Chris21 Overview

Contents

Company overview

2

Frontier Software – serving your business better User training Ongoing maintenance and support Helpdesk Consulting Project management Payroll bureau/outsourcing Technical assistance System reviews and audits Data migration/conversion Solid foundation

3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5

Human resources

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Record complete demographic data Establishment and position control Absence and leave control Organisation charting Flexible remuneration modelling and forecasting Job evaluation Appraisal and development review Occupational health and safety Succession and career planning Diary reminders and email Report designer Letter writing and documents Imaging – photographs/documents Executive information/ business intelligence reporting Management reports Correspondence attachments

6 6 6 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 8

Payroll management Backpay Leavers Interfaces to general ledger and job costing Deductions/allowances/earnings/benefits On-line/Individual pay re-calculation Supplementary pay Payslips – printed or by email Pay frequencies Autopay Net to gross

9 9 9

10 10 10 10 10 10 11 11 11 11 11

Pre-payment/advance pay Pay adjustments Hours worked Pay rates/pay scales Payslip messages Pension/superannuation Absence and leave management Taxation and social security Statutory reports Pay history and year-to-date Overtime Report designer Loans and repayment Commission and expenses Electronic interfaces to banks Payroll reports Termination calculation Rostering and time interpretation Award interpretation module SSP/SMP Payroll bureau/outsourcing Hardware outsourcing Software outsourcing Staff outsourcing

11 11 11 12 12 12 12 13 13 13 13 13 13 14 14 14 14 14 15 15 15 15 15 15

Learning and development

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Needs analysis Course administration Course diaries Nominations and bookings Letter writing Skill and competence monitoring Graphical analysis Costing and budgets

Recruitment management Vacancy tracking Applicant management Candidate selection Interviews and appointments Letter writing Reporting/enquiries Document attachments Graphical analysis

16 16 16 16 16 17 17 17

Report designer

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Technology

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Operating in a client server environment Databases – the choice is yours Simple access for users Customisation. Tailoring chris21 to meet your business requirements Extensive online help/user guide A security system that puts you in control Optimum audit efficiency Diary reminders and email Integration with office automation chris21 – a true open environment Executive reporting module Internet/intranet employee self service Managers approval and workflow

Other modules P11D reporting (UK only) Travel and subsistence/vehicles Expense payment and control Salary packaging Time and attendance Executive reporting Payroll bureau/outsourcing Web browser Employee self service Manager approvals/workflow

22 22 22 23 23 23 23 24 24 24 25 25 25

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Your notes

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Company overview page 2

Human resources page 6

Payroll management page 10

Learning and development page 16

Recruitment management page 18

Report designer page 20

Technology page 22

Other modules page 26

Your notes page 28

Company overview

2

Founded on commitment, built on quality. Since 1983, Frontier Software has established a proud track record of success in facilitating effective human resource management Effective human resource management is increasingly recognised as being critical for the success of companies worldwide. Today, the elements embodied by human resource management are complex, encompassing a huge range of specialist areas such as personnel administration, payroll, recruitment, training, staff development, health and safety, skills development, vacancy management, expense control and workforce planning. Small wonder a flexible and responsive software system is essential to manage the plethora of tasks necessary for effective human resource management. Beginning in Melbourne, Australia, in 1983 followed by the opening of offices in New Zealand and the UK in 1991, followed by Singapore in 2003. In 2003, Frontier Software acquired two companies. The first being Mainway, an established payroll bureau based in Nottingham UK. The second acquisition being Goodwood, a HR software organisation based in Walsall UK.

Frontier Software has developed one of the most successful solutions for human resource management anywhere in the world. Named chris21 (Complete Human Resource Information System), this software has been installed in major corporations throughout Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Europe, Singapore and other areas. This is a significant achievement for the company which now boasts over one thousand clients and over two hundred and fifty employees worldwide. The organisation shows strong growth, utilising its profits to continue product development, performance and service thus providing users with superior customer satisfaction. The international success of chris21is based on both technical excellence and the capability of the software to evolve to meet the changing requirements of clients. This widely accepted client/server product operates on the world’s leading computer environments — Windows XP, Windows 2000 and UNIX, thus providing an enterprise-wide local and wide area network topology with Internet/intranet capability. chris21 is a modular yet integrated software solution based on the concept of entering data once, that allows constant enquiries of its unlimited online history. User ad-hoc queries, customisation tools, seamless integration with Microsoft Office and other products are included. This integration ensures that chris21 provides the ultimate in flexibility and functionality.

Frontier Software and chris21 provide a business solution that harmonises with your company’s business practices making information easily accessible across an organisation-wide network. A virtual human resource office is now a reality with internet/intranet technology.

Company services Frontier Software — serving your business better Supplying excellent software is only half of the Frontier Software service. Frontier delivers at all stages of the project.

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The design of chris allows organisations to purchase functions that match budgets and business needs. Modules cover the diverse requirements of human resource and payroll management for any type of organisation. Available modules include: • • • • • • • • • • •

Human Resource administration Payroll management Learning and development Recruitment administration Travel and subsistence Expense payment and control Employee self service Manager approval and workflow Award interpretation Ad-hoc report designing Executive reporting …and many others

Frontier Software is at the forefront of technology, ensuring chris21 is always providing you with the latest market requirements. chris21 is regularly updated with client enhancements developed as a result of user group meetings, as well as statutory obligations. The strategic direction of Frontier Software is dictated by user needs across the world wide business use of this successful human resource and payroll solution. “Users are always kept up to date and the support agreement provides free software upgrades along with a first class support service.”

Frontier Software provides you with the best value and service through our ongoing support. We have an unequalled reputation for providing a superior level of support. Whether at installation, implementation, post implementation reviews or on a day-to-day basis, Frontier Software delivers the support you demand.

