North Lanarkshire Council completes transition to hfx’s next generation flexitime solution Etarmis

Sept. 30, 2014 - PRLog -- hfx (http://www.hfx.co.uk), a leading provider of flexible working systems, has announced North Lanarkshire  Council has completed the transition from its’ WinTime legacy flexitime solution to the next generation multi-site flexitime management solution, Etarmis.

Driven by a council initiative to support flexible and mobile working across its 16,000strong workforce, and to be compliant with the UK Government’s 2014 flexible working legislation, the implementation of the centralised workforce management system has delivered greater efficiencies across the organisation, with time savings of over 4,000 hours each year.

North Lanarkshire Council analyst/ programme John Carlin said: “While we had been successfully using hfx’s WinTime solution at 40 sites for more than 10 years, the initiative required us to take a council-wide, fully-integrated approach.

“We first needed to centralise the scheduling and approvals process for employees in order to achieve a single, real-time view of people’s movements, shift patterns, absence and overtime.”

“As long-term users of our WinTime solution, we understood North Lanarkshire Council’s needs very well,” says Paski Matarazzo, Business Development Director at hfx. “So when they shared their mobile and flexible working initiative with us, we knew we could help, so created a customised upgrade path to our Etarmis integrated Workforce Management system. In addition to meeting their immediate plans, Etarmis is now in place and ready to help the Council move forward with further integrations to third party HR, payroll, access control, finance and other key business systems without compromising functionality.”

From a technology perspective, the Council also had a second initiative. It needed to upgrade from Windows XP to a fully supported Windows 7 (64bit) platform.

“We chose to stay with hfx and move onto Etarmis because it had both the functionality and familiarity we needed”, explained John Carlin. “The upgrade was cost-effective, we could use our existing hardware and, a bonus, we knew the hfx team.”

With the transition to Etarmis complete, the solution manages more than 770 work schedules and rotating shift patterns. Workers  can clock in from any location via fixed terminals, web browser or a desktop version used by about 30% of staff. Mobile workers log in using the 3G / 4G networks, supported by mobile Access Point Names (APNs).

The benefits of flexible working have been two-fold said Carlin; “People work more conscientiously - motivated and empowered by the availability of compressed working hours. “Through using Etarmis for active authentication login, time recording and absence planning and management, we have also reduced administration hours freeing those who would previously have been managing this to do other work.”

Office administrators in larger offices are saving at least one day a week as a result of Etarmis – a cumulative saving of 44 days a week across all sites.

Further reductions have been achieved through going paperless. “We calculate that this in itself may be saving an average of 15 minutes per person per week. When you consider that this applies to 5,000 employees, that’s quite a saving!” added Carlin. “The staff now feel empowered and they are definitely happier as a result.”

North Lanarkshire Council is yet another example of the benefits that can be achieved through centralised workforce management,” summarises Matarazzo. “While it has been an intensive project, the benefits speak for themselves. The council meets legislative requirements and is making more efficient use of employee hours.. From a technology point of view, upgrades maintenance, back-ups and staff training are simplified,. We are looking forward to supporting North Lanarkshire Council in their ongoing developments.”

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NOTES TO EDITORS

About North Lanarkshire Council

Based in Glasgow, North Lanarkshire Council is the fourth largest local authority in Scotland. Responsible for an area covering over 47,000 hectares, serving a population in excess of 326,000, operating across 44 locations, as well as remotely and in the community.

For more information please visit: www. http://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/

About hfx

Founded over 40 years ago, hfx has a proven history of developing innovative staff time management solutions. The company introduced the concept of flexible working hours in the 1970s with its Flextime® system, and has continued as a leader in the delivery of flexible working solutions.

Its flagship product, Etarmis, with its ‘one card – one solution’, incorporates access control, photo ID, time and attendance recording, flexitime management and provides seamless integration with major HR and payroll systems. Highly customisable, Etarmis can be configured to meet exact requirements and can support unlimited numbers of work patterns.

Based in the Home Counties just north of London, hfx services clients across the public and private sectors throughout the UK.  High profile customers include Home Office, Merck, Bentley Motors, Adidas, Buhler Sortex Ltd, The Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT), Eaton Limited, MoD, National Farmers' Union, Borough Council of King's Lynn & West Norfolk, Hertsmere Borough Council, North Lanarkshire Council, East Renfrewshire Council, Exeter City Council, Isle of Man Government, MoJ, Pendle Borough Council, Met Police, Flintshire County Council, Office for National Statistics, UK Intellectual Property Office, NHS Business Services Authority, Pembrokeshire County Council, Science and Technology Facilities Council, West Lancashire Borough Council, and many more.

For more information please visit: www.hfx.co.uk

Editors Contacts

Paski Matarazzo

Business Development Director, hfx

Tel: +44 (0) 1438 822176

Paski.matarazzo@hfx.co.uk

Andreina West/Mary Phillips

PR Artistry

+44 (0) 1491 639500

andreina@pra-ltd.co.uk