Time Tracking in the Shop Management System

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This guide covers three related things you do from the Employees area of TireTutor: clocking in and out and reviewing time history, keeping your employee roster current as staff join and leave, and using Employee PINs to lock your screen or switch users on a shared computer. It also explains the difference between an employee and a user, which is the most common point of confusion when a shop sets this up. By the end you will be able to run the time clock, manage your own roster, and use PINs to keep activity tracked under the right name.

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Step 1: Understanding the Difference Between an Employee and a User

An employee is a person on your shop’s roster. An employee record lets that person be tracked on the time clock and makes their name selectable as the technician or service writer on a work order. An employee record does not let anyone sign in to TireTutor. A user is a login — an account with an email and password that signs in to TireTutor. Users are managed separately from the employee roster, and a user is what an Employee PIN belongs to. Most shops need both, but not always for the same people. A technician who needs to be on the clock and credited on work orders needs an employee record. A service writer who also signs in to build estimates needs a user account as well. Many shops run one shared login at the front desk and keep a separate employee record for each person on the floor, so the whole crew can clock in and out on a single shared screen.

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Step 2: Clocking In

Go to Employees → Time Tracking. If you are set up for time tracking, you will see your name on this page. Find your name and click Clock In. Your timer begins running immediately, and you can see the active time counting on screen.

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Step 3: Clocking Out

Go to Employees → Time Tracking at the end of your shift, find your name, and click Clock Out. This stops recording the session and writes it to your time history. If you forget to clock out and leave a shift running overnight, clock out as soon as you notice, then check your time history and contact your customer success representative if an entry needs correcting.

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Step 4: Reviewing Time History

Go to Employees → History. This tab shows the clock-in time, clock-out time and total duration for each recorded session, for yourself or for your team depending on your access. Time history is kept per employee. If someone is retired from the roster later, every session they recorded stays here.

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Step 5: Adding an Employee to Your Roster

Go to Employees → Time Tracking and use the option to add an employee. Enter their first and last name, then save. The new employee appears on your roster straight away and can clock in on their next shift. Their name also becomes available in the technician and service writer dropdowns on work orders. Adding an employee is restricted to dealer admins and owners. If you are a store admin you will see the roster and the clock controls, but not the option to add someone. Adding an employee does not create a login for that person — see Step 1 if they also need to sign in to TireTutor.

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Step 6: Retiring an Employee Who Has Left

When someone leaves, retire them rather than trying to delete them. Go to Employees → Time Tracking, find their row, and choose the deactivate action. A retired employee drops out of the clock-in list and out of the work order dropdowns, so nobody clocks in against their name by mistake. Every time entry they recorded is preserved and stays visible in your time history. If the employee is still clocked in, the action is refused and you will see a message telling you to clock them out first. Clock them out, then retire them. This applies to a shift that started the previous day and ran past midnight. If an employee works for two different dealers, an admin of both dealers must retire them. Retiring is restricted to dealer admins and owners.

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Step 7: Reactivating an Employee Who Returns

Retired employees are hidden from the roster by default. Go to Employees → Time Tracking and switch the view to include inactive employees. Find the person’s row and choose the reactivate action. They return to the active roster, reappear in the clock-in list and the work order dropdowns, and can clock in on their next shift with their earlier time history still attached. Because retiring is reversible, retiring someone by mistake costs nothing more than a second click to undo. Reactivating is restricted to dealer admins and owners.

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Step 8: Locking Your Screen with Your Employee PIN

When you step away from a shared computer, click Employee PIN and select Lock Screen. The system locks immediately, so no one can make edits under your name while you are away. To get back in, enter your PIN. You return to the system under your own user profile without re-entering your email or password. This is faster than a full logout and login, and it keeps every action recorded against the person who actually took it.

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Step 9: Switching to an Owner or Admin Profile for a Restricted Task

Some actions — voiding a work order, and other restricted edits — are limited to owners and admins. You do not need to log the current user out to do them. Click Employee PIN and have the owner or admin enter their own PIN. The system switches to their user profile, and they can complete the restricted task. Everything they do is logged under their name, not under the person who was signed in before. When the task is finished, the original employee enters their own PIN to switch back to their profile.

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Step 10: Getting a PIN Set Up or Changed

Employee PINs are assigned per store and per user, and each user needs a PIN that is unique within the store — two people at the same store cannot share the same digits. PIN setup normally happens during implementation. If you need a PIN issued for a new user, or an existing one changed, contact your customer success representative to request this feature.