Purchasing a new enterprise-wide attendance tracking software product is probably the most dangerous thing a company can do. Think of it – productivity, training, and maintenance are so bound up in the systems that employees use that any usability or functionality issues could spell hundreds of human resources hours to overcome (if you ever do). If you follow these steps, however, you should find a great product that helps to streamline your business processes.

1) First, list your current processes around time & attendance, and do an audit of your computer systems and capabilities. Record the software and hardware that you have or plan on purchasing in the near future. List your current scheduling and absence tracking procedures – don’t neglect the most basic unit: the on-the-ground employees – and record your policy and procedures around pay, hours of work, and workflow. Thoroughly review your day-to-day administration of time and attendance tracking procedures and systems.

2) Draw up your requirements document. First and foremost, what are your technical needs – and limitations? What do you actually need the time tracking software and hardware to do? Seriously, this sounds easy, but it’s the most neglected step in this process. Separate required from nice to have, and don’t revisit of any nice-to-haves unless there is the need for a tie-breaker. Weight your requirements by how operationally essential they are – if the system was down for a day, what processes would simply fail? Rank those first!

3) Send out a Request for Proposal to at least five time and attendance software vendors. Request a response that takes into consideration each of your itemized requirements. Specify that if they can’t meet the requirement they should lay out what it would take (in time and money) to implement it. Ask about new developments in the industry. As the experts, the vendors are in much better touch with what’s available. If you can, retain a consultant who can’t bid to go over the technical offerings with you. Vendors will use acronyms and fancy graphics – get somebody who understands the absence management industry and can cut through the cruft.

4) Call your shortlist and get them to present. Ask for high-level overviews and a general budget proposal. Pay close attention to the company’s values and dynamics – do they present as a team, or is each module presented separately? This is – seriously! – an important indicator of how well the system’s components will integrate too. Specify that you would really love to get both a software engineer and workflow management expert on the presentation team, not just the sales group.

5) Select vendors like you’d select employees – look for great references, and a winning personality. Then courier the winner a letter of intent subject to a reference check. One tip: make sure the reference can speak to the areas that are most important to your company specifically, and not just the vendor’s services in general.

6) If there’s no perfect fit, ask for a “proof of concept” period. Like a trial period with commercial software, negotiate a trial period for a nominal fee that will let you try out the attendance tracking software. Analyze the results – if the absence management software does most things, ask the vendor if they can quote on specific modules / additions, if required – if you want it, other people might just want it too!

7) Enjoy! Keep in mind that new absence management systems (and their sales teams) always bring huge expectations, and the tendancy is to compare it directly with the old system (which is getting replaced for a reason…) Learning curves often bring disappointment as expectations are brought down to earth and users discover that each attendance and time management system functions differently from what they used before. This soon turns into satisfaction, however, as the system is fully learnt, begins to shows its unique strengths, and proves its worth!

Groups exist in any kind of organization. However, groups may not necessarily work as teams. Members of a team depend on each other when it comes to overall performance. The only time that a group becomes a team is when its members start to agree on helping one another to achieve organizational objectives. In these fast-paced times, teamwork has become a requirement in accomplishing organizational success.

It is often said that teamwork makes teams work. Its presence is also one of the factors that distinguish teams from mere groups. But what does teamwork exactly mean? Teamwork is a cooperative action by two or more people (or by a group) in which individuals contribute different skills and abilities, express their interests and opinions, and give their commitment to the achievement of common goals.

Teamwork does not disregard the individual. Instead, it goes beyond individual accomplishments for the team to become effective and efficient. It is said that the most effective teamwork arises when all the individuals in the group harmonize their contributions and start to work towards collective objectives.

Teamwork can only be successful when all the members of the team are team players. Generally, a team player is an individual who places coordinated effort with other members of the team before his or her own personal goals. There are several qualities that define a team player. First is that team players are adaptable. They are highly teachable, emotionally secure, creative, and service minded. Team players are also collaborative. They think win-win, complement others and their distinctive gifts, and take themselves out of the picture.

Team players are also committed. They are communicative as well. They do not isolate themselves from others. They make it easy for teammates to communicate with them. They also do not allow a conflict to go unresolved for 24 hours. They give attention to potentially difficult relationships.

