Thalheim introduces electronic time recording from REINER SCT
“Thalheim is a really nice town to live in,” says its mayor Nico Dittmann proudly. Located in the suburbs of Chemnitz, Thalheim is a residential town with a very compact area, beautiful woodland and a strong social community. “Thalheim moves with the times,” says Dittmann. Some of the city’s processes have been digitized. And the administration should not be left behind, but should set a good example.
Time for an efficient solution
One administrative project that was quick and easy to implement was time recording for employees in the town hall. Until 2016, the working hours of the 35 employees were recorded via a telephone system. “This was an outdated, highly inconvenient and also error-prone system with many disadvantages. It was analog, non-transparent and involved a lot of paperwork and time-consuming corrections,” says the mayor. It was time for a more efficient solution. Dittmann obtained modern alternative offers, put the project out to tender in accordance with the Public Procurement Act and defined the city’s requirements: there was to be a central booking office at the entrance for arrivals, departures and business trips in combination with the option of expanding the access control or electronic locking system. It should also be possible to manage the system electronically with appropriate access rights and it should be tamper-proof in order to increase the fairness of working time recording.
“timeCard is foolproof”
The winner of the tender was the timeCard-system from REINER SCT won the tender.
“The system is absolutely foolproof, fits our requirements exactly and the additional functions are phenomenal,” says Dittmann, “We use timeCard since December 2016 and our work processes have accelerated by an estimated 80 percent since then”. 35 users – employees in administration, the secretariat and the building yard – were created in the system. Not everyone is using it to its full extent yet; in future, the building yard employees are to be equipped with mobile terminals so that they can book their working hours directly to the various projects they are working on. Also not yet implemented is the plan to replace the analog locking system and instead use the access function of timecard access function instead. “Employees can then use the transponder to open the door. If a key is lost, it can be removed from the system at the touch of a button so that it cannot be misused. It will also be possible to track who enters the town hall and when,” says Dittmann, looking ahead.
Present the chip – done!
A central terminal for electronic time recording was installed at the main entrance to the town hall in December. When employees now start work and enter the town hall, they hold the chip, which most of them carry on their key ring, up to the terminal. The “coming” time is registered automatically. Employees repeat this process when they take breaks, go to work or finish work. The Thalheim administration has core working hours that correspond to the opening hours of the town hall. In addition, employees are free to organize their own working hours. Thanks to transponder bookings, times are now recorded to the minute. Overtime or public holiday bonuses are stored in the system and automatically included when they occur. If a booking does not work properly, this is displayed on the terminal and can be corrected immediately. In addition, the supervisor is automatically informed so that any errors that go unnoticed can be corrected promptly.
Employees skeptical before the launch
Before the system was introduced, some employees were skeptical. “They were concerned that the system could be too complicated or that they could be monitored without permission in the future,” summarizes Dittmann. Nothing has changed in terms of time recording itself: “It already existed before, it was just implemented differently in technical terms.” The employees are now convinced by the new system. “It’s super simple, fast and practical and works flawlessly. The new system, on the other hand, offers many advantages. One of them is greater transparency. Every employee can now view their working time account directly at the terminal and see, for example, whether they are on target and how many vacation days are left. This relieves the HR office and increases trust.” “From my point of view, timecard is an absolutely great tool. Evaluations are also quick and easy. The program is very sophisticated; perhaps a little overloaded at times, but only minimally compared to other solutions,” says Dittmann.
