Strategic Issues - Overview

1. You must ensure that your equipment (most notably Wands) are kept well charged.



2. You must name locations where buttons are installed in a consistent and logical manner.



3. You must continue to use the system. This may not be easy - once you install the system you have created a job for someone to manage and control both equipment and people.
   
   

Deployment

If you have never seen the Elite System before and are clueless as to the best way to setup a system then this section may help.

Here are some things to consider which in turn affect the choice of equipment.

• Wand quantity is dependant upon the number of simultaneous staff needing to log their attendances. This can be very different to the total number of staff.
  
  If you have 20 staff working a 3 shift roster and some are "spares" then you may need as few as 5 wands.
  
  
• Chargers will be required. The dual and quad units can be used for more than their size suggests since you really only need to charge once a week for a few hours.
  
  
• Unloader quantity depends on where your staff and supervisors are located and their work patterns.
  
  If staff never return to base yet a supervisor attends sites regularly, and your client is not demanding daily reports - then you can perhaps get your supervisors to unload wands and return the data to "head office" for central reporting.
  
  However - if your sites need daily reports done on-site then you may need to install an unloader and software on each site. And a PC!
  
  
• Internet eMail can be used to send data from remote offices back to head office for centralized reporting.

We pride ourselves on giving honest and best advise on how to setup a system to suit your needs.

We will not "over sell" - and we believe this is unethical, immoral and dishonest.

Contact Elite-ID and we will help!

Naming Locations - Be Careful with this.

This may not sound like much of a consideration - but it is in fact a major problem for some of our customers - most notably those with shopping centres or a lot of sites.

We believe that there are two rules;

1. Be Consistent. Above all else - this is critical.
   
   
2. Use a sensible naming scheme. We suggest "military" style.
   
   Examples of two ways;
• "Toilets - Ground floor - Male"
• Ground floor - Toilets - Male"

The effects of using a proper and consistent naming scheme are;

• The reports that are in "location sorted order" will place locations in a more logical and sensible order. Like things or like locations will be grouped together.
  
  
• Staff will all "speak the same language" when there is a company policy to location naming.
  
  
• Your clients will benefit from a sensible naming scheme too. They will see that you are methodical, and they won't have to work too hard to understand what you are doing.

Time Control - Keeping Time Correct

In reality - our system records time. Everything is based around when something is done - when a button is hit - when - when - when. We provide diagnostic functions in our programs to help you determine how everything is going and these diagnostics focus on time.

We have gone to the effort of taking this further by making it as easy as possible to control and setup the real time clocks in the system and provide audit trails about the real time clocks and how they behave.

Without doubt and we can't stress this enough; time control is critical. Happily - it is also very easy!

All you have to do is to ensure that the XL Memory Unloader has the correct date and time in it. If your unloaders real time clocks are correct, then every time you unload a Wand, the Wand has its date and time reset from the Unloader. It is that simple - and automatic.

Daylight Saving is easily catered for - just set the XL Unloader to the correct date and time then touch Wands onto it. The Wands will have their date and time set from the Unloader.


Time ... and the Elite System

The Elite System also does what we think are some clever things with the way it manages, stores, remembers and controls time.

What we do is;

• The date and time that an Unloader is deleted is remembered in the system.
  
  
• Every time you change the time in an Unloader it is recorded in a number of places in the system. We call this an audit trail.
  
  
• Every time you switch your Unloader on, it is remembered.
  
  
• When you touch a Wand onto an Unloader - the date and time in both the wand and the Unloader are remembered and can be used later (by Elite-ID).
  
  We call this an "audit trail" - and it is a very valuable piece of information.
  
  Because of this audit information - we are able under some situations - to check and repair data files for Wands that have some internal problem.
  
  
• We wrote and provide the "Atom Time" program. This uses an internet connection to read the date and time from an atomic clock. The regional settings in your computer are then used to adjust the time to local time. The result is that you can keep your PC date and time correct - very simply and cheaply.
  
  The date and time in the PC before being reset and the new date and time are saved into a special file in the computer. It is possible to determine if your computer is "time drifting" badly. Yet another audit trail!
  
  
• The Unloader tests its internal real time clock every time it is switched on.
  
  
• Any fault in the Unloaders real time clock causes all registers (day, month, year, hour, minute, second) to be ALL set to an invalid date and time.
  
  The intention with this is to stop an intermittent real time clock from affecting Wands by forcing the clock to be totally "trashed".
  
  
• The Unloader tests its real time clock before it is put into a Wand. It will not reset a wand to an invalid date or time (for example: 31st of September or the 0th of any month).
  
  We call this "quarantine of fault".
  
  
• The Unloader will not accept an invalid date and time from a PC.
  
  
• The PC Unloader software tests that the PC is configured correctly before allowing either Unloading or the Unloader clock to be reset.
  

In effect, what we have done is to remember as much information about the function of the system as possible. In fact - it is possible under some circumstances to repair data files using the time-audit information - in a provable and honest fashion.

