The Friday Tip

Once a week we highlight some unique and useful feature provided by the People Inc. system in our 'Friday Tip'. These tips are often based on a support call that we took during the week. Our aim is to help customers get more from using their People Inc. system. If you do not receive these tips but would like to, please contact the People Inc. help desk and ask to be added to the mailing list.

System Tools

21st March 2025

People Inc. provides users with a selection of different tools to enable them to make use of information recorded within its screens.

These tools can be used to generate letters and e-mail, produce reports and graphs or import/export data. Access profiles work for both standard and custom date-items, and you can get the system to generate reminders via e-mail (based on any dates you add).

The tools work equally well with the information held in either standard fields or custom fields (fields added by the user).

Granting Access to HR Records

28th March 2025

While HR users will usually have full access to the system, you can also make information available to other members of staff (people who need access to enable them to perform their role at work). This is achieved using custom access profiles.

Specialist staff in payroll, IT or other administrative roles might need access. For example, the individual who looks after the company vehicles.

Line-managers can be given controlled access to specific areas of the system - perhaps the training records for their team, or their employees' appraisals. You can even give employees access to their own records.

Accommodating all of your HR records

21st March 2025

The screens supplied with People Inc. will cater for the needs of most organisations. But, if needed, the content and layout can be adapted to allow you to capture and record further details. Additional boxes (fields) can be added to system screens; you can even add your own custom screens.

Information recorded in custom fields and screens can be used in letters and reports (and access-profiles). You can also get the system to generate reminders via e-mail (based on any custom dates you add).

If you have lists of employee-related information currently held in Excel spreadsheets, the data-import feature can be used to add the information into the system (even into custom screens/fields).

Centralised HR Records

14th March 2025

You can use People Inc. to record and manage all of your employee records. Rather than have some records paper-based, some in Excel spreadsheets, and then folders of files on your server (records that are fragmented and difficult to keep track of), People Inc. provides you with a single, centralised, secure place to keep confidential employee information.

People Inc. accommodates both screen-based entries (for example absence records, NOK details), and attached documents (letters, forms, etc.)

In addition to the common historical records such as absence history, screens are also available to manage training records, appraisals, equipment issued to staff, benefits history, general notes/actions, and much more.

Bulk Updates

7th March 2025

People Inc. includes a selection of Wizards that enable users to update records in bulk. These tools help to save time, and ensure updates are accurate (and entries are not missed). For example, users can:

Set up next year’s holiday allowances for all members of staff
Remove details of leavers (after 6 years have passed)
Add copies of payslips (for this week or month) for all staff
Add training needs for employees (for a new product or process)
Add new salary figures for staff following the annual pay review

More information on bulk update wizards can be found here.

Data Management Tools

28th February 2025

People Inc. provides tools to update information at a data level. These tools allow users to select a range of data-records and update them globally.

Users can change information based on a set of rules they have specified (e.g. change a department name right across the system).
Users can recalculate a hundreds of records in one update (useful if they have changed settings in the system that are linked to staff records).
Users can remove records in bulk, again, based on rules they have specified (this is a quick way to delete old or unwanted information).

More information on these features can be found here.

Monitoring Changes - Audit Trail

21st February 2025

There are some simple ways to find out who has added or changed records within the People Inc. system.

The system monitors updates made by users and records details against every entry. On each screen, it is possible to see which user added a record (and when) and which user last changed an entry (and when).

In addition to this, the Payroll Change log keeps a full history of all job, salary and employee record changes (including the user details and a date/time stamp). Notes are also added to this log automatically when an employee record is deleted from the system.

More information can be found here.

Valentines Day

14th February 2025

On special days (like today) you can change the look and feel of the People Inc. screens in your system. There are lots of different styles for you to choose from. This is done using one of the mini-icons at the very top of the screen.

The system includes themes for Halloween, Christmas, Spring and Summer, and there is also a special Valentine's Day theme. The Valentine's theme includes a new screen background, and uses hearts for items on the screen itself.

