Employee s help themselvess...

Transcription

1 +44 (0) The official magazine for the timeware community Issue 13 May 2014 Employee s help themselvess... timeware s latest terminal incorporating touch-screen technology: the future of employee self service (ESS)... ESS absence features in detail... Pages 6-13 ESS attendance features in detail... Pages Q&A from the support team... Page 26-27

2 Editor s comment Editor s comment Hello everyone and welcome to the thirteenth issue of timelines, the official magazine for the timeware community. In this edition, we look in detail at the features of the new ESS terminal and we suggest ways in which this versatile piece of equipment could provide an effective solution within your organisation. Pages 26 & 27 contain our regular Q & A session, with answers provided my Mike Coope s experienced support team. With part exchange prices between 595 and 695, the investment payback for an ESS terminal could be realised within months! As I m sure you are aware, the development never stops and page 29 gives you a brief insight into one of the main developments currently underway for timeware 2015, ESS for your mobile device: the replacement for the PIP. As always, I hope that you find this magazine useful. If any of the features highlighted are of interest to your business, please do not hesitate to contact Liz Broadhurst in the timeware customer care team on +44 (0) Thank you for your continued support Simon Birchall Managing Director - timeware (UK) Ltd 2 May 2014

3 Modules Remember that timeware Professional 2014 includes the following modules: personnel absence management attendance access control job costing cost centre analysis fire alarm roll call assembly point reports, scripts and exports employee self service (ESS) NEW FEATURES payroll link (optional) Interested in talking further about any of the modules? Contact customer care on +44 (0) lone worker (optional) May

4 the development of ESS at the terminal The development of the timeware employee self service (ESS) module has been on-going for some thirteen years. The release of timeware 6 in 2001 saw the introduction of the fore-runner to the ESS, the original personal information portal or PIP. Initially this feature allowed staff members to make bookings away from the attendance terminal, usually at their desktop PC. Over the years, the timeware user group suggested improvements and additional features which included the option to view historic timesheet information and the ability to submit a request for time off. Over the past few years, recently there has been a significant change in people s expectation from technology: people demand feature-rich, flexible solutions. The timeware product was not excluded from these expectations and in 2011 timeware s development team began designing the touch-screen terminal with ESS capability. Launched with timeware 2014 in November 13, this new product is on target to become timeware s bestselling terminal due to its intuitive design, customisable scripting engine and extensive capabilities. 4 May 2014

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6 absence and holiday features 1. touch anywhere on the time and date screen 2. then touch the ESS button 3. next, prove who you are 4. now select absence and holidays 6 May 2014

7 The first terminal ESS features to be highlighted relate to employee absence and holiday features. Options covered include checking holiday entitlement, requesting time off and cancelling a request for time off. Please remember that the timeware development team can customise these options and add new options as required. May

8 view your entitlement 1. first select view your entitlement 2. then the absence category 3. check the info and use the up & down keys to 4....reveal more information! 8 May 2014

9 Imagine the scenario: It s time to book the family holiday but first, you need to check how many days you have remaining this year. Exiting methods include either asking your line manager or someone from the HR department to work out exactly how many days you have available. This can be a slow process and sometimes annoying for those involved! This timeware ESS function enables the employee to make an enquiry and receive an instant response without interrupting any other members of staff! Modifications to this standard script include making the enquiry time sensitive so the option can only be used before or after work May

10 request time off 1. first select the request a holiday option 2. touch reason 3. next, select the reason 4. now select the from date 5. the from date : year, month and day 6. next it s the to date and repeat the date selection process 10 May 2014

11 7. finally, send the request 8. within seconds the request for time off appears on the managers agenda! Having checked to see how many days you have left this year for holidays, you can now make a request using the Request a holiday feature! Simply select the reason, the from and the to date and then submit your request. Within seconds, your holiday application will appear on a manager s agenda ready to be approved (or declined!). May

12 cancel a request for time off 1. first select the cancel a holiday option 2. next select the holiday to cancel 3. send the request 4. confirmation that your request to cancel has been sent 12 May 2014

13 5. the request to cancel instantly appearing on a managers agenda Here s a typical scenario: You ve made a request for time off for a dental appointment and realise that you need to cancel the appointment due to other commitments. You have previously asked for time off using the ESS option described on pages 10 & 11, and the time off has been approved. The request to cancel option enables employees to select any approved or not-yet-approved absence requests in the future. Once selected, a note is sent to the relevant senior member of staff for consideration. A great option for staff members that occasionally change their mind! 6. within seconds the notice to cancel a request for time off appears on the managers agenda! May

