Yes, we can send you one. However, it would be much quicker for you downloaded it from the download page. There you can download a Word version or you can open the Acrobat PDF version, click on the File option, then Save As. You can then designate the folder on your desktop to which you want to save the file. Clicking the link below will take you to the download login page

Download Login Page

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Sorry about that. Thanks for bringing this to our attention! We have added a Pricing Brochure to our download page. There you can download a Word version or you can open the Acrobat PDF version, click on the File option, then Save As. You can then designate the folder on your desktop to which you want to save the file. Clicking the link below will take you to the download login page

Download Login

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HABBS stands for "Hatrak Associates Budget-Based Scheduling. In our opinion there are two types of scheduling software solutionS. Those that are designed to meet a budget as defined by the end-user and the other are those that require the budget to accept and adjust to a schedule.

Budget-Based Schedules: These schedules are developed by the end-user through a process starting with defining the budget (full time equivalent positions and dollars) allocated to scheduling the workforce (typically the largest percentage of the entire budget), supplied the system with Staff Demand information (complete position profiles and average annual deployable and not deployable days information) and then subjecting these variables to an analysis to determine the cost relationship that exists between Labor Supply and Labor Demand. These analyses use a powerful software tool included in our software package. It permits using "what if" scenarios to help the end user determine the "what's-best" cost fit between Labor Supply and Labor Demand. The scheduling software then develops the end-user designed employees schedules that best meet their requirements

Budgets That Are Schedule Based: The scheduling software in these applications (and there are many out their that build a schedule to the exact demand of the end-user. Since they do not do Labor Supply and Demand Analyses and Optimization the end user never knows the true cost designed into a schedule (or budget required) until after the money has been spent )(Sorry, too late then)

To our constant amazement there are many organizations that do not wish to have their schedule design constrained by a budget. So we allow the end user to use one or the other design, or a combination of both. So in the final analysis our scheduling software does what they all do - BUT IN ADDITION OURS DOES MORE THAN THE OTHERS.

Confused? Contact us for a free consultation regarding budget-based scheduling and budgeting to meet the demands of a schedule.

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Introduction

Hatrak Associates opened for business in the fall of 1983. Since then Hatrak Associates professional associate staff have helped large and small organizations setup and analyze schedule designs, shift hours designs, analyze labor supply and demand costs, using data (labor intelligence) to optimize schedule designs, implementing workforce management business processes, and implementing employee shift scheduling software.

For nearly twelve months, a Hatrak Associates product development team has been working full time, and overtime, on the design, requirements documentation, writing code, debugging code, and beta testing a new product: Enterprise Employee Scheduling software. This project is nearing completion. Once released there is no doubt that it will help Hatrak Associates maintain its position as the leader in employee workforce management and scheduling software. The major features included in this new product are:

1. " It is powered by Hatrak Associates "best in the business" Budget-Based Scheduling Engine™ (HABBS™) "
2. It is technology neutral: There is no need to invest in technology. The software will run on your system and will also let you use powerful, very popular, and time tested open source" applications like (Apache® web server, the My Sql® Database Engine, the Linux® operating system, and others) "
3. It works with the six most popular databases (among others) "
4. The User Interface (UI) is very attractive. Macromedia Flash is used to develop the UI " It is browser-based and will work on the internet or your intranet "
5. It is very scalable.

Very small organizations and very large enterprise organizations can use some or all of the features Along the way, the Hatrak Associates development team challenged old assumptions and carefully reviewed the fundamentals of shift scheduling. The development team focused on the following schedule properties:

1. The best schedule solutions optimize the fundamentals that drive the scheduling processes

2. There is no one size fits all schedule for every industry (do not waste your time looking for the perfect "cookie cutter" solutions)

3. Management imposed schedules can negatively affect employee absenteeism and employee turnover

4. Employee Shift Scheduling is one part of a larger process known as "Workforce Management"

5. Labor contracts impose schedule flexibility possibilities. Scheduling flexibility restrictions can be negotiated away and thus union contracts can dictate labor supply costs and labor demand requirements

6. Employees prefer weekends off. Rotation schemes are required. Often there are serious pro and con issues that must include serious employee involvement

7. Fixed and rotation schedule designs (or some of each) are important considerations when evaluating schedule designs.

8. The issue of fixed schedules (same regular days off every week) and rotation schedules (employees rotate from one set of regular days off to another at defined intervals) must pass the employee acceptability standard

9. A major schedule design consideration is the nature of the work performed. Some designs are suited to (or not suited to) a particular shift hours design.

The focus of this document is to help the reader explore workforce management and shift hour designs as they relate to making the key decisions involved in the process of switching from one schedule design to another. To get more information please contact Hatrak Associates at info@hatrak.com or call 702-869-8900.

For organizations with a diverse and complex workforce, automating the comprehensive workforce management business processes is an obvious and high-value decision. Reducing timekeeping and leave management costs alone are just the first step. Improving analysis of labor costs and trends allow organizations to take workforce management to new levels of productivity, efficiency and cost control.

