Latest News, Blogs & Announcements | Page 109

Police searched for a convicted killer who fled from a secure hospital. Phillip Westwater escaped St Nicholas Hospital on Wednesday morning. He was being escorted from his ward to a restaurant in another building, but still inside the hospital grounds, when he went missing. Northumbria Police were making inquiries and urged the public not to approach Westwater, who is described as white, six feet tall and with grey or brown hair. Among Tensor’s highly-effective Visitor Management Systems using the latest PC technology is Prison Pass. This a low cost, easy to install, computer based pass system for registering each visitor, both on and off site. HM Prison Service Visitor Monitoring Prison Pass enables prison officers to quickly check the identity and monitor the movements of visitors. At controlled monitor points, the visitor pass badge is simply swiped and a high quality digital image appears to the HM Prison Service Officers thus verifying that the correct person is passing through.  

No dogs were harmed during a series of festive break-ins, an animal welfare concern has reported. A representative of the Dogs Trust centre in Scotland said staff at the facility were discussing ongoing security measures with police. “Thieves smashed in windows and forced entry but are believed to have been disturbed as nothing was stolen,” commented the spokeswoman on Thursday’s incident. The Lanarkshire-based Trust, which has now re-opened to the public, appealed for anyone with information to come forward. Tensor Access Enterprise is one of Tensor's latest developments in our proven range of products involving simple door and registration point control. Tensor Access Enterprise, intended for larger companies, includes extra software to enable you to easily add and edit profile settings to all registered hardware equipment attached to your company’s network of Tensor equipment. The network can operate up to 31 T32xx clocking stations, each of which can have up to 12 T8424 scanner controllers attached to it – that’s an incredible 372 scanners in total.

Union members protested about a decision to increase the pay grade of a council chief executive by £27,000. The Unison public sector personnel lobbied a meeting of Caerphilly council whose Labour leadership said it would take legal advice on whether it was possible to revoke the pay award. “This statement by the Labour group is a step in the right direction, and sets the platform for future engagement with this administration,” commented Gary Enright, Unison branch secretary. Tensor’s Time & Attendance and Personnel Software is the culmination of over a decade of real world experience in the human resources and time and attendance sectors. The software contained within our various WinTA networks offer everything you would expect from a personnel management system. Included in the software package are additional features that ensure your company pays its staff correctly and according to which shifts they have performed in a given month. Tensor wishes a Happy New Year to all its new and existing customers.  

Tensor was this week given accreditation by Constructionline, the UK’s largest register for pre-qualified building contractors and consultants. The advantage of being associated with Constructionline for suppliers to the construction industry is that Tensor no longer needs to repeatedly fill in standard pre-qualification forms for every tender. Tensor’s details have gone live on the Constructionline database and are now available to its registered buyers. There are 8,000 buyers already using the Constructionline database to source contractors and consultants, so Constructionline is another great tool for spreading the word on Tensor’s Access Control and Time and Attendance systems. It means we will not be jumping through the same vetting hoops at every tender – not a brilliant use of time and resources. As leading suppliers of Time & Attendance products, Tensor is only too aware of the need for companies to save time and money! Constructionline is a Public-Private Partnership between Capita and the Department for Business Innovation & Skills. For more on the way Constructionline helps suppliers and buyers, log on to http://www.constructionline.co.uk/static/

Scapegoats are being sought over a toilet design, as one of its urinals is visible on the street. East Grinstead town councillors raised the issue of how a public toilet was allowed to be so badly designed. One of the councillors, Bob Mainstone, told the local Courier & Observer paper: “Someone should be saying they are guilty for the faults which amount to a total waste of money by the district council if it is going to have to redesign.” Tensor’s turnstiles fully integrate with our smart card and biometric access control systems, while it is imperative to have a durable and reliable system. Tensor will provide you with just that, as our toilet turnstiles come with a two year warranty. Without compromising the safety of those who use the turnstile, speed and reliability are provided even during rush hour periods. For more information on a Tensor turnstile, barrier or gate network, please contact our sales team via this link.

The health service "is not Tesco", says the British Medical Association (BMA) over NHS proposals to increase weekend working for doctors and other staff. Bosses at the NHS want to emulate companies such as the leading supermarket as an example of around-the-clock working. In this situation operations could take place on a Saturday or Sunday. However the BMA objected to this example, and a spokeswoman said: "The health service is not Tesco, I don’t think that is a good comparison." A complete Smart Card Time and Attendance System from Tensor includes software including all the features to manage time and attendance recording for 50 up to 10,000 people. The comprehensive user-definable rosters and shifts in a Tensor WinTA network means you can create a wide range of daily working patterns (shifts) for your staff. An Exception view quickly identifies areas where the normal working pattern has not been followed.

