FAQ’s

eTimeSaver is specifically designed to allow you to meet your payroll requirements. Whilst simplifying and automating data capture processes through scanning, faxed and electronic capture, eTimeSaver also meets many of the specific requirements outlined below:

Create the best timesheets for your requirements

• Make timesheets as attractive and easy to complete as possible
• Use clear and simple field types like print fields and tick boxes
• Use hourly, daily or multi timesheets with customisable layouts

Process high volumes automatically

• Pre-fill and distribute timesheets via paper, fax or eMail
• Receive faxed timesheets electronically, no more paper faxes
• Capture posted and hand delivered timesheets via high-speed scanners

Enforce your business rules

• Check time based calculations are valid
• Match timesheets to booking records
• Identify and remove duplicates automatically
• Ensure rules such as maximum hours worked are enforced

Integrate with your existing booking, pay and bill systems

• Generate pre-filled timesheets from booking data
• Use timesheet numbers or personnel details to match timesheets to bookings
• Assign hours worked to available pay and bill rates
• Export data to existing pay and bill systems
• Make timesheet images available for automatic attachment to existing invoices

No data, no payroll, no invoicing – it’s that important.

We would typically re-design your timesheet for you, mirroring your existing familiar style and layout. It is always recommended that you make the timesheet attractive and as easy as possible to complete.

Use of your company logos, vibrant colours and simple tick boxes make your forms as approachable as possible with constrained print boxes used to capture handwriting.

The aim is to minimise free text fields to make the data easier to read. Clear layout and directions along with good layout will reduce the likelihood of errors and extra administration later on.

Our system works best with timesheets designed for automated data capture. Features such as cornerstones are used to help the system orientate the page properly. A barcode or form number is used so that the system can identify the form type and fields such as constrained print boxes aid swift recognition.

However, eTimeSaver does include an existing form templating system, to allow your existing timesheets to be captured. This is useful if the timesheet is supplied by a client or you already have a large investment in pre-printed stationery that cannot be changed, for example.

As your payroll departments must deliver on time and without error, eTimeSaver repays the initial investment by cutting the cost of timesheet processing significantly while the accuracy and reliability of the system provides peace of mind to departmental managers, temporary workers, and clients alike.

Typical system costs

All our clients are unique, with their own processes, rules, and systems to integrate with, so it is impossible to provide a fixed-price proposal until one of our consultants has spent some time understanding your business. We will discuss the options and provide a fixed- price quotation before starting any work. This quotation will cover two areas; the software itself and the bespoke development.

To provide a quote, we will need to discuss:

• What is your expected number of timesheets per day/week/month?
• Do you need a single-user system or the scalability of a multi-user system?
• How many additional user licenses will you require?
• Is web capture of scanned timesheets needed, perhaps to allow branch-level scanning?
• Is it possible to merge booking data to timesheets to distribute pre-filled timesheets?
• Do you require a permanent timesheet image archive for search and retrieval?
• Will a fax server be required to capture faxed timesheets?
• Will scanners be required to capture paper timesheets?
• Do you need to send SMS texts to temps as receipt confirmations or as reminders?

Depending on your needs it is possible to purchase the software for an entry-level system, including fax server and support and maintenance, for under £10,000. More fully featured systems with multi-user licensing could double this or more.

A detailed specification for the development of the system will be created. This will document many areas including:

• Timesheet design; can it be re-designed within our software, or will an existing template be used?
• Your data merge requirements for pre-filled timesheets
• Business rules and data capture workflow
• How hours are assigned to pay rates and how we can automate these rules
• Booking system look-ups and validation
• Pay and billing system export requirements
• Timesheet image merge requirements for outgoing invoices
• Custom alerts and reporting to temporary workers, consultants, or managers

We have direct access to software and scanners allowing for swift delivery. Scheduling in development resources for form design, integration and training can usually be done in a matter of weeks.

As a rule of thumb, you can reduce one day’s manual entry to less than half an hour. In our experience, a form can take anything from 1 to 20 seconds to capture – roughly 5% of the time it would take to manually enter the data.

The factors which govern this speed include the design of the timesheet itself, the number of fields and most importantly how the timesheet has been filled in.

Our data capture system runs on industry standard Microsoft Windows hardware, software, and networks. Prior to the installation, we will liaise with your IT team to ensure the new servers, environment, workstations, and user credentials are set-up and available to support the system.