The correct Workforce Management solutions help deliver the insight and flexibility your organization needs to make your workforce your most important asset. The coordination of business demands with workforce demands together with the decision support and rigorous control you need to balance workforce productivity and efficiency will maximize your return on investment and you can count on maximized employee satisfaction (lower absenteeism and turnover).

The correct Workforce Management strategies provide organizations with effective management tools that help ensure maximum efficiency, productivity, and cost savings. With a strong commitment to Workforce Management, our organization can meet its goals and objectives - on time and in budget.

The Case for Automating Workforce Management Business Processes

The case for automation of Workforce Management business processes should be obvious. Inaccuracies alone can account for a minimum loss of up to 6% of an organization's payroll costs. Hatrak Associates builds on traditional automation systems, but goes well beyond their capabilities by providing flexibility and control of workforce forecasting models. Labor Supply and Demand Analysis methodology helps ensure that you find the most efficient way to deploy labor while using optimization strategies.

A "best practices" approach helps organizations quickly evaluate and comply with new payroll policies, new bargaining unit benefits, continuously improve labor deployment models, quantify the measurement of labor demand and reduce expenses directly related to the "bottom-line.

The major goals Workforce Management are:

1. Labor Cost Control Increase Workforce Efficiency and Productivity

2. Improve Business Competitiveness

3. Maximize Workforce Utilization

4. Optimize,optimize, optimize

Using a series of powerful rules engines, and a full set of Workforce Management features Hatrak Associates Software captures comprehensive workforce data, performs complex calculations, and delivers usable information designed to allow you to evaluate precise metrics, make sound business decisions, and pay your workforce accurately. The Workforce Management features included are time capture and transfer to external payroll systems, scheduling, and leave and absenteeism management. With the ability to measure demand costs by activity, understand labor trends, and predict staffing needs, you can continuously evaluate and innovate new deployment models and improve management and employee efficiency and productivity in ever-changing complex environments.

What it takes to Maximize Workforce Management

1. Fully automated employee time and management

2. Employee Scheduling

3. Powerful and reliable tracking and forecasting entitlements, leave usage, and leave balances tracking

4. Flexible and rules-driven real-time data collection: Custom add-on features can be used to accommodate a variety of time capture devices including your choice of time clocks, biometric devices such as fingerprints and retinal scans, and web-enabled devices & PCs

5. End-User configurable rules engines for complex and diverse pay rule environments

6. Detailed reporting

7. Seamless integration to human resources, fiscal, budgeting, training, payroll, and other enterprise systems

8. On-demand professional consulting, implementation services, training, and customer support.

Workforce Management: Major Activities

Workforce management consists of five major activities that enable organizations to closely monitor and manage their labor supply and labor demand variables.

1. Workforce Scheduling: Tight integration between planning and scheduling systems provides the ability to forecast labor demands so that is can be evaluated against "upstream and downstream" labor suppliers

2. Staffing Fiscal Plans: Comprehensive and accurate labor supply and demand data is needed to optimize resource allocation.

3. Time and Labor Management for Maximum Productivity and Cost Control: Comprehensive data collection options ensure suitable solutions for any employee profile, including professionals, salaried, hourly or contract no matter where they work in the organization " Accurate time accounting data processed against complex pay rules eliminates rework in the payroll process " Detailed and concise time data capture and reporting ensures compliance with rules, regulations, and labor agreements. Seamless integration with other enterprise and legacy applications leverages technology investments.

4. Optimized Business Planning: Identify inefficiencies and test new labor scenarios for process improvement using labor supply and demand analyses and forecasting tools

5. Goals and Performance Measures: Measurement against a set of default metrics that are focused on understanding labor costs and to identify trends are required.

SHIFT HOURS

Is there such a thing as a "one size fits all" shift length?

No! A good start to finding the right design for your organization and employees begins with exploring the issues listed below. This will help you arrive at the best decision.

1. Do the majority of employees communicate long distance to get to and from work?

2. Are there shift hours included in the design that employees will consider undesirable shift that begin at 4 AM for example)?

3. Is every job a 24/7 one?

4. Are there issues that can best be resolved using overlapping shift hours? Shift briefings between shifts are a good example of shift hours overlap required.

Let us start the shift hour patterns discussion with an assumption: Shift length is an extremely important variable when evaluating shift schedule designs. During our twenty plus years in business, we have witnessed a strong migration toward longer shifts, more days off, and more weekend days off.

Longer shifts equate to fewer days of work in a 40-hour workweek. This partially explains why shift work operations are investigating alternative shift schedules. From the employee point of view, increased shift lengths offer them the opportunity to get more days off without sacrificing pay.

Since the ten and twelve hours shift are longer than eight-hour shifts, and the number of days off are greater, employees on the ten and twelve-hour shifts work far fewer average annual hours than those employees working eight-hour shifts.

Employees working 40 hours a week work 2,080 hours in a year. This occurs by working either: 260 8-hour shifts, 208 10-hour shifts, or 173.3 12-hour shifts. The trade off is that longer shifts give you more total days off and less time off on the days that they come to work.