User training Frontier Software offer a comprehensive training programme for all types of users. Implementation training is normally delivered at your site and takes place over a number of sessions. These sessions ensure that users are totally conversant with chris21. “We tailor your implementation programme to meet your requirements.” Inhouse training sessions are available for new staff or to bring existing staff up-to-date with the new features available in chris21. Remember, chris21 is being constantly reviewed and enhanced for your benefit. Our training consultants can also work with you to develop training programmes specific to your needs. This form of training is particularly suited to ‘remote’ users, specialist work-groups and for managers so that they know how chris21 can satisfy management needs.

Standard training courses are regularly scheduled at our offices. These courses are cost effective for one or two attendees from the same organisation. The other benefits of our scheduled training courses are that the training is broad based and that ideas can be shared with similar users from other organisations. To help with ‘at the office’ training, comprehensive documentation is provided with each training session.

Ongoing maintenance and support “Frontier Software is using the internet to communicate with clients so that information is received quickly and efficiently.” User support is essential and Frontier Software provides a first class service (users tell us so). The hot line provides answers and all calls are logged for analysis and subsequent user group discussion. “Wherever you are, help is just a telephone call away.” Software upgrades include legislative changes, general enhancements and new technical features and are forwarded directly to you as a part of your annual maintenance agreement. Frontier Software also supplies you with a comprehensive online help facility and associated documentation covering: • User reference guide • Topic notes • Training notes

Company overview

4

Helpdesk

Payroll bureau/outsourcing

The helpdesk is a fundamental part of our business. After all, client satisfaction is our No. 1 priority. The helpdesk is your one-stopshop for any queries. You are not charged for support calls: access to the helpdesk is part of your maintenance agreement and our helpdesk will solve your problems, quickly and effectively.

Frontier Software operate a wide range of outsourcing services to satisfy an organisations business needs. The Service Level Agreements can range from traditional bureau arrangements to a fully managed service. This service compliments use of chris21 as an inhouse product. Like the product, this service is flexible to meet your business needs.

Consulting

Technical assistance

In addition to providing training and helpdesk support, our consultants can assist with implementation, conversions, specification of new requirements, site reviews and even cover for short-term staff absences. In short, any task that requires an understanding of human resource or payroll management can be undertaken by Frontier Software.

Many organisations today have few staff available to assist with technical matters. While contracting out as and when required, is cost effective, it sometimes means that technical staff are not always available.

Project management A successful implementation requires a professionally managed project. While some companies prefer their own project management, just as many are unable to spare the resources for this important task. Frontier can put a plan together that shows you what needs to be done, by whom. Our experience is vital to your success. With the experience of hundreds of successful implementations we know exactly what is required. We know what works and what does not. And importantly we put together realistic plans that let you complete your implementation on time, within budget and with minimum disruption to your organisation and to your employees.

chris21 is simple to install, easy to upgrade, simple to maintain and therefore requires a minimum of technical support. But if you need any help, we’ll be there.

System reviews and audits When you commit to chris21, you invest in its functionality and its advanced technology. In a short period chris21 will become an essential daily management tool. To ensure that your organisation receives maximum benefit from your investment, our consultants can work in partnership with you in comprehensive system reviews and audits. At the conclusion of each project, they will produce a comprehensive report for your review and action. Frontier consultants also work with internal/ external auditors and non-chris21 users, to assist them to retrieve, understand and analyse chris21 information.

Data migration/conversion Frontier Software offer a wide variety of conversion facilities. Data from legacy systems can be easily migrated into chris21. A simple procedure without re-keying data.

Solid foundation A solid foundation provides success and the Frontier Software commitment to product functionality, service and user understanding produces a quality product. Success has been based upon a number of factors and our key attributes are: • Product commitment — look at product release contents • Compliance with specific country legislative requirements • We listen to our users — users receive requested enhancements at no extra cost • Complete user satisfaction — our user surveys tell us so • Reliable and robust software — over 20 years in the HR software industry • First class helpdesk support — wherever you are, we are there to help • Ease of use with product flexibility — extensive online help, click the icon and documentation appears • Professional training and project management — successful implementation provides credibility • Continued user-led enhancements at no extra cost — regular user groups lead development • Incorporation of technological changes — client/server design

• Open database access — users can get at the data easily and quickly • Users can perform customisation — your business needs are met • Company strength — profitable company • Frontier Software constantly invests in research and development — after development, quality assurance follows and a quality product is produced chris21 benefits your organisation by reducing administrative costs and producing management information in a most cost-effective manner • Proven Technology — Frontier Software uses software tools that are reliable and proven in todays ever changing technical environment. Human Resource and Payroll is a mission critical system

Human resources

6

chris21 Personnel Administration helps maintain extensive Human Resource information vital to managing your most valuable resource Record complete demographic data chris21,

With a comprehensive database is already established but you can tailor the product to suit your organisation’s unique requirements and this is accomplished by the easy to use online design tool set. The database has been designed to store, enquire and report on complete history of all employees: Key features include: • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Career history, previous employment Addresses Skills and competences Disciplinary warnings Grievances Equal opportunity reporting Company issues Appraisals and performance management Diaries, reminders and notes Professional associations Dependents Education/qualifications Licenses/certificates Training history …and others

“User customisation’ gives you the freedom to enhance product functionality and can be performed by a user to suit individual requirements.”

Establishment and position control Keeping track of the positions within an organisation is normally a demanding and time-consuming task but with chris21 you have online access to the details of every position in your organisation, subject to security access of course. This gives you complete control over your organisation’s structure. Key features include: • • • • • • • • •

Position descriptions Position establishment Skills and competences Department budgets Establishment and budget reports Graphical organisation charts Vacancy reports Occupancy reports Multi positions (contracts)

“Organisation change’ is implemented with ease, reducing administrative effort.”