The basic requirements are as follows:

Desktop minimum system requirements

• Modern i5 (or equivalent) processor or above
• 4GB RAM
• 20GB minimum free hard drive space
• Microsoft Windows 10 or above
• 1 free USB 2 (or above) port
• 21″ SXGA monitor

Workgroup minimum requirements

Server:

• Modern Xeon (or equivalent) processor or above
• 8GB RAM
• 20GB minimum free hard drive space
• Microsoft Server 2012 or above
• 100MBit TCP/IP non-routed network connection to workstations

Workstation:

• As eTimeSaver Desktop – minimum system requirements above.

Scanner requirements

We support most industry-standard TWAIN and ISIS scanners. Please see our capture page page for further information and recommendations.

The system can perform numerous checks on your data. These include:

Time checking

Checks that the start and finish times minus breaks do add up to the total time being claimed. This can guard against the worker incorrectly adding up their hours, or the system incorrectly reading a time on the sheet.

We can also flag up timesheets with unlikely or erroneous numbers of hours. Perhaps warn if a timesheet has less than 2 hours for a day or over 10 hours.

Data reconciling

If a name or number written on a timesheet exists in a database (e.g., your booking database) then checks can be made that staff numbers or names are accurate against that data. If not, the system will tell you that there is a mismatch. This can guard against time being allocated to the wrong employee number or assignment code.

Date checking

Checks that a week commencing or ending date does fall on the required day (i.e., checks that 4th May is a Friday).

Address validation

Checks against either the GBG or QAS electoral and postcode databases to make sure addresses are legitimate and read correctly.

Bank account validation

Checks against the Experian Payments Bank Wizard not only to check the account number and sort code are valid but also the type of bank account and the branch address.

As a rule of thumb, you can reduce a full day’s manual data entry to less than 30 minutes. In our experience, a timesheet can take between one and ten seconds to capture – only a small percentage of the time would be needed to manually enter the data.

The factors which govern this speed include the design of the timesheet itself, the number of fields and most importantly how the timesheet has been filled in.

The data capture system can recognise printed handwritten characters, machine print, checkboxes, barcodes, and check the presence of signatures.

TeleForm is a powerful data capture system which allows you to create and extract data from any sort of structured form. Typical examples of alternative uses include questionnaires and surveys, application forms, exam sheets, case report forms (CRF), and expense claim forms.

TeleForm does not restrict the numbers of forms you can capture, so the only limitation is how many you can physically scan and verify. On a single-user Desktop system, this could be from hundreds to thousands of pages per day and with the multi-user Workgroup and Enterprise systems providing capability for hundreds of thousands of pages per day!

The document scanner you choose will have a big impact on throughput. Small entry-level scanners will capture batches of up to 100 pages at a time with large production scanners able to scan between 500 and 750 pages at a time.

We understand eTimeSaver will be used in both large organisations with dedicated IT staff and smaller departmental teams with limited IT resources.

We can map out your end-to-end requirements before developing, testing, and installing a fully operational system with users able to manage the system (with training) and capture thousands of timesheets.

Alternatively, if you have the IT resources, we can deliver the data software (and hardware), support and training to allow you to design timesheets and processes internally. This does not require a technical developer, but a good familiarity with Windows based IT systems and databases is helpful.

Although we have a range of training courses designed for all aspects of the eClinical system, we are happy to tailor a course around your particular needs.

For data entry operators, a couple of hours to cover scanning and data verification is required. For system administrators, our standard two-day training course will give basic tuition on how to:

• design your case report form
• scan and verify forms
• create data exports
• search and retrieve data using eStore

Yes, we prefer to attend your site to give bespoke training on your actual system. This allows us to better understand your requirements and to customise some of the training to your forms. If you prefer, we can deliver training remotely.

As we provide training at your premises, we can train as many people as you have facilities for, usually up to about six people at a time.

Each session includes software licenses, user manuals and an experienced consultant.

At ePC, we adopt the philosophy of being a real partner to your team when it comes to support and do not hide behind impersonal support forms or procedures.

Our support helpdesk would be available to you at all times, including during the implementation via telephone, eMail, and online chat.

Our standard support times are 09:00-17:30 GMT/BST during normal working days in England.

Platinum level

We recognise the critical nature of your timesheet processing, so to protect against extended downtime we can provide pre-emptive dial-in remote systems management and issue resolution. This results in fewer unpredicted issues and much quicker resolution in the event of an unexpected issue.

Scanner support and maintenance

We can provide on-site support & maintenance for our range of scanners. We have four- and eight-hour response times available with a guaranteed fix or replacement scanner within a further four or eight hours. The contract covers all labour and parts, excluding consumables.