VAR Lands A $50,000 Workforce Management Installation At A Shopping Mall
This VAR achieved 15% sales growth in 2006 by continually adding clients willing to act as references for new business.
Is it possible to make every one of your clients so happy they are willing to serve as a reference for your excellent work? That's the case at Unitime Systems, Inc., a developer of time and attendance software solutions for the labor management market. Unitime recently performed a time and attendance installation, which earned the VAR yet another client willing to be a reference.
Two years ago, Unitime earned the time and attendance business of a theme park located inside a shopping complex. This past year, both the theme park and shopping complex came under the same new ownership. When the new owner looked to upgrade the shopping complex' time and attendance system, the satisfied theme park management recommended Unitime.
However, Unitime didn't simply assume the theme park time and attendance solution would fit the shopping complex. Unitime conducted a detailed needs analysis with the client. Building on that analysis, the VAR provided a demonstration for key individuals at the client location. "A quotation was prepared that outlined our entire cost profile including the custom software development and professional implementation services as well as a sample implementation program," says Doug Peterman, president of Unitime. After the quote was reviewed, Unitime was selected as the service provider due to its solutions' integration with the client's existing payroll system and the fact that the solution considered government-mandated overtime rules.
The client lacked confidence in the punch card time and attendance system being utilized prior to the installation. Furthermore, the client was unhappy with the time required to acquire and process the payroll information and the accuracy of the data.
Unitime's solution included five Accu-Time Systems Series 2000 data collection terminals and Unitime Enterprise Time and Attendance software, which integrated with the shopping complex' Sage Abra human resources and payroll system. One of the payroll-related goals of the installation was that the client wanted to ensure both the company and the time and attendance solution were complying with all FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) overtime rules. Peterman adds, "Some of the employees received tips for their work. As part of the FLSA overtime rules, these tips affect how much overtime an employee could be paid. Our solution allowed employees not only to punch in and out, but also enter the amount of tips they earned while working."
Integrate Your Time And Attendance And Security Systems
Each Accu-Time terminal was attached to an HID proximity point reader, which allows employees to wave (rather than make physical contact through a swiping action) their ID badges within 1-3 inches of a reader to punch in or gain access. "The addition of the HID readers enabled us to marry the new time and attendance system to the existing security system at the shopping complex," says Peterman. The shopping complex security system uses the same HID cards, which permits the time and attendance system and security system (e.g. access control) to operate off the same employee ID badges.
Choosing the hardware was easy. "Because the theme park portion of the business had been using Accu-Time time and attendance products, there weren't any objections to our proposing these terminals for the project," explains Peterman. The total solution cost approximately $50,000, including the end user training, which Unitime performed on-site. Due to the simplicity of the terminals, the training sessions for employees took less than 15 minutes per group. Supervisors and accounting employees spent 4 to 6 hours learning the more advanced features of the time and attendance solution.
Through reductions in human error and time saved in data entry, the client was able to pay for the complete installation in less than one year. Peterman estimates that the short payback time and the fact that the system integrated with payroll to handle tips for overtime calculations were considerable factors in the resulting customer satisfaction.