Competency, dependability, and discipline also define a team player. Team players are committed to excellence and they never settle for mediocre. They pay attention to detail and they perform with consistency.

Team players are also enlarging and enthusiastic. They are intentional – they make every action count. They are mission conscious – they know where the team is going and at the same time, they let the leader of the team lead. Team players are prepared, relational and self improving. They are also selfless – there is no “I” in the team. They are solutions-oriented and tenacious. They work with determination and quit only when the job is done, not when they are tired.

Teams must give value to the correlation between teamwork and team players, as one cannot exist without the other.

The sharing of gifts is a great concept which has been around for centuries. It allows for an opportunity to show one’s appreciation for another’s support or contributions. Gifts tend to be shared by people on predetermined occasions such as birthdays, anniversary of nuptuals, Valentine’s Day, and other such celebrations.

Nowadays, it is a common fashion for corporations to give gifts to its employees on various occasions such as holidays, superior job performance, promotions, company anniversaries or when the company meets its business objectives. Giving Seafood accessories as corporate gifts is an excellent and innovative idea and – compared to traditional corporate gift ideas – this is something different.

Nowadays, Seafood corporate gifts are becoming the vogue in the corporate world around the globe. Seafood accessories such as Lobster set, Oyster knife, Seafood forks, Fishing gear set, Fish grill, etc are the sought after gift ideas among major companies. These items are very useful and can be part of any household kitchen. They also make outdoor sporting activities like Fishing, very fun and enjoyable experience.

In general an employee appreciates when their employer acknowledges their hard work in some way. Showing appreciation to an employee help them to feel more like an integral part of the company and they are likely to be more loyal. To show their apprieciation, companies can be creative, and give some wonderful seafood accessories.

One such idea is to emboss the gifts with the company logo and a citation stating the individual’s name and his/her contribution to companies well being. This provides a nice conversation piece that loooks great either on the desk or hanging on the wall. When people see it, they will want to know more about what was involved with winning such a nice corporate seafood gift.

When you choose gifts, it is very important to keep in mind, the special tastes of the receiver. However it is not practical for an organization to know the special tastes and interests of all of its employees. To overcome this problem, one can think of giving Seafood gift certificates, which is a very good alternative to giving the actual Seafood accessories as gifts. These gift certificates are available in various denominations for a variety of situations.

Seafood gift certificates for your employees can accomplish plenty for a tad bit of money. They can increase team spirit as well as a strong and lasting bonding experience. Having a company fish fry, to having a seafood dinner for your family and friends. Seafood gift certificates can go along way in making your employees feel valued, appreciated and respected for a job well done.

A seafood corporate gift is something that top employees will definitely cherish. This is definitely a situation where being the top dog pays! Stories will be told all around the office about how the top member of the salesteam won a 13 pound jumbo lobster. Presenting the award at a company function is the best way to maximize the positive effect.

Winning a company achievement award is no simple feat. The kind of person who wins these awards generally dedicates hours upon hours of their time to make sure they are doing the absolute best possible job for their company. There is a big difference between the person who just shows up every day and the person who dedicates themselves to the position that they hold.

The operating agreement is the most essential and fundamental legal document for an LLC business. If you are looking for a sample operating agreement, be very careful to avoid incomplete, improper or one sided ones that will not protect you and your business.

A SAMPLE OPERATING AGREEMENT SHOULD ADDRESS MAJOR BUSINESS MATTERS

A business needs to address a variety of matters in its operating rules. These include tax, membership, authority, voting and termination. Because an operating agreement must cover a minimal level of issues, a short agreement of only a few pages cannot address what is required.

In addition, this document is a practical one that should be used often by those who are running the business. it is like a user manual and so cannot be written in a way that it cannot be easily interpreted and understood by anyone. Often, legal forms can have too much legalese or be drafted in ways that only lawyers can understand. Stay away from those when looking for a sample operating agreement.

AVOID NEGOTIATED SAMPLE OPERATING AGREEMENT

Many times existing LLC operating agreements for other businesses are made available a sample ones. The worst mistake you can make is using one of these negotiated documents for your business.

