Getting your system set-up (system preferences)

There are some simple things that you can do to tailor the way the People Inc. screens in your system work. By reviewing your user-preferences, you can get the screens to behave in a way that really suits the way you work.

Getting the system set up so that that it complements the way you work will help simplify how you use the system, and make things quicker and easier to achieve.

This is done with user-preferences. When you set user-preferences in the system, all the choices you make are personal settings, so they do not affect other users. The system remembers your personal settings and uses them each time you log in.

Choosing a start-up screen

The People Inc. system has a number of principle data-screens. Companies, Employees, Absence Rules, Vacancies, Courses, and Vehicles are all examples of principle data-screens. These screens are used to record an manage core data within the system. As different users focus on different areas of HR, it is possible to specify the screen that is shown when you log into People Inc. This is called the 'auto-start' feature.

We recommend that users select the screen they use most frequently as their 'auto-start' screen. The most common choices are the Action List screen (displaying their actions for this week) or the Employees screens (showing just current employees). If your main role is to manage staff training and development, why not auto-start the Courses screen? Recruiters might auto-start the Vacancies screen.

If you have told the system you want to ‘auto-start’ a particular screen, you can of course still open any of the other screens in the system.

Did you know that there is also a setting that allows you to specify that when you open a screen, records should be show in a list (a grid-view) or that the first record in the selection should be shown in detail (record-card view)?

Starting from the right place

The list of records displayed in a screens is filtered automatically when the screen is first opened. For example, most users will see a list of all the current employees when they open the employee screen. Sometimes you do not want to view all the entries at once, so users can limit the records they see using filters and searches. For example:

• If you are responsible for the employees who work at a particular location, a filter could be used to list just these people.
• You may want to change the list of employees to show members of staff who have left (or those who have left recently)
• You might use filters to pick out management grade employees (or the other way around, employees who are not managers)
• Rather than show all employees (and run down the list looking at their date-of-birth), you could use a filter to list those with a birthday in the coming 2 weeks
• Instead of looking through the entire list of employees for a first-aider, use a filter that only shows first aiders (or key holders, or fire wardens, or duty managers)
• If you are looking at staff absence, you may want to see just sickness-related records, or perhaps only holiday records

When you add a filter to the system, you can specify the order of the records (employees in surname order, vacancies in target date order, etc.). So the order in which the records are shown is a setting within each filter definition.

There will be a variety of different filters defined for each screen (you can design your own filters too, and add them to the list). Users can switch between filters quickly and easily (using the filter button). Once a filter is selected, it is possible to use the search feature to find particular records within the list of records.

The records you most regularly use

Users can specify the list of records that the system displays when they first open a particular screen (using this feature they can get the system to automatically display the list of records that they find most useful). This is done by selecting a default filter (for the screen). There are lots of examples that can illustrate how this might help.

• If most of the time you only want to see employees who work at a particular office or site, you can get the system to display this list of people by default.
• If your role is primarily to work with the induction of new members of staff, when you open the Employee screen, you might choose to see just those who have not yet reached the end of their probationary period.
• If you look after hourly-paid staff, the system can hide salaried employees when you first open the Employee screen.
• If you use the Action List feature, when you open the screen you are likely to want to see any ‘incomplete’ Actions from the past, together with Actions that are assigned to you for the coming week.
• If you are a recruiter, you do not need to see vacancies that have already been filled, you want the system to show you any current vacancies by default.

You can set the default filter that you would like the system to use (for each screen) using the Modify Default Filter option at the bottom of the list of filters that are shown when you press the Filters button.

Once the screen is open, you can of course select different filters (so that you can view a different selection of records, in perhaps a different order). The filter is changed using a button on the screen.

Specify the columns shown in list-mode

When you view records in a list (in grid-view), it is possible to specify the columns that are shown. For example, when you view a list of employees, you might choose to see the following columns: Surname, First name, Current Department, Mobile Phone Number. If you do this, the remaining columns are hidden.

