Member Article

Scan Computers hails new workforce management system  

A fast-growing hardware technology company based in the North West has transformed its HR department by implementing a new biometric workforce management system. The system has helped by speeding up the payroll system, flagging up absentee employees and uncovering individuals that weren’t playing by the rules.

Scan Computers, based in Bolton, employs more than 210 individuals and is one of the UK’s biggest suppliers of hardware technology, dealing with 12,000 different product lines and shipping over 1,500 orders per day.

Scan Computers first came across timeware, a workforce and time management solutions company based in Manchester, while searching for ways to soothe the growing pains as its headcount skyrocketed. With the addition of dozens of new employees, it required a system that allowed it to keep track of attendance, timekeeping, personal details, holiday entitlement and monthly payroll.

Nisha Raja, head of HR at Scan Computers, said: “With around 200 members of staff, organising employees’ details and sorting out the payroll was proving to be quite challenging, not to mention time-consuming. However, since timeware has been introduced, we have noticed a vast improvement in our procedures efficiency.

“A comprehensive package was offered to us by timeware, and was completely tailored towards our needs and requirements. Within weeks we were operating with all new systems in place. It took a while to get used to some of the procedures, but timeware was great at giving us support and guidance to ensure the transition was as smooth as possible.”

Scan Computers was able to pick and choose the features it wanted from the timeware Professional Package, which covers areas such as personnel, absence management, biometric attendance, access control, cost centre analysis, reports and ESS (employee self service). The initial installation was overseen by timeware, while the business also ran the training programme and ongoing support package.

Scan Computers adopted a variety of systems to tackle inefficient and laborious everyday working practises. For starters, employee attendance was implemented to manage an individuals working hours, as well as ensuring people were in the right place at the right time.

Meanwhile, absence management was used to record employee’s days off, track holiday entitlement and manage holiday schedules, and payroll link and reports were also implemented, simplifying the payroll system and making the payment process much quicker.

The personnel module was an added bonus because it enabled the company to upload photos of each employee to a central database, which proved very helpful when reporting problems and thefts to the police.

“An important part of the package for us was the employee biometric attendance system,’ said Nisha. “With this new system we were able to track workers more accurately and uncover individuals that were previously trying to trick the system. As a result, we were able to confront the small minority that weren’t abiding by the rules, which has improved overall motivation levels. Hours worked are now scheduled and recorded more accurately so no one feels they are being treated differently.

“All the systems offered by timeware have helped us enormously. Using its software has enabled us to become more efficient with our everyday business processes. It makes my job a lot easier, not to mention that of my other managers and staff members.”

Simon Birchall, managing director at timeware, said: ’When we were first introduced to Scan Computers, it was evident that the business was expanding rapidly, but urgently needed some robust systems to effectively manage this growth.

“Our solutions have enabled Nisha and her colleagues to be more efficient with everyday tasks so that they can concentrate on other areas of the business. We’re delighted that Scan Computers has benefitted so much from using our management systems.”

For more information about the services provided by timeware, please visit www.timeware.org

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ursula Hutchinson .