For the Employee Edit log, only the Events log can be enabled or disabled. The transaction log is required for monitoring their residential status. This is used in the isuperpay module. Fig. 6-9 To optimize or repair the database, check on the company (or companies) that you want to either optimize or repair and click on Submit to process your selections. You will be prompted with the dialog screen as in Fig This is just a reminder to do a backup if you have not done so. Copyright@Integra2000 Ltd 2005 Version 1.0 Page 13 of 20

14 Fig Once you are satisfied, click OK to continue. Fig The dialog screen similar to Fig 6-11 will appear to inform you that the process has been completed. Archive / Restore The Archive and Restore buttons provide the housekeeping part where you can archive away old records or restore them if necessary for ALL the companies found in your database. Most probably you would use these features after the records have been around for a couple of years. Fig Copyright@Integra2000 Ltd 2005 Version 1.0 Page 14 of 20

15 On clicking on the Archive button, a screen similar to Fig will appear. Logs refer to all log tables in the system while the transaction tables refer to those tables relating to Leave Application process, Pay Run process, Pay Items process and so on. These tables grow with time. Enter the range of period to archive. Check on the boxes under the Tables column that you want to archive. Click Archive to start the process. Fig By clicking on the Restore button, a screen similar to Fig will be shown. The Logs and Transactions are already explained in the Archive section above. Check on the relevant checkboxes that you want to restore and click on the Restore button. E. Server If you do not wish to use the host machine as the SMTP server where mails get delivered, you can enter the host name or IP address of another SMTP server. Leave this field blank if the SMTP server is also the local host. Consult your IT personnel or relevant vendor on this. It is recommended that a proper SMTP server be used as mails from unregistered SMTP server (self-configured on local host) might be considered as spam mails thereby causing notifications not to be received by approvers/applicants. If the system has been installed with SSL, you may tick on and click the Save button, such that the link in notifications to approve applications now points to a secured site. Copyright@Integra2000 Ltd 2005 Version 1.0 Page 15 of 20

16 F. Company List This is a list showing the companies that are found or created in the system. It also carries the total number of active employees in each company. An active employee is one who is still employed by the company. The system can still be carrying old records for history sake. Should the total number of employees in ALL companies exceeds the number of purchased seats, the system would not allow any more creation of employees unless: 1. You "terminate" some employees from the system (see Chapter 16). (You could have some test employees in the system.); or 2. Purchase more seats from your vendor. Sometimes your Administrator forgets his or her password. You can reset it by clicking on the link of the Admin Login ID. Once reset (basically changed), you need to inform the administrator of the new password which he or she needs to change on login on the first instance. G. Create New Administrator To create new administrators for existing companies, click on the plus sign ( ). You will see a screen as shown in Fig Copyright@Integra2000 Ltd 2005 Version 1.0 Page 16 of 20

17 Fig Fill up the fields shown in Fig The Administrator ID must be unique within each company. Press the Submit button to create. Note: You should not be too generous with this option as accountability can be difficult to manage. Ltd 2005 Version 1.0 Page 17 of 20

18 Chapter 7 - isupersuite Login To login into isupersuite, type the following URL in your browser. or IP>/<iSuperSuite> Press the LOGIN button or the ENTER key. (Those items in <> brackets need to be replaced with the correct values.) Hostname or IP Address : isupersuite Virtual Path : Fig. 7-1 The Company ID is the code created by the isuperadmin. Each company has its own Company ID. Enter the User ID provided to you. isuperadmin creates the User ID for the administrator of this company while the Administrator creates the IDs for the other users of this application. (See Chapter 17 User Access) You have to change your password as soon as you log into the system if this password is given to you for the first time or the password has been reset. From here, you can jump to Chapter 10 to perform the setups if you know how to navigate the application and understand its processing flow. Copyright@Integra2000 Ltd 2005 Version 1.0 Page 18 of 20

19 Chapter 8 - Navigating isupersuite The diagram below shows a typical menu that is sectioned in four yellow boxes. Fig. 8-1 A. Each icon represents another set of menu Setups, Processes, Reports and Miscellaneous. Click to switch. B. Program links. Click on the description of the programs to open them. C. Other utility programs. The Users 1 & Users 2 links will be shown only to Administrators and Sub-Administrators. D. Links to the various modules found in isupersuite. Only purchased modules will appear. The workflow in box B is from top to bottom and from left to right. Likewise, the processing flows from the Setups to Reports menu. Misc menu is where you find ad-hoc or utility programs. The next picture is a standard section of a page after you have clicked on the program link. Company Name Program Title Change Password Help Login Date & User Module Name More links Back to Menu Logout Fig. 8-2 Copyright@Integra2000 Ltd 2005 Version 1.0 Page 19 of 20

20 Index Administrator create, 9, 10, 16, 18, 19 Backup and Restore, 7 Company create, 10 , 15 Hardware & Software Minimum Requirement, 6 Hostname, 8, 18 Installation Configurations, 4 IP Address. See Hostname, See Hostname isuperadmin. See isuperadministrator isuperadministrator, 8 Local Area Network, 4 Login, 7, 8, 16, 18 Maintenance, 7, 12, 13 Navigating, 19 Password change, 12 passwords, 5, 9, 18 Registration, 10 Security, 5 Standalone, 4 Support, 7 Updates and Patches, 7 Virtual Path, 8, 18 Web-based Application, 3 Wide Area Network, 4 Copyright@Integra2000 Ltd 2005 Version 1.0 Page 20 of 20