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Design and usability is the focus of a new update of the Crown Workforce Management System which is being launched this month.
Version 14 of the system – which comprises of HR, time and attendance, scheduling and analytics – has been developed to be more responsive for use on a variety of browsers including Chrome, Safari and Firefox, and on tablet devices
Crown, which has been a Microsoft Gold Accredited Partner since 2006, incorporated the changes to provide clients with greater flexibility and cross-browser support. The system will continue to operate on Internet Explorer.
Version 14 also has an updated design for its time and attendance module – mirroring the contemporary look and feel of the newer additions to the system – and follows a user experience principal - making their most frequently used tools more readily available through initiative personalisation.
A new addition to the scheduling system is an ‘availability advisor’ which allows operations managers to offer additional work opportunities to pre-selected groups of staff such as part-time or people on zero hours contracts in order to meet resourcing or skills gaps.
The alerts can be sent out via SMS text or email and provides the person receiving the communication the opportunity to respond accordingly and be booked into the allocation.
This function has been included to assist sectors where demand management can be affected by seasonality, such as manufacturing or hospitality, tourism and leisure.
Many of the developments have been brought about as a result of client feedback. Crown hosts an annual conference where user groups and “you said, we did” session features prominently. Clients are actively encouraged to put forward their ideas which will help evolve the system against constant changes in technology, complex workplace demands and legislation.
Said David Hughes, Product Manager for Crown Workforce Management Systems: “We continue to evolve our products to the changing requirements of the workplace and our customers are key to making that change happen. They advise us on any improvements they would like to see and the technical infrastructures or constraints within which they operate.
“This gives us a real-world view on how those organisations work and helps us identify their developing needs to allow us to modify and update our products accordingly.”
A team of 15 developers have spent a year creating the new system. It comes on the back of ‘Crown Mobile’, a platform which can be used on mobile phones which was launched last year and gives staff easier access to self-service features like clocking in/out and requesting leave.
Version 14 is now being applied to all new customer accounts and will be applied to existing customer accounts over the year. London Olympia, Lofthouse of Fleetwood, Fusion Lifestyle and Pets at Home are among Crown’s existing client list due to migrate on to the new system.
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