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DIY e-forms for iPads
A new forms creation app that enables
businesses to replace paper forms with digital
ones running on an iPad has been introduced by
Digital Field Solutions.
Businesses can use Formworks to create and
update mobile forms for the capture of text,
photographs, drawings and handwritten signatures.
Data can be sent directly to Digital Field Solutions’
central server where it can be output to the
company’s own database or forwarded by email as
a PDF report, spreadsheet or XML file.
Implementing a digital workflow in this way
reduces paperwork and the potential for inputting
errors, whilst allowing orders to be processed more
quickly.
Director Tim Howard said: “We developed
Formworks to give organisations greater control
over their remote data capture process in a fraction
of the time it takes to use traditional pen and
paper.We sought to design electronic forms that
are even simpler to use and more efficient than
paper forms, and with its intuitive handwriting
recognition technology we are confident that
Formworks
delivers on that goal.”
The app uses simple drag
and drop tools with easy navigation
in a familiar web-based environment. Forms can be
personalised with a company logo and include the
option of data entry by keyboard or stylus, with
handwriting recognition technology for conversion
into text.
For security, forms are password-protected and
all information is automatically deleted from the
iPad once it has been sent to the office. In addition,
administrators can remove users remotely and
block access to the system at any time.
Formworks can be downloaded from the Apple
App Store and is currently available on a 30-day
free trial. It costs £15.95 per month for a standard
licence and £24.95 per month a Pro licence with
handwriting recognition.
www.digitalfieldsolutions.com
Sanguine Hospitality is using a biometrics-based
time and attendance system fromAccess-
to-Time to keep an accurate record of hours
worked by employees including those at its new
luxury hotel, ‘Hotel Indigo’ in Newcastle.
The UK’s fastest growing branded hotel
operator, which manages £200m worth of assets
for InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), Hilton
Worldwide,WyndhamWorldwide and Marco
PierreWhite Restaurants, has installed the ‘Focus
Enterprise’ time and attendance system to calculate
payroll and monitor time-keeping, holidays and
absenteeism.
Human resources director Shezan Aslam
said: “Prior to implementing Access-to-Time’s
Focus Enterprise T&A system, we were finding it
difficult to ensure that staff members’ start and
finishing times were being accurately recorded and
recompensed.”
Now they are recorded to the second, as staff
clock in and out by entering a PIN on a numeric
keypad. They must also place their hand on a
scanner that uses biometrics to confirm their
identity and presence.
Aslam added: “Our staff don’t need to worry
about losing ‘clocking in cards’, which you get with
some of the other T&A systems, and as a business
we have the reassurance that employees can’t clock
in and out for each other. Our wage bill is a true
and accurate reflection of hours actually worked.”
Sanguine Hospitality first used Focus Enterprise
at the Doubletree by Hilton Cadbury House and
Spa on the outskirts of Bristol 12 months ago and
has since rolled it out to 11 more sites across the
country, bringing the total number of employees
using the system to just over 800.
Angus Fyfe, group management accountant
at Sanguine Hospitality, said: “We intend to
implement the system in every new hotel site
that comes on board.We also have the option in
some of our smaller service operations, where we
outsource housekeeping and there is not a huge
number of employees on the payroll, to install
one of Access-to-Time’s simpler web-based T&A
systems.”
innovations
Smart technology for business people in the
office, at home or on the move
Destiny
puts you
in control
Digital data capture specialist
DestinyWireless has launched a
cloud-based system that for the first
time allows users of Anoto digital pens
(see case study on page 13) to design
and print their own digital forms.
INKWORKS also lets clients manage
users, groups, workflows and mobile
handset configuration centrally.
Digital data capture solutions based
on Anoto technology require three main
elements: an ink pen that automatically
captures a digital version of handwritten
marks; specially designed paper forms with
markings that allow the pen to digitally
record the x/y co-ordinates and position
on the page of handwritten marks; and
a Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone that
instantly transmits data from the field
to a digital business process where it
can be incorporated into digital forms or
applications.
INKWORKS gives users full control
over form design, printed documents and
workflow and the option to collect data
from the field by other means such as
tablets and smartphones.
Forms can be designed from scratch
using drag and drop functionality or by
importing an existing PDF design. They can
then be output on any printer or published
as electronic forms for tablets.
www.destinywireless.com
Point and capture
Kofax, a provider of capture-enabled
business process management
solutions, has released an app that
enables customers to use the camera
on a smartphone or tablet to capture
images of business cards, receipts and
other documents and transfer them
into enterprise applications via Kofax
workflows. Drew Hyatt, senior vice
president of mobile applications at Kofax,
said: “What makes Kofax Mobile Capture
unique is that it doesn’t simply take a
picture of a document but ensures that
the quality of that image is sufficient
for downstream processing purposes,
and that it’s fully integrated with and
leverages the market-leading capabilities
of Kofax Capture and other Kofax
software products.”
www.kofax.com
19
Sanguine Hospitality adopts T&A to control wage bill
The boutique ‘Hotel Indigo’ in Newcastle is using
Access-to-Time’s T&A system to accurately record
staff working hours.