Introduction to VCU RealTime

What is VCU RealTime?

VCU RealTime is the university’s time recording and leave processing system.

The RealTime system helps to ensure accuracy and compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Advantages of using an electronic timekeeping system like RealTime include:

It’s paperless.
It ensures we are in compliance with the FLSA.
Users can view hours and time history.

Who uses RealTime?

The system usage differs by employee.

Non-exempt employees use the system to record hours worked, either by clocking in and out or using “Manage Time Sheet”.
Leave-eligible employees use RealTime to request leave.
Timekeepers and managers have specific monitoring, review and approval responsibilities.

****Failure to use the system correctly can result in disciplinary action or department fines, depending on the type of noncompliance. ****

Certification of Use

Accurate, timely, and honest use of RealTime is critical to ensuring compliance with university policies and state and federal law. Users will see a certification statement when they log into the system to remind them of the requirement that hours worked and leave taken must be accurately recorded. Use of the system indicates your understanding that you have entered work hours and leave requests accurately and in compliance with applicable policies.

Key Terms

Job code - Job codes include a REG (regular pay) code for each employee, and codes for each of the leave and earn codes the individual employee is eligible to use.
Clock in – a clock in initiates the system to record a non-exempt employee’s hours worked. Clock in is used at the start of a work day or shift and after returning from a meal break.
Clock out – A clock out ends the system tracking of a non-exempt employee’s hours worked. It is only used at the end of the work day or shift.
Break – Time not worked for lunch or meal breaks that is unpaid time. This is not the discretionary “15-minute” break that some departments may permit. (This is only used when an employee leaves for a meal break, not for their return from break).
Missed punch – Non-exempt employee failed to either clock in for work, clock out for work, clock out after a meal break or clock in upon returning from a meal break.

Using VCU RealTime

All Faculty and staff will access VCU RealTime to record time and/or request leave by going to realtime.vcu.edu and clicking on the Employee login.

Note: These instructions are for using VCU RealTime over the web. Certain departments may use physical clocks. Instructions for using physical clocks are available from Human Resources.

Next you will see the certification statement:

Click Yes to continue.

Next, this screen will appear:

Enter your eID and eID password.

Please note: for security reasons, the system will log you out after five minutes of inactivity.

Based on your employee type, you can perform the following actions, as appropriate:

Clock In
Clock Out
Break
View – week by week review of time and leave entered
Requests – submit leave requests
Manage Time Sheet

Instructions

RealTime provides two ways to record hours worked, timesheet entry and clocking actions. Employees who have an hourly, student worker, and/or work study job are required to clock in and out either via RealTime web application or a physical clock. Employees who have a non-exempt Classified or University and Academic Professional position record their hours using the Manage Timesheet feature.

Clocking In

Click CLOCK IN on the homepage:

2. Click Continue on the confirmation screen.

3. Click OK.

Note: If you have more than one job, your primary job will be selected by default. To clock in to another job, select the correct job title from the list, and click Continue.

Note: If you accidentally clock in to the wrong job, DO NOT clock out immediately. Complete your shift, clock out and inform your manager and timekeeper so the error can be corrected.

Going on Meal Break

Note: Only meal breaks are recorded in VCU RealTime. Any discretionary breaks are considered part of work time and are not recorded.

Click BREAK on the homepage.

2. Click Continue on the confirmation screen.

3. Click OK.

Returning from Meal Break

Click CLOCK IN on the homepage:

2. Click Continue on the confirmation screen.

3. Select the job code (if applicable) and click OK.

Clocking Out for the Day

Click CLOCK OUT on the homepage:

2. Click Continue on the confirmation screen.

3. If you have any unread messages they will appear on the next screen. To view, click on the message. Click Continue when complete.

Clocking In and Out on Multiple Jobs

If there is a break in working hours, including time to and from jobs, the employee must clock out completely from the first job and then clock in to the next job by selecting the applicable job code.

When an employee has multiple jobs and there is no break in working hours, they can use CHANGE JOB CODE.

Click CHANGE JOB CODE on homepage.

Click Continue on the confirmation screen.
Select new job code.
Click Continue on the confirmation screen.