Absence and leave control Accurate leave management and the ability to record and analyse any absence is a fundamental component of the chris21 absence module. All rules relating to absences are held in user defined tables and this implies that your business rules can easily be amended. Payment rules, entitlement rules and statutory rules are amended/viewed whenever required.

Features of absence and leave control including graphical displays are:

Flexible remuneration modelling and forecasting

• Any type of absence, eg holidays, sickness, long service, study, jury service, parental leave etc • Different, and any number of, entitlement rules can be specified • Unlimited history is automatically maintained • Sickness monitoring • Immediate graphs and sickness patterns can easily be displayed • Up to the minute and future entitlement/accrual balances • Automatic employee leave entitlements are calculated • Warning messages when leave exceeds entitlement • Leave can be entered in advance • Adjustments can be made at any time • Time off in lieu can be maintained at any time • Leave planner and leave liability reports

chris21 gives you total control over an organisations highest cost. Forecasting and planning proposed increases (or decreases) across the organisation or selected employee groups is an instant facility.

Organisation charting “When the structure changes, the chart reflects the current status.” Staff appointments and transfers are also amended with a chart. Flexibility does not just stop there. With chris21, users can determine what is presented in the graphical chart and obtain a complete or partial company structure. An easy to use and effective organisation management chart is produced in minutes.

Key features include: • • • • •

Unlimited salary and benefit history Future dated increases Automatic processing of increments Salary review reports Ad-hoc enquiries, with immediate spreadsheet analysis • Award/grade/spinal points

If your organisation structure changes — chris21 is there to help

Job evaluation module The successful evaluation and analysis of positions and employees is vital to maintain remuneration in line with market conditions. This module supports a range of industry standard systems and users can define their own criteria.

Changes can be made anytime, anywhere

Of course flexibility is a key to success and evaluation criteria can be applied to employee position evaluations.

Appraisal and development review In addition, chris21 gives you access to valuable performance appraisal functions. You can easily track employee appraisal histories, make detailed appraisal entries and even schedule the next appraisal date generating at the same time diary reminders or email messages. Automatic screen scrolling allows the user to maintain needs analysis as a result of an appraisal. This is useful for a ‘follow up’ development review with immediate diary reminders generated as required.

Automatic letter production is a reality

Human resources

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Occupational health and safety Tracking, prevention and analysis of accidents are imperative from a company and employee perspective. Now you can easily monitor all aspects of health and safety with chris21. Other facilities include: • Tracking costs incurred as a result of accidents • Reporting on investigation details and incident patterns • online history of any rehabilitation that occurs Medical details allow you to maintain a comprehensive record of health assessments by capturing data for: • Physical examinations for pre-employment • Tests such as audiometry and vision

Succession and career planning chris21 career planning facility allows you to plan and develop career paths based on employees’ career goals, linking career moves to the organisation’s structure. Ad-hoc queries help identify suitable candidates for career progression. Key features are: • Possible succession paths within your organisation • Short and long term career goals • Priority levels and time periods for career plans

Diary reminders and email Generating email messages for distribution across the enterprise becomes a highly efficient method of employee communication and diary messages automatically appear in your personalised diary.

The diary reminder facility helps you to plan changes within your human resource system. • You can access a pop-up window to create a reminder field each time you make a change in the chris21 system • You can offset messages to appear automatically on screen at a pre-determined date, eg a reminder can be programmed to appear on screen before salary changes are to be made • chris21 interfaces to any SMTP compliant email system “Diary messages can be created within any module of chris21.”

Report designer “Can I have a facility to create reports/queries without extensive learning?” Yes, flexible, simple, efficient and complete — chris21 ad-hoc report designer ensures you can always create a professionally presented, comprehensive report of any data on your system and you do not need to be a computer whiz to do it. Data can be passed seamlessly into Word/ExcelTM.

Letter writing and documents “Immediate letter production is achieved by a click of the icon.” Letters and documents are created in WordTM and users define data that is to be merged, it is a very easy process.

Imaging — photographs/documents chris21 offers you the latest in image support, optimising security and providing an effective management tool. Photographs of staff can be viewed from any part of the system and any number of documents can be scanned, created and attached to an employee’s record.

Executive information/business intelligence reporting chris21

allows third party products to provide graphical analysis by simple point and click processes. Examples include WebFocus, Crystal, Impromptu, Business Objects and others. These business intelligence tools provide full graphics, drill down, slice and dice capability and analysis of your data in whatever shape or form you require. Business reports are excellent for presentations to board meetings or to senior management. In addition, Frontier Software supply an Executive Reporting module with a wide variety of pre-written reports and graphical displays.

Management reports As you would expect from any human resource information system, chris21 includes a wide variety of standard management reports to meet the majority of your organisation’s reporting requirements. They satisfy statutory reporting requirements too. All these standard reports are complemented by our ad-hoc report designer. Using the powerful report designer you’ll get reports on any information held in chris21 in the format you require. Not only is the report designer powerful, it is easy to use and provides unlimited extraction, analysis and reporting on your Human Resource data.

Examples of standard reports are: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Turnover reports Age analysis Service analysis Terminations New starters Transfers Profile report Leave planner Labour costs Salary review Leave liability Budget reports Headcount reports Remuneration reports Department lists Establishment reports Organisation structures Absence analysis Attendance reports

Correspondence attachments Human resource departments receive a great deal of incoming correspondence; when these relate to an employee they can easily be attached to an employee record. chris21 — an effective tool for human resource administration.

