TIme&resourceS. New employee: Lars returns

Transcription

1 TIme&resourceS Denmark s largest planning system is being implemented Brand new Employee Portal in TimePlan version 6.0 Thiele sees advantages in TimePlan With JYSK to Croatia An opportunity to concur Finland together A request from the customers in Norway 2,000 square metres with TimePlan Spar Nord wants to learn from Simplex s success The CEO column New employee: Lars returns No. 20 l Information and news about planning SIMPLEX A/S May 2011

2 c o l o p h o n The customer magazine Time & Resources is published by Simplex for our customers and partners. Editor Svend Holm Editorial staff Svend Holm, sh@simplex.as and Louise Roenn, lr@simplex.as Headquarters and sales department Simplex Indkildevej 6, house D., 1st floor DK 9210 Aalborg SØ Phone simplex@simplex.as Distributors Sweden Tomas Holm and Magnus Borjesson Telephone Telephone timeplan@pakompetens.se Norway Kaare-Henrik Ahlsen Telephone kaare@datatjenesten.no Finland Jaakko Kairtamo and Seppo Kaile Telephone jaakko.kairtarmo@ohjelma-aitta.fi Holland Anna Friborg Telephone af@simplex.as United Kingdom Carsten Staehr Telephone carsten@cintra.co.uk Printing 500 copies in English copies in Danish Graphic design and production Formula Tryxager A/S Print Formula Tryxager A/S Distribution Kis Flindt, Simplex Cover photo Thiele employees Vonnie Willumsen, Rikke Studsgaard, and Louise Lund, Charlottenlund Photographer Christian Lau Olesen Printed on Cocoon, 100 % recycled paper time & resources A budding spring issue You are now reading Time & Resources number 20. Ever since we began publishing a customer magazine about TimePlan, we have had the pleasure of bringing you stories and facts about our clients and our own everyday lives. We are celebrating this 20th anniversary by continuing the editorial style of our previous issues. Spring is usually full of TimePlan customer meetings and this spring has been no exception. Retail group 1, the largest and oldest of our groups, held its 10th meeting in early March at IKEA s new warehouse in Aalborg. During the meeting, Simplex s chief operating officer Henrik Baasch acknowledged that the development of TimePlan version 6.0 has required the use of many resources during the past year. But the developers have still managed to release three new versions of TimePlan during 2010: version m e e t i n g s september 2011 Customer meeting Sweden hosted by Scandic Hotel, Stockholm 10 January 2012 Customer meeting Retail 2 The location has yet to be confirmed 5.32, 5.33 and With these new versions a few new functionalities have been released in the set-up of the collective agreements, electronic forms, and the Internet module. We can now see the light at the end of the tunnel, and in 2011 two new versions will be released in addition to version 6.0: version 5.41 and Version 6.0 is scheduled to be released on 1 August 2011 and before the end of the year version 6.x will be released. So this year there is plenty to do for our programmers and consultants. In this issue of Time & Resources, you can read about new customers, Denmark s largest planning system, new distributors in Norway and Finland, a visit from Spar Nord and much more. Enjoy Time & Resources and have a wonderful summer. The editor 8 March 2012 Customer meeting Retail 1 Hosted by Gebr. Heinemann Retail at Copenhagen Airport 13 April 2012 Customer meeting HRTSF Hosted by Scandic Hotel in Jutland 2 I information and news about timeplan