14 attendance features 1. touch anywhere on the time and date screen 2. then touch the ESS button 3. next, prove who you are 4. now select timesheet information 14 May 2014

15 Not only can the terminal ESS features be used for absence and holiday reasons, there are also a number of attendance options available to employees to reduce wasted time whilst improving staff morale. The following pages describe the standard attendance ESS options available. Please remember that the timeware development team can customise these options and add new features as required. May

16 view your balance 1. select view your balance 2. next, select your pay period by week ending date 3. finally, view the basic and overtime hours worked 16 May 2014

17 Ideal for companies using either flexitime or fixed schedule work patterns, View your balance enables an employee to view the number of hours worked over a selected period. The standard ESS script will display the staff member s basic hours, along with overtime worked at the first five rates. As with all ESS functions, this number of overtime rates can be customised for the client by the development team. May

18 view your rota 1. select view your rota 2. the screen displays the next four days schedules 3. press the scroll keys to move up or down a page 18 May 2014

19 An ideal option for companies where an employee s work schedules may change on a daily basis. The option View your rota enables the staff member to see what schedules they are allocated to over a one month period. Used in conjunction with -Me!, (see pages 24 and 25), this option provides an immediate visual representation of the schedules selected through the period schedule screens and the Planner. May

20 view your in/out status 1. select view your in/out status 2. check if you are in or out! 20 May 2014

21 The option: View your in/out status is ideal for staff that are unsure if they are booked in or out. It is surprising the number of times staff accidently double book because they have forgotten that they recently used the terminal. An ideal reminder for staff that are unsure whether they are coming or going! May

22 general features 1. touch anywhere on the time and date screen 2. then touch the ESS button 3. next, prove who you are 4. now select me! 22 May 2014

23 Previous projects have required the development team to modify the ESS script to read an Excel file and display a company canteen s daily special offer. Another project included analysing picking information from a 3rd party job costing system to allow a monetary value bonus figure to be calculated and displayed. If you are interested in discussing the customisation of your ESS script, please contact Liz Broadhurst in customer care to arrange a telephone appointment with a member of the project management team. At the time of writing, (March 2014), there is only one General option, -Me!, which is documented on pages 24 and 25. Remember, that because of timeware s extensive scripting module, it is possible to interrogate any information from within timeware or indeed any other database on your network. May

24 -Me! 1. select -Me! From the ESS menu 2. confirmation that the has been sent! Cloud Absence And Holidays (Tue 01 April Tue 31 March 2015) From To Taken / Planned Absence Wed 7 May 14 Fri 9 May Maternity / Paternity Mon 12 May 14 Wed 14 May Maternity / Paternity Mon 16 Jun 14 Fri 20 Jun Annual Leave (Full Day) Entitlement Summary 24 Wed 20 Aug 14 Wed 20 Aug 14 Annual Leave (1/2 Day) Wed 20 Aug 14 Wed 20 Aug 14 Annual Leave (1/2 Day) Category Entitlement Taken Planned Holiday Absences Sickness 35:00 0:00 Attendance Bookings (Mon 13 October Su Date Schedule Thu 16/10/14 Standard (Mon- Thu 16/10/14 Stand

25 With over 90% of the UK working population now having a personal address and with the advent of internet banking and on-line payments becoming widely accepted, the concept of checking personal information on the internet now the norm. timeware s unique -Me! feature is rapidly becoming a standard requirement on all installations as both employees and employers see the benefits that an automated system has over an old-fashioned process requiring staff to request information from a line manager. As with all timeware options, the -Me! feature can be customised to suit each business. The following information is included as standard: Absence entitlement for the current year. Days taken and days remaining for the current year. Hours worked over the past three periods (variable) including overtime information. Planned rota for next 30 days (including rest days) May