Unlimited health records are maintained

Absence records are easy to understand

Screens are designed to be informative, clear and concise

recruitment management Payroll management

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Full functionality, statutory compliance, statutory software upgrades, ease of use with full documentation are our company standards. chris21 passes with flying colours Put the payroll specialist to work for you. chris21 ensures your employees are paid accurately and on time whilst efficiently managing the complexity of ever changing conditions of employment; chris21 easily handles the most complex requirements of pay production.

Backpay “The pain of manual calculations is removed.” chris21 automatically calculates retrospective increases (and decreases) in salaries/wages and allowances to your employees, whilst maintaining the original cost coding and a full history of the recalculations.

Over 60 general ledger interfaces already exist in chris21. Other general ledger packages accept our standard ASCII file. Great flexibility when you need it. You can also extract data from chris21 time sheets into job costing and creditor systems; in fact into any system that accepts ASCII files.

Deductions/allowances/earnings/ benefits With chris21, there is no limit to the number of deductions, pension/superannuation schemes, allowances and benefits. chris21 maintains a full online history of changes for each employee and global changes reduce payroll workload.

Leavers “No more searching for historical data, it is there online.” When an employee leaves the company, details are not lost. Pay can be made up to the leaving date and if overtime/commission payments are to be made after the leaving date, chris21 can be used to make the payment. chris21 automatically complies with statutory requirements for post termination payments.

Interfaces to general ledger and job costing “With chris21 you can have a complete interface to your accounting system.”

Some key features include: • Automatic reduction of deduction balances • Deduction priority • Percentage or specific amount contributions • Court orders • Pro rata calculations And when additional earnings/deductions are required, they are simple to add.

Online/individual pay re-calculation Often after a pay has been calculated there are last minute changes. With chris21 you do not have to re-run the entire pay. You can re-calculate the individual pay and then continue with processing as normal. Ideal for online checking.

Supplementary pay

Hours worked

If you need to make payments to employees outside a normal pay run, you have several choices with chris21. Process the employee in a separate pay run. Make the payment off-line and record the payment details in chris21. Either way, chris21 updates year-to-date totals, creates accounting entries and provides reconciliation reports. Balanced general ledger entries are always created.

“Timesheet from keyed input, rosters, imported or internet driven.”

Payslips — printed or by email chris21 has a number of standard payslips from which to choose, with the user specifying what can be displayed, eg holiday balances, messages and annual salary are all userselectable. Payslip history is provided and details can be viewed at any time. Payslips can also be sent by email to any group of employees, it is simply your choice.

To make life easier and to facilitate the most efficient means of entering time sheets, chris21 has a number of alternatives for you. Our consultants will work with you to determine which method of timecard input is most appropriate for you. If your organisation uses electronic time clocks, chris21 offers a time and attendance interface to capture time records. You avoid the double-handling of information and chris21 saves your company time and money.

chris21 keeps a complete history of all payroll entries

Of course, time sheets could be entered via the internet/intranet and then immediately passed into chris21.

Pre-payment/advance pay Pay frequencies caters for a range of pay frequencies — so you can choose whatever interval or intervals best suit your organisation’s payroll requirements ie weekly, fortnightly, monthly or bi-monthly, four weekly, four/five weekly or quarterly.

chris21 allows you to process advance payments for employees as a result of a termination or holiday. chris21 automatically calculates and deducts tax for the advance pay period using standard taxation logic. Deductions and allowances can be pro-rated or made in full — you choose.

Autopay

Pay adjustments

If your employees receive the same pay each pay period, then use the autopay feature of chris21. It saves you the time and trouble of entering timecards for ordinary hours. With autopay, all you need to do is run the pay — a press button pay run.

In addition to base pay, overtime and allowances, chris21 has a simple method for making one-off payments or deductions.

chris21

Net to gross If a net payment is to be made then chris21 will gross up the value according to statutory rules.

Adjustments such as backpay are created automatically when retrospective salary or allowance changes are entered. Other one-off adjustments are entered as they occur. chris21 even lets you easily make bulk adjustments and you can even import spreadsheet calculations into chris21, without re-keying.

Changes can be made anytime, anywhere

Instant spreadsheet analysis using data from chris21

recruitment management Payroll management

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Pay rates/pay scales

Absence and leave management

“Any number of pay rates can be accommodated — no restriction applies.”

chris21 absence and leave management allows accurate and effective leave management. You have all the information you need online, so you are always in control.

Pay rates are the basis of any payroll system. Within chris21 rates are user-defined and a history of changes is maintained, created by global changes or by individual amendments. • • • • • •

Wage rates are table controlled Unlimited wage rates can be kept Wage rate history Global updates of wage rates can be made Scale points Incremental reporting

Payslip messages “Employee communication underpins a successful organisation and the payslip is one method.” Messages can be included on payslips and the message can be made specific to an employee, a group of employees, or to those being processed within the pay run. Technology always provides an opportunity to change a business process.

Pension/superannuation chris21 allows an employee to belong to any number of pension/superannuation funds and every fund is user-defined. The system provides: • An unlimited number of funds • Calculation of employee and employer contributions • Year-to-date and fund-to-date totals • AVCs. Additional Voluntary Contribution • Offsets and ceilings • Contracted out money purchase scheme • Specific amounts and/or percentage values • Electronic interfaces to scheme providers

Since chris21 absence and leave management feature is fully integrated, both the personnel and the payroll departments can maintain leave data. For efficiency and accuracy — chris21 is the common sense solution. Key features include: • • • •

• • • • • • • •

Automatic sick payments Automatic maternity payments Full pay/half pay calculations Up-to-the-minute display of entitlement and accrual balances on screen — now and in the future Unlimited leave histories for all employees Automatic calculation and update of employee leave entitlements Manual adjustments to balances at any time Any number of leave types (annual, sickness, long service, study, maternity) An unlimited number of leave rules Accounting entries for leave liability Warnings if leave exceeds entitlement accrued Holiday and sickness analysis

The power and flexibility of chris21 is reflected in the use of tables — users define the rules of entitlement and payment rules. Perhaps the company requires different account numbers to be used for different types of absences — with chris21 this is not a problem. Graphical displays enhance results and chris21 offers facilities for identifying sickness patterns (or other leave types) in a wide variety of graphical displays.