Today, in most cases, the Fair Labor Standards Act allows overtime pay after 40 hours in a week and not after 8 hours in a day. Law enforcement organization can have longer than periods before overtime is mandated.

Evaluating Your Shift Hour Pattern Options

What's Best

With the decision to change schedule design made the first step to take is to establish the shift length variables most important to the organization and employees.

Suggested Steps

1. Establish Goals that include organization and employee goals

Given goals that includes reducing overtime, absenteeism, turnover and to improve employee efficiency and productivity what is the best type of shift schedule: 8 hours, 10 hours, 12 hours, or a combination of each. The simple answer is there is no one best schedule. The schedule that works best is the one selected by the mix of employees who work at the operation. Even today, in too many instances, schedule changes happen that do not adequately address the needs of the majority of the employees.

2. The climate and environment of the areas where employees perform work

Ten and twelve-hour schedules does not necessarily cost more than an 8-hour shift schedule. Employees may not be less fatigued on an 8- hour schedule. The correct schedule is one that is physiologically sound (no shift starts at 4 a.m. in the morning, a limit on the number of consecutive days worked (for eights, tens, and twelve's) and matches the lifestyle and demographics of the employees.

You should consider eight-hour shifts when, for example, the employee work environment is one that there are lengthy period of exposure to high noise levels and high levels of work related stress. Working in environments that do not have air conditioning but the work includes exposure to extreme heat (working at blast furnaces) will have an impact on employee productivity. High productivity employee levels may not be possible when the work they perform involves demanding physical labor and the shift is in excess to eight-hours. Does more time off reverse the impact of the climate and environment in which the employee works.

3. Given climate and environmental consideration will fixed or rotating schedules help reverse negative productivity impact and on the health and safety of the employee

More often than not so long as the total number of hours remains the same), employees will perform most work equally well on short or longer shift hour designs. Simple task analyses will help you determine the need for fixed and / or rotating shifts. Some work that requires high levels attention and analysis may be best suited to shorter work hours. Rotation from one job to another during the same shift can help when the decision is to adopt longer shift patterns.

4. What do the employees want

While longer shifts are certainly popular than shorter shifts and more workdays they are not the obvious choice of all employees. Prepare your employees to evaluate shift hour patterns using roundtable discussions and other approaches. Help them get a clear understanding of what they are getting into and what the pros and cons of each shift hour pattern is as each applies to them and to the organization.

5. What payroll and human resources changes are required, if any.

Traditional policies (i.e. vacation leave, sick leave, maternity leave, bereavement leave, personal leave, bonus day leave, etc.) typically are in place for 8-hour shifts. To avoid potential financial costs for the organization you must rewrite these policies to correspond to the extended shift hour pattern selected.

6. Evaluate the best use of on and off day pattern's.

Through careful analysis, you may find that one on and off day pattern is not the best for all shifts. Where a pattern works best for the day shift may not work equally as well for the night shift. FOR INFORMATION ABOUT SHIFT PATTERNS AND GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATIONS OF SOME PLEASE GO TO THE DOWNLOADS SECTION OF THE WEB SITE AND VIEW AND/OR DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETE ARTICLE

Link to downloads: Download Login

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Today’s Emerging Trends

More and more organizations are learning that automating workforce management business processes is an obvious and high-value decision. Many of today’s top managers understand that reductions in payroll costs alone are just a first step. In order to remain responsive private and public sector organizations must have the ability to proactively manage and optimize their workforce. To achieve this, they need to leverage accurate and up-to-the-minute information directly related to all costs related to the deployment of the workforce.

The “Dig for Data” Traditional Approach

Time and attendance systems essentially provide historical reports on events that have already occurred. This after-the-fact reporting model was acceptable when organizations had stable environments and when minor variations in plans could be more easily absorbed to accommodate inefficiencies.

The traditional approach for improving deployment models has been to run a variety of reports after the work is finished, reconcile the data from data collection systems, and then analyze it for meaningful information that would enable better decision making in the future. This traditional “dig for data” method is ineffective because it does not provide a proactive approach for timely response in dynamic environments that are under relentless cost cutting pressure.

Labor Supply and Demand Analyses – The Key to Forecasting and Schedule Optimization

To be truly effective, progressive organizations need ways to access and act upon current, accurate and actionable data before and not after the fact. The proactive decision point is that point in time when you have to quickly make a decision about how to efficiently and cost-effectively deploy valuable resources in order to respond to changes in demand.

Labor Supply and Demand Analysis:

The Labor Supply and Demand Analysis is a powerful analytical tool used to develop and implement cost-effective workforce management fiscal plans.

Once implemented, this tool is to monitor end of year projections that includes recommended action. Labor Supply and Demand fiscal plans are translated into “budget-based schedules,” and then to optimize and control them. Furthermore, this diagnostic and analytical tool is used everyday to check staffing coverage and suggests improvement strategies. In this regard, our solutions are unique among the shift scheduling packages on the market today.