26 Questions & Answers Questions & Answers On these pages we answer some of the most common questions asked by the timeware community. Q1. We have a number of employees who would like to view their holiday entitlement without contacting HR. How can we do this? A1. With the v11 touch screen terminals an employee can use ESS feature to query their holiday entitlement. To set this up, please contact timeware support. Q2. Is it possible to lock attendance/ absence data in place from a previous pay period to prevent my employees from making adjustments? A2. You are able to lock down data by using the historical lock down feature, found in the advanced tab of timeware. Q3. An employee wants to know how many hours they ve worked this week. However they don t have access to a pc with timeware installed. A3. The ESS feature allows an employee to remotely view their hours for their current week via the v11 touch screen terminals. Q4. I m entering a badge number into a new employee s personnel record and it says badge number already exists A4. This is because the badge number is already assigned against a personnel record. If you are using a badge that was assigned to an employee that is now marked as a leaver, the badge will still be assigned to the leaver. Please edit the record and remove the badge number. Q5. I have created a new absence to be used at the terminal, However it s not appearing when I try to book it? A5. The absence reason needs to be edited, to allow use at the ESS terminal. Q6. How can you prevent duplicate absence being booked on the same day? A6. Please contact timeware support and ask them to implement a bespoke script which won t allow more than one absence to be booked against a single day. Q7. I can t see any swipe data within the attendance adjustment screen? 26 May 2014

27 Questions & Answers A7. This can be caused by a terminal not communicating or a service has stopped on the server which polls the terminal. Please contact timeware support. Q8. Sometimes I have 2 Mondays appearing on my attendance adjustment screen? A8. Usually this is due to the earliest/ latest possible finish time, you need to go to the daily schedule and edit these times to an early/later time. Q9. I want to change the password on the v11 touch screen terminal that allows access to the supervisor/ configuration settings. A9. You need to go to the terminal configuration screen via timeware, click security setting and you can change the pin code remotely. Q10. I have ran a report however I need it amending so it will also show A10. If you have a ran a report and it needs some amendments or something extra added to it, Please call timeware support to discuss as something bespoke could be created. Q11. My terminal hasn t updated the time since the time zone change? A11. If you are on timeware 2014 the time should automatically update as long as the timeware server time is correct. If the terminal hasn t updated please go to the terminal configuration screen and set date and time. Q12. I am having to print reports at certain times throughout the day, Is it possible for timeware to print these reports automatically without me having to manual run and print each report? A12. Yes you can set up reports to print to selected printers at certain times throughout the day. Please contact timeware support and we will assist in setting this feature up! Mike Coope Head of timeware support support@timeware.co.uk May

28 timeware lone worker GPS device What can it do? Track employee s location in real time. Excessive speed and Inactivity incidents brought to manager s attention via agenda dashboard or . Remote clocking facility with full GPS location tracking. Integrates with GoogleMaps. Please contact Liz Broadhurst in timeware customer care on customer.care@timeware.co.uk or call +44 (0) May 2014 What does it cost? For 1 lone-worker a. Purchase price of b. Annual airtime data charge of c. Annual upto 10 lone workers licence of The device measures 79 x 42 x 18mm and weighs just 70g. It can be discreetly and easily secured in a vehicle (using a 12v supply), or worn on a belt or in a pocket (using internal rechargeable batteries).

29 Look what s coming in timeware 2015 What s next from the development team... The PIP is dead, long live ESS! The ESS is developing even further and is coming to a PC, tablet and mobile device near you soon! Forget the oldfashioned PIP, timeware 2015 includes the ESS (for any browser platform) and allows you to access your attendance, absence, job costing and cost centre analysis information from anywhere in the world at the touch of a button. May

30 Latest version: 2014 timeware SLA Convert your old version of timeware software to version 2014: Why not arrange with customer care for a timeware technician to visit your site to convert your system to 2014? This package will include updating your server, clients and terminal firmware, importing legacy data plus a system health check with full policy commissioning. The technician will also provide user training with full documentation. 30 May 2014 access control Upgrade costs dependent upon agreed SLA personnel fire alarm roll call employee self service (ESS) absence management job costing assembly point payroll link (optional) attendance cost centre analysis reports, scripts and exports lone worker (optional) For more information about the timeware SLA upgrade program, customer.care@timeware.co.uk

31 upgrade program Part exchange your legacy terminals to the latest touch-screen technology: Any timeware terminal manufactured since 1989 can be part exchanged from only 595 +vat please contact Liz Broadhurst in timeware customer care on or call +44 (0) Part exchange from 595 +vat t bio touchscreen terminal. May

32 The next issue of timelines will be available in August 2014! Useful information: The timeware community site is available at Versions timeware Professional 2014 (14.1.5) v11 attendance firmware (11.2.5) v10 attendance firmware (10.4.6) v10 access firmware (10.2.9) v10 assembly firmware (10.3.1) v10 fire alarm firmware (10.1.3) Contact general enquiries: +44 (0) community support: +44 (0) Next edition of timelines due August Discuss: timeware scripts t2-0314: Copyright NMD 3 Ltd (2014) timeware acknowledges any logos and/or trademarks used within this document