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Tensor is helping pupils gain better attendance records at schools and beat truancy through its Time and Attendance technology. It is vital that children do not miss school, plus it is the legal duty as parents or guardians to ensure the regular and punctual attendance of their children at school. But partnering Tensor has made life easier for parents, teachers and pupils. Tensor’s Time and Attendance systems, incorporating Smart Cards, Key Fobs, or Fingerprint Biometrics, are suitable for any organisations, including schools. A product like WinTA handles all your Time & Attendance and security and software needs in one integrated security management System. It is so important to monitor pupils’ attendance. The time you have to prepare your child for his or her future is very important. Each year, there are just 190 statutory school days. If your child were to miss one day a week for their whole time at school, they would miss the equivalent of two years’ school! That would be like not starting school until you were 7 or leaving at 14. Tensor, whose equipment provides the fastest and safest method of recording attendance, have already installed systems in schools. For example, Holywell Middle School, based near Cranfield in Bedfordshire, educates pupils aged from 9 to 13 years old and needed to be able to account for staff as accurately as for the pupils. Schools are impressed by Tensor because elements like its Fire Roll Call can be integrated into the Attendance Monitoring system.

Are the manual personnel records for your sports club making your clubhouse or changing room bulge at the seams? As a former football and cricket official myself, I know how difficult it is to keep tabs of the squad. Who’s available, are they injured, what is their contact number, have they paid their weekly subs? Then Tensor Club Personnel scores a hat-trick – a simple-to-use and inexpensive way to computerise the existing manual personnel records for your sports club. With its comprehensive reporting on all personnel data, especially injuries, treatments and medicals, it handles a lot more than just storing personnel records. Tensor Club Personnel includes a user-friendly screen designer, enabling you to add additional tabs of data to existing screens so that you can create your own new screen layouts and data structures. This enables you to log vital information about player injuries, treatments and medicals as well as other criteria for complete personnel record monitoring. Club Personnel can handle all sizes of clubs and associations depending on the number of personnel records required to be held. To start with, you can install the "Small Business" version, which is designed for teams and organisations wanting to store up to 50 personnel records. It operates on a single PC and with a price tag of just £160, it is excellent value for money.

The British Toilet Association (BTA) campaigns for better public toilets for all. The BTA says: "Our mission is to represent the interest and aspirations of ‘away from home’ toilet providers, suppliers and users of all types and to act as the catalyst for change in the pursuit of standards of excellence in all areas of public toilet provision and management.” The BTA ‘mission statement’ says that:  Britain’s public toilets were once the envy of the world In recent years, significant number of public toilets have been closed down We need more and better toilets Let’s stop the rot Some providers of public toilets such as the W12 shopping complex in west London have installed toilet turnstiles to help defray the costs of providing public conveniences to those using their shops. The advantage of coin operated system supplied and installed by Tensor plc is that it is not only an income stream but also a better method of providing security at the same time. The BTA have produced a video about the thousands of hidden dangers in Britain’s washrooms. Log onto the web address www.britloos.co.uk to see it for yourself.

It claimed employee absence was costing the UK’s economy almost £12bn-a-year in lost working days, so when the wording on a Coca-Cola branded drinks said "If you’ve had to use sick days because you’ve actually been sick, then you’re seriously missing out." It was bound to cause some controversy. The Glaceau Vitamin Water advert, which angered the Forum of Private Business, continued: "The trick is to stay perky and use sick days to just, not go in."   Coca-Cola, – which has head and regional offices based in Uxbridge and Slough – said the advert was in no way meant as a serious recommendation. Timely arrival of employees for work is important for most employers, so if clocking in and out is important to you as an employer in the capital, and you need to keep on top of the matter of workers’ unauthorised sick days, the recent furore over Coca-Cola’s advertising campaign might make you think its about time you had a more user friendly method of registering employees hours.  The good news if that a  time and attendance and monitoring system from Tensor using its famous smart cards is available at a very low price, starting from only £1,495 plus VAT. This system can manage all your attendance (and absence) reporting. The smart cards allow employees take to using the system very quickly, good when using new technology. It includes a simple PC software package for monitoring working patterns, overtime, and job costing.

