The Friday Tip

Support over the festive break

20th 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.

Global Updates

13th December 2024

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

6th December 2024

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

29th November 2024

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.

Deleting Records

22nd November 2024

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

15th November 2024

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

8th November 2024

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

1st November 2024

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.

Data Backups

25th October 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

18th October 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.

Getting Ready for 2025

27th September 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.

More on Access Profiles

20th 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
• The level of access to Wizards and Plug-ins
• The reports made available to system users

There is more information on Access Profiles available here.

Improving Reports with Graphs

23rd 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

16th 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

9th 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

2nd 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.

To see some example reports, click here.