How Agencies Streamline Client Piece and Hourly

HOW AGENCIES STREAMLINE CLIENT PIECE & HOURLY WORK

FROM A LEADER IN AGENCY WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS www.mitcsoftware.com

HOW AGENCIES STREAMLINE CLIENT PIECE & HOURLY WORK

INTRODUCTION Tracking client piece and hourly work efficiently and effectively in vocational programs has never been more important or affordable for agencies. Paper-based systems are often time-consuming and risky. They lack visibility and reporting capabilities, and are prone to errors. Intensive manual processes fail to provide agencies with the visibility they need to make real-time operational decisions for day-to-day activities or for the reporting required for management. Using ineffective systems, with their associated labor-intensive data entry, makes agencies vulnerable to audit problems. Detecting errors is timeconsuming. Excel spreadsheets are vulnerable to data entry errors and lack the audit trail required for today’s regulatory environment. Many agencies have additional Department of Labor (DOL) or SourceAmerica (formerly NISH) procedures and reporting requirements. Maintaining compliance without

“Paper-based systems are often time-consuming and risky. They lack visibility and reporting capabilities, and are prone to errors.”

an agency-specific solution can be time-consuming for administrative staff and risky for the agency as a whole.

Once a primary agency-specific solution including database and a comprehensive library of standard reports is selected, there are four main ways agencies can streamline client piece and hourly work.

1. Supervisor direct entry from a tablet as clients work or at the end of the day 2. Supervisor and/or clients use Windows or Web Clock 3. Telephone timekeeping or Door Clock for small remote jobs or job coaches 4. Time data terminals for large janitorial, food service or other hourly paid jobs There are no “wrong” or “right” solutions. Each agency is different, assisting clients of a wide spectrum of abilities and managing different programs of varying size. Some agencies use a combination of these technologies. This publication aims

SUPERVISOR DIRECT ENTRY At some agencies, supervisors can use tablets to enter transactions as they work with clients during the day. Missing data entries can be entered at any time or at the end of the day. This eliminates the need for the clerical daily data entry.

Productivity and other reports are used to check for errors such as entering 1,000 instead of 100 or 10 instead of 100 units.

Clients can be tracked on a tablet from the moment they step off the bus. Clients can even be grouped together by bus to speed up attendance verification. After attendance is completed, a list of “missing” clients can be generated. Client Timesheets for Tablets even track if the client moves into another program billed at a different rate from a separate authorization. Data flows seamlessly into Client Piece and Produciton for payroll and Group Billing, eliminating data entr and transcription problems.

to provide agencies with a review of different solutions that have been successful at other agencies.

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HOW AGENCIES STREAMLINE CLIENT PIECE & HOURLY WORK

SUPERVISORS AND/OR CLIENTS USE WINDOWS CLOCK WITH UNITS An alternative that may work, depending on the number of jobs and step changes, and on the ability level of the clients, is to encourage clients to clock in/out using a PC with the assistance of a supervisor. Units can be entered either on clock out or later, after a count has been performed by the supervisor.

TELEPHONE TIMEKEEPING FOR SMALL REMOTE JOBS OR JOB COACHES Where clients work at small remote locations such as janitorial contracts, landscaping jobs, thrift stores, or in enclaves, clients or job coaches can clock in and out using simple procedures on a landline or cell phone. For example, clients working with a job coach on a landscaping contract may be clocked in/out by the job coach using a cell phone. Clients working on a janitorial contract might clock themselves in and out using a landline.

Caller-ID can be used to verify the location.

TIME DATA TERMINALS FOR LARGE JANITORIAL, FOOD SERVICE OR OTHER HOURLY PAID JOBS Where clients work on larger jobs such as SourceAmerica contracts, biometric or proximity time data terminals can be used. If the client’s work needs to be costed to multiple jobs for pay or accounting purposes, advanced software will accommodate this requirement. The technology selected will be chosen based mainly on its accessibility to the clients and their level of ability. Biometric fingerprint readers work well in a residential or administrative setting, where employees typically have clean hands, but may cause frustration in other environments. The biometric handpunch, although more expensive, may work better as it reads the internal geometry of the user’s hand. Some agencies find proximity readers more acceptable, although buddy punching still remains an issue, and the clients’ ID badges or cards can get lost.

AUTOMATED PROCEDURES All manual calculations and entries that affect client payroll should be embedded in the solution. This will minimize manual entries, avoid errors, and ensure the consistent delivery of accurate payroll. These procedures include, but are not limited to: productivity, average pay, minimum pay, holiday pay, overtime, vacation accruals, and health and welfare benefits.

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“An agency-specific solution should provide all the procedures required to eliminate manual manipulation of data. This will boost office productivity and ensure accuracy and consistency.”

INTEGRATION Data should flow seamlessly to payroll and billing if relevant.

Otherwise, it is possible that the data will be incorrectly updated, or will not be maintained in a timely manner. In that case, duplicate data entry will be required to keep the system in order.

REPORTING AND COMPLIANCE Agencies providing supported employment and vocational services are subject to state and federal supervision. They need to ensure compliance and be able to withstand audits without undue stress. An agency-specific solution should provide all

easily, without any manual intervention or re-entry of data and further calculation in Excel.

the procedures required to eliminate manual manipulation

No two agencies are the same. MITC provides solutions that

of data. This will boost productivity and ensure accuracy

meet the individual needs of each agency. Choose the solution

and consistency. In addition, advanced reporting should be

that will ensure compliance while improving the efficiency of

available to generate the specialized information required

the operation for your organization.

ABOUT MITC MITC provides modular workforce management solutions and services to support all the needs of agencies — time and attendance, advanced employee scheduling, service documentation, payroll rules and reporting engine, workforce analytics, payroll and billing integration, and more. For 25 years, MITC has grown to serve over 1,500 organizations (with anywhere form 5 to 10,000 employees) in the USA, the UK , Africa, Australia, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand. They have selected MITC to help control costs, save time, improve productivity and ensure compliance.

Visit www.mitcsoftware.com to learn more.

WWW.MITCSOFTWARE.COM

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