Category: Product Information

The Importance of Access Control in the Digital Age

The idea behind access control is simple. If you don’t need access to certain information in order to complete a task then you won’t be given access. Access control within a business works in a similar way with company owners, managers and employees often having different levels of access. As technology changes access control becomes a necessity for all businesses.

Access Control is one of the oldest necessities in business. For example, while a store might have 50 employees, only the owner and a select few managers have the keys to the door and the code to the alarm system. That way, if the store gets robbed, and the perpetrator had both a key and the security code, it narrows the pool of possible suspects.

The idea behind access control is simple: if you don’t need access to something to do your job, then why should you have that access?

The Challenges of The Internet Age

As technology grows more advanced, access control becomes both more necessary, and more difficult. Most businesses today have a computerised network, and that network controls all of the activity in that business. Hourly employees use the network to clock in and out, and human resources uses it to keep track of employee information and to make changes when necessary. Management uses the network to evaluate job performance, to store notes on employee activity, and to keep track of customer information. That’s a lot of data, and a business has to make sure that employees only have access to the parts of it they need to for security purposes. That’s a big challenge to face, but it’s why Elf Productivity Ltd. designed software to make that job easy.

A Software Suite That Does It All

Our software was designed specifically with access control in mind, and we combined that with ease of use. If you want to make sure that only managers have access to certain files, our software can help you do that. If you want a digital time clock, and a software suite that allows employees to alter their own personal information for name or address changes, we can do that as well.

In short we’ve created a single tool that will help your business achieve more with less energy. For more information about how this software can keep you secure while letting you do more, simply contact us today!

Is Human Resources Necessary in The Age of Employee Self Service?

Over time labour specifications have evolved dramatically due to the advancement in society. Community’s were once made up of people who took care of themselves now each individual has a specialised ability n band together within bushiness to form departments of people who all work together.

One of the ways you can tell that a society is becoming more advanced is the specialisation of labour. That means that it goes from a community where everyone more or less takes care of themselves individually, to a place where everyone has a more specialised trade. So, instead of everyone doing a little bit of everything, you have a blacksmith, a farmer, a carpenter, etc. Businesses are like this too: at first, all of your employees have to be able to do a bit of everything, but over time you grow and develop into separate departments who all work together as part of a greater whole.

But what happens when technology renders a job no longer necessary? We don’t have milkmen or lantern lighters anymore, but what happens when this kind of obsolescence happens to a department in a company?

Will it happen to Human Resources? Employee Self Service: The Future of HR?

In the past, it was necessary to have an entire department dedicated to keeping track of employee information, Human Resources is what we usually call it. If you need to get your banking information changed, if you got married or divorced and need your name altered, or if you moved and needed your address updated you, would go to HR, fill out some paperwork, and wait for someone in the department to input your updates.

The technology that business runs on has shifted dramatically though, and most businesses operate on a single computer network. With integrated software, it’s possible to promote employee self-service. What that means is that if you have to do any of the things mentioned above, you simply log on with your company password, go to your profile, and change the information yourself. There’s no paperwork to fill out, no waiting on the change to be made, you simply log in, fix the issue yourself, and get back to work.

Changing The Way You Do Business

While there’s something to be said for doing things the old-fashioned way, employee self-service allows businesses to streamline their operations, and it cuts down on the amount of work and time that the HR department does have to do. The question that has yet to be answered is whether this self-service option is going to free up HR to tackle big problems, or if it’s going to render HR as a department obsolete.

If you’d like more information on employee self-service and on our integrated business software that lets you achieve more with less effort, simply contact us today!

Integrated Software which tracks Time and Attendance

Computerised systems are now the underlying part of any business, with most departments using one on a day to day basis in order to complete crucial tasks. From the tracking of hours, payroll and employee productivity, computers are often the eyes, ears and memory for many organisations. However businesses often use a number of different suites to complete the above tasks.

While we might say we’re still punching that time clock, most workers are actually logging in their hours on a computer terminal, or swiping their ID badge to clock in. While computerised time clocks are nothing new, businesses looking to streamline their software and who want to condense the technology they’re using have been looking for ways to integrate the time clock into a standardised software suite, which is precisely what Elf Productivity Ltd. provides.