Budget-Based Scheduling

Budget-Based Scheduling depends upon designing a fiscal model that directs the development of the schedules. Using the Labor Supply and Demand Analysis, you develop Budget Models. Once you arrive at the right Budget Model our powerful Scheduling Engine takes over and builds master and daily employee schedules guaranteed to tie directly to the budget model developed (full time equivalent position and fiscal requirements).

The Labor Supply and Demand Analysis helps evaluate your business rules, policies, procedures, shift design, schedule design, full time equivalent positions, and budgeted funds. These analyses help you control the fiscal and scheduling impact that average annual employee’ deployable and not deployable days have on coverage.

The Analyses project end of fiscal year budget over and under information. Over and under color coded data is reported on a dashboard screen.

Budget Forecasting

Developed exclusively for organizations requiring schedules based on Labor Supply and Demand and budget forecasts and the need to do “budget-based scheduling. The Enterprise Employee Schedule forecaster works with the schedule design, development, and implementation.

The Enterprise Employee Scheduler uses forecasts to schedule various job tasks based upon automated scheduling formulas and operational requirements upon which budget-based scheduling relies.

Workforce Management Includes Continuous Optimization of Labor Deployment to Meet Demand

Our Workforce Employee Scheduling is tightly integrated with an organizations fiscal and operational planning systems for the efficient allocation and deployment of labor resources. When unplanned events occur, whether an emergency or an improvement opportunity, Workforce Management helps to dynamically reallocate labor resources to best meet revised goals.

Workforce Management Requires Effective Recording of Time and Attendance Transactions

Workforce Management ensures the consistency and accuracy of labor data across the organization because all labor data is generated from the same time transactions recorded by a single source. This eliminates the time consuming process of reconciling time and labor data generated from multiple disparate systems and delivers accurate time and labor information to payroll, financial, and other enterprise systems.

Workforce Management Requires the Ability to Respond Rapidly to Complex Rule Changes

Workforce Management must accommodate a wide range of complex rule scenarios without requiring the development of custom software. This capability enables an organization to respond rapidly to critical, time-sensitive events, such as union contract negotiations, or the adoption of new labor policies.

Powered by Hatrak Associates Budget-Based Scheduling Engine

For more information, please call 1-702 869-8900

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We celebrated our 20th consecutive successful year in business in 2003. Successful is a relative term and is usually defined in many ways! Whatever definition you use Hatrak Associate's Workforce Management and Employee Scheduling solutions will meet your exact needs [whitepaper].

The major ways meet your needs is to provide: (1) A complete and configurable set of solutions that are appropriate for your organization; (2) A proof of concept, testing and "system roll out" set of strategies that have a proven track record; (3) Training that gets your members ready to effectively use the system and that then continues until you take ownership of the system; (4) Responsive, supportive, and expert customer services; and (5) An extremely cost sensitive approach to providing your organization with ongoing professional services consulting when you need and request them.

Hatrak Associates solutions are designed and built around the needs of management, human resources managers, budget directors, labor schedulers, payroll managers, training managers, and employees. We are continuously optimizing our solutions, using extensive end-user input, to help assure that our current and future customers continue to have access to leading edge solutions [whitepaper].

System "roll out" is phase based. The process begins with training of key staff. This training can occur at your location, at our facilities or over the web. Our concepts courses and other training offerings have been designed and developed by trained educators. The goal is to get the end user to system ownership the fastest way possible. Hatrak Associates puts their expert deployment teams, "boots on the ground" at your site to help support application "roll out." At times we provide business process design and implementation facilitators to manage the process and to evaluate current policy and procedure and then at times to help implement them.

Our approach to professional services consulting is to be there, if necessary, to provide support and to help ensure success. You will learn that we continuously monitor every customer account. This helps us to make recommendations for remedial support and / or training as quickly as possible.

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We offer two separate product application packs! The first is our Windows compatible desktop version. This comes with the following modules: Setup (codebook's), security, human resources, employee scheduling, time and attendance, absenteeism accounting, skills management, accruals, payroll data capture and processing, among others. Pricing is based on the number of employees scheduled. Our pricing for this application pack is competitive with other Windows compatible desktop employee scheduling software packages. If you are not looking for a browser-based solution that can be run on local area networks than this is the product option for you.

If you are looking for a browser-based solution for the enterprise or for smaller organizations than you need our Rich Internet Application. This product pack is also priced on the number of employees scheduled.[whitepaper]

The standard Enterprise pack comes bundled with the following modules: 1) Setup and Security; 2) Resources that includes employee profiles and an employee self-service calendar that employees may use to request time off, to view their overtime worked history, to view their leave history, to view their assignment history, and to view their current and historical leave entitlements and leave balances; 3) Employee Scheduling modules permit to design any schedule you like) [whitepaper]; and 4) Time and Attendance which comes time accounting, payroll data capture, time sheets, absenteeism accounting, and accruals [whitepaper].

Separate add-on modules are available. These modules are: 1) Our Labor Supply and Demand Forecasting and Optimization Modules (using our Labor Intelligence Cost Control Workforce Management Cost Control Strategies [whitepaper] [whitepaper]; and 2) A full blown Training records management series of modules that are fully integrated into the Scheduling and Skills Management modules.

