Is your organization still using the old time clock to track employee’s attendance?

If yes, then you must have realized that there are numerous loop holes with the system. 

Some disadvantages of using the old punch clock are:

• People can punch the card on behalf of someone else which creates early punch ins as well as late overtime hours (buddy punching)
• Manual time calculations
• Possibility for dispute to arise
• Punch cards could be easily tampered / sabotaged

Punch clocks have been used by many organizations to assist in tracking the number of hours an employee of a company worked. 

Did you know that the first time clock was invented way back in 1888?  Which means It has been used for more than a hundred years! If it’s still being used today, it must be a real proven system.

These days, with the help of new technology, the disadvantages mentioned above can be eliminated. With biometric time clocks, a person’s biological attribute such as the finger print or retina, can be used to correctly identify the employee. This would mean that the buddy punching problem can be eliminated. Unless the buddy’s thumb or eyeball can be detached!

For organizations planning to migrate from old time clock to new new biometric clock, you can consider implementing this free biometric time and attendance software. Continue Reading »Free biometric time and attendance software

One of the main task of procurement and purchasing department personnels is to plan and execute an organization’s acquisition procedures and standards.

As many organizations today reduce the number of personnels within the procurement department, it is vital for the remaining ones to utilize the right strategies and tools to add value and maximise savings for the organization.

From consolidation and process improvement initiatives, a new term and job title emerged by the name strategic sourcing. Strategic sourcing manages the entire supply function through effective bidding processes and negotiation of contracts.

Obviously, negotiation skill / competency is key for every procurement department personnel to have. Having the right experience when it comes to negotiating for the best price is very important. But for those who are young and inexperienced, you can rely on the right tools to help you to negotiate better based on facts and market trends. But are there such tools available out there?

Continue Reading »A tool for procurement and purchasing departments

Is your organization planning to adopt IT Service Management (ITSM) processes to provide better services to clients?

If yes, then you may be looking for the right software or tool to assist in automating the processes.

Just like any other software out there, finding the right ITSM software that fits into your service management processes can be a challenge. Many organizations found out that they need to change the way they do things in order to follow how the ITSM software works. In the end, implementing an ITSM software which doesn’t gel well with current processes can slow things down rather than improve efficiency and performance.

It is crucial to really understand the various processes that your organization is adopting prior to selecting the right ITSM tool. Let’s take an example. Your organization is constantly struggling with managing the changes required to the ERP system. The bosses are saying that the reports do not look presentable. The people keying in the data are complaining of bad user experience. With all these constant demand for changes, it seems vital to put in some proper change management processes.

Without hesitating, the IT team decides to find the right tool to manage all these changes. One vendor comes in to implement a software just to manage changes required to the ERP system. Once implemented, the vendor leaves and over a period of few months, your team realizes that there is a need for a front end service desk capability to better manage the users. But when you return to the vendor to ask for some extension / enhancement, the cost seems to be very high. Sounds like some sort of vendor lock down scenario.

When considering an ITSM software, there are a few things to consider:

• Is the software scalable?
• Is the software enhanceable?
• Is the software on the same platform which host most of your organization’s applications?
• Is the software customizable? Or must the vendors come in everytime a small tweak is required?

For more details on how to choose the right ITSM software for your organization, do take some time to watch this webcast on Requirements to Consider When Looking at ITSM Tools.

From the webcast, you should have a better understanding on selecting ITSM tools which best suites your organization. The following is a list of IT Service Management (ITSM) tools for you to evaluate. Note that these tools are not listed in any particular order. Continue Reading »List of IT Service Management (ITSM) tools

Do you frequently use the Tasks feature in within Microsoft Outlook to manage all your tasks and important activities?

If you do, do you find the Tasks features in within Outlook comprehensive enough for you to be really task oriented?

Being task oriented means having the capabilities to be able to:

• Plan and create key tasks
• Plan and create sub tasks
• Budget the effort required for each task
• Manage priorities of all tasks
• Track the time spent on each task

When one is task oriented, it is important to be able to track and monitor how much time is being spent working on a specific task. With the capability to monitor all effort spent on a task, we train ourselves to be more focused, to reduce procrastination and to be able to estimate future tasks better.

If you’re looking for a free open source windows application software to manage all your tasks and to assist you in being truly task oriented, then do check out Task Coach - your friendly task manager. Continue Reading »An Outlook tasks alternative for task oriented people