Dinerware and TimeForge Labor Management Improvements

Posted on Dec 22, 2009 by apresley in TimeForge Features

Some of TimeForge’s November and December updates included improvements to scheduling and enhanced multi-unit capabilities, as well as new training videos (available on the TimeForge Manual).

In addition, we have improved our Point of Sale connectivity and integration, with our POS vendors, including Dinerware, Aloha POS (from Radiant Systems), and Micros.

Some of the Dinerware improvements with TimeForge include:

  • Use a fingerprint scanner with your Dinerware system to stop buddy punching and keep employees from riding the clock. To use a fingerprint scanner, you’ll need to clock all staff members in to Dinerware one time. You need to do this step, because Dinerware requires that employees be logged in for a variety of reasons, including meal coursing and printing.   After this initial clock in, all additional clock in and clock outs can be done on TimeForge, using a separate time punch terminal with a fingerprint scanner attached.

Use a Fingerprint Reader with TimeForge and Dinerware

Use a Fingerprint Reader with Dinerware

  • Forecast sales and inventory using Menu Item Groupings inside of Dinerware. While building a labor schedule, you may want to track gross sales, individual item sales, covers, labor hours, or other metrics.   Additionally, you can now build schedules and forecast sales by grouping menu items together.   For example, you may want to schedule staff members based on the hourly sales of porterhouse steaks, crab cakes, and apple turnovers.   Using TimeForge and Dinerware, you now can.

Forecast and Record Menu Items and Menu Item Groups

Forecast and Record Menu Items and Menu Item Groups

  • You can view Dinerware sales information on your cell phone and view real-time sales and labor information at the same time. Any Menu Item or Menu Item Group that is being forecast or collected by TimeForge can be viewed on your cell phone using the secure TimeForge RSS feed.   Receive real-time labor and sales information on any compatible smartphone or PDA.   You can read more about this in the TimeForge Manual.
  • In addition, TimeForge is now compatible with Dinerware version 2.9.1 – the latest offering from Dinerware. This latest version of the Dinerware POS offers a number of improvements for Dinerware and TimeForge customers.   Talk to your Dinerware representative about upgrading today!

You should be using a labor management system with your Dinerware POS system to make your life easy!   TimeForge can quickly and easily build your employee work schedules, manage attendance while enforcing the schedule (and stopping employees from clocking in early), reduce labor costs, and streamline staff management.   Sign up for a trial today to use TimeForge with your Dinerware POS system.

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Free 10 Day Trials

Posted on Apr 29, 2009 by apresley in

Sign up today for a Free Trial of the TimeForge products!   We offer 10-day trials of TimeForge Scheduling, TimeForge Attendance, and TimeForge Daily Log.   Combine the TimeForge products together to create a powerful productivity tool that is just right for you, your staff members, and your business!

 

Scheduling

Making a great employee schedule every week is an important task for your business. Employee work schedules should do more than notify staff when to work , an employee schedule should add profit to the business without being a painful chore.

  • Make Schedules Fast – in Under 30 Seconds!
  • Streamline Work Requests and Availability
  • Automatic Staff Email and Text Notifications
  • Detailed Reporting of Labor Costs (more than 40 reports!)
  • Easily Manage Overtime and Double Shifts
  • Track sick, vacation, and PTO
  • Monitor employee certifications and employee reviews

Sign Up Now or Read About TimeForge Scheduling

 

Attendance

Employee attendance and timecards are extremely difficult to monitor effectively , buddy punching, early clock ins, employees riding the clock, and forgetful employees are only a few of the issues that managers must confront on a daily basis.

  • Monitor labor costs (and who is clocked in), in realtime
  • Limit clock ins to specific computers or IP addresses
  • Enforce employee schedules, stop early clock-ins
  • Biometric fingerprint scanner eliminates buddy punching
  • One-click payroll reports – eliminate timecard errors

Sign Up Now or Read About TimeForge Attendance

Daily Log

Businesses lose market share to other successful businesses that are actively communicating with staff members in an effective way. Communication among staff members is a key component to running a profitable business.