Another business’ document is the result of negotiations and customization for their owners and circumstances. You do not know which party may have had the upper hand or how one-sided the document may be. You run a huge risk of accepting provisions that are totally irrelevant to your business or even worse, are not favorable to you at all.

Never use final documents actually signed by another LLC. Start off with a model agreement form.

SEEK OUT A SAMPLE OPERATING AGREEMENT DRAFTED BY AN LLC LAWYER

Most of the forms available on the Internet unfortunately are poorly drafted and would never even be considered as a useful document by practicing lawyers.

The problem is if you are not a lawyer, how can you tell? In many cases you cannot, but by insisting on only using forms drafted by practicing business attorneys, you can reduce the changes of ending up with an improper form.

ALWAYS READ THE SAMPLE OPERATING AGREEMENT

Obtaining a proper form is just the beginning. No one form can be sufficient without customization for every business.

For the solo owned or a husband and wife business, the agreement can be a simple one but still need proper governance and ownership provisions to ensure the entity operates separate and apart from its owners. This is required to preserve liability protection.

For multiple member businesses, it is recommended that any agreement be customized or at least reviewed by a lawyer prior to adopting. If an attorney is not practical for protecting your interests and you are the majority owner, just be sure that you control every decisions of the business. This is a practical solution to avoid any later issues.

While numerous successful models of ISO 14001 Environmental management systems have been developed and are being used in various industries, approaches to documenting top level environmental management systems for multi-location enterprises are limited at best. This article discusses a method for establishing an ISO 14001 top-level documentation structure that allows a business with multiple facilities to use common Environmental Management System Manual. This model significantly improves consistency of the corporate message regarding Environmental policies, while reducing the number of EMS documents within the organization’s Environmental Management System.

As a professional EMS assessor with leading certification bodies, I audited many large multi-site enterprises that had problems with aligning their corporate ISO 14001 Environmental Manuals with the corresponding procedures issued by their locations. To fill this gap, some companies create Environmental Manuals for their locations as copies of the main Environmental Manual; other businesses develop location-specific Environmental Manuals that are completely independent form the home office Environmental Manual.

In reality, these solutions do not provide for a consistent representation of the organization’s position on Environmental issues. The first approach, when a copy of the home office Environmental Manual is used, techniques for controlling local Environmental Manuals as a rule are not determined. Differences in the corporate Manual and the site’s Environmental Manual are because the corporate office Manuals are managed by the home office, while site’s Manuals are controlled by individual sites.

In the case of the second approach, when organizations allow their satellite locations to have their own Environmental Manuals independent from the corporate EMS Manual, differences in Environmental Manuals may create major disconnect of the corporate and local ISO 14001 Environmental Manuals.

Those companies that adhere to the policy of maintaining a consistent corporate message regarding their position on Environmental issues will definitely experience a gap if they use methods that we discussed above.

One of our large EMS customers demonstrated this point well. The corporate ISO 14001 Environmental Manual addressed majority of the requirements of the standard and referenced appropriate regulations. At the same time, one of their US locations did not define their Environmental policy, Mexico facility did not reference local legal requirements, yet their European site failed to document their Environmental programs all together!

Summarizing my EMS auditing and consulting experiences, I am convinced that these approaches to design of the corporate Environmental Manual and sites’ Manuals do not provide a solid consistent way to document organization’s Environmental Management System and Manuals.

To solve this problem, let’s review an ISO 14001 Environmental Manual model, specifically supporting document reference structure. As a common practice, an Environmental Manual references supporting documents within the text of the Manual. For example, clause 4.3.1, Environmental aspects may read: Environmental Consultants Inc. has established, implemented and maintains Environmental Aspect Procedure to identify the environmental aspects of its activities, products and services and Significant Environmental Aspect Matrix to determine and document those aspects that have or can have significant impacts on the environment.

This model proved to be effective for a single-location company. It also will work for a multi-site business, but only for common EMS documents that are used at all locations. For example, such procedures as Documentation Management, Environmental Audit, CAPA and others may be the same for your all facilities and therefore be referenced in the Environmental Manual as shown above.