Keeping Track of Time and Attendance (Along With Everything Else)

While computers have been integrated into common businesses little by little, they’re now an undeniable part of how even small companies run. From payroll and hours tracking to human resources and tracking productivity, computers are the eyes, ears, and often memory of a business.

So why use a dozen different suites to track important information when you could simply install one kind of software to keep track of everything? That’s the question Elf Productivity Ltd. asked, and it’s what led them to design a unique software suite that’s a one-stop-shop for a business who wants all of its information in a single, easily accessible place.

This software suite keeps track of all the necessary information a company needs. It has employee information, hours worked, and similar data all in a profile that employees can log their hours in as well as updating their information without bothering HR. The suite also provides access control, making sure that only those who need to see certain sensitive information will have access to it.

Integration is the name of the game, and it saves your business time, money, and effort. For more information on how Elf Productivity Ltd. can help you, simply contact us today!

Why You Need Shop Floor Data Capture Capabilities In Your Business

When a problem occurs all businesses should be able to respond and if necessary change. This is even more crucial for businesses within the production industry as one small change could potentially spell the end for their company. Having a shop floor data capture system in place would provide your business with the information needed in order to stop this process from ever happening.

Every business needs to be able to respond and change when it becomes clear that there’s a problem. For businesses who want to get the edge on their competition, while keeping their clients happy and production up, it’s important to invest in shop floor data capture.

What Is Shop Floor Data Capture?

Shop floor data capture is when you set up machines that can instantly record your production numbers and beam them wirelessly to you. As an example: say you were a candle manufacturer, you have seven machines going at once and they’re set to produce 200 candles each day; one machine is malfunctioning, and it’s only producing 180 candles. Sure, that 20 candles might not seem like much on the first day, but after a week that’s 140 pieces of lost product. If you only evaluate production numbers once a month then the problem will already have grown pretty big.

Now say you had shop floor data capture set up, these devices would keep an accurate count of the number of candles being produced, and they’d send an update to you to let you know there was a problem with the production numbers, that way, you would know the source immediately, and you could investigate it as soon as you saw the numbers slipping.

Elf Productivity Ltd. Is Here To Help

While there are a lot of different options on the market for shop floor data capture, Elf Productivity Ltd. has streamlined the process and made it as easy as possible to get results. Our software suite gives business owners all the numbers they need, and they’re updated regularly to ensure that no problem goes undetected for long. Not only that but this software is designed for ease of use, ensuring that all you have to do is plug-and-play.

For more information on how Elf Productivity Ltd. can help your business, or about shop floor data capture in general, simply contact us today!

Elf Productivity Helps Balance Human Resource Needs In Your Business

Behind every successful business is a fully functioning human resource department. Organising your staff is a key part of this and implementing a human resource system will simplify the process by allowing you to easily view all information about any member of staff on one easy to use platform. Our system cuts out the middleman making everything easier for both HR and other departments.

Every business needs people in order to function: without staff nothing gets done. Even if you have the most competent people working for you, you’ll never achieve your goals without some way to arrange and organise your staff. That’s where Human Resources comes in: this department’s job is to make sure that workers have all their information in the system, that hours are clocked properly, that checks are issued on time, and all the other necessary tasks that keep the work force running. With that said though, it’s very possible for HR to get weighed down, backlogged, and clogged up. That’s where Elf Productivity Ltd. comes into the picture.

What Elf Productivity Ltd. Does For Human Resources

We understand how important smooth traffic is for any business when it comes to human resources: you put in a request on Monday and expect it to be handled in a timely fashion, but if everyone else in the company puts in the same request, it’s going to take time to get that done, especially if someone in HR has to take the form you filled out, go into the system, and plug in all your details before doing the exact same thing for the next person in line.

What we did was create a software that cuts out the middleman and makes everything easier both for those in HR, as well as those outside of the department. Our software suite acts like a fast-track for your business’ needs; it’s an accurate time clock that automatically updates when someone clocks in or out, it also lets people outside of HR make appropriate changes, which means average workers can keep track of their hours more accurately without the need to bother HR. If a worker moves, changes a name, or switches banks, it’s also possible for them to log in and alter their information instead of filling out a form and waiting for HR to get around to it. We combined employee self-service with an accurate time clock, as well as all the access control you need to make sure that truly sensitive information is still only available to those who need it, the result is a system that is smoother, faster, which does more of the work for you, and which you can implement quickly and easily.