3 time & resources New customers The following companies and institutions have recently implemented TimePlan. Denmark s largest planning system is being implemented Dansk Supermarked has made an agreement with Simplex to use TimePlan at the concern level. This means that TimePlan will be further implemented in both the administration and the stockpile and in the grocery store chains Bilka and Føtex during Dansk Supermarked is already using TimePlan in Netto and Salling. The implementation is expected to be completed by We are phasing out some of our own self-developed systems and will need to find a new comprehensive time recording system. We looked both in Denmark and abroad, and in the end we chose TimePlan, says Kim Nissen, head of IT&S Systems at Dansk Supermarked. Dansk Supermarked Denmark s largest retail group Comprised of seven chains and two department stores, including Bilka, Føtex, Salling, Netto, A-Z, Tøj & Sko, etc. Approximately 43,000 employees Over 1,300 stores in five countries Annual turnover exceeding 66 billion Danish kroner including VAT With JYSK to Croatia JYSK has just begun implementing TimePlan in 17 stores in Croatia. - We would like to use the same systems in all the countries we operate and where our employee volume makes it profitable, says Anders Sylvest, controlling manager at JYSK Nordic from the company s headquarters in Brabrand, Denmark. Anders Sylvest and his team are currently in the process of uncovering the local requirements of the collective agreements and working time regulations in Croatia. The company uses a test system with a copy of the Danish TimePlan set-up. An easy online solution Centralforeningen for Stampersonel (CS) in Copenhagen has a number of travelling employees. - When our employees are on the road they can now check in and out of TimePlan on their iphone, says IT manager Peter Gudberg, CS. An online demonstration from Simplex s headquarters in Aalborg to CS s office in Copenhagen showed Peter Gudberg how TimePlan could help with the time scheduling and management of the association s 20 employees. - We got TimePlan hosted without having to change anything here at our office. It s been a pleasant implementation and initial phase with good service and training, says Peter Gudberg who started using TimePlan in February TimePlan Easy at the residence hall The KFUM residence hall in Copenhagen is an accommodation facility for homeless people with room for 48 residents. The administration has recently begun to use TimePlan Easy in their daily work. Additional programming - Once we have the information we need, we ll get back to Simplex with an update on the elements in TimePlan that will require additional programming, says Anders Sylvest, who anticipates going live with TimePlan in Croatia in October JYSK is also using TimePlan in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Holland. Thiele Read the story about how the Danish optician Thiele implemented TimePlan on page 5. information and news about timeplan I 3

4 An opportunity to concur Finland together This is how Jaakko Kairtamo, sales director for Ohjelma-Aitta Oy in Finland, describes the new TimePlan distribution agreement with Simplex. time & resources Jaakko Kairtamo and his colleagues Satu Sundén and Seppo Kaile are excited about the new distribution agreement: - TimePlan appeals to us because the program is intelligent. TimePlan compliments the way we do business and our other software products, says the team at the Ohjelma-Aitta Oy office in Tampere. The new Finnish sales and support team heard about TimePlan through the Danish Embassy in November The team compared TimePlan with other software products on the Finnish market and considers TimePlan to be the most competitive product. Good response during fair in Helsinki In late March, Simplex s John Ekman and Lilian Jensen headed north to participate in an IT trade fair along with the new Finnish TimePlan distribution team. The fair was well attended and gave a good response. Lilian Jensen began training Satu Sundén from Ohjelma- Aitta Oy, who will be responsible for the training and implementation of TimePlan in Finland. Jaakko Kairtamo (right), sales director for the new Finnish TimePlan distributor Ohjelma-Aitta Oy, and Simplex s sales consultant John Ekman during the IT trade fair in Helsinki. A request from the customers in Norway When the customers of the new Norwegian TimePlan distributor, Datatjenesten in Halden, asked business consultant Kaare-Henrik Ahlsen whether he knew a good online time registration system, he knew exactly who to contact. - We knew TimePlan from working with Siba and Bauhaus in Norway. We ve always had a good working relationship with Simplex because they have the same type of people in their office in Denmark as we have at Datatjenesten in Norway: People who are focused on making things work for the customers, says Kaare-Henrik Ahlsen. Datatjenesten is a total supplier of IT solutions for accounting and payroll systems. Kaare-Henrik Ahlsen thinks that TimePlan fits very well with the company s portfolio. - TimePlan is a stable system, which is also adaptive. We look forward to offering existing and new clients a good time registration system and expanding our customer base, says Kaare-Henrik Ahlsen. Datatjenesten has provisionally installed TimePlan at the MobilData store in Halden, Norway, and Likverkhuset as published in the previous edition of Time & Resources 4 I information and news about timeplan