Taxation and social security

Overtime

Taxation tables holding the Inland Revenue rates are maintained within the Inland Revenue table.

In most organisations the need to pay overtime arises occasionally, if not constantly.

chris21 holds tables to meet these statutory requirements. A fundamental aspect of the annual maintenance agreement is to provide facilities to automatically update these tables on time.

chris21 facilitates the payment of overtime in a number of ways:

Statutory reports chris21 provides facilities to produce all statutory reports either in printed format, magnetic media or electronically.

Pay history and year-to-date “Immediate access to historical data saves time and money.” Two aspects of payroll processing that require constant reference are pay history and yearto-date data. chris21 allows easy access to this information: • Unlimited online pay history is kept. Details for every pay run for every employee are available • Pay history can be archived as required • Year-to-date totals are maintained for all payroll components • Accumulations for every pay component are maintained. These cover: — Last pay — Month-to-date — Year-to-date — Alternate year-to-date “Previous year-to-date data is available online, thus reducing query time.”

• Any number of time factors for overtime are available eg normal time, time and a half, double time, double time and a half, etc. All are user definable • Report designer requests provide management with necessary controlling information, eg overtime by department • chris21 automatically generates the necessary accounting data • Back pay calculations can be performed on historical data

Reporting is simple and easy to perform

Report designer “Any number of training reports can be produced at any time.” “Can I have a facility to create reports/queries without extensive learning?”

Reports can be run at anytime and complete history is available

Yes, flexible, simple, efficient and complete — the ad-hoc report writer ensures you can always create a professionally presented, comprehensive report of any data on your system. And you do not need to be a computer whiz to do it. Data can be passed seamlessly into Word/ExcelTM.

Loans and repayment Employee loans can be set-up and chris21 will automatically reduce outstanding balances as installments are deducted from an employees pay. Naturally complete history is available at any time and when an employee leaves, resultant balances are there to be seen.

Absence patterns are easy to identify

Payroll management

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Commission and expenses

Termination calculation*

chris21 allows any number of expense items to be reimbursed to an employee. The allowance reference table is used to state whether the expense is taxable or non-taxable.

Processing and calculating termination payments is simple with the chris21 comprehensive termination module. Once you have defined the rules used for calculating termination payments all you need to do is enter a termination date and run the termination process.

Electronic interfaces to banks As you would expect, interfaces exist to banks, building societies, credit unions via the appropriate formatted seamless interface.

Payroll reports With so much vital payroll information held in chris21, accurate and readable reports are a key component of this module. With over 100 payroll reports available, reports exist that satisfy the diverse needs of your users. Payroll, finance, managers, audit, external agencies will all find that the chris21 reports give them exactly the information they require, when they need it. • • • • • • • • • • • •

Pay details (Gross to net) Overtime analysis Ledger reports Accounting analysis Deduction analysis Sickness payments Pension/superannuation fund schedules Year end reconciliation Costing reports Payslips Statutory payments Bank deposits

Key features include: • Automatic calculation and payment of outstanding leave entitlements and accruals • What if analysis and modelling of termination entitlements without commitment to termination • online termination calculation for individuals • Calculation of termination entitlements for groups of employees * This module is not available in the UK

Rostering and time interpretation Many organisations have rosters that require different rates of pay depending on the shift, day type, time-of-day etc. The roster facility in chris21 records all this information. Once an employee is attached to a roster, time sheets are automatically created without the need to physically enter any time sheets. This saves time and allows you to concentrate on other tasks. Key features include: • An unlimited number of roster cycles • Unlimited pay rates can be kept • Unlimited employee roster history is maintained

Award interpretation module

Hardware outsourcing

chris21

Frontier Software can supply and maintain the hardware plus logistics and technical expertise associated with a mission critical solution. Additionally, Frontier Software performs the backup and recovery procedures to ensure there is minimal down time and no delays.

automatic award interpretation or time booking module gives you direct on screen time sheet entry. Employees can work as members of teams and daily time booking records are generated according to the roster. Rosters can have multiple shifts, and allowances and payment rates can reflect shift payment rules.

SSP/SMP* UK statutory legislation covers the payment of both statutory sick pay and statutory maternity pay. chris21 can create the appropriate payments; in addition it will automatically create occupational sick payments and occupational maternity payments. * This function only applies in the UK.

Payroll bureau/outsourcing Frontier Software offers a unique, full range of outsourcing services. We can tailor a service to suit your requirements while still allowing you direct access to your data regardless of whether it is payroll or human resource data. Outsourcing can comprise hardware, software and labour.

Software outsourcing Being state of the art thin client server, chris21 allows you to have online direct access to the system. We will provide the facilities and flexibility of an inhouse solution without the need for the client to maintain the software and legislative requirements.

Changes can be made anytime, anywhere

Staff outsourcing Frontier Software have a vast pool of experienced staff to provide you a cost-effective solution. Frontier Software bears the cost of recruitment, training, salaries and overheads so that you can concentrate on your own core business, thereby allowing you to devote the resources to profit generating areas.

Letter production with automatic merging of data from chris21 is simple

We cover the broad spectrum of payroll types from Government and ‘white collar’ environments through to the most complex health and transport agreements. Frontier Software is happy to tailor a service to your requirements, providing you with a real-time, online, outsourced solution with our ‘inhouse’, ‘online’ advantages. “The best of both worlds.”