The Home Office Scientific Development Branch (HOSDB) series of events is the most significant police and security equipment exhibition in the UK. It has a well established international reputation. HOSDB 2010 is closed to the general public with all exhibitors and visitors approved to participate beforehand. Exhibitors are all vetted in advance of participating by the Home Office and visitors have a strict criteria applied to establish their eligibility to attend. HOSDB and their annual equipment exhibition have been developed to reflect the greater responsibilities of the organisation in a changing security climate. The strict criteria maintains a high quality of visitor to the event so that exhibitors can rest-easy in the knowledge that they can display products which may be considered sensitive if public visitors were permitted access. HOSDB 2010 is owned by the Home Office Scientific Development Branch and organised at FIVE, Farnborough on their behalf by A|D|S Group. International delegations to the event were organised and coordinated by UKTI DSO. The exhibition visitor’s include departmental representatives from police forces around the UK and Europe and all emergency services and government departments such as the Home Office, prison, customs and immigration services, government security and MoD departments. Ashley Smith, CEO of Tensor plc, was on hand to present the latest Tensor access control and security equipment as used by British Police and other Governmental departments. He told the Tensor reporter, “HOSDB 2010 has given us and our customers, from the UK and abroad, an opportunity to discuss customer requirements within a confidential environment”. International Delegations also attended the event to review the “best of breed”  from the British security manufacturing industry.

Housed in a stainless steel case, the rugged T3240BK can operate in a variety harsh of conditions, providing excellent reliability throughout rain, storms and heavy use. This makes it ideal for almost all outdoor environments, allowing you can rest assured that Tensor’s reliability and standards of manufacture will not let you down. The T3240BK combines all of the features of the T32xx, however, it is specifically designed for the tough life of outdoor time and attendance systems. So if you need a system that can cope with virtually anything you can throw at it, look no further than the "all new" T3240BK.

HeatingSave and its parent company Tensor plc have been appointed as approved suppliers to the London Green500 scheme that aims to reduce CO2 emissions by 1.5 million tonnes by 2010 – the equivalent to a saving of around £150 million in energy bills. The scheme provides London’s businesses with practical advice and support on how to reduce their carbon emissions. Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, launched the London Green500 scheme saying that the current economic crisis was the right time to implement the campaign as a lot of money could be saved if businesses became more energy efficient. “In lean economic times, there are real financial savings to be made for businesses by becoming more energy efficient, helping them to remain competitive. This can often be done in really simple and cheap ways, and it is our job in City Hall to rally, support and publicly recognise organisations that want to do so“, said Johnson. HeatingSave’s intelligent heating and boiler management system is well placed to make a dent in the £150 million spend, already making a good start, for example, by reducing the fuel consumption of the Sea Cadets head office in Lambeth Road by over 50%. The HeatingSave computerised controller does this by learning a buildings “heat loss profile” and then applies this to its internal heat loss algorithm to use the least amount of energy to heat or cool a building. Other advanced techniques such as boiler load optimisation, dry cycling prevention, automatic occupancy detection, intelligent frost protection, outside temperature compensation and variable temperature patterning are employed; all linked back to a PC software package that no only shows graphs and statistics of the savings made, but also calculates the kWh usage and CO2 emissions produced on a daily basis. Typical cash savings are between 25% to 30%+. “We are vey pleased with the Green500 approval” said Matt Ellwood of HeatingSave, “this was only given after a full technical review by the London Development Agency of the HeatingSave system and examination of our other business credentials and accreditations“. Matt Ellwood further added “HeatingSave is being used by both public and private organisations to reduce their energy bills and can make a significant reduction in London’s CO2 emissions“. HeatingSave is already Government approved to make savings by the Carbon Trust, DEFRA and the Energy Savings Trust. Green 500

One of Tensors young apprentices, Chris Tinsley, has won a prominent national award for demonstrating huge potential on an apprenticeship scheme for electronic security manufacturers and installers. Chris is 20 years old and he fought off tough competition from across the UK to become a national winner in the British Security Industry Association’s (BSIA) Apprentice Installer Awards 2009. He demonstrated that he has grasped the technical side of the equipment and that he continued dedication and enthusiasm for all jobs that are given to him. He is now in a position to provide training/advice to other engineers who are not as familiar with the Tensor products as him.  Chris was guided into the industry after seeking a job that combined electrical, electronic and mechanical engineering. He is now a valued member of Tensor plc Operations Department.. Paul Summerfield, Tensor’s Installation Manager, said “Chris excels with his positive attitude, logical thinking and a desire to perform his role to the highest standard possible. He has a keenness to learn new skills on both the installation and maintenance side and he has received praise from several customers who have commented on what a pleasure it has been to deal with him.” Commenting on this year’s deserved winners John Bates, BSIA Chief Executive, added “Each year our winning apprentices demonstrate the commitment they are already making towards a successful career within the security industry. The BSIA is proud to acknowledge the contribution these apprentices make so early on in their careers to continue the high standards of the industry. Chris should be justifiably proud of his achievements.” Chris was presented with his award by Admiral the Lord West of Spithead, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State responsible for security and counter-terrorism at the Home Office at the Association’s annual luncheon on 15th July at the London Hilton, Park Lane.