5 time & resources Thiele sees advantages in TimePlan 70 Thiele stores are going live with TimePlan during May 2011 and chain director Rasmus Planck can already see several advantages. - TimePlan is going to save us money. The effectiveness and safety of the software is top notch. It will give us a better overview of our administration and wage aspects. Now we can approve annual leave and keep track of holidays, says Rasmus Planck. The chain director points out that the TimePlan seminars with Simplex s Svend Holm has helped Thiele s staff get to know TimePlan s many functions. Mixed response When the optician chain Thiele s employees were first introduced to TimePlan, the new time recording system received a somewhat mixed response. - Some of our stores have a staff of two, others have up to 20. Not everyone could see why we should install TimePlan when we previously have been able to schedule manually, says Rasmus Planck. - But during the implementation the worst ghosts have been removed and the collaboration with Simplex has been strengthened. Now we are looking forward to using TimePlan, says the chain director. Close to Rasmus Planck came across TimePlan on the Internet and checked references with his own contacts at Magasin and Netto. - Everyone I spoke with had only positive things to say about their collaboration with Simplex. It s nice for us to see that Simplex s chief operating officer, Henrik Baasch is so close to his organization. Thiele is Denmark s only major capital owned optician chain. This means that our owner takes part in our daily decision making processes and we see that Simplex has a similar structure, says Rasmus Planck. - Thiele is Denmark s only major capital owned optician chain. This means that our owner takes part in our daily decision making processes and we see that Simplex has a similar structure, says Rasmus Planck, chain director of Thiele. TimePlan on Danish trade fairs On Wednesday 25 May 2011 Simplex is going to participate in the 600 Minutes Human Resources trade fair at Scandic Hotel in Copenhagen. The fair is mainly aimed at Danish top 500 companies. Simplex s sales consultants Prakash Visvanathan and Henrik Larsen at the TimePlan booth at Aalborg Congress and Culture Centre. - We ve already got a great response from companies wishing to meet with us regarding TimePlan, says Lars Gravesen, marketing consultant at Simplex. Together with Henrik Baasch, John Ekman and Prakash Visvanathan, Lars Gravesen will represent Simplex at the 600 Minutes fair. On 6 and 7 April 2011, Simplex s Henrik Larsen, Prakash Visvanathan and Lars Gravesen also attended an HR fair for personnel managers in Denmark at Aalborg Congress and Culture Centre. information and news about timeplan I 5

6 Brand new Employee Portal in TimePlan version 6.0 time & resources TimePlan s users can start looking forward to a brand new Internet module, the Employee Portal, which will be released as a part of TimePlan version 6.0 in August In the Employee Portal, the individual employee can report their expenses, including travel settlement, and the department head can approve and send these expenses directly to reimbursement. - The Employee Portal will save the employee and the company both time and paperwork, says Simplex s Lars Gravesen, who together with system developer Flemming Larsen has created the design of the new user-friendly module. Electronic bulletin board The Employee Portal enables every employee to access and edit his or her master data. The TimePlan user can also post notices to the employees on the electronic bulletin board and insert a timer that makes the note erase itself after a certain date. - One of the areas where we are really developing TimePlan at the moment is in the communication between the employees and department managers, says the Simplex s chief operating officer, Henrik Baasch. He is pleased to see that several of the wishes made by Djurs Sommerland and other clients (as presented in the previous issue of Time & Resources) will be fulfilled by the release of the Employee Portal in TimePlan version 6.0 in August. 2,000 square metres with TimePlan Intersport in Aalborg is expanding their TimePlan installation to also cover the company s new recordbreaking 2,000 square metres store at Telefontorvet in Aarhus, which opened on 24 March When you move, it is nice to bring something you are familiar with, something you know will work. So I suggested to bring TimePlan with us to our new store, says Dennis Degner, store manager for the new Intersport shop in Aarhus. how the modules can make things easier for us, says Dennis Degner. Intersport in Aalborg and Aarhus is a part of the Sport2010 group, which owns 15 Intersport stores in Jutland with several related Sport Direct stores, 12 Sport Outlet stores, and the online sales site sport24.dk. S h o p s f o r W i n n e r s Borrowing modules The enlargement has also enabled Dennis Degner and his 29 colleagues to discover several new TimePlan modules. - In the past, we have not utilised TimePlan to the fullest. After a meeting with Henrik Larsen at Simplex, we started using the index counters much more. At present, we are borrowing the Internet module and the annual leave and lieu day module to test 6 I information and news about timeplan

