PCS User Manual

A step-by-step guide for new users of PCS (Project Control System) — the construction operations platform for activity tracking, team assignment, multi-level approvals, attendance, and payroll.

Introduction

PCS bridges on-site work execution with office control and payroll. Office users configure projects, rates, and teams; field crews execute activities through the worker experience; supervisors approve completed work with quality ratings; payroll then consumes attendance, leave, idle time, and approved activity values through team wallets.

Features of PCS

PCS is built around construction activity control: plan the site structure, publish measurable work packages, assign skilled teams, verify quality, and convert approved work plus attendance into fair payouts.

At a glance

Feature catalog

• Dashboards
  Role-aware landing pages. General users open /dashboard; site engineers are redirected to a dedicated SE dashboard for site-focused KPIs and queues.
• Users & roles
  Create staff accounts, assign system roles, and control menus via permissions. Role hierarchy defines superior/subordinate relationships used for oversight and approval authority. See what each role can do.
• Project wizard
  Guided creation in five steps: project details, building/floor hierarchy, properties, activity rates, and project users — so a project is operational before work is published.
• Hierarchy & properties
  Model the site as Project → buildings / types / floors → properties. Activities are always tied to a property so quantity and location stay unambiguous.
• Geofences
  Define project geofence areas (circle or polygon) used for location-aware field controls. Workers mark attendance from the mobile app only when inside an allowed site boundary. Mobile attendance.
• Masters
  Maintain reusable activity masters and activity rate masters (unit prices / work definitions) that projects and published activities consume.
• Labor management
  Register workers (manually or via import), manage the labor pool, reset access credentials, and assign labor roles that drive payroll share weights.
• Labor roles
  Pay grades such as Team Leader, Chargehand, Skilled, Semi Skilled, and Helper. Fixed-pay roles take a leadership cut; others share the remaining wallet by FTE × attendance. Details.
• Teams
  Form crews with a team leader, optional site engineer, members, skills, and primary/secondary project links. Teams apply for or get assigned to activities across their linked projects and own attendance / idle-time records.
• Activities
  Create measurable work packages (project, property, rate, dates, quantity, compensation). Publish to the field, track progress on a status stepper, and export lists when needed.
• Approvals & ratings
  When work is completed, authorized users approve with a quality star rating and remarks, or reject with a reason. Approvals unlock compensation credit into the team wallet.
• Activity bundles
  Group related activities for coordinated planning, tracking, and bundle-level review.
• Attendance
  Track present / absent / leave by team against a payroll period. Open team detail for member-level marks, rates, and authorized overrides.
• Annual leave
  Request, review, approve, or reject leave. Leave interacts with attendance and payroll period calculations.
• Team idle time
  Capture non-productive but compensable waiting/idle periods for a team, then approve or reject before payroll impact.
• Team wallet & payroll
  Approved activity value credits team wallets. Payroll periods, settings, and reports distribute amounts using labor-role rules and attendance, and support PDF/report viewing.
• Holidays
  Maintain the holiday calendar so working-day counts used by attendance and payroll stay accurate.
• Notifications
  In-app notification center for operational alerts such as assignments, approvals, and system notices.
• Activity / audit logs
  Trace who created or changed sensitive records for compliance and troubleshooting.
• Worker surfaces
  Field-facing worker routes/APIs for team info, applying to activities, updating progress, marking attendance, and submitting leave — used by team leaders and workers outside the admin console.
• Plot / layout view
  Authenticated plot layout visualization (/project-layout) for spatial project context.

Who uses which features

Getting started

Before day-to-day operations, an administrator should complete setup in this order:

1. Create roles & hierarchyDefine who can approve whom.
2. Create usersInvite staff and assign project access.
3. Create a project via wizardDetails → hierarchy → properties → activity rates → project users.
4. Configure mastersActivity masters and rate masters used when publishing work.
5. Add labor & teamsRegister workers, then form teams with a leader.
6. Publish activitiesTeams apply / get assigned, execute, and submit for approval.
7. Run payroll cycleAttendance + approvals feed payroll periods and reports.

1. Sign in

Open the PCS web app and go to the sign-in page.

1. Open /login Enter your Email or Employee ID and Password.
2. Submit the form Successful login redirects you to the dashboard (site engineers are redirected to the SE dashboard).

