Centaur - Guide for Technicians
This page covers aspects of Centaur, the Department's time management system, specific to Technicians. The Centaur homepage contains general information about Centaur and links to the guides for other staff groups.
Projects
Project List
Each group of technicians has its own list of projects. These fall into two main categories: ongoing areas of work for the group; and particular pieces of work with a specified completion date (like the Main Workshops' Jobs).
Most technicians simply need to select the project corresponding to the work they are doing from the drop-down list on the timesheet and fill in the hours worked against this. If there is any doubt about which project to use, they should check with their supervisor. Similarly the supervisor can advise what detail if any is needed in the Task field on the timesheet. This is likely to be more relevant to longer running or larger projects where a number of distinct tasks may be involved.
A group's list of projects is maintained by the supervisor and possibly the Division's administrative staff. Advice for these people on creating new projects is provided on the project page.
Charging to Externally Funded Cost Centres
Wherever possible, time should be accounted to Projects from whose cost centres actual income can be obtained, i.e. primarily research grants and other externally chargeable work but only where these have funds for technician time in pooled labour or staff costs. It is therefore important to ensure that the project time is being recorded to is appropriate and, if no appropriate project exists, that one is created. Where someone is directly funded by a Research Council, certain criteria must be satisfied in way such time is recorded - see the Research page for details.
Timesheets
Completing the Timesheet
The timesheet, in-out times and times attributable to Projects, should be completed on a daily basis. Changes to a week's timesheet can only be made up until midnight on the following Monday after which it is automatically submitted to the supervisor for approval. The supervisor must then check it, sort out any anomalies and then formally submit it. Following submission, changes can only be made by Centaur Administrators and only under well defined circumstances.
The extent to which the total hours attributed to Projects must account for all the hours worked (from the in-out times) is up to the supervisor but in general the match should be reasonably close. Groups therefore need to have an appropriate Project to which otherwise unattributable time can be charged.
Leave
Recording Leave
When leave is booked, Centaur sends an email to the supervisor specified on the leave request page. They will then either approve the leave or reject the request. In both cases Centaur emails the person requesting the leave to tell them the outcome. All types of leave should be booked into Centaur.
The calendar shows as 'leave' those days on which the Department is closed, and public holidays on which the Department is either closed or operating on a 'Sunday' basis. Sometimes people are asked to work on these days (usually one of the May Bank Holidays) and their supervisor can make the necessary changes in Centaur for this and to allocate the compensating time in lieu or payment.
Flexitime
Centaur keeps track of the hours worked and flexitime leave taken and advises if too much or too little flexitime is being accrued. Supervisors need to monitor this and ensure that people keep within the limits.