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We now offer Enterprise Workforce Management and Employee Scheduling Solutions! These new software packs add to our already popular Windows compatible desktop application. Our technology is now cutting edge! See a technology flowchart: [technology flowchart] To download other related information click this link[Downloads]

The new software packs has been developed using Macromedia Flash MX 2004 technology that provides the "slickest" user interface (UI) of the competition. all other development tools.

The new version is platform independent. This means that it will work on an MAC, and using operating systems such as Window and Linux.

Our solutions work in 24/7, and 24/7/365 environments (or less). The major benefits are increased productivity and efficiency, enhanced control over payroll costs, and a return on investment in 6-months or less.

Employees and their supervisors can log in to the application using a web browser to view their personal calendars, to submit leave requests, to view leave balances, to see their schedule assignment history, to see their leave and absenteeism history, and to see their overtime worked history.

The new Rich Internet version will maximize the use of web services (XML). In short this means that moving and receiving data from your other applications happens directly and not through some custom developed processor. Thus, the data located in your organization's data store is available to the RIA and the RIA data is available to other databases in the data store. You can use hand held computers, time clocks, and other data collection devices with the system. Data transfers to payroll systems are direct database to database).   Collapse

Most organizations prefer to have their data reside on their own server. Therefore, our sales effort is aimed at those organizations that prefer to license the system to run the application on their own equipment. However, if you wish to subscribe to an online version we will provide you with a monthly subscription rate. Link to downloads [downloads]

Useful Background Information

It is true that in most cases staffing needs can change depending on the clock, the calendar or customer demand. When employees are not deployable for any reason (someone unexpectedly does not show up for work), you struggle with making replacement assignments.

All Public and Private Organizations face similar challenges. Among these organizations are included restaurants, manufacturing companies, wholesale and retail operations, airlines, hospitals, nursing homes, public safety organizations (call centers, police, fire, prisons, jails, detention centers), public works agencies, and non-profit organizations that organize and deploy volunteers can all benefit from our Rich Internet Employee Scheduling Application (RIESA).

It is very likely that you have some methods for performing staff deployment tasks, and a tool to prepare staff schedules. In most cases schedulers are probably using a spreadsheet pencil and paper or something as simple as a wall calendar, or a wall mounted white board. In any case, the versatility of your scheduling tool and it is on its ability to accommodate changes in a demand driven environment will largely determine your scheduling related payroll costs.

The best tools are those that prepare budget-based schedules and that can be used everyday to check staffing coverage and suggest improvement strategies. In this regard, our browser-based application is unique among the shift scheduling packages on the market today.

Another major requirement today is that scheduling tools must effectively communicate employee schedules. Here again, we have the best personnel scheduling solution. Using Macromedia Flash MX 2004 technology, we have harnessed the Internet (Intranet) to make it easy to schedule shift work. Our Rich Internet Application offers the "slickest" user interfaces (UI) available today.

SYSTEM FEATURES SYSTEM BENEFITS

Feature: Powerful Schedule Design Schedule Optimizing

Benefits:

1. A powerful analytical tool, the staff supply and demand analysis, is used to evaluate the rules; policy, procedures, shift design, and schedule design have on your current scheduling related business processes.

2. Analyzes and helps control the fiscal and scheduling impact that planned and unplanned requests have on coverage.

3. This tool is used to select the “What’s Best” solution for your organization.

4. The system uses your staff supply and demand data to develop schedules.

Feature: Master and Daily Schedules

1. Soon you can test drive the system on our web site. You do not need to purchase, install or maintain any software. After a trial run, and if you are still interested you may use our subscription option, or you may decide to pay a one-time software license for use on your own client and server systems.

2. Employee schedules can be developed and adjusted on the Web or on your Intranet using a web browser to access the system. Any computer with a web browser can access the system. In some cases, you may want your employees to access their own data from anywhere Optionally, employees can optionally login to maintain their own availability and even volunteer for assignments via the web to exploit communication and coordination requirements.

3. Employee skills, licensing, and other related assignment information is fully integrated into the system.

4. It is easy to find employees qualified to fill an assignment or to block others not qualified for an assignment

5. One manager can maintain different schedules, for each work location, department, or scheduling unit.

6. More than one manager can maintain the same schedule at the same time.

7. You can reduce the number of employees used in the shift scheduling process.

8. You will recover your investment in 6 months or less.

9. All possible work patterns can be accommodated by the system.

10. Daily schedules, in the form of a calendar, highlight schedule exceptions such as vacations, military leave, in-service training, leave without pay, sick leave, and all other reasons an employee was not deployable.

11. You define the shift and rotation assignment rules – the system makes the scheduling changes for you.

12. Supports on-loan (temporary) staffing provided other departments or organizations.

13. User defined flexibility are used to handle employee replacement requirements before overtime is used.

14. E-mail can be used to move schedules and other relevant information over the Web.

15. Employees can log in to view their work schedules.

16. Supervisors can adjust schedules over the web from anywhere if allowed.

Feature: Time and Attendance

Benefits:

1. The time, attendance, and absenteeism accounting modules are enhancements. There is no need to purchase functionality you do not want.