2. Dashboard

After login you land on /dashboard. Use the left sidebar to open modules. Site engineers (sitengineer) are routed to /dashboard/site-engineer.

• Use the header project switcher when your work is scoped to a specific project.
• On the Team Performance chart, pick a payroll period that has data to compare target vs actual days.
• Check the notification bell for approvals and operational alerts.
• Sidebar sections expand for Projects, Activities, Masters, Labor, Teams, Insights, Payroll, and User Management.
• Open Profile (/profile) from the user menu to update personal details and password.

2.1 Profile

Route: /profile. Review assigned projects, update contact details, and change your password.

3. Create and manage users

Route: /users (permission: manage_users).

1. Open User Management From the sidebar choose User Management → Users. Filter by role or status, or search by name/email.
2. Click Add User The New User drawer opens from the right.
3. Fill required fields Name, employee ID, email, phone, role, password/status, and project assignments as needed.
4. Save The user appears in the list and can sign in once active.

4. Roles and hierarchy

Routes: /roles, /roles/hierarchy (permission: manage_roles).

System roles control which menus and actions a user can access. Hierarchy relationships control reporting / approval authority (who is superior to whom).

1. Review rolesOpen Roles to inspect role definitions and permissions.
2. Click Add RoleThe New Role drawer opens. Enter name, display name, and permissions, then save.
3. Configure hierarchyOpen Role Hierarchy and click Add Role Relationship to set superior → subordinate links so approvals and oversight flow correctly.

4.1 What each system role can do

Capabilities below match the seeded / live PCS roles. Exact menus still depend on the permission checkboxes saved on each role in /roles — always verify there if someone cannot see an expected screen.

Capability cheat sheet

* Depends on the permissions currently saved on that role in your database. Use Roles → edit permissions to tighten or expand access.

5. Create a project

Prefer the guided wizard at /projects/wizard (also linked as Create Project). The wizard has five steps:

5.1 Open projects and start the wizard

1. Go to All ProjectsSidebar → Projects → All Projects (/projects).
2. Create ProjectOpen /projects/wizard and complete Project Details (name, code, location, dates, status, description).
3. Continue through stepsUse Next to define hierarchy, properties, rates, and assigned users.

5.2 Project details and configuration pages

After creation, open a project to manage its operational configuration:

• Details — /projects/{id}/details
• Users — /projects/{id}/users
• Hierarchy — /projects/{id}/hierarchy
• Geofences — /projects/{id}/geofences
• Properties — /projects/{id}/properties

5.3 Geofence attendance (mobile)

After geofences are saved on a project, team leaders and workers use the worker mobile app to mark attendance. On Mark Attendance, the app shows Your Location on a map with the project geofence boundary. Check-in and check-out are only allowed when the device reports Inside site.

1. Configure geofences On /projects/{id}/geofences, add each site boundary (name, map polygon, active status).
2. Open Mark Attendance In the mobile app, open Mark Attendance. The map loads your current coordinates and compares them to the allowed geofence.
3. Confirm you are inside the site When location is valid, the status badge shows Inside site and the primary action becomes available. If you are outside the boundary, check-in/check-out stays disabled until you enter an allowed area.
4. Check in Tap Check In to record the start of the workday. Admins review the mark on the web Attendance screens.
5. Check out When leaving site, return to Mark Attendance and tap Check Out while still inside the geofence (or per your site policy).

5.4 Plot layout

Route: /project-layout. Visual plot/layout view for spatial project planning alongside hierarchy and properties.

6. Configure masters

Masters are reusable catalogs used across projects.

6.1 Activity masters

Route: /masters/activities. Define the master activity catalog that rates and project work reference.

1. Open Activity MastersSidebar → Masters → Activity Masters.
2. Click Add ActivityFill CCS code, levels, UOM, and rates in the New Activity drawer, then save.

6.2 Activity rate masters

Route: /masters/activity-rates. Maintain unit prices / rate definitions that feed activity compensation.

1. Open Activity Rate MastersSidebar → Masters → Activity Rate Masters.
2. Click Add Activity RateSelect project, building, activity, quantity, and unit price, then save.

7. Labor management

7.1 Create labor

Route: /labors.

1. Open LaborsSidebar → Labor Management → Labors.
2. Click Add LaborFill employee ID, name, email, labor role, and status in the New Labor drawer.
3. Optional importUse Import when onboarding workers in bulk.