In December 2008, the European Parliament voted to end the Working Time Directive 48 hour opt out. This would have meant the phasing out of the opt-out over a three-year period. The Council of Ministers however continued to support the retention of the opt-out. For any amendments to be adopted it was necessary for both the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers to agree and approve any changes. A conciliation committee of the Commission, Parliament and the Council held a series of discussions to seek a mutually acceptable text for the revision of the Directive. No agreement was reached. As a result of the above, proposals to introduce changes have failed. For the UK this means that the 48-hour opt-out will remain. The above actions have been the last opportunity to introduce any changes before the European elections to be held in June 2009. For any future changes to be introduced now, it would be necessary for the Commission to submit new proposals in order to start the process again. The proposals under consideration held wider implications than the removal of the 48-hour opt-out. The proposals also considered changes to the definition of ´on-call´ hours to be included as working time. At the present time the Directive considers active on-call to be included in working time. Active on-call is defined as the time that the worker is required to be available at their place of work. The Council thinks this should continue to be the case but the Parliament says that the definition of working hours should be widened to include ´inactive on-call´, which is the time a worker is on call, but not required to be at their place of work. As with the 48-hour opt-out, no agreement was reached between Council and Parliament hence the current position of only ´active on-call´ being included will remain. However, to comply withy the opt-out businesses must be able to prove the hours worked by employees and the legislation says "a paperwork system is not enough". Hence, the need to install a Time & Attendance system such as WinTA lite to cost effectively comply with the Directive.

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A new points- based system to enable the UK to control migration more effectively, tackle abuse and identify the most talented workers was launched by the Home Secretary. The Home Secretary called on industry and education sectors to play their role in making migration work for Britain, and reminded them that they had a responsibility to help make the new scheme a success.  The points based system is a central part of the Government’s five year strategy for asylum and immigration, which was published in February 2005, and is committed to a wide-ranging plan: to ensure that only those who benefit Britain can come here to work or study to strengthen the UK’s borders; to crack down on abuse and illegal immigration and increase removals. Its implementation is a key Government priority The scheme will be complemented with a tougher approach from our own British embassies abroad to weed out false applications and will place increased obligations on UK businesses and universities who will now be required to sponsor migrants and help to ensure that those they sponsor adhere to the terms of their visa. As part of the new legislation your human resource (HR) systems and compliance while employing migrants is rated when you apply for a licence to sponsor migrants under the points-based system to work or study. They assess five individual areas of your HR systems, which are: Area 1: Monitoring immigration status and preventing illegal employment Area 2: Maintaining migrant contact details Area 3: Recordkeeping Area 4: Migrant tracking and monitoring Area 5: Recruitment practices and professional accreditations You must mostly achieve a rating of 1 in each of the five areas to get the top rating for your HR systems overall. They also assess your past compliance with immigration law while employing migrants and will give you an A rating or B rating, or refuse or withdraw your licence. They assess: whether you have the correct human resource (HR) systems to make sure that you can meet your sponsorship duties; and whether you are complying with, or have previously complied with, the work permit arrangements and other immigration law. With these new regulations it would be very hard to pass the assesments unless you have a computersied Personnel System.

The BBC reported that some motorists in Cambridgeshire are filling up at a petrol pump and driving off without paying. The Cambridgeshire Police have sent out a warning that they are targeting such criminals. The fuel thefts have led to more patrols on petrol station forecourts. Although the police have sent out numerous warnings, these are being ignored as there were 125 thefts of fuel in the north of Cambridgeshire last year. Pc McCallum said "We will be concentrating on filling stations that have been particularly badly affected and that are all in rural areas". Pc McCallum also added "This is often seen as a victimless crime but the cost of thefts are eventually passed on to the public and we treat all forms of threat seriously". Officers have begun using Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology at garage forecourts to target offenders.