Missed Punches

It is very important to clock in and out every day to ensure accurate recording of time worked. Occasionally, you may forget or be unable to clock in or out. DO NOT CLOCK OUT WHEN YOU REMEMBER THE MISSED PUNCH, as you cannot edit the incorrect time out yourself. Wait until your next shift. If you attempt to clock in when your last action was a clock in (or clock out when your last action was a clock out) the system will prompt you to enter a missed punch.

Choose Continue on the “Missed Clock (In/Out)” box.

2. Click Continue.

3. You will be prompted to enter the time of the missed clock action. Enter the time rounded to the nearest 15 minutes. For example, if you arrived at work at 8:17 a.m., enter 8:15 a.m. Select Continue.

4. Certify and select Continue.

5. Click Continue to finalize.

Note: You cannot correct more than one missed punch in a row. If you miss more than one consecutive punch, your manager or timekeeper will be required to correct your time.

EXAMPLE:

If you forget to clock out at the end of the day on Monday, the system will prompt you for a missed punch when you clock in on Tuesday.
If you forget to clock out on Monday AND fail to clock in on Tuesday morning, the system will let you clock out on Tuesday with no missed punch. However, your manager will have to correct that entry before approving your time for payroll processing.

Viewing Hours, Last Punch, and Messages

You are responsible for viewing the hours you have recorded in VCU RealTime and certifying that the time recorded is accurate. Be sure to review for time entry errors and submit any missing leave requests.

Because employees cannot correct any time entries once they have been approved, it is important to communicate with your manager and timekeeper so that errors can be corrected before payroll processing.

Click VIEW on the homepage to display options:

Hours – a weekly review of the hours you have recorded. To see past weeks, scroll through using the << >> buttons.
Last Punch – displays your last clocking action taken.
Messages – Any messages from your supervisor or timekeeper can be viewed on this screen. Once you have read the message, check the Mark Read option and the status of the message will be changed to Read. The message will no longer appear and your manager or timekeeper will be able to see you have seen the message.

Important Note about Rounding in RealTime

For employees who clock in and out, the RealTime system is recording the employee’s exact time in and time out. Those hours will be displayed rounded to the nearest quarter hour.

As a wage employee, you are paid for hours worked. Also, as a wage employee, you are restricted to an average of 29 hours per week such that overtime is not normally an issue. In those cases where you may be scheduled to work 40 hours in a particular week, it is important to realize that the minutes you work could be rounded up to result in overtime.

Examples of rounding:

You are scheduled to work 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with a one-hour lunch break. You clock in at 7:55 a.m. (five minutes early) and clock out at 5:02 p.m. (two minutes late) with exactly a one-hour break at lunch. The system is going to record 8.00 hours:

7:55 a.m. rounded to 8:00 a.m.
5:02 p.m. rounded to 5:00 p.m.

You are scheduled to work 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with a one-hour lunch break. You clock in at 7:55 a.m. (five minutes early). For break, you clock out at 12:02 p.m. and clock back in at 12:53 p.m. (nine minutes short of the 60-minute break). At the end of the day, you clock out at 5:02 p.m. (two minutes late). The system is going to record 8.25 hours:

7:55 a.m. rounded to 8:00 a.m.
12:02 p.m. (go on break)
12:53 p.m. rounded to 12:47 p.m. (total break time is actually 51 minutes, and the system rounds down to 45 minutes, which is the nearest quarter-hour increment.)
5:02 p.m. rounded to 5:00 p.m.

It is important to observe your clocking in and out times carefully to ensure you work a full shift and to avoid working any unapproved overtime. Remember that any additional time worked must be preapproved and failure to arrive and depart timely could result in formal disciplinary action if overtime is accrued without approval.

Time Sheet Entry

Click MANAGE TIME SHEET on the homepage:

2. Click on Add under the day you would like to enter time for.

3. Enter the begin and end times for each segment. Click on Add for additional segments.

Note: Time needs to be rounded to the nearest 15 minutes.

EXAMPLE:

If you work from 8:07 a.m. to 5:09 p.m. with a lunch from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m., you would enter a segment from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and segment from 1:00 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.

4. Click Accept at the top of the screen to save your changes

Note: If you do not select Accept, your changes will not be saved.