7.2 Labor pool — assign labor to a team

Route: /labors/pool (Livewire LaborPool, models Labor, Team, TeamMember). The pool lists labors who are not a team leader and not already on an active team.

1. Open Labor Pool Sidebar → Labor Management → Labor Pool. Search by name/employee ID or filter by labor role.
2. Click Assign On an available labor row, click Assign. The Assign to Team drawer opens with labor details and skills.
3. Select a team Teams are listed with leader, member count, and skill match. Choose the destination team (best matches appear first).
4. Click Assign to Team A TeamMember record is created (joined_at now, is_active true). The labor leaves the pool and appears on the team’s Members tab.

7.3 Labor roles (pay grades)

Route: /labor-roles (permission: manage_labor_roles).

Labor roles classify field workers for payroll distribution when an approved activity credits a team wallet. They do not control web-console menus.

1. Open Labor RolesSidebar → Labor Management → Labor Roles.
2. Click Add RoleIn New Labor Role, set name, payout %, and whether Fixed Pay is enabled.

How payout works

1. Fixed-pay roles take their cut first Members whose labor role has Fixed Pay enabled receive a configured percentage of the team wallet compensation (leadership share).
2. Remaining amount is split by FTE Everyone else shares what is left. Each member’s weight is payout % × attendance rate for the payroll period, then normalized across the team.

8. Create and manage teams

Route: /teams.

A team is the field crew that executes activities, records attendance, and receives wallet compensation. Each team has one primary project (main site) and may optionally be linked to a secondary project when the same crew works across two sites.

8.1 Create a team

1. Open TeamsSidebar → Teams.
2. Click Add Team Enter team name/code, select team leader, optional site engineer, and members, then Save.

8.2 Assign primary and secondary projects

The Teams list shows Primary Project and Secondary Project columns for every crew. The primary project is the team’s main assignment; the secondary project is optional and used when the same team picks up work on a second site without creating a duplicate crew.

1. Open the Teams list Confirm the team row shows its current primary project. The secondary column shows Assign Secondary Project when no second site is linked yet.
2. Click Assign Secondary Project (or the pencil icon next to an existing secondary project to change it). The Secondary Project Assignment modal opens.
3. Select the project and enter a reason Choose the second site from the dropdown. The reason is required (minimum 10 characters) and is stored for audit purposes on the team_projects record.
4. Click Save Changes The Teams list updates immediately. Primary and secondary projects must be different — the form excludes the project already assigned on the other column.

8.3 Team details

Route: /teams/{id}/details.

Open a team from the list (eye icon) to manage members, skills, idle time, payroll, and assigned activities. Use the tabs across the top of the page to switch between views.

1. Members Review team leader, site engineer, member roster, and role breakdown. Click Add Member to attach unassigned labor (same outcome as Labor Pool → Assign).
2. Skills Open the Skills tab and click Edit Skills to tag trades the crew can perform. Skills drive labor-pool matching and which published activities the team can apply for.
3. Activities Open the Activities tab to see every activity assigned to this team. The table matches the main Activities list (project, property, activity details, duration, quantity, compensation, status). When the team is linked to two projects, use the project filter or scan the Project column to see work from both sites in one place.
4. Idle Time Review idle-time submissions for this crew and approve or reject them (site engineers).
5. Payroll Choose a payroll period with wallet data to review activity compensation, idle-time breakdown, and per-member payout distribution.

9. Create and manage activities

Route: /activities.

1. Open All Activities Filter by project/status or use the search bar. Search by activity type (e.g. tile) or property number (e.g. 101).
2. Click Add Activity In New Activity, select Project, search for a property by unit number, then search activity rates (e.g. tile fixing).
3. Save as Draft or Publish Draft keeps the activity editable; Publish makes it available for assignment/application.
4. Open activity details Track status stepper, assigned team, quantity/timeline, and completion evidence at /activities/{id}/details.

10. Approve a completed activity

When an activity reaches Completed (or under review), users with approval permissions can approve or reject it from the details page.

1. Open a completed activity Confirm status shows Completed and Approve / Reject actions are visible.
2. Click Approve The Rate Quality of Work modal opens.
3. Set a star rating Optionally add remarks, then confirm Approve Activity.
4. Or reject Choose Reject and enter a reason so the team can rework and resubmit.