A school has been forced to shut until the New Year due to thieves causing damage estimated at £30,000. The Midlands based primary school suffered a midnight break-in. Lead from the roof and pipework were taken, which led to flooding in the school’s offices and some classrooms. “We were not left with any choice other than to shut the school while the repairs are carried out,” commented Loxdale School head teacher Trish Scott. If you are looking for a sensibly priced digital CCTV system, look no further than Tensor, the name you can trust. We provide cost effective evidence quality tailor-made CCTV surveillance systems. Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) bring affordable mass storage to a security surveillance system. They store HD footage and are easy to back up. No tapes are required that will clutter up your facility. User friendly DVRs are compatible with Tensor Access Control and Time & Attendance networks. Learn more about Tensor CCTV systems by clicking on this link.

Bank holiday pay is the sticking point over a strike that will take place on Boxing Day. Tube drivers will walk out on that festive day and 18 and 25 January. It will be the third successive December 26 walkout by Tube personnel, stemming from a dispute which dates back to a 20-year-old agreement. London Underground representative Howard Collins said: “London Underground has a long-standing agreement with all trade unions which covers working arrangements on bank holidays, including Boxing Day.” Tensor is simply the best at all-in-one Smart Card Time and Attendance recording. Labour hours analysis and hours calculation software easily sorts out overtime. Work patterns are a combination of daily rules that are either a repeating pattern of shifts or a list of alternative rules. Tensor’s system will predict the most appropriate shift depending on when an employee clocks on. Each type of pattern can be set up to override the normal pattern and use a specific shift on public holidays.

The police service is being asked to cut its budget by the Home Office, and one of its points is recommended starting salaries for constables in England and Wales to be reduced by £4,000. The Police Federation’s response to the BBC was: “How this is meant to fit in with the ambition of the Home Office to professionalise the police service and recruit the very best we do not understand.” The Home Office said Home Secretary Theresa May would consider these findings. Tensor makes budgeting at large or small organisations simpler with our Time & Attendance and Personnel systems. Our WinTA networked Time and Attendance system provides total control over working rules, salaries, job costing and shifts. With the quick use of a smart card or key fob, employees book time against their jobs to produce a fully costed analysis and break down of time spent on each one. Reports show jobs that are over budget or those approaching their budget limit.

More and more primary schools in England are upping their performance in meeting government academic targets. The latest data shows that in 2012 some 521 schools fell below the expectation for maths and English, compared with 1,310 last year. Of those educational institutions identified as underperforming, 47 had now closed, while 37 had become academies, a government spokesman said. He added that: “Schools have responded to the challenge. The floor standards we introduced were tougher and have improved performance.” WinTA PC Clock from Tensor is a simple PC based booking system ideal for institutions such as schools where each pupil or employee has access to a PC. WinTA PC Clock will help schools improve their standards because it is an aid in ensuring correct attendance. PC Clock’s analysis module consists of a scaled-down version of the acclaimed Tensor WinTA Lite time and attendance software. As no clocking stations are required, PC Clock remains the best product on the market for small-scale attendance monitoring.

Campaigners handed out cards to passengers at railway stations bearing a Christmas mocked-up message from ‘your train operator’. The sarcastic slogan read: “Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year to us” set out in the style of a rail timetable. It was intended as a criticism of rail fare rises and planned cuts to services and staff. Transport unions say rail fares have gone up by more than 26 per cent – nearly three times as fast as wages – since 2008. Tensor is the leader in the field of PC-powered automated wages, clocking and payroll systems, working with all the major payroll packages such as Sage or Unipay. A Tensor WinTA Time and Attendance system has a wide range of configuration options to extract payroll information in exactly the correct format. It can share or receive information from third party applications by using readily available interface modules. Data transfers can occur either on demand or more usually as an automated process.

Turkeys were rescued from a roasting – just in time for Christmas. The festive birds had this week been caught up in a fire which had begun in their barn home. About 100 gobblers were saved from the fire in the Forest of Dean. Firefighters also removed some gas cylinders from the barn which contained 50 tonnes of hay. The blaze is believed to have been caused by an electrical fault in the outhouse and was extinguished within three hours. A Tensor security and attendance recording system can be fully equipped with fire roll call technology. For example, the T3510 is the ultimate Smart Card Access Control system which, when linked, can control up to 128 doors from one PC. It contains a Fire Roll Call from fire panel input. In a typical four-door access control arrangement a Smart Card is used to gain entry and a push button to exit. The break glass unlocks the door, from the inside, in an emergency.