7 time & resources Spar Nord wants to learn from Simplex s success - Simplex has found a niche with TimePlan. It s going really well for the company and we would like to learn from them, says Spar Nord bank Nørresundby s director Kurt Bennetsen, who - along with 19 staff members - visited Simplex s head office in Aalborg on Wednesday 23 March We are running a course for our employees, where we focus on spotting potential successful companies and becoming even better sparring partners for our existing and new customers. Anyone can compete on price, but we want to challenge our customers and give them more than what they expect, says Kurt Bennetsen and continues: - Our eyes fell on Simplex when we started looking for examples of businesses we wanted to use as role models. Henrik Baasch, Kis Flindt and their employees are some incredibly pleasant people who run quite a unique business. Simplex has a very committed culture with enthusiasm and cordiality - combined with a clear focus on business, knowledge, quality, and balance. Great experience Simplex and Spar Nord bank Nørresundby have had years of cooperation, and Kurt Bennetsen describes the visit at the Simplex office as a great experience. - Henrik Baasch told us about TimePlan and Simplex on the strategic and tactical levels and future development opportunities. Kis Flindt presented the operational, staffing, and administrative aspects. They have a good grip on communication and really managed to make their presentations interesting for us, says Kurt Bennetsen. The director stresses that Danish companies now need to find a niche in order to not be ousted, and that he sees Simplex as an example of a Danish business success. - Simplex has a very committed culture with enthusiasm and cordiality - combined with a clear focus on business, knowledge, quality, and balance, says Spar Nord bank Nørresundby s director, Kurt Bennetsen. The employees of Spar Nord bank Nørresundby learned about Simplex s progress during their visit to the headquarters in March The experience will benefit other Spar Nord business customers via the dialogue taking place between the consultants and clients. Shortcuts in TimePlan Ctrl F With Ctrl F, you can gain access to a global personnel search regardless of where you are in TimePlan. When you search, TimePlan remembers which field you used for the search last time. The search for the origin continues No issue of Time & Resource without an update about the continued search for TimePlan s and Simplex s origin. During a visit at the local optician, who is also a TimePlan user, Time & Resource s editor came across this machine just before taking an eye test.! Funktionstasten F9 The function key F9 provides direct access to the department hierarchy (department shift). information and news about timeplan I 7

8 The CEO column Hurrah - a long-sought goal has been fulfilled! More than 10 years ago, we signed a contract with Netto on the implementation of TimePlan. Simultaneously, we negotiated with Bilka about the same, but it did not happen at the time. Since then one of my goals has been to get all of Bilka s grocery stores to use TimePlan. After a tendering process, with a subsequent presentation for the Dansk Supermarked project team which was responsible for the election of a new planning system, and some negotiating sessions, the contract with Danish Supermarked was signed early this year. The agreement covers the use of TimePlan in all chains, the stockpile, and the administration of Dansk Supermarked. The agreement means that TimePlan is going to handle more than 40,000 employees at Dansk Supermarked. An order, which obviously means a lot to us, as it will be crucial for our further distribution of TimePlan to large companies on the European market. We are now fully engaged in implementing TimePlan version 6.0 (SQL database) at Dansk Supermarked, which is now our biggest customer. We are doing everything we can to meet the delivery dates and requests for functionalities. Wind in our sails! We have the wind in our sails. The influx of new customers is going well, but they do not come by themselves. We must work hard with in terms of marketing and sales. But the market, the wind, is there and we should be good at setting our sails, and thus make use of the wind. All employees were recently trained in this - literally. Our annual meeting took place on the good ship LOA. A three-masted wooden ship with lots of sails. We were all sailors, and we needed the wind in our sails in order to move forward. With everyone s help, we succeeded also when it came to the cooking and cleaning. We had two wonderful days at sea, got plenty of fresh air and a natural fatigue everything was quiet before midnight that s never happened before! Many new clients have taken advantage of the premises at our head office for training sessions. All of our employees enjoy when our customers come to visit. It s really nice to see all of you, and to have a dialogue with our customers on our home turf. Alongside this, it brings a nice vibe to our office. So remember: You are always welcome. time & resources Another namesake and new partner! For several years I have been collaborating with Kaare-Henrik from Datatjenesten in Norway. I have repeatedly attempted to get Datatjenesten actively engaged in the marketing and sale of TimePlan. Therefore, it was a pleasure to visit Datatjenesten in February this year to sign our distribution agreement. It is an even greater pleasure to see that the first orders from Datatjenesten are coming in. We also have a new distributor in Finland. It does change things slightly during our meetings with our distributors. Until now, our meetings have been held in Danish or Scandinavian languages, but that is not going to work any more. Future meetings will be held in English. I hope that all of our customers, partners, employees, and other readers will have a wonderful summer - with the wind in your sails. Sincerely, Henrik Baasch New employee: Lars returns From 1996 to 1997, Lars Gravesen was employed as a multimedia designer at Business North in Aalborg, which later turned into Simplex. Now - after 14 years Lars Gravesen has returned to Simplex as a marketing consultant. - I have followed Henrik and his company through the years, says Lars Gravesen, who has been a teacher, self-employed, and most recently a marketing coordinator at PROINFO in Randers. - I live in Aalborg and wanted to work here. So I sent Henrik a little magazine as an application and 10 minutes later he called me to talk about marketing, says the new employee. As Simplex continues to develop and grow, the need for marketing is increasing. Lars Gravesen has since his appointment in February helped open many new doors at home and abroad, including through trade fairs, new graphic initiatives and the design of the Employee Portal. 8 I information and news about timeplan