Success Stories

Indian Head Chooses TAPS
to Solve Their Time and Attendance Problems

The vendor would no longer support MGM Brakes’ dated PC-based time and attendance system, and Indian Head had to make a decision – upgrade the existing software or replace it with a new and more compatible solution to their iSeries-based Infinium payroll system. The new time and attendance solution turned out to be Viewpoint TAPS (Time and Production System) from Nutech Systems.

MGM Brakes, a division of Indian Head Inc., is acknowledged worldwide as the leading manufacturer and distributor of air brakes and actuators for the heavy-duty vehicle industry. Indian Head’s corporate office is located in Charlotte, N.C. where they are running the Infinium payroll system. The PC-based software collected the time and attendance data in the two MGM Brakes facilities located in Murphy, N.C. and Cloverdale, CA.

Given that Indian Head needed to make a decision concerning a time and attendance system, they wanted to ensure their choice of solutions would eliminate the drawbacks they were experiencing operating the payroll and time and attendance packages on different platforms. Accessibility to the time and attendance system was one of the shortcomings Indian Head wanted resolved. Without accessibility, the IT department located in Charlotte could not effectively support the plants. There were continuous problems with the PCs uploading the time attendance data, and difficulties with the clocks. The payroll clerk would manually have to key in the time and attendance data when the IT department could not immediately resolve the problem. The situation was frustrating, for both parties, and added to the time needed to prepare the data for payroll.

To solve this issue, Indian Head decided the time and attendance system needed to be an iSeries-based solution, as the IT staff, already familiar with the reliable and robust iSeries, could then support the new solution remotely. According to Dora Dalmas, Senior Director of Information Technology at Indian Head, "Having TAPS reside on the iSeries versus going with another PC solution has been a huge benefit. Now we can provide support because we can see the clocks, punches, etc., and can help the manufacturing plants if something is not working correctly or the way the plants need it to work." Solving the support issue was one of the immediate benefits of choosing TAPS.

Providing MGM Brakes with real time data TAPS would prove to have other benefits for both the organization and the supervisors. Prior to implementing TAPS, each MGM plant had a designated payroll clerk responsible for gathering the time and attendance data off the PC based system. This procedure was tedious and time-consuming. The process entailed having to continuously calculate and adjust the punches. Some employees had authorization to clock outside of their regularly scheduled shifts, while others did not. It was the clerk’s responsibility to make the adjustments accordingly. The supervisors approved the final punches prior to having the data forwarded to the Charlotte office for processing. By the time four hundred employee punches had been gathered, adjusted, and approved, it was Tuesday afternoon before payroll could commence.

In addition to the amount of time needed to manage time and attendance, manual errors were occurring that were both difficult to spot and control. Supervisors were unaware, in some instances, of just how much overtime employees were accumulating; how payroll was calculating the missing time; and they were approving some of the punches outside of the regularly scheduled shifts in error. As a result, Indian Head was operating approximately twenty-five different shifts per facility.

Visibility of real time data in TAPS has eliminated these problems. Being able to see which employees have authorization to punch in early or late makes adjusting and approving the punches easy and error-free. As a result, Indian Head is no longer paying employees when they clock in late or early without prior permission. Under these conditions, Indian Head is now only running approximately fifteen shifts in total.

Having access to real time data also made it logical to shift the task of adjusting the punches from the payroll clerk to the supervisors. At first, the supervisors were hesitant, but during the implementation and training phase of the project, they discovered how easy and quickly they would be able to discharge this task. In TAPS, they now have the option of making necessary adjustments to the punches throughout the day. Then, only a few minutes is required, at the end of each day, to approve the final punches. This has given Indian Head a seamless flow of data between the Intermec T2480B Antares Stationary devices (clocks) and the Infinium payroll system. By Monday morning, the time and attendance data is accurate and ready for payroll to commence.

Outside of giving supervisors the ability to adjust the punches daily, TAPS is also a powerful tool to help them manage their workforce. Having greater traceability of their employee’s punches is allowing them to track and manage unwanted attendance behaviors. For example, when checking the punches the supervisor notices one of the employees has forgotten to punch in. If this is a one-off occurrence, the supervisor can quickly make the necessary adjustments at that point in time. Making real time adjustments ensures the data corresponds accurately with the true attendance picture on the shop floor. But, if the employee habitually forgets to clock in, having TAPS track this behavior pattern, makes it easier for the supervisor to address this issue with the employee.

Approving and managing vacation, absences due to illness, and personal time is also easier using TAPS’ traceability and calculation features. Prior to TAPS, the supervisors had to find the employees’ attendance calendar and manually calculate the time already taken and remaining entitlements. During peak vacation periods, the task became more complex trying to balance the number of employee requests with the labor needs of the organization. TAPS has simplified the process by automating the calculations and giving the supervisors the option of viewing a number of individual calendars at one time.

These are just a few examples of the different ways the MGM supervisors have found TAPS useful in helping them manage their workforce. From the Human Resources perspective, TAPS’ compatibility with the Infinium program has proven to be a definite asset. Besides having the time and attendance data available by Monday morning, they like how TAPS eliminates the need for double entry of employee data. Nutech provided a program so Indian Head can automatically duplicate new or changed employee information in Infinium, to the badge files in TAPS.

From IT’s perspective, familiarity with the iSeries techniques, used by Nutech to design TAPS, made the system easy to learn and implement. In fact, the most difficult part came before implementation even began. According to Dalmas, "Two days training in October by Nutech was sufficient for getting us started. The hardest part was gathering our requirements together. Looking at what our rules were, who had permission to clock in early or late, deciding on the schedules for the different shifts, lunch periods, breaks, etc. Although it was the hardest part of the entire implementation it was also wonderful getting it all together and streamlining the entire system."

The second week in January Indian Head went live and they have not looked back since.

In the words of Mike Carlson, Plant Manager, at MGM Brakes, "The time and attendance program is working very well. All the department managers are becoming proficient utilizing the program. The information availability compared to the old system is night and day. The supervisors now have attendance information up-to-date at the stroke of a key."

Viewpoint TAPS is a powerful tool to help supervisors manage their workforce activities in real time. TAPS features time and attendance, labor scheduling, and reporting for IBM iSeries/400 based ERP and Payroll Systems including Infinium, PeopleSoft World, System21, MAPICS, MAC-PAC, BPCS, PRMS, HFA, ADP, Ceridian, and Quest IV.