For more information about how Elf Productivity Ltd. can help your business succeed simply contact us today!

Ceequel® Software Access Control vs Panel Box Systems

Our access control system has drastically changed the face of access control for many businesses. Classic site based systems rely on physical wiring and multiple site control boxes in order to manage who goes where. Our system works on both Local Area Networks (LAN) and Wide Area Networks (WAN) and communicates via TCIP/IP meaning companies are able to control access to all of their sites from one central station.

Ceequel® software-based access control has changed the face of access control. The software operates on both Local Area Networks (LAN) and Wide Area Networks (WAN), and communicates via TCIP/IP so companies are able to control access to all their sites from one central station.

Contrast this with classic site-based central panel systems that need multiple electric panel boxes, power supplies, and site controllers to control specific clusters of doors. Oh, yes, and there’s also the host PC, RS485 cables to provide communication to each panel box, and feet upon feet of wiring between the panels and door controllers. Central panel installation calls for expensive electricians, and at the end of the day all it provides is limited access control to employees using proximity cards.

Ceequel® Access Control, on the other hand, is one-size-fits-all, supporting not only proximity cards, but also key fobs, barcodes, company-designed ID cards, and even fingerprint biometrics. It supplies each access point with a list of authorised employees and detailed information as to exactly who is allowed access and when. That one-size-fits-all feature extends to Ceequel®’s ability to control not only door locks but turnstiles, barriers, and fast lane systems.

Since all Ceequel® modules are based on Microsoft SQL technology, they can run seamlessly on existing systems and infrastructures; since the access control module uses the same hardware and ID cards as the Ceequel® Time and Attendance module, the two can be fully integrated. In addition, whatever data is collected by the Access Control module can be used in conjunction with the Fire Register and Employee Tracking modules.

So if you’re ready to move beyond a twentieth Century central panel access control system, contact us. We provide a turn key solution, with everything you need to fully meet your twenty-first century access control needs.

Benefits to Time and Attendance Software

Managing employee time and attendance data is a hard job for any human resource department. Calculating payroll and holiday time as well as generating reports can take hours, costing your business money. Implementing an easy to use time and attendance system will reduce the number of hours spent on these kind of tasks as well as benefiting your business in numerous other ways.

Managing employees’ time and attendance sounds like hard work for any Human Resources department, even the smallest of companies spend an inordinate amount of time with reports, payroll, and holiday time calculations, the list can seem endless at times.

Many are unaware of the tremendous benefits afforded through the use of Time and Attendance software. Here are just a few:

The Time is Up for Clocks and Cards

If your company is still using a time clock, you are hemorrhaging a great deal of money out of your payroll department. On average, dispensing, collecting, calculating, and purchasing time cards costs roughly eighteen minutes per employee, per week. That’s around fifteen hours for each employee annually. Everyone knows, in business, time is money!

Help Those Who Help Themselves

Although it is simply “part of their job”, Payroll and HR collectively, or separately, spend hours over the course of a year looking up data for employees: vacation time due, verifying days or hours worked, scheduling questions, and many more inquires. Time and Attendance software allows employees to find this information out for themselves.

Absenteeism Adds Up

While some employers may feel that an absent employee is reducing payroll, it is actually costing companies more. According to CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel Development) research, 90% of businesses say that absenteeism is “a significant cost” for their company. Sickness generally accounts for eight lost working days per year for every staff member or around 3.5% of working time annually.

To save your company valuable time, money, and resources, please contact us to learn more about our Time and Attendance software today.

What Shop Floor Data Capture Can Do For Your Business

As a manufacture making sure your machines are working to the best of their ability is crucial. If one of your machines encounters a problem during the production process your end numbers are likely to drop. In the short run this is unlikely going to hurt your business but over an extensive period of time your available product number will of significantly dropped along with your profit.

Imagine for a moment that you’re a manufacturer: you make dice, and the machines that put out your product can produce 5,000 dice per hour when they’re going full-bore. However, due to altered settings or small hiccoughs in the machinery, you produce 100 fewer dice every 2 hours. That might not be a big deal during any particular day, but over the course of a week, or a month, that takes a significant bite out of your available product and your profits.