Training reports can be processed at anytime

Learning and development

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Investment in learning will ultimately improve profitability, therefore, it is imperative to train employees throughout their career history. chris21 is the ideal training administrator and manager chris21 contains powerful, easy to use functions that follow the process of your training administration process. Software that enables these tasks to be accomplished without difficulties is essential and chris21, using Windows techniques, allows this to happen on screen every time. From course registration, delegate confirmation, nominations and attendee history chris21 for Training is the answer. Historical components of chris21 provide departmental managers and training departments with information to plan current and future training requirements and associated budget forecasts.

Needs analysis Generally, needs analysis flows from appraisals which can be logged and analysed to formulate an employee’s training plan. The user defined tables for competences and course definitions are also an essential ingredient. Groups of employees, selected by need, can then be allocated a suitable course.

Course administration Course details covering course providers, location, costs, equipment needed and competences to be acquired are all elements of this core function. A simple click will display all courses (internal and external) logged onto the database. Training officers can then plan courses and sessions according to business requirements.

Course diaries Course sessions can be held at any time and a complete diary of courses, current and historical, internal/external are displayed on screen. Subsequent sessions can be allocated at any time and the use of diaries and/or email facilities prompts for action.

Nominations and bookings Employees can be nominated for course approval prior to being booked and the easy confirmation screen updates an employee’s training record. For organisations not using this formal process, then an alternative course booking facility is available providing a clear path for course administration.

Letter writing ‘Immediate letter production is achieved by a click of the icon.’ chris21 creates letters immediately by extracting and merging data into your WordTM. Not only is it ideal for a ‘one off’ but the facility is used to generate letters for selected groups of people. Human Resource departments generate letters so why not create a history of the actual letter with instant retrieval. chris21 allows the task to be performed with ease.

Skill and competence monitoring Employees attend courses to enhance their skills and therefore enable organisations to achieve better business practices. chris21 for Training automatically updates an employee’s competency/skill set based upon user defined rules. chris21 is able to inform users about those employees who require further training. The diary features which prompt the user for further action where skill/competency mismatch occurs will mean a more efficient and well trained workforce.

Training history is available at anytime

Graphical analysis ‘Analysis of data is enhanced with a picture.’ Yes, graphics enhance presentation and it is easy to transfer data into spreadsheets such as Microsoft ExcelTM. Why not select a group of employees and graph the sickness pattern. Not difficult to achieve. Enhanced graphical analysis can be obtained by using the business intelligence module.

Costing and budgets

Course registration letters ease administration

An essential aspect when setting budgets is knowing where, when, how and what was spent on training. chris21 for Training provides answers. Costs are user defined and upon attendance all costs can be logged and charged to the applicable department therefore giving management feedback on training expenditure.

Reports can be run at any time and complete history is available any time

Recruitment management

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Increasing efficiency and quick easy access to both applicant and vacancy databases are fundamental to any recruitment activity. Frontier Software provides the correct tool Candidate selection: Hiring the correct person is essential to maximise company profitability. chris21 contains powerful, easy to use functions that follow the workflow of your busy recruitment process. Software that enables these tasks to be accomplished without difficulties is essential and chris21 using Windows techniques allows this to happen on screen every time. From applicant search, letter production, graphical analysis and finally hiring, with automatic transfer to the employee database makes chris21 for Recruitment the perfect solution.

Vacancy tracking Identifying vacancies with subsequent people selection is the foundation of chris21. Vacancies are identified and entered into the vacancy log. Grades, department details, user defined categories are immediately displayed and the visual on screen history identifies current and historical vacancies. Imagine knowing how much the recruitment campaign costs; chris21 delivers this immediately and users can identify the best fit advertising campaign. Management reports complete the workflow of vacancy management along with who and how many applicants applied, and all associated costs.

Applicant management chris21 tracks external candidates and existing employees by a simple click of the mouse. The easy to understand screens are used to enter biographic data — from linguistic skills to previous work history. All data can then be used for candidate selection. Registering basic information to send out information packs is just one of the many benefits of chris21. To complement the various stages of hiring an applicant, chris21 has an extensive array of information sets, namely: • • • • • • • • •

Base information — name/address Vacancy applied for References Term/work address Skills and competences Education data Prior work history Health and medical events Photographs

Candidate selection

Letter writing

The powerful and easy to use ad-hoc query facility enables even the novice user to extract data and display results on screen. Selections are applied identifying applicants to be processed for the next stage. Naturally selections can be fine tuned by the user at any time.

At all stages of the recruitment process, letters are needed and the benefits of chris21 allows bulk or single letters to be sent. chris21 provides an interface to Microsoft WordTM, and it is a simple case of point, click and select the data. Naturally a status history of letters sent is provided, regardless of whether it is a single letter or letters to many applicants.

chris21 workflow processes are then used and a total summary of diary events are maintained after every action. Diary events are user defined in pop up windows. Typically these would include: • • • • • •

Application acknowledgements Rejection letters sent References checked Confirming interview time Sent for medical Acceptance letter

Interviews and appointments Interviews are arranged at any time and chris21 helps manage the interviewer’s schedule. Dates and times are displayed and the easy to view schedule report/enquiry helps plan future activities. Regardless of whether the successful applicant is from outside the company or from within, chris21 maintains a complete history. Once a suitable applicant is found, then data can be transferred automatically into the employee database. chris21 saves time, eliminating data duplication.

Reporting/enquiries

Graphical displays of data via Excel (or equivalent) are easy to produce

At any time, enquiries can be made by using the easy to use report designer. Ethnic monitoring, advertising campaigns, vacancy costing etc are all achievable with minimal effort.

Document attachments At any stage of the recruitment process, photographs can be scanned and passed directly into the applicant database. Original letters can also be scanned and retrieved within your chosen word processor.

