Macroart Bin Paper Timesheets with help from Tensor

Macroart is a print company with premises in London and Abbotsley, Cambridgeshire. Their retail team manage the brand identities of some of the high street’s biggest names and they also build, project manage and install exhibition stands worldwide, bringing systems and solutions together to generate the maximum impact.

Macroart employs around 110 members of staff across their two sites, with about 80 of them working at the company’s production facility in Abbotsley.

When Hayley Pelling joined Macroart in early 2017 as HR Manager, she immediately started looking for possible solutions to the company’s inefficient time and attendance monitoring procedures.

The main issues that had be solved were:

• 65% of the workforce at the Abbotsley site worked in production, and every single member of staff was submitting a paper timesheet on a weekly basis.
• Employees were still using a paper sign-in sheet at the entrance to record site attendance.
• The manual processes were hugely inefficient for the managers, HR and payroll processing departments, and needed to be urgently updated.

Since Tensor was very local to them, it was Hayley’s first option when looking for a supplier. After attending a couple of demonstrations conducted by Tensor, Macroart management decided to install a Tensor Time and Attendance System to better manage time recording and to cut costs.

Asked to explain why they selected Tensor, Hayley answered, “Tensor is a well-known and reputable local company and the system perfectly fitted our requirements”.

Hardware-wise, the Tensor Time and Attendance system at Macroart uses two T3204 clocking stations located in Reception and in the Main Factory.

Integral to each clocking station is a Tensor “Smart Card” proximity reader capable of reading any of the Tensor smart cards or I.D. Tags, whilst a high grade “wipe down” keypad and Time and Attendance display overlay means that employees can log the reasons for going off/on site; such as “out on business” and allow them to record other entries directly at the clocking station.

The clocking stations also have a biometric fingerprint module, which is used with the smart card and keyboard for Biometrics Only, PIN & Biometrics, Smart Card & Biometric or Smart Card, PIN & Biometric (3-factor) authentication options.

Macroart selected biometrics as the only option for their main factory clock, as Hayley “liked the idea of the production staff not needing to carry anything which could get caught in machines and cause a health and safety concern.”

Software-wise, the company uses the WinHR.NET Personnel Software, which allows you to securely record vast amounts of personal information about company staff. Also installed is Tensor’s flagship WinTA.NET Time and Attendance software, which provides total control over the creation of working rules, Access Control, Job Costing and System Security. It provides Smart Card and Biometric validation of an employee’s identification, plus Access Control with graphical maps and email alerts for all types of doors, barriers, turnstiles & gates. The system supports EM, HID, iClass & MiFare smart cards.

Last, but certainly not least, Macroart makes very good use of the web-based Self-Service Module (SSM) with Hayley describing the software as “very easy to use straight away!”

SSM allows enrolled employees to Clock IN or OUT for Time and Attendance purposes and book themselves ON or OFF the fire evacuation list. SSM may also be used by employees to book ON or OFF production jobs via their internet browser or smartphone app. A person can use SSM to request new periods of absence, cancel pending absence requests or cancel approved absence requests that have not yet occurred. Requests can also be made to add missed clockings, amend or delete clockings made in error. Additionally, employees working a formal flexitime system can view their current flexi-balance in real time and request flexitime adjustments.

The Tensor Time and Attendance system were deployed with the Tensor Operations Department engineers installing one of the clocking units and the software. Macroart installed a second clock themselves. No major issues were encountered during either the hardware or the software installation processes.

Hayley attended two different training sessions at Tensor’s Hail Weston Training Centre. The first one dealt with the Time and Attendance side of the software while the second tackled the HR features.

Asked by the Tensor reporter to comment on the quality of the training, she replied, “The training’s been brilliant. The trainer was fantastic at making me feel as comfortable with the equipment and software as possible.”

Are Macroart using the Tensor Time and Attendance system to its full potential yet? Hayley doesn’t think so, as she uses it every day and “I keep finding new areas it could be useful for.”

The overall impact of the Tensor Time and Attendance system on Macroart’s business activity has been that every part of the attendance monitoring and management process, as well as many of the HR-specific processes, have been made quicker and more efficient for everyone taking part. Hayley told the Tensor reporter, “Workers don’t need to fill in paper timesheets any more, and managers don’t need to check and process them.”

“The HR system is very useful, and I am constantly finding new ways to use it to improve existing processes and functions,” Hayley added.

Macroart also found that having a Tensor Time and Attendance system installed made it easier to achieve and maintain their ISO accreditations. (The company currently hold ISO9001, ISO14001 and ISO18001 certifications and are Safe Contractors approved).

Due to the specific nature of their activity, which involves flammable materials, Macroart has decided to fully leverage the Fire Roll Call functionality provided by the Tensor Time & Attendance system, capable of controlling up to two printers for evacuation reporting purposes. On activation of a fire alarm panel, automatic roll-call reports are printed listing the names and departments of cardholders who remain on-site, while doors can also be configured to open automatically on fire alarm activation and lock automatically once the fire alarm activation condition has ceased.

The system enables administrators to book employees to a specific fire assembly point and removes the cardholder from the fire roll-call report to provide a real-time roll call of any cardholders remaining in the building.

When asked what she liked most about the Tensor T&A System, Hayley replied, “I like that employees have transparent access to their own hours worked. I also like the fact that we have drastically cut down on the amount of paper we are using, which is better for the environment.”

Would she recommend Tensor to other companies? “Yes, I would,” was her reply.

Summing up her experience of Tensor, Hayley said: “It’s a great tool that makes your Time and Attendance management efficient, accountable and transparent.”

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Customer Information

Macroart

Eltisley Business Park, Abbotsley, St Neots

Cambridgeshire,

PE19 6TX