To change the columns displayed (and choose the order of the columns), open the screen and right-click somewhere in the grid, then select 'Show Selection Window'. A dialogue is displayed that enables you to change the columns that are shown (by moving items between two lists).

Working with Multiple Screens

Did you know that it is possible to open more than one data screen within People Inc. (at the same time)? You can then refer to information in a second screen (in another record) without having to close the record you are working on. For example you can have two Employee records open, showing details for two different members of staff.

To open a second screen, click on the Screen Console button (one of the mini-buttons right at the top of the screen). The system will then display a second tab (click on the tab for whichever screen you want to see). You can actually open a third or a fourth screen (you can open as many screens as you need).

Furthermore, if you have a multi-user system, it is possible to log into People Inc. more than once (run two copies of the system at the same time). This gives you the option to view records on one copy of the system, and edit information on another (for example) without having to change screens.

Customising the list of Links (short-cuts)

People Inc. data-screens are usually opened by clicking on one of the short-cuts on the left-hand side of the main People Inc. application. Users click on the Employees short-cut to open the Employees data-screen. These short-cuts are grouped into sections (short-cut sheets). You can have any number of sections, and add any number of short-cuts to each section.

It is possible to customise this area of the system so that it only displays short-cuts for screens that you use regularly (and these short-cuts can be presented in any order). Simply right-click on this area of the screen to manage the list of short-cuts shown when you start People Inc.

Once again, changes mase to the lists of short-cuts are saved as a user-preference. Changes that you make to your list of short-cuts will not affect the short-cuts that other users see.

Managing the list of wizards the system shows

There are around 30 wizards (and plugins) supplied with the People Inc. system. These are used to update records in bulk, or to display information in a way that makes them much easier to understand. For example, here are wizards (or plugins) to:

• Display staff training records in a training matrix
• Block-book leave for groups of employees
• Generate Org-charts
• Update employee records following a salary review
• Assign absence allowance to groups of employees
• Display HR-related Actions in a Calendar view
• Assign training needs to a group of employees
• Close last years absence allowances
• Manage staff cover for key areas of the business
• Update records in bulk
• Delete details relating to leavers
• Display holidays and absence in a calendar view

Wizards are accessed via a button on the main People Inc. button bar. Users can specify which wizards are shown when they press the Wizards button using the System Settings screen. The system will then show just the Wizards that an individual user needs to do their job.

Customising the layout of screens

The People Inc. screens enable you to record and manage extensive employee information. Very few organisations will need to use all of the different area or features within the system. Users can make their system easier to use (and nicer to look at) by hiding People Inc. screen items that they do not use.

A tool designed to change the content and layout of system screens is included with the People Inc. application. Using the Screen Designer, you can hide unwanted or unused boxes on screens, and re-arrange items so that they work for your team in a more-logical way.

The Screen Designer can also be used to add information to screens. If you need some additional boxes on a particular screen (of if you need some entirely new screens), you can add them using the Screen Designer.

Note that it is also possible to change the order in which the screens appear (for example, when you view the list of employee history screens). Once again, this is done using the Screen Designer.

Hiding Unused Details

The information made available to different users is managed within the People Inc. system using Access Profiles. So Access Profiles make it is possible to hide confidential information from selected People Inc. users. For example, if users should not be able to see employee salaries, it is possible to hide them using this feature.

In essence, an Access Profile is a comprehensive list of date-items and system features that can be enabled or disabled. This is done by simply un-ticking the option for an item within an Access Profile. Using this tool you can hide boxes on screens, the whole screen, or even whole areas of the system. This is often done simply because that part of the system is not currently used. Hiding unused features makes the system look much tidier, and makes it easier to understand and easier to use.

You can also use Access Profiles to hide unwanted screen filters, letter templates and reports. Once again, this means that users simply see the options they need, and are not confused with lists of unnecessary entries in system menus (making the system simpler and easier to use).

Note that Access Profiles are often assigned to a group of users. Making a change to the access profile will then update the level of access available to all the users in a group.