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Guest

User manual

Plain-language guides for ethioPM (TIMS). Pick a topic on the left; the steps appear on the right. Nothing here is about software code or systems administration—only how to use the product day to day.

Welcome & who does what

ethioPM helps you run field projects: sites, crews, equipment, money requests, and truck runs, in one place. You always sign in with your own account. What you see depends on your job (admin, team leader, cashier, and so on).

Typical roles

  • Administrators set up projects and sites, manage teams, approve many requests, and see company-wide summaries.
  • Team leaders work from assigned sites: they record progress, report problems, move tools, and can request expenses or run logistics tasks when assigned.
  • Cashiers / finance staff handle approved payments, payroll-related screens, and logistics payments where your organisation uses them.
  • Office staff may have extra menus for people records and internal settings—only if your admin enabled them.

Where to start

  • After login, open your dashboard; it is the home page for your role.
  • Use the top bar for profile, notifications, and this manual (book icon).
Tip: If something is missing from your menu, your account may not have that permission—ask your administrator.

Sign-in & your profile

Use the company login page with the username and password you were given. Keep your password private.

Signing in

  • Open Login, enter your details, and submit. You are sent to the correct dashboard for your role.
  • If you forgot your password, use Forgot password? on the login page and follow the email instructions.

Profile

  • Profile lets you review your account and update your password when the system asks you to.
  • Some sites also offer Staff Employee or other links in the bar for office roles—only if they apply to you.

Signing out

  • Use Logout when you finish on a shared computer.

Dashboards by role

The home screen summarises what needs attention today. Menus differ by role.

Administrator dashboard

  • Quick links to projects, sites, teams, tasks, tools, expenses, and logistics.
  • Cards and tables highlight delays, open issues, pending expense counts, and logistics work waiting for approval.
  • Use it each morning to see workload and bottlenecks.

Team leader dashboard

  • Shows your team, assigned sites, tasks due, tool dispatches to confirm, returns waiting for the warehouse, and expense status.
  • Logistics appears when you have an active logistics assignment; open it to see each stop on the truck run.

Cashier / finance home

  • If your account is a cashier, you land on the finance dashboard to pay approved items and run payroll-related workflows your company uses.

Projects & sites

Projects group work; sites are the real places your crews install or maintain equipment.

Projects (admin)

  • Create and edit projects from the Projects list. Set status, dates, and budget information your organisation tracks.
  • The project detail page shows sites, issues, expenses, overhead, logistics cost, and budget snapshot in one view.

Sites

  • Each site has location, schedule, progress, tasks, and an assigned team.
  • Open a site to see cost overview: field (installation) expenses separate from logistics expenses from the logistics workbench.
  • Admins can adjust schedules or transfer a site to another team when your process allows it.

Team leader on a site

  • From your dashboard you can open an assigned site to submit field expense requests tied to that installation work.

Teams & people

Teams connect a leader with technicians and riggers in the field. Employee lists live under Field Employee (and related menus).

Teams

  • Admins create teams, name them, and assign a team leader.
  • Sites are assigned to a team so everyone knows who is responsible.

Field employees

  • Technicians, riggers, and leaders are maintained with contact details and roles.
  • Team leader accounts are created so the right person can log in and see their sites.

Office staff

  • Separate flows exist for office users; your admin controls who can create or edit those profiles.

Tasks, progress & issues

Work is broken down into tasks per site. Daily progress and issues keep the office informed.

Tasks

  • Tasks have a title, weight toward completion, and status (for example pending or completed).
  • Completing tasks moves site progress toward 100%.

Daily progress

  • Team leaders use the daily progress screen to record what happened on site on a given day.
  • That history helps supervisors see trends without calling the field.

Issues

  • Anyone allowed can report an issue with severity and description.
  • Open issues appear on dashboards; admins resolve or close them when fixed.

Tools dispatch & returns

Track company equipment lent to crews: dispatch lists what leaves the crib; return lists what comes back.

Dispatch to the field

  • Office staff prepare a dispatch with tools and quantities for a team leader.
  • The team leader signs to confirm receipt—watch for pending counts on your dashboard.

Returns

  • When work ends or tools are no longer needed, the team leader starts a return so the warehouse knows what is coming back.
  • The warehouse (admin side) confirms when items are received.

Printable agreement

  • Your organisation may print a dispatch agreement for signatures or files—use the link provided on the dispatch when available.

Field expenses & approvals

Field teams request money for real costs (transport, materials, small purchases). Money only moves after the right approvals and cashier steps.

Submitting a request

  • From the finance/expense area, choose the site, amount, description, and attach a receipt photo or PDF when possible.
  • Installation expenses: submitted from the normal site flow (assigned site / team leader paths).
  • Logistics expenses: submitted only from the logistics workbench for a specific stop on a truck run—those go to the logistics approval desk first.

Approval

  • Pending requests appear for administrators (and separate lists for “other” expenses if your company uses them).
  • Approving sends the item forward; rejecting leaves a comment so the requester can fix it.

Payment

  • After approval, finance/cashier marks payment in the system and can attach proof.

Logistics & truck runs

Truck dispatches record a route: truck, price, which project sites are stops, and payments to the haulier. Team leaders can run site-level logistics tasks when assigned.

Truck dispatches (admin)

  • Create a dispatch with date, truck, agreed price, and the list of sites on that run.
  • Record vendor payments under logistics finance; the list shows what is still owed.
  • Assign a team leader to the run when someone should coordinate deliveries and logistics expenses for those stops.

Team leader logistics

  • Open Logistics from your dashboard. Pick a run to see each site stop.
  • Per site you can request a logistics expense, see history, and mark delivery complete when appropriate.

Admin desk & payment

  • Logistics expense requests first go to the Logistics — admin desk for approval.
  • After approval, they appear on Logistics finance for the cashier to pay, alongside truck vendor payments.

Costs on projects

  • Project and site pages split haul allocation (booked truck share) from team-leader logistics expenses so both are visible in reports.

Finance desk & payroll links

Cashiers and authorised staff use finance menus to pay people and suppliers according to your internal rules.

Cashier dashboard

  • Pay approved expenses, handle staff-related payments your organisation configured, and open logistics payment queues when used.

Overhead & “other” expenses

  • Office overhead and non-site expenses may live in separate lists—only act on what your finance lead assigns to you.

Staff self-service

  • Some staff see My finance for their own payslips or requests if your company turned that on.

Office staff & settings

Administrators maintain user access, optional activity records, and organisation preferences.

Staff accounts

  • Create or review office staff profiles, passwords, and what each person is allowed to do.

Settings

  • Admin settings may include activity logs, recycle bin for deleted items, and job titles—use these carefully.

Good practice

  • Change access when someone leaves the company. Never share login credentials.

Exports & reports

Your admin may download spreadsheets for planning and audits.

Excel export

  • Custom Excel export (from the admin dashboard action area) builds a workbook with the data slices your organisation configured.
  • Use exports for monthly reviews—not as the live system of record; the app stays the source of truth.

Notifications & mobile tips

The bell shows alerts: assignments, approvals needed, or messages tied to your work.

Notifications

  • Open the list and tap an item to jump to the related page when a link is provided.
  • Unread items show a badge count on the bell.

Phone layout

  • On a small screen, a bottom bar may offer quick links (dashboard, tasks, tools, expenses).
  • Tables may stack into cards for easier reading—scroll horizontally if something looks wide.
Tip: Add this manual page to your bookmarks—the book icon is always in the top bar when you need a refresher.