Beaumont Hospital tracks time with Softworks

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Beaumont Hospital is in the process of installing software to manage the work shifts, pay rules and regulations of its 3,000 staff.

The hospital has taken delivery of the ClockWise Time and Attendance/Flexitime system, supplied by the Irish developer Softworks. The software rollout is included as part of the current IT upgrade underway at the hospital on Dublin’s North side.

Prior to its installation, managing staff shifts and pay regulations was complex and difficult, with the result that considerable time was spent calculating payable hours and errors often occurred.

ClockWise, in conjunction with policy put in place by hospital management, provides an accurate way of calculating payable hours and has significantly reduced administration and paperwork for the hospital.

Beaumont Hospital chose ClockWise, which is a Web-based tool, for tracking time, attendance and flexitime. One of the main reasons cited for implementing ClockWise was that it allows staff to access their own information via a standard Web browser.

They can use their PCs to access information on personal records, for example days worked, over-time, holidays planned etc. They can also use the system to check the status of requests for approval.

‘Human resource and payroll staff no longer deal with as many routine questions as before,’ commented Lorraine Flynn, Systems Administrator at Beaumont Hospital. ‘This decentralisation has freed up key time and allows personnel focus on more important issues which at the end of the day benefit staff, and therefore, the patients.’

Hospital employees who do not have access to a PC at their desks will be able to use the system from any of a number of public workstations, which are to be installed in key areas throughout the hospital.

Staff at the hospital covers a range of employee types, from administration, catering and cleaning to temporary staff, nurses and doctors. For that reason, a pilot scheme was put in place to test staff practices and monitor the effect of the software on selected departments, before the system was fully installed.

‘Porter rules are particularly complex,’ said the hospital’s head porter Paul Donnelly. ‘If the system could work for us, the management would be confident it would work for all other departments.’ Having seen what ClockWise can do, Beaumont Hospital now has more than 1,000 staff on the system.

Implementation of the time and attendance system will be carried out on a phased basis at Beaumont Hospital. The next stages of the project will see ClockWise rolled out to catering staff, followed by all housekeepers and ward attendants. According to Emer Little of the hospital payroll department, Softworks has helped to eliminate payroll errors. ‘It simplifies the whole payroll process for me by recording the hours worked by various staff and allocating the appropriate hourly rate to that,’ she said. ‘It also automatically identifies employee timesheets stalled in the approval process. This has freed up much of my time, leaving me to get on with other aspects of my job.’

Currently, the hours that employees work are captured using swipe cards on clocks located throughout the hospital. Hospital management is said to be exploring the possibility of enhancing this service and allowing staff to record hours worked via their PC.

26/02/2003

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