2. Time and Attendance rules (union, contractor, exempt and non-exempt payroll data capture, time and attendance, accruals, entitlements, and paid holidays) are defined for the organization, work location, department, and scheduling unit.

3. Absenteeism accounting rules are end user defined.

4. The time and attendance modules fully integrate with all other modules.

Feature: Full Blown Training

Benefits:

1. The training modules are enhancements. There is no need to purchase functionality you do not want.

2. The training modules fully integrate with all other modules.

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We service public and private organizations that operate 24/7/365. As a company, we built our reputation servicing state, county, and local prisons, jails and detention centers in need of contemporary employee scheduling solutions and enabling software. We have performed proof of concept implementations at a detoxification center, a fire department, and a corporation that builds and manages prisons and other types of criminal justice programs. Link to downloads [downloads]

>Today we off Enterprise Solutions to the corporate world as well as to government users. Typically, our clients start off in search of solutions that can help them contend with of exploding payroll and overtime costs.Once

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Meeting the challenge of maintaining a competitive advantage is important in the highly competitive business environment. Link to downloads [downloads]

A common remark we hear from our private sector friends is "Why look at employee schedules when the one we have has worked for years?" Our response to those inquiries is simple: "If a business doesn't compete, it won't survive". The implication is not that businesses that don't change schedules are doomed to extinction, because businesses are making changes every day to improve the their competitive profile. Most of these changes have little or nothing to do with shift work.

The business that remains standing at the end of the day, however, will be the one that remains highly competitive and that means competing at every level of the operation.

Business operations tend to have three key activities that contribute up to 90% of their scheduling improvement opportunities: production, maintenance, and support. The interaction between these three activities causes the most scheduling problems and thus represents the most potential gains for a business.

It is no secret that management spends a lot of time and effort attempting to make these three activities work together as well as possible. It is generally accepted that inefficiencies are inevitable and that even the most inventive scheduling efforts focus on minimizing the damage. As a result of these internal efforts, today's shift schedules are more efficient than those used only a few years ago. It is reasonable to expect that the schedules of tomorrow will be even better. The intention is to raise the bar higher and challenge schedule designers to clear it.

So how does one come up with a schedule that is good for the company? The best way to design any employee schedule is to first understand the current schedule. Employee schedules have good and bad schedule properties. If changing schedules is the goal, be sure to retain those things that work and improve those that do not.

Managing and controlling absenteeism is a major shift scheduling property. Planned and unplanned leave (absenteeism) nearly always guarantee that shift will be understaffed or overstaffed. It assures that some skills will be in short supply while others are overly available. It assures that teams are really made up of few regulars and many replacement employee or temporary hires.

The reasons for absenteeism are virtually constant from one organization to the next. Vacation is usually the biggest user of employee not deployable time. Contract days are a close second. or other types of paid time off (employee not deployable days) such as floating days, holidays, military leave, bereavement leave, in-service training, civil leave, personal days, etc.

Employers most often assume that the single most frequent reason for employee non deployable days is absenteeism due to illness or family emergency. This is usually not the case. As such, this fact means that nearly all absenteeism can be scheduled. Employers may not be able to 100% reduce absenteeism. What is assured, however, is that with proper leave planned scheduling, controlled by historical and projected averages, employers can cause planned leaves to occur in a pattern that is highly predictable and therefore manageable and cost effective.

Many experts agree that it is not he quantity of absenteeism that causes all of the problems; it's the uncertainty as to when it will occur and to whom. This allows for making proactive relief assignments that do not require overtime.

Hatrak Associates can help you design shift schedules and devise business processes that focus on "budget-based" shift scheduling and employee planned unplanned scheduling and control. Our solutions rely on historical and projected employee deployable and not deployable days to determine true staffing needs and them to translate those needs into overtime cost cutting employee work schedules. Therefore, our solutions have help manu organizations increase efficiency, productivity, and profitability.

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Among the problems employers face is employee absenteeism. One of the most functional needs an employer has is to maintain operations and services with little interruption. Given that, it is important that the workforce maintains regular attendance. On the "flip side" the most fundamental obligation of an employee is to regularly attend work. Link to downloads [downloads]

Absentee employees can have a huge effect on the ability of an organization to efficiently operate. Thus the importance of managing, controlling, and minimizing employee deployable and not deployable days (absenteeism) is paramount.

From a legal point of view, human resources arbitrators are sympathetic to the employer's compelling need to achieve regular attendance by employees. However, employers face numerous legal issues challenges if their absenteeism management and control initiatives are not planned and managed correctly.

Absenteeism can be classified as major or minor. When establishing absenteeism and control programs it is very important to keep in mind the difference between the two classifications. Managements objective should focus on avoiding the risk of an arbitrator invalidating you program.

Major absenteeism takes several forms, starting with feigning illness at one end of the spectrum to tardiness, leaving early, and failure to notify management of an absence at the other. Major absenteeism events are often resolved through an appropriate disciplinary response.