Also, we limit the effect of a system components' fault - we don't let a fault propagate through the system causing other problems.

Training

In our experience, training staff to use the Elite System is not difficult, not time consuming and most definitely not expensive. We designed it to be as simple as possible.

What we have done is to provide a number of "Quick Start" information sheets. They are;

• Installation - quite simple - just run the setup program on the CD and allow it to install itself.
•  Elite Reporter Basic Configuration  deals with setting up the "support" parts of Elite Reporter software. For example - setting up the company name, the job functions and other similar things.
•  Elite Reporter Button Configuration  shows the best and quickest ways to install buttons into the system - and associate them with centres (sites) and locations (at the sites).
•  User Guides  are one page sheets giving quick information about the hardware - Wand / Unloader / Chargers. They have been designed to give to the users of the equipment.

If you are still concerned about ease of installation - then please contact us.

The Elite System has been designed and improved over the years so that it is perhaps the easiest and fastest possible system to install and use. Installation should be quick and easy; on a capable computer it takes only a few minutes or less.

Operation of the XL Data Wand and XL Unloader requires very little training indeed. They are extremely simple and fast to use.

Staff Motivation

Keeping staff using the system and getting a long-term good result from the Elite System really does depend on staff motivation - as well as a few side issues.

Here are some suggestions to help motivate your staff;

• Keep the boss happy.
  
  Most staff want a happy boss - it is only natural.
  
  You need to show them that by using the system - they make their life easier in keeping you the boss happy.
  
  
• Show Concern and Diligence.
  
  Staff will stop using the system if they see that the boss does not care if it is used.
  
  If your staff can see that the information is important and that you need it "right now" then there is a strong incentive to perform.
  
  
• Show the value.
  
  The system will quickly fall into neglect if you cannot show the staff the value of their use of it. If they feel they are wasting their time - they will stop using it very quickly indeed.
  
  One suggestion is to show staff how you are using the data.
  
  
• Don't threaten or make staff feel threatened by the system.
  
  Staff will have a natural tendency to think that you have installed the system to "bash them up". You may have in fact done this - and from our experience - it would be unusual to do so. Most companies have pretty good staff - the system is installed to prove to others how good they and you both are.
  
  You need to assure them that the system just shows the value of their work to others - that they and protecting you by using the system.
  
  
• Rapid repairs and maintenance.
  
  If staff see a broken unit that takes weeks and weeks to repair and that the boss doesn't really care about it - then staff will (probably quite rightly) gain the impression that the system is not important and usage will decline.
  
  At Elite-ID we truly do try to make repairs, upgrades and refurbishments as quick and cheap as possible. Our "inside information" is that our system costs anywhere from 1/2 to a 1/4 of the cost to maintain, compared to other systems.
  

On-going Diligence

What we see time and again is that for a few months after deploying and bedding down our system the results are exceptional. The risk management report shows very good performance.

Management uses the reports, shows them to staff and there is a high "corporate awareness". The CEO asks the staff how the system is working and confidence and motivation is high.

Then, as time goes by, performance drops off. Staff get bored with hitting buttons, management can get distracted by other problems and their focus diverts away from attendance verification.

Then, a few months later - the reports are looking pretty poor. Only half the number of attendances are being logged.

What can now happen is that there is a sudden and serious business need for information that does not exist - for example information required for billing or to defend a public liability case. This can be a very big problem - you are showing yourself to be negligent if you have not maintained the system.

Here are some techniques to help prevent this from happening;

• The key is management. Management must ask for reports then be seen to need and use the information. Without this being visibly happening - staff motivation will drop off - and fairly quickly too.
  
  
• A responsible person is critical. Whose responsibility is it to ensure that the attendance verification system is kept working, that data is being produced where and when it should?
  
  Unless there is a "central person" - a central point of contact then the old syndrome of no-one is in charge and hence no one cares about it will set in. Someone needs to be in charge.
  
  
• Clear staff roles and procedures are essential. Your staff must know what is required of them and when.
  
  
• End client involvement and feedback is helpful. If staff understand the business need for the system and also have some contact with the client, then the need is reinforced and results will improve.

Elite Support

We pride ourselves that our support is second to none! Almost all our sales are either repeat sales or referrals. Without the best products and the best service and support - we would be out of business (competitors : take note!!!!).

Here is what we offer;

• Free telephone support 7am - 7pm all week - 7 days a week!
  
  
• Paid (low rates) on-site installation in Melbourne and metro areas in Victoria Australia.
  
  
• Free database repair. We provide the tools for you to do this (quite easily) yourself or you can eMail a database to us for us to checkout and correct as required.
  
  
• Free eMail data-analysis and repair. If you are concerned that your system is not working as it should - eMail data to us and we'll help as much as we can. We can use the extensive audit trails in our system to detect user and equipment problems.
  
  
• Free database setup of new systems if you can nominate where buttons are to be placed. We install the complete system in our office then ship the database to you on floppy - or via eMail. We call this "pre-coded databases".

Basically - the Elite System has been designed and made to be relatively quick and easy to install, configure and service.