11. Activity bundles

Route: /activities/bundles (details: /activities/bundles/{id}/details).

Bundles group related draft activities for coordinated planning, publishing, assignment, and tracking. Open Activities → Activity Bundles, create a bundle, then open it for details.

1. Open Activity Bundles Review existing bundles. Filter by project/status or search by name.
2. Click Create Bundle The New Activity Bundle drawer opens.
3. Fill the form Select a Project, enter a Bundle Name and optional description, then check one or more available draft activities for that project.
4. Click Create Bundle The bundle is saved as draft and appears in the list.
5. Open bundle details Review included activities, totals, timeline, and next actions (publish / assign / approve when available).

12. Attendance

Routes: /attendance, /attendance/{team}. Field crews mark daily attendance from the worker mobile app; when geofences are enabled, check-in requires being inside an allowed site — see Geofence attendance (mobile).

1. Open Attendance Select the active Payroll Period so records align with the pay cycle.
2. Choose a team Open a team row to view team-level attendance detail.
3. Review team attendance Check present/absent/leave counts, attendance rate, and per-member daily marks. Use overrides only when authorized corrections are needed.

13. Annual leaves

Route: /annual-leaves.

1. Open Annual LeavesReview pending and historical leave requests.
2. Click Add Leave RequestComplete the New Annual Leave Request form (worker/team, dates, reason).
3. Approve or rejectOn a pending row, open Approve, choose paid/unpaid/partial compensation, then confirm.

14. Team idle time

Route: /teams/idle-time.

Use idle time when a team is available but not productive on billable activities. Create requests, then approve/reject pending items. Approved idle time can feed compensation rules depending on your payroll configuration.

1. Open Idle TimeSidebar → Teams → Idle Time (/teams/idle-time).
2. Review pending reportsFilter by status/team/date. Open a pending item to approve or reject.
3. ApproveEnter compensation details in Approve Team Idle Time Report, then confirm.

15. Payroll

Routes: /payroll/periods, /payroll/settings, /payroll/report.

1. Payroll periods Open /payroll/periods and click Add Payroll Period to create the cycle attendance and payouts should use.
2. Payroll settings Configure system payroll rules/parameters before locking a cycle.
3. Payroll report Open /payroll/report, enter a team code and payroll period, then generate the interim payment application report.

16. Holidays

Route: /holidays (permission: manage_holidays).

Maintain the holiday calendar so attendance and payroll treat non-working days correctly.

1. Open HolidaysSidebar → Global Settings → Holidays.
2. Click Add HolidayEnter name, date, and type, then save.

17. System settings

Route: /settings/roles (permission: manage_system_settings).

Configure system-wide role settings and defaults used across the console.

18. Notifications

Route: /notifications.

The notification center collects operational alerts (approvals, assignments, and system notices). Open it from the sidebar or header bell, then mark items read as you process them.

19. Activity logs (audit)

Route: /activity-logs (permission: view_activity_logs).

Use audit logs to investigate who created/updated sensitive records. This is an admin/compliance tool, not a field workflow.

20. Insights reports

Routes under /insights/reports (Livewire Insights components).

1. Attendance report/insights/reports/attendance — attendance rates by team/period.
2. Project report/insights/reports/projects — project progress and activity volume.
3. Payroll report/insights/reports/payroll — payout summaries by period.
4. Team idle time report/insights/reports/idle-time — idle-time trends for planning.

21. Other app surfaces

Besides the main authenticated console documented above, PCS also exposes related surfaces in routes/web.php:

22. Recommended first-week checklist

1. Day 1 — AccessSign in, verify your role menus, confirm project assignment.
2. Day 1 — Masters & projectConfirm masters exist; finish or verify a project wizard (hierarchy, properties, rates, users).
3. Day 2 — Labor & teamsImport/create labor, create teams, assign leaders and members. Link a secondary project if a crew works on two sites; confirm assigned activities appear on the team Activities tab.
4. Day 3 — ActivitiesPublish a small set of activities, assign a team, walk one activity to Completed → Approved.
5. Day 4 — People opsReview attendance for the active payroll period; process a leave request; review idle time if used.
6. Day 5 — Payroll dry runOpen payroll settings/periods/report and validate numbers against approved work + attendance.