If you are a People Inc. time user you get a bonus image on the screen when you select a custom theme. On Valentine's Day this is an image of Cupid.

Deleting Records

7th February 2025

When an employee record is deleted, all historical records and file attachments are also deleted. This means that there is no need to tidy up historical records when you want to remove details of an employee.

To protect users, it is possible to block the Delete button on individual screens (for particular users). Records cannot then be deleted by mistake.

The system provides a tool to remove information relating to leavers and applicants (in line with GDPR). Users can select a date and remove any records that are older (e.g. all employees who left more than 6 years ago).

More information can be found here.

Attached Documents

31st January 2025

It is possible to attach electronic copies of documents and other files against individual People Inc. records. These can then be made available to line-managers and other users.

Depending on the size of the individual files, you can attach an almost-unlimited number of MS Word documents.
You can also attach scanned copies of letters and forms, but should keep an eye on the resolution of the scanner.
You can store photographs against records, but once again, you need to think about the size of high-resolution images.

More information on attached documents can be found here.

Data Export

24th January 2025

Employee-related information often needs to be shared with other teams and other systems. For example, when an employee moves to a new home, both HR and the Payroll team need to be notified.

Payroll-related changes are automatically collated within People Inc. This makes it very easy to share the information with the payroll team. The information can be extracted (and saved as an Excel spreadsheet).

The data export feature can be used to share other data too. This includes expense claims, timesheets, training information, vehicle details, etc.

More information on data-export can be found here.

Recalculating Data

17th January 2025

Some of the information managed using People Inc, is re-calculated by the system overnight to keep it up-to-date. The system also checks key dates and expiry dates and send out notifications and reminders for these.

People Inc. automatically recalculates things like age and length-of-service for each employee. When you log in to the system, if time-dependent information seems to be out-of-date, the overnight recalculation feature may not be running correctly.

The overnight recalculation feature also updates the turnover statistics and makes sure current job and current salary details are shown correctly. More information on this feature can be found here.

Reconcile Holiday Allowances (and manage carry-over)

10th January 2025

People Inc. manages both holiday and other types of absence using annual allowances. To ensure absence figures are up-to-date, holiday allowances from previous years must be reconciled and closed.

To do this, you need to make sure all absence entries are recorded in the system and if your organisation uses the ESS, make sure all leave requests have been processed. When holiday allowance are closed the system locks the allowances and finalises carry over figures. More detail here.

If your system is set up to ignore unused leave (so unused leave is not carried over automatically), you still have the option to make manual adjustments to employee allowances if there are exceptions.

Some Christmas Cheer

20th December 2024

When you first open People Inc. it displays information via traditional grey-coloured system screens, but the system includes approximately 25 different themes (with a variety of different screen colours and styles).

You can load a new theme whenever you fancy a change. To select a different theme you need to click one of the mini-buttons shown in the title-bar (the row of 6 small buttons in the top left-hand corner of the screen).

There is a Christmas theme designed specifically this time of year. Selecting the Christmas theme adds snowflakes, snowmen and ribbons to the screen background.

Support over the festive break

13th December 2024

With Christmas approaching, we would like to pass on details of our availability over the break. The help desk will be available as follows:

On the 23rd and the 24th, support will be available via e-mail
The 25th and the 26th are bank holidays; our office will be closed.
From the 27th to the 31st , please contact the helpdesk via e-mail.
The 1st January is a bank holiday, and the office will be closed.
A full help-desk support service will resume on Thursday 2nd January.

Please contact us if you need to make any special arrangements for support during this period.

Data Backups

6th December 2024

Where People Inc. databases are stored on a server, the IT support team will usually make sure that the data is backed up regularly. People Inc. back-ups contain all the information required to restore the system (screens, reports, letters, data, user-accounts, etc.)

Users can also run a system backups on an ad-hoc basis. This is useful (for example) if they are about to import some data, or modify a screen.