5. Your total hours will appear in the top right corner of your time sheet

Manage Time Sheet includes a number of buttons used to navigate expedite and confirm changes to your time sheet:

Reject: This button cancels any changes made to your time sheet for the selected range.
Accept: Saves changes made to time sheet.
Navigate Period: Use the calendar icon to select the week you would like to display. You can also click on the previous and next icons to cycle through the weeks.
Display Weekends: Check this box to enter time for Saturday and Sunday shifts.

Edit: Use to make changes to the segment.
Clear: Use to delete the segment.
Copy: Select to copy the same segment to another day or multiple days.
Auto Fill: Used to copy time worked from the previous week.

If you would like to copy the time sheet entry to other days in the week, click on Copy, then select the day or days you would like to copy to and click Paste.

If you would like to copy the time sheet entry from a previous week, click on Auto Fill and choose From previous week. This will copy all hours worked from the previous week to the current week.

Note: If you used any leave in the previous week you will need to add the hours in for this week. Also, when you have requested leave for the current week you will need to clear the segment worked that was copied from the previous week.

Overtime

Overtime is governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). You must be preapproved by your manager to work overtime. Although you will be compensated for any unauthorized overtime, failure to receive preapproval to work may also result in disciplinary action up to and including possible termination of employment.

If you wish to receive overtime leave in lieu of pay, communicate with your manager and timekeeper, and complete the “Overtime Leave Employee Agreement” below. If approved and a written agreement is on file, the timekeeper will adjust the hours to reflect overtime leave. (Note: hourly employees are not eligible to accrue overtime leave.)

Note: For more information about overtime and overtime leave, please see the Human Resources website: www.hr.vcu.edu.

Recording Time on Holidays or Office Closings

If you are approved to work on a scheduled holiday or during an official office closing, record your time as you would normally to receive compensation for any hours worked.

Recording Leave/Time during Office Closings

Holiday hours and official office closing hours will be loaded in the system for the time approved by the university’s administration, based on a default work schedule. You may need to communicate with your timekeeper to adjust the hours of leave, if your work schedule differs from the default hours.

If you work on a scheduled holiday and you are eligible for holiday accrual, record your time as you would normally. Then contact your timekeeper to ensure that holiday accrued is entered for the hours worked.

In the case of an official campus closing, record your time worked as you normally would, and communicate with your timekeeper to make sure your hours for the week are correct. For example, if offices open at 10 a.m., two hours of office closing leave will be loaded. If your schedule or attendance differs from the approved office closing, your timekeeper and manager will be responsible for editing your time as appropriate, based on your actual schedule and attendance. If you work during the authorized office closing, record your time worked, and your timekeeper or manager will make the proper adjustments. Discuss any different attendance for an office closing with them prior to completion of the pay period.

Requesting Leave (Faculty and Classified Staff)

VCU RealTime is the only approved method for requesting and approving leave for faculty and classified staff.

On the homepage, click REQUESTS.

2. The View Request screen appears, defaulting to Calendar view to change to list view click on the List

3. Click Add to start a new request.

4. Enter leave request information (Date requested, Start time, Hours, Days, Leave code and Description).

5. Click Save.

6. The leave request will appear as “pending” on the View Request screen. Sample Types of Request To schedule a request for a full 8-hour shift:

Complete date requested and leave code fields; description is optional. The Start time will default to “09:00 AM”, Hours “8:00”, Days to “1”.

To schedule a request for a partial shift:

Complete the date requested, start time, number of hours and leave code; description is optional. Leave Days at “1.”

To schedule multiple days off:

Complete the date requested, hours per day, number of days, and leave code fields; description is optional. Also, if you are not requesting consecutive days, i.e. Friday and Monday, please complete separate requests for each day.

To schedule a request for consecutive full and partial days:

It is recommended that you complete separate requests for the full days and the partial shift.

Note: Do not put the first day off in the start date and the last day off in the end date. You will have 24 hours of leave submitted for each full day between the start and end date.

Canceling Leave Request (Faculty and Classified Staff)

Any cancellations must be done prior to your manager approving the request. Once a leave request is approved or denied, the manager or timekeeper must zero out the timesheet entry that was created by the approval.

On the homepage, click REQUESTS

2. The View Request screen appears; right click on the request to be canceled.

3. Select Delete from the drop down box

4. Click Ok.

Exiting VCU RealTime

Click the Log Off

This will log you out of the system and terminate the CAS authentication.

2. Verify that you see this logout screen and exit your web browser.

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