Workforce Central 8 is the most rapidly adopted product released by Kronos Inc. in the entire history of the company. As a single complete workforce management solution, WFC Version 8.0 is designed to be the ultimate tool to help organizations manage their workforce in order to meet corporate goals, no matter the industry. The release of Workforce Central Version 8.0.11 brought multiple changes to the application’s industry capabilities, including forecasting, fatigue management, grant/project tracking, etc. These new WFC version 8.0.11 industry capabilities are changing the way organizations engage with their workforce. Here are some of the best updates to industry capabilities released with v8:
Version 8.0.11 brought substantial updates to the SMS message features. Users can now configure the types of messages sent to employees, as well as how they need to respond to those messages. For example, shift labels will now appear in messages.
Managers can uniquely configure SMS messages to communicate the right information to employees, as well as control how employees respond to those messages. The added visibility allows managers to see who was sent a message or shift request across multiple locations. In the past, managers could only see open shift requests, severely limiting their visibility and slowing the process of building lists. Any call-back errors are now captured in the messaging file. Beyond messages, alerts can now be sent via kmail, email, or through the alert widget in the application.
The new SMS QuickFill usage summary provides information on how many messages have been sent in a specific date period, allowing managers to track when additional blocks of text messages should be purchased.
Employee engagement is one of the most important aspects of workforce management. The new features of Workforce Central 8 allow managers to limit job lengths by specifying the maximum time for a shift segment for difficult or desirable shifts. Limiting time on less desirable shifts and providing an upper limit on desirable shifts helps to ensure that employees stay motivated, productive, and engaged. The new feature also allows employees to work multiple jobs within a day, further improving engagement and satisfaction.
Fatigue management is a major challenge in our fast-paced workplace. For many industries, fatigued employees mean more than just losing productivity: overworked employees can result in serious errors or injuries on the job site. It is crucial that organizations proactively manage fatigue so that employees are given every opportunity to perform at their best. Workforce Central Version 8.0.11 provides the tools necessary to ensure that hours-of-service limits are set for every employee. These guidelines can be applied automatically so that managers don’t have to reconsider the limitations every time they create a schedule. Automated policy enforcement can also be used to ensure employees meet the meal/break requirements.
Version 8.0.11 Workforce Activities features the ability to track labor associated with specific projects or grants. The collected data can then be analyzed to determine operational efficiency, productivity, and compliance. Especially in Higher Education, budgets can be extremely tight when working with a grant. Tracking labor against the grant specifically can help universities ensure that all labor is being utilized optimally, making the most of every resource available. Tracking can also help to minimize unnecessary work by providing on-the-spot insight into project status, reducing the over-allocation of project resources. Any time tracked for activities can also be compared to payroll costs to reveal the actual service costs of each specific employee.
Forecasting is the key to creating quality employee schedules. The forecasting available in version 8.0.11 is designed to allow managers to accurately predict scheduling demands down to 15 minutes intervals. The Current Week re-forecasting system uses recent Point of Sale (POS) data and determines the current trends. Using inside and outside influencers, such as weather, local events, and activities, the system can predict your organization’s future scheduling needs. Once a specific location has over two years of data, the program will select an algorithm that best fits the overarching trends of your scheduling needs. The adaptive forecast will pull from trends such as departmental variations, patterns, seasonal schedules, and POS data.
With all of the new features and benefits of WFC v8, it is no wonder why so many organizations are making the decision to upgrade. Interested in upgrading your Kronos application?