It is worth checking to ensure that backups are taken at least once a week, and that they the restore process is understood.

More information on backing-up your data can be found here.

Importing Data

29th November 2024

Keeping HR records up-to-date is an ongoing, perhaps never-ending task. If you have to type lots of information into system screens it can be both time-consuming and repetitive.

Where this information is already managed in another system, or perhaps in an Excel spreadsheet, it is usually possible to import the data into People Inc. (rather than type it in).

Importing information is much quicker, 100% accurate, and can free up members of the team for other activities.

More information on importing data can be found here.

Some Absence-Related Housekeeping

22nd November 2024

As the holiday year-end approaches, you should take a few moments to ensure your absence records are up-to date. Here are some things to check:

Are last year’s holiday allowances closed? This may affect carry-over figures. You might also check the allowances for the previous year.
Are all holiday requests processed? This should be checked on a regular basis (pending holiday requests are not deducted from allowances).
Where staff have not clocked-in/out, these entries need to be reconciled (was the employee at work, or were they absent)?
If you allow staff to buy or sell holiday days, you should make sure that any 2024-related requests have been processed.

Unused Leave

15th November 2024

As we approach the end of the holiday year, it is possible that there are members of staff who still have a significant number of holiday days left to take. Here are some simple steps that you can take to help avoid a rush to book unused leave in December.

The system can help you:

List employees who have booked less than 60% of their 2024 leave.
Send an e-mail to these people to encourage them to book time off.
Get staff to review the HR Policy document on unused leave.
Manually manage carry-over (to next year) for exceptional cases.

Getting Ready for 2025

8th November 2024

If your holiday year runs from January to December, there are a number of important tasks that need to be completed in the coming weeks. You will need to:

Add 2025 holiday allowances for all members of staff
Check that 2025 bank holidays are recorded in the system
Publish the 2025 holiday year in the ESS absence calendar
If you manage T&A with People Inc, add the 2025 staff roster

A step-by-step guide can be found here.

Advanced ESS Security tools

1st November 2024

There are a number of ESS tools that can be used to provide additional access to information via the ESS.

It is possible to grant ESS access both before an employees start date, and after they leave. This means that they can complete a new-starter form and read through employment policies before they start work, and for a period of time after they leave, staff can access work-related documents via the ESS (letters, payslips, etc.).

Where groups of employees need access to additional ESS features (features that are not normally made available to most members of staff), this can be achieved using team-specific access profiles. This might mean (for example) that IT or Administration staff can see screens used by employees to make equipment request.

ESS Security Features

25th October 2024

Whilst Access Profiles and Password Policies are the main tools used to manage Employee Self-Service user-accounts, there are a number of additional features designed to provide greater control over ESS access.

The Single Sign-on feature - provides seamless access to the ESS using Windows user-accounts authentication.
The Manager Security feature - controls access to employees' personal information when logged in as a manager.

Please contact us if you would like to take a look at either of these features.

Password Policies

18th October 2024

Did you know that the system includes a comprehensive password policy feature? This gives you extensive control over advanced features designed to enhance the security of your system.

Enforce minimum password complexity
Account suspensions or blocks
Password expiry (and password history)
Two-Factor authentication

If required, you can designate certain accounts with the privilege to bypass these standard requirements.

Group Security

11th October 2024

Some users will only need access to information about the members of their team.

This is a standard feature within the ESS (within this module you can define groups, set managers, add employees, and set up access to multiple groups).

It is also a standard feature in People Inc. time (users can see the roster and attendance records for their employees, and manage shift-pattern, attendance and absence information).

It is possible to set up a very similar group-based security feature within a standard People Inc. (HR) system.

Role based security

4th October 2024

People Inc. security tools can be used to provide restricted access for junior HR users, team managers (providing access to records for their team), senior managers and directors, specialists (payroll, training team, IT, etc.) and consultants.

The level of access provided to these users can be restricted so that they do not see sensitive or confidential details (salaries, sickness records, home address, etc.)