However, what if our locations need to use different environmental aspects, programs and other site-specific Environmental Management System processes? If we use the model above and want to keep a common ISO 14001 Environmental Manual, we have to reference in the Manual corresponding documents for all locations which may not be practical. Below we will explore how a corporate Environmental Manual can practically reference location-specific documents to support commitments of the company’s common ISO 14001 Environmental Manual.

The same document reference structure as for a single-location company that we discussed above, can be used if the number of locations is small, let’s say two or three. In this case, clause 4.3.1, Environmental aspects may read: Environmental Consultants Inc. has established, implemented and maintains Environmental Aspect Procedure to identify the environmental aspects of its activities, products and services and Significant Environmental Aspect Matrix HO and Significant Environmental Aspect Matrix WA to determine and document those aspects that have or can have significant impacts on the environment. This example shows references to the common Environmental Aspect Procedure and site-specific Significant Environmental Aspect Matrixes for the Home Office (HO) and the Washington (WA) locations. While this model works well for a limited number of facilities, it becomes impractical when the number of locations is significant.

If we need to work with a company that has significant number or offices and wishes to reference in the Environmental Manual procedures controlled by its sites, we may take a different approach. For example, we can prepare a matrix to associate the corporate Environmental Manual clauses with the site-specific procedures. We can name this tool Manual Reference Matrix and consider the following reference model:

Corporate ISO 14001 Environmental Manual clause

Manual Reference Matrix Table of Contents (ToC)

Location Manual Reference Matrix

Corresponding site-specific document

The Manual Reference Matrix is simply a list of all facilities and their Manual Reference Matrixes, as shown in the example below:

Manual Reference Matrix Table of Contents

Home Office (San Francisco, California, USA)

Toronto (Canada)

St. Petersburg (Russia)

Singapore

Tokyo (Japan)

etc,

To show how this approach works, we will document element 4.5.1 Monitoring and measurement. Our Environmental manual may state: Recycling Experts, Inc. has established, implemented and maintains a Monitoring Procedure to monitor and measure, on a regular basis, the key characteristics of its operations that can have a significant environmental impact per the site-specific key characteristics matrixes per the Manual Reference Matrix ToC. This clause indicates that the organization uses the corporate Monitoring Procedure and facility-specific Key Characteristics Matrix. To locate a facility-specific Key Characteristics Matrix, one simply needs to go to the Manual Reference Matrix ToC.

Finding the location of interest in the Matrix ToC and locating, we will find, let’s say, St. Petersburg’s Matrix. In the matrix, in the given element, we will identify a site-specific Key Characteristics Matrix SP.

A Manual Reference Matrix may be formatted as a three-column form. The first two columns are titled Corporate EMS Section No. and Corporate EMS References; the third column is called Location procedures. For the element 4.3.1, for example, the Matrix indicates that our Manual Reference Matrix references Significant Environmental Aspect Matrix HO for the corporate office and the Significant Environmental Aspect Matrix WA for the Washington facility.

Looking for samples of Manual Reference Matrix for ISO 14001 Ems and other manuals? Check links below.

Master Data Management is not, unfortunately, an overnight solution. It takes hard work, commitment, and diligent research to organize everything that makes up and MDM solution. But completing this task is greatly beneficial to an organization.

Master Data Management helps companies identify what is critical for running their business successfully. It makes sense that your most critical information should have the most stringent controls around it. When you begin MDM, the goal is to put tight controls, processes, and procedures around the data most important to the company.

You don’t want to take it on all at once. You want to start with small bites, focusing on narrow areas first. I’ve found that it is particularly helpful to get some quick wins so others in the organization ‘buy-in’. Help some of the critical participating parties and they will be grateful and supporting of your work.

If the data you decide on is order data, then you’ll need to have everyone in the organization agree that order data is what is in scope, and nothing else. You’ll likely then focus on order numbers, order dates, products ordered, etc.

When the organization decides on the scope, which can be a big task, the tough work begins. A team will need to be assembled that can commit to doing the research and analysis required to succeed. They will need to determine how the data is used across the organization, who owns it, how they define it, and any other information that is important.

Once you have answered these questions, begin to organize the data and assign tasks for cleaning up any identified issues. This is a basic start for Master Data Management