Now imagine that you only check your numbers once a week, that’s a lot of lost energy and product you could have avoided if you’d used shop floor data capture.

What Is Shop Floor Data Capture?

Shop floor data capture is a process that keeps track of your output, and which gives you all of your numbers quickly and efficiently. Computer programs track efficiency, tally up the numbers, and send them to you over a wireless connection. Not only that, but these programs can alert you when a problem is detected. This means you find out immediately if there’s a drop in productivity, and you can examine the data over time to see what areas are causing problems.

Find Problems Quickly, Fix Them Fast

Anything that impacts your bottom line has ripple effects. If you can find the source of a flawed product, a slow assembly line, or any other issue, then you will be able to get more done quicker. Since you can’t be everywhere observing everything, Shop Floor Data Capture acts as your eyes and ears, notifying you when there’s a problem. All you need to do is to set up data capture devices, and to install a software suite that will conglomerate that data for you in a single place. Once you have that data, what you choose to do with it is up to you.

For more about shop floor data capture and how ELF Productivity Ltd can help, simply contact us today!

Accurate Time and Attendance is Paramount

Having an accurate time clock is one of the most important features within a business. Employers use the time clock as a way of keeping everything fair and employees rely on them in order to be paid correctly. This is why the implementation of a fully functioning web based time and attendance system which records employee data in real time is becoming ever more essential.

The time clock is one of the most important features of any business, and the more accurate that time clock is, the better. It’s better for employees who want to make sure they get paid for every minute on the clock, and it’s better for employers who want to run a fair, tight ship. With all of the challenges businesses face though, it’s important to try to streamline as much as possible.

That’s where Elf Productivity Ltd. comes into the picture.

Time and Attendance Solutions

What Elf Productivity Ltd. has done is create a software suite that can do multiple things at once. The software combines Access Control and Employee Self-Service with a time clock feature that will keep an accurate count of how long someone has been working. Not only that, but the software allows someone to alter and change their time for accuracy without the necessity of involving other departments and employees. Instead of running a dozen separate programs, each of which has a separate purpose, this suite allows employees to do everything all at once.

Simple and Straightforward

The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, and this software suite makes the process as simple as possible. The setup and installation are simple, and the software is easy to navigate so that employees can make solid use of it regardless of their level of technical literacy.

At the end of the day a business should always use the best tool for the job, and the suite we’ve created was designed to keep track of all the pertinent details. If you need more information on what our program can do for you then all you have to do is contact us to speak to one of our knowledgeable, professional representatives.

Take Advantage of Shop Floor Data Capture

Production companies can have any number of employees and machines working at any one time making it increasingly difficult for them to monitor time and energy. Meaning business are often unable to determine if employees are slacking or if machines are lagging behind. Fitting a shop floor data capture system in to your business will provide you with the opportunity to track each individual employees actions within each section of the production process as well as monitor machine production and waste numbers.

The Art of Chaos

Production is a stressful part of a business, especially having to monitor employees and efficiency of machinery. This responsibility is challenging while still maintaining a cost-effective production process. The amount of machines and employees are at times overwhelming. With each employee working in various parts of the process, it is often though to determine where there is potential to maximise time and energy. That is, unless you have the right software.

Monitoring All Angles

The unique ID swipe system that Ceequel® uses allows the seamless tracking of both individuals and groups: creating real-time result comparison on duration, efficiency, and productivity; giving the opportunity to recognise specific areas that need attention, in order to reach optimal employee efficiency. You can compare the detailed time records for production and employee attendance, for accurate individual productivity data. Our software even calculates performance based pay, then transfers this data to payroll for seamless accounting. These results are then used tweak the process, amplifying individual and group productivity.

Tracking Machinery

This software isn’t just for employees though, it also maintains the capacity to monitor machines as well, even using calculations to convert employee labour and machine usage into a monetary value which can then track machine down time, allowing you to locate areas to maximise efficiency, helping you monitor your production growth and discover needs for new equipment, ultimately increasing your productivity by process maximisation.

Contact us to learn more about how your company can take advantage of Shop Floor Data Capture and maximise your potential!