On the other hand, absence due to illness or injury is minor absenteeism. While this type of absenteeism may become so frequent or excessive as to undermine the employment relationship itself, and may ultimately justify termination, an employer NEEDS TO VIEW THESE EVENSTS AS ADMINISTRATIVE AND NOT DISCIPLINARY EVENTS. The logic behind this approach is that a sick employee is genuinely incapable of performing his or her duties.

To support a management decision to terminate an employee for minor absenteeism, the employer has the burden to demonstrate that the employee's past record of absenteeism is excessive, that the chance for improved attendance is poor, and that the employee was given fair warning that his or her job was in jeopardy.

OUR APPROACH

Designing and then implementing attendance management programs we focus on dealing with the problem of minor absenteeism. The programs we propose aim to improve the attendance of employees with above-average absentee records by monitoring their absences and counseling them about the reasons for the absence and the importance of maintaining staffing levels.

Case law in this area shows that systems set up to monitor employee attendance with a view to controlling excessive absenteeism are permissible. However, the cases also show that many arbitrators are uneasy with certain aspects of these systems, and it is useful to be aware of the features that increase the chances of a program's success. Successful programs have the following characteristics:

1. They focus on developing creditable administrative and not disciplinary management and control of minor absenteeism.

2. They are extremely careful to avoid conflicts with collective agreement

3. They use reasonableness as the major goal. Minor absenteeism management and control programs must be reasonable and administered fairly.

4. They carefully train employees assigned to administer the minor and major absenteeism programs.

Our employee scheduling business processes and enabling software include programs for observing and classifying absenteeism as described above. The software includes forecasting tools, using real-time attendance information, that predicts end of fiscal year cost impacts of employee absenteeism.

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There are many time clock, human resources, rime and attendance, and payroll applications which can benefit from incorporating our "Hatrak Associates Budget-Based Scheduling Engine™ into their applications. For more information about partnering opportunities pleas call at 702.869.8900 or send us an email at sales@hatrak.com

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The Setup module includes defining a table of organization as follows: The top tier of the organization chart is the Organization. The system permits an unlimited number of Organizations. Under each organization you can define an unlimited number of Work Locations. For each work location you can identify an unlimited number of Departments. And finally, each department can include an unlimited number of Scheduling Units.

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There is no limit. You can schedule as many or as few employees as you wish.

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When shift workers are asked to focus on shift length and it's effect on time off alone, most shift workers prefer 10-hour shifts over 8-hour or 12-hour shifts. Our 10-hour shift designs are unique in that they divide into a 24-hour day. Ten-hour shift designs that cannot divide into a 24-hour day cost more than 8 or 12 hour shifts.

Our position is that the question is not what’s best, but what is the best way to deploy staff in order to arrive at the most efficient and cost-effective shift and schedule design for your organization. When we design cost effective shift structures and employee schedules we follow these basic steps::

1. Quantify staff supply (full time equivalent positions ("FTE's") and personal services budgets).
2. Establish accurate salary factors (the number of FTE's and corresponding labor costs needed to replace employees who do not report for work).
3. Establish salary factor funding strategies.
4. Quantify the demand for staff (profile all positions).
5. Establish an acceptable supply and demand balance.
6. Establish adequate control systems and implement with the correct policies and procedures.

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Our powerful Rules and policy engines accommodate multiple labor contracts. Scheduler Engines work with these labor rules when generating schedules, performing time and attendance activities, and payroll systems. Some of the rules accommodated are seniority, shift differential, turn-around pay, holiday pay, on call pay, benefits, leave, and entitlements and leave balance processing.

Developing and implementing employee work schedules in a union environment is a complicated process. Union contract or not, the best solutions are the ones that fit the needs of the workforce as well as those of the organization. Without the workers' support, you will spend all of your time wrestling with scheduling issues.

If the union and management agree that a better schedule lies outside of what a contract allows, we help write a timed addendum. The addendum must obviously meet with everyone's approval and allows for a schedule to be implemented outside of the current contract for a specific period of time and with a very specific set of pay and work rules. This approach allows the schedule design to be tested on a trial basis before it is incorporated into the contract.

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Normally, it takes two to four months to fully implement the system. Our approach is to implement in a series of phases that are timed for success.

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Any reason why an employee can not be deployed to a work assignment is included in the calculation of a Deployable Days Factor. Among the reasons are sick leave, vacation leave, maternity leave, bereavement leave, jury duty, administrative leave, leave without pay, pre-service and in-service training, and any other reason why an employee is not deployable are all variables used to calculate Deployable Days Factors. These factors are critical to set full time equivalent position (FTE) requirements for each equivalent position that must have relief.

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We analyze existing and proposed personal services budgets to develop fiscal profiles that quantify equivalent full time equivalent positions FTE's) from permanent, part time, and temporary positions. Also staff coverage reflected in overtime and other personal services budget line items is determined, represented by computing an average overtime hourly rate and/or FTE equivalent positions.

Armed with the above information we work with your workforce management teams to develop demand profiles. These demand profiles are compared to supply profiles that help developed an employee deployment management budget.