This recruitment module allows you to record all applications indefinitely

Graphical analysis Powerful graphical analysis can be performed simply and with ease. Just think, pie charts, bar charts, line graphs, recruitment costs by vacancy, ethnic analysis by age, gender analysis and many others can be performed at the touch of a button. Products that clients use include ExcelTM and Lotus 123TM. chris21 allows your choice of graphical tools and executive information systems to perform time comparative analysis. Drill down techniques are used to identify strengths and weaknesses of the recruitment campaign.

Offer letters are now easy to produce, data being automatically extracted from chris21

Report designer

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“Can I have a facility to create reports/queries without extensive learning?”

Yes, flexible, simple, efficient and complete — chris21 report designer ensures you can always create a professionally presented, comprehensive report of any data on your system and you do not need to be a computer whiz to do it. You can search your database and produce the selected data in a report layout of your choice. And you can interface these reports with the majority of graphic, spreadsheet or word processing packages. Building a report is as simple as answering the following questions: “What details do I want? How do I select employees? How do I want them sorted? How do I want them presented?” All chris21 data items are stored in the data dictionary and can be viewed in a pop-up window or selected from the screen on which they appear. Point your cursor at the item you want to appear in the report and click! There are no boundaries to the number and types of reports you can create. You can attach frequently used ad-hoc reports to a menu so they look like standard reports — an ideal way to get managers to run their own reports. You can also perform mathematical and logical operations on data fields and embed the results in your reports.

You can view reports online, print them immediately or store them for printing at a later time and even send the results via email. Letter writing to a select group of employees is completed immediately with the power of chris21 report writer. “Can I use other report writers?” Yes, any tried and tested ODBC (Open Data Base Connectivity) compliant software can be used against the database eg IQ, Crystal, WebFocus and Forest and Trees. The appropriate drivers are available from Frontier Software. Again, our commitment to users is to provide a solution. Security is an extremely important aspect and the chris21 report writer uses chris21 security to control what data segments can be accessed. Another important aspect is the ease by which data can be transferred into office products such as Microsoft Word/ExcelTM. This is a seamless task just point and click. Once a report has been created it can be reused with or without changing the criteria — another time saver.

Industry standards are used throughout chris21 to help users navigate around the system. Menu configurations based upon user preferences are simple to create and change. The ability to open a number of windows at the same time provides users with more information. Navigation is not limited to menu bars; menu trees are also an option; again it is your choice.

chris21 is a flexible system and you, the user have screen customisation facilities. Small things like creating user preferences; menu structures; and even changing the appearance of the screen. Screen customisation will allow you to add new fields; remove data fields; all of this performed to make administration an easy task. chris21 is controlled by security that ensures that only specific users have access to screen customisation.

Technology

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Proven technology underpins the design platform of chris21. Scalability, open database and a client/server environment are the standards Technology becomes increasingly critical to the performance and competitive edge of companies and Frontier Software is constantly enhancing chris21 to take advantage of the latest technology so that you can work smarter.

Operating in a client server environment The progressive solution. “Enterprise scale mission critical applications require three-tier architecture, in which the user interface resides on the desktop, application logic resides on one or more application and/or database servers, and database access is located on the database server.” Open System Review, July ‘98.

Frontier three-tier client/server application leads the way in functionality, and the scalability of chris21 delivers maximum efficiency and flexibility. Now, the load of running software applications on your system can be shared across three components, providing greater reliability, speed and performance. Data transfer as well as the application itself can run from the application server, freeing your client PC to run the graphical user interface and interact with the user.

And the new powerful client/server application allows you to access chris21 via the internet. So, all your staff can access chris21 no matter how distant your regional offices. The design of chris21 provides high performance across a company-wide area network. Frontier Software three-tier client/server architecture increases reliability, performance and speed over restricted speed communication lines.

Databases — the choice is yours chris21 gives you the freedom to choose a database that meets your strategic direction. Options are: • • • •

VISION VISION with ODBC SQL Server ORACLE

In addition you can change databases at any time by using our seamless conversion process.

Simple access for users chris21 graphical user interface written in Delphi is designed around an environment that is already familiar to you. chris21 complements your existing business applications with familiar features such as menus, pop-up windows, scroll bars and icons to help you learn the system faster and to make navigation around chris21 a breeze.

Customisation. Tailoring chris21 to meet your business requirements “I want a screen that…” With chris21 you can have one. You have the flexibility to customise chris21 to suit your own requirements. • Change field, screen or menu labels to correspond with existing terminology within your organisation • Create new screens, fields or menus to suit your unique needs • Add fields to existing screens • Hide fields that are not immediately required

Extensive online help/user guide chris21 includes a comprehensive contextsensitive online help function. You can modify help or create your own help information to reflect your own business procedures. Additionally, chris21 boasts a comprehensive online user guide so day-to-day questions like... How do I...? Where do I...? can be answered immediately and effortlessly.

A security system that puts you in control “Security of data is the cornerstone of your database.” chris21 provides a comprehensive, flexible security system. You control and monitor access to your database. You control individual, departmental and organisational access to screens, reports and data.

You can also limit user access to specified areas in your organisation. For example, a sales manager may have access only to sales staff information. Users can see on screen and report through the ad-hoc report writer only details to which they have access. And you can manage security for hundreds of users by applying simple security profiles. chris21 also detects and records unauthorised attempts to access the system and unauthorised attempts to access screens and reports within the system. You can view the security log online or produce a report of the security log for detailed inspection. Security violations are also reported.