Using role-based security-profiles allows you do give users access to more than one area of the system if needed. This is done by simply assigning them more than one access profile.

More advice on setting up Access Profiles

Protecting your HR records

27th September 2024

Access Profiles give you control over the permissions users are given within the People Inc. system. The system presents you with literally hundreds of options when managing Access Profiles. This can mean that it is easy to overlook some important choices. When working with access profiles it is important to consider:

Who is allowed to delete employee records (and other key data)
Who can change system settings (for example, absence rules)
The level of access users have to Wizards and Plug-ins
The reports made available to system users
If users should be able to design and send letters

There is more information on Access Profiles available here.

Managing User-Access

20th September 2024

Access Profiles are used to manage the information made available to People Inc. system users. They can be used to control:

The screens and data-Items that users have access to.
Whether users can create, alter, or delete records.
Access restrictions based on seniority or location.
Access to reports and to attached documents.
Whether a user is allowed to access specific system features
Access to online forms (and access to advanced ESS features)

For more details on Access Profiles and how they can help, please contact our help desk on 01908 265111.

Cross-tab and Drill-down reports

13th September 2024

In addition to the list and form report layouts, the People Inc. report writer will also generate cross-tab style reports, and drill-down reports.

Cross Tab reports are useful when trying to show totals in a grid (based on two categories) – this type of report is also called a Pivot Table.

Drill-down reports work best when a report is grouped. If a list of employees is grouped by department, initially it will appear as a simple list. Drilling down within a particular section (relating to a department) allows the user to see additional details for that area.

Reports and the ESS

6th September 2024

The Employee Self-service tool allows users to share reports with managers and other members of staff. These reports can be set up to auto-filter so that they only include information relating to a managers team.

Making reports available via the ESS is a good way to provide up-to-date and historical information on things like levels of absence, resource available, training done, etc.

Reports can also be used to help with management activities (detailing staff training needs or the documents team-members need to review, HR-related action such as annual review dates, end of probation meetings, etc.)

Improving Reports with Graphs

30th August 2024

Did you know that you can include graphs within your People Inc. reports? This can significantly boost their clarity and impact. Graphs are not only visually engaging but also serve as powerful tools for displaying data directly from your system. Listed below are some examples:

A bar-chart showing Staff Turnover year-on-year
A line-graph showing how Sickness Absence Rates have varied
A series of Pie-charts showing equal-opportunities information

Click here to see images of example People Inc. reports, including a selection that include graphs.

Form Layout Reports

23rd August 2024

Reports generated using People Inc. do not have to be simply made up of rows and columns (a list report). There are a variety of layout options, and one of the most common is form layout. You can very easily configure a report to emulate a form, streamlining the process to generate documents pre-filled with data. These can then be sent to employees for review and a signature.

You can also take advantage of the reporting feature within the Employee Self-Service (ESS) portal to provide your staff with access to forms generated in this way. Prefilled with their details, individuals can then complete the forms as required, saving time (and making the process really efficient).

To see some example reports, click here.

List Reports

16th August 2024

List reports are the go-to choice for many due to their straightforward, spreadsheet-like layout. Here is why they are so popular:

They are quick to set up – just 2 simple steps: choose your data, decide on the order of the columns.
They provide an easy-to-use snapshot of the data in your system whenever you need it.
The template can be saved and re-used again and again.

Their spreadsheet resemblance makes them a breeze to export to Excel. You can see lots of examples of list reports on our website, click here.

Exporting Reports

9th August 2024

Reports generated using People Inc. need not be printed. Once the report is open, you have lots of options at your fingertips. You can save the report as a PDF document, a Word document, or an Excel file (in fact you even have a number of options available to you when exporting to Excel)

Report Style: Choose this to mirror the report's original look in Excel.
Data Style: If you are looking for a clean, easy-to-use spreadsheet.
CSV (or tab-delimited text). This is the option to choose if you are planning on importing your data.