Finally the software is configured to the supply, demand, and budget models adopted. It is then that the software is rolled out and the end-users trained.

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When determining the demand for staff (Staffing Plan or Staffing Pattern) we consider the following major areas:

1. The overall mission of the organization, work locations, departments, and scheduling units.
2. Physical layout and design.
3. Operations requirements which affect staffing.
4. Standards, policies and procedures, rules, and regulatory agencies’ requirements,
5. State and federal laws which affect staffing levels.
6. Accurate salary factors developed using accurate employee average annual deployable and not deployable days data.

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The "Hatrak Associates Budget-Based Scheduling Engine™" ("HABBS™) is the most powerful scheduling engine on the market. Employee shift schedules are developed using patterns developed by the end-user or by our unique's Relief Driven default patterns. Link to downloads [downloads]

End-users can very quickly enter their existing shift, on and off day patterns, rotations, and schedule designs to get employee schedules that are identical to those currently in use.

Relief driven Budget-Based Schedules are developed by the system using our proprietary methods. Budget-based schedules assure you that they will not require more full time equivalent positions and corresponding personal services budgeted funds than what you the user determine is needed and/or available.

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The development of cost effective staff deployment fiscal plans, and then translating them into “budget-based” employee shift schedules (Master and Daily schedules) requires a careful analysis of all staff supply and demand variables using accurate historical and real-time employee deployable and not deployable days averages (Deployable Days Factors) that become the quantifiers of staff demand.

• Staff Supply: Existing and proposed personal services budgets must be analyzed to develop fiscal profiles which will quantify equivalent full time equivalent positions ("FTE's") from permanent, part time, and temporary positions. Also staff coverage reflected in overtime and other personal services budget line items must be determined, represented by computing an average hourly overtime rate and/or FTE equivalent. If operations and administrative personnel are scheduled separately, individualized fiscal profiles for each group must be developed.

• Staff Demand: First, the overall mission of the organization must be considered in developing a staffing philosophy that balances operations and administrative needs. Equivalent work assignments ("positions") must then be defined and prioritized in compliance with the staffing philosophy. For each prioritized position, a staffing profile is developed including the hours and days the post must be staffed and if relief is necessary (other than regular days off).

Staffing flexibility factors must be identified, generally indicating if a position can be temporarily closed for support of other duties and/or positions. Based on the combined profile of all positions, shift patterns are developed. If operations and administrative staff are scheduled separately, a separate staff demand analysis is developed for each group.

• Salary Factor: Time and attendance data are used to compute accurate salary factors. The salary factor is critical to determine the FTE requirement for each position that must have relief. For example, if a position requires an employee eight hours per day, seven days per week, how many FTE's are required to staff that position over an entire year? Assuming personnel work eight hour shifts each week, an employee assigned to a position will have to be relieved for his/her two regular days off each week. The same employee must also be relieved for other reasons such as sick leave, vacation, training, jury duty, maternity leave, etc. If the average off duty days for all employees is 140 days (e.g. 104 regular days off plus 36 days for sick leave, vacation, etc.), another person(s) must be available to work the position on those days. Since the average employee is available to work the post for only 225 days each year (365 minus 140 off duty days), an equivalent of 1.62 FTE's (salary factor) is required to cover the post on one shift for 365 days per year.

• Staffing and Fiscal Planning: With the analysis completed in the above three areas, a staffing and related fiscal plan can be completed. Software designed to optimize the supply, demand, and salary factor work processes is helpful because it allows for quickly modeling and testing different staffing and fiscal options and strategies. The model should measure the balance between staff demand (reflecting the position profiles and shift patterns) and staff supply (reflecting personal services appropriations or proposed budgets) utilizing the appropriate salary factor(s) expected.

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Our browser-based version (currently under development) can potentially be used on all major operating systems, including Linux, many Unix variants (including HP-UX, Solar is and OpenBSD), Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, RISC OS, and probably others.

The browser-based version works with most of the web servers today. This includes Apache, Microsoft Internet Information Server, Personal Web Server, Netscape and iPlanet servers, Oreilly Web site Pro server, Caudium, Xitami, Omitted, and others.

So, with our browser-based version, you have the freedom of choosing an operating system and a web server.

One of the strongest and most significant features in our browser-based version is its support for a wide range of databases. The following databases can currently be supported:

1. Adabas D InterBase
2. PostgreSQL
3. FrontBase
4. Sybase
5. My SQL
6. IBM DB2
7. MS Access
8. ODBC
9. Unix
10. Informix
11. Oracle
12. And others

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We service small and large sized organizations: both public and private. Employee scheduling can be, and often is, a very complicated process. Far too often agencies still spreadsheets and pencil and paper methods. If you are among those organizations you need to contact us ASAP!

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Yes! We monitor all your staffs upcoming skills, license, certifications, and job specific expirations, and it alerts you at at the point of scheduling. You can tell the system how far in advance you want to be alerted to a pending expiration.

If you are scheduling an employee and they have an upcoming or expired item in their personnel file, you are immediately notified before you book the shift. You can run reports on any license, skill, qualification, or certifications that are about to expire.

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