  • Digital log books can replace multiple paper logs
  • Record notes and numbers, and set up todo lists
  • Manage equipment maintenance, employee reviews, weekly orders
  • Analyze day-to-day or week-to-week performance indicators

Sign Up Now or Read About TimeForge Daily Log

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Building a Labor Schedule is Complicated. Use Tools to Keep Managers and Employees Happy.

Posted on Aug 01, 2008 by apresley in Articles

Although employee work schedules sometimes appear simple to create, building a “good” labor schedule is extremely difficult using traditional methods such as Microsoft Excel or pen-and-paper.   Managers must build a schedule so that qualified employees are available to meet the forecasted demand for service or goods.   And a good schedule accurately reflects projected sales for the upcoming week or month, providing adequate work hours for employees.

Labor Schedules Take Time to Create

The employee schedule informs employees when to arrive at work, and in some cases, when to leave.   In other cases, employees are “cut” from the schedule based on demand (or volume) at the business.   In almost every case, the labor schedule is created by management staff in the back-office or at home after hours , a point of discontent for most managers who must work longer hours and weekend hours to build schedules.

The steps to create a labor schedule reads like a long list of tasks, occupying several hours of management time every week:

  1. First review the manager’s log book and estimate or forecast upcoming sales and the demand for labor.
  2. Next check the employee request log and availability sheets as well as individual work preferences while remembering which employees are minors or restricted in working.
  3. Look-up required employee certifications; for example, an ABC license is required to serve alcohol at a restaurant or necessary certifications to dispense medications.
  4. Identify trustworthy and experienced personnel to open or close the business.
  5. Try to fairly distribute shifts while meeting employee minimum hour works, but do not exceed a maximum number of hours.
  6. Make sure that employees are not likely to receive overtime if someone fails to show up on the schedule.
  7. Identify convenient times to provide break and meal periods for staff members who are required to receive breaks.
  8. Calculate the likely cost of payroll, being mindful of budgetary constraints , if the cost is too high, start over.

Juggling all of these factors to create a good schedule for the workforce is a complicated task that can consume more than ten-percent of a manager’s time throughout the week.   In many cases, especially in owner-operator businesses, this schedule is posted late in the week for the upcoming week.   Posting the schedule late causes problems with employees and creates higher turnover and reduces tenure at the business , reducing overall profits!

The final version of the labor schedule, which the manager has likely spent hours creating, may be bulk-emailed out to the employees (if the manager used a tool such as Microsoft Excel and a schedule template to build the schedule), or more commonly, printed and posted on a wall in the back of the business (inside the management office, store room, or kitchen).

Example: At a nightclub, management juggles the work preferences and needs of more than ninety individuals including bartenders, servers (waiters and waitresses), cooks, dancers, security, disc jockeys, paid performers and management staff. After the business closes on Thursday night, the manager spends three hours building the schedule and trying to meet every employee’s needs , as well as the business’s needs. There is always some give-and-take when building a schedule, and after finishing the schedule, it is posted on a wall in the management office so that employees know when to work. A second copy of the schedule is saved in a folder for later comparison with the employee clock-in and clock-out times to identify schedule irregularities or areas of improvement.

Theoretical Labor Schedules are Important for Staff

This posted work schedule is the “theoretical labor schedule” – it is the necessary labor needed to operate the business and meet expected customer demand.   The posted work schedule will change throughout the week as employees fail to show up, swap shifts with other staff members, arrive early or late, or business requirements change and employees are cut or added to the schedule.   The posted schedule should be saved and archived (as it was created by management) for later comparison to worked hours, and for issues arriving from Labor & Industries audits, availability conflicts, labor disputes, or even lawsuits.

Example: If the manager of the nightclub receives $60,000 per year in salary, the schedule process at this nightclub costs more than $90 per week, $360 per month, and $4,320 per year , just to make an employee schedule! With a tool such as TimeForge, building a schedule could cost less than $8 per week, $32 per month, and $382 per year.
Using TimeForge creates an extra $3,936 in profit , every year!

Is your scheduling complex?   Are you making the best possible schedule?   How many thousands of dollars do you spend making schedules every year?   Did you know that TimeForge can reduce turnover, increase retention and increase profits through employee scheduling at your business? Sign up today for a free trial!

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