Many windows can be opened at the same time

Optimum audit efficiency “A security system is only as good as the audit trail it leaves behind.” It is imperative that you have a record of all changes made to your database. Every field in the system can be audited giving you total control over the integrity of your data. If a record is added or deleted, or if fields within a record are altered, chris21 saves details of the change to an audit file.

chris21 — an open database that follows your IT strategy

The audit report gives you a before and after image of your data so auditors can see exactly what changes have been made. You can produce a full audit report from the audit file or narrow your search for details of changes. You can report on changes by a user, report on changes to a file, report on changes to an employee, report on changes within a date range, or combine reporting criteria. And you can feel secure in knowing that the audit component of chris21 satisfies all auditing requirements.

Data can be exported into any graphical facility eg Excel

recruitment management Technology

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Diary reminders and email

chris21 — a true open environment

The diary reminder system helps you plan changes within your human resource and payroll system.

chris21 operates with standard operating systems across a wide variety of hardware manufacturers. A major benefit of chris21 enables organisations to move from one hardware/operating system to another without changing software. chris21 is a proven 32 bit product for open system portability.

• You can access a pop-up window to create a reminder field each time you make a change to the chris21 system • You can offset messages to appear automatically on screen at a pre-determined date, for example, a reminder can be programmed to appear on screen before salary changes are to be made • You can even export your messages to other applications such as Microsoft Outlook or any SMTP compliant email systems

Integration with office automation It is very easy to extract data and update spreadsheets directly or indirectly to produce graphical presentation. The mail merge facility of Microsoft (Word), Lotus (WordPro/AmiPro) and Corel (WordPerfect) are used to produce letters eg salary reviews, recruitment interviews and course registration details. With chris21 the task of data extraction and selection is a breeze thus reducing administrative time.

chris21 thin client is available for Microsoft Windows 2000 XP or later. It is also compatible with Citrix and Windows Terminal Server. chris21 Business Rules Engines operate on Microsoft Windows 2000 or later servers, HP9000 HP/UX, Sun SPARC/Solaris, IBM RS/6000 AIX, HP Tru 64 UNIX, Red Hat Linux (Intel). Data can be stored in Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server databases or as VISION indexed files (with or without ODBC drivers). chris21 is scalable and open.

Executive reporting module This executive reporting module provides specific reports and graphical output. chris21 can also be accessed by business intelligence reporting tools such as Cognos Powerplay, WebFocus, Impromptu and Business Objects, when ODBC compliant databases are installed. Drill down, slice and dice, taking a look at your data from chris21 in any shape or form you require is a reality thus providing business intelligence for managers. A separate product brochure is available.

Interfaces to any SMTP compliant email systems exist

Internet/intranet employee self service With the explosion of corporate networks and huge interest in the internet, Frontier Software has taken advantage of this technology. chris21 users can access the database via the internet and intranet by using browser technology. Employee self service is a reality and the database (updated in real time) can be accessed anywhere. This module will allow address changes, vacancy requests, bank changes, training requisitions and much more to be accomplished from web browsers either from the office or at home.

Diary events within chris21 invoke an email

“Companies must look at technology to provide business benefit.”

Managers approval and workflow Approval processes are included with the managers approval module with electronic forms available for Internet Explorer/Netscape Navigator browsers. Automatic email messages are created to ease the approval process. A separate product brochure is available.

Upgrading chris21is a straightforward process

recruitment management Other modules

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Frontier Software facilitates business efficiency by designing new modules. In discussion with users and industry experts these additional modules deliver business benefit P11D reporting (UK)

Salary packaging

This module has been designed to meet UK statutory reporting relating to benefits and appropriate expenses. Data is printed in an approved format and can also be sent electronically to the Inland Revenue.

Companies with varying salary packaging or flexible methods will find this module attractive. Varying allowances/benefits can be chosen to determine an employees overall salary package.

Travel and subsistence/vehicles

Time and attendance

This module allows mileage payments to be calculated and automatically paid within the payroll system. The rules for payment are covered by legislation according to vehicle type, miles travelled etc. Vehicle details are maintained within this function and unlimited history is available.

Interfaces from a variety of time clock systems are available and payments can be created directly into chris21 from this imported datafile.

Expense payment and control Expenses can be paid within payroll but this module provides a facility to pay expenses anytime. Accounting entries are created and bank transfer facilities exist for these non taxable employee expenses. Payments are sent direct to the employees bank account and general ledger entries are created automatically.

Executive reporting This reporting module is in addition to the ad-hoc report writer. A suite of management reports with online drill down facilities prove beneficial to any organisation.

Payroll bureau/outsourcing

Web browser

Frontier Software offers chris21 as an inhouse solution or as a product to be used for its important outsourcing service.

Employee self service

The range of services: • Bureau • Partial outsourcing • Fully managed service Naturally like all aspects of Frontier Software services, partnership becomes a keyword. We ask you what type of service is best for your business and this can also include hardware. Regardless of the selected option you will receive: • • • •

Access to your human resource database Immediate ad-hoc queries Unlimited history Interfaces to the general ledger

The high performance client/server design allows you to have distributed access for both input and enquiry to your database even though the services of Frontier Software are being used. A separate product brochure is available.

This browser based module provides the facility for an employee to self serve. By using passwords an employee can change appropriate records eg address changes, bank details and also make enquiries to the database. Examples of this are: leave balances, payslip history, training courses attended and vacancy applications. A complete audit log is maintained when data changes are made and the database is updated real time.

Many statutory forms (or substitute) can be automatically produced

Manager approvals/workflow Manager approvals occur directly from employee’s making changes. This workflow process will dynamically create emails and update the database once a managers’ approval has been given. Examples of these processes are leave applications, time sheets, expense forms. Frontier Software are constantly working with clients to ensure that business processes utilising approvals form part of this important module.

Employee self service provides empowerment

A separate product brochure is available.

Self service increases business benefit

“ Commitment to customer service is our number-one priority” Michael Howard – Founder, Frontier Software

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