ALTO™ (basic)

Single shift
Swipe card time & attendance system
  
Standard pay and one overtime pay rate
Portable or real-time operation
 Click here to see the Professional version
Targetted overtime rule
 

Further Enquiries



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What ALTO does

ALTO is a PORTABLE time recording system that will also tell you who is on your premises. The reader can be used in offices, factories or in vehicles, alternatively it can also be hardwired to a P.C. for real-time operation.

Employees only have to swipe their badge through the terminal reader to register a transaction on their arrival or departure. ALTO takes those transactions and uses them to provide a up to date fire report**, key personnel display** and the time card report.

You can also add, modify or delete those transactions if you need to.

The key personnel display shows on screen in real time - who is on or off the premises.

The Fire report** gives you greater confidence by allowing an instant roll call if required.

ALTO adds up the hours worked and sorts them into standard pay and overtime. Overtime can be calculated by timeband, daily, weekly or targetted. You can name the overtime rates to suit you.

ALTO is a cost effective system that will pay for itself in a very short time.

ALTO - portable, reliable, secure and convenient

Features & Benefits

• Easy to use • Highlights/Deducts for lateness

• Prints full time card report

 • Deducts for lunch if not taken
• Real-time fire report** • Overtime - by time band, hours day, week or targetted

• Key personnel display**

 • Integrates with popular payroll programs•
• Highlights/deducts for lateness • Plugs into PC serial port to download as required
• Deducts for lunch if not taken • Wall or Desk mount
• Calculates hours worked • CE,UL and CSA approved
• Standard rate and one rate of overtime ** These features only available if hardwired to P.C.
Sample Time Card Report

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Time Card Explanation
In the above time card, the employee is scheduled to work between the hours of 08:00am and 17:00pm - Any time worked outside of these hours are classed as unpaid.

There is an automatic lunch deduction of 1 hour between 13:00pm and 14:00pm - In the time card above, on Wednesday the employee took 57 minutes for lunch - the system deducted an extra 3 minutes to total the 1 hour deduction.

Lateness - the shift has been setup so that if the employee is more than 3 minutes late, then there clock in time is flagged in red. The employee was also deducted 15 minutes for being late.

Overtime - the employee above has been setup for overtime after their contracted 39 hours and using targetted overtime rules, this accrues in their rate 1 column. They have also worked on both Saturday and Sunday and only because they have also worked over 39 hours in the week, this accrues in their rate 1 column making transfer to the correct pay rates in payroll seamless.

Obviously these are just examples - you can configure the system to use your own rules and rates.

Time Bands explained
With ALTO you can split the way hours are accrued during the day. For example, if some employees should not be paid if they start early, you can set up a shift with a timeband that will not give them any accrued time say between 6.00 am and 8.00am. (However, the actual time they clocked is always recorded. The same can apply for not paying at the end of the day. If you have some employees who can work overtime at a special rate, say overtime 1, you can set a timeband to accrue this at any time during that day. For example at 5.00pm start accruing at RATE 1.

You have lots of timebands you can use in each shift to cater for all those In the above time card.

Targetted overtime explained
This feature allows you to automatically modify the overtime figures to stop anyone accruing hours they would not normally accrue, but have done so by manipulating their working hours. Effectively it stops you paying overtime for any given period unless a level of standard hours have been worked. Let us say that an employee has to work 39 hours Monday to Friday before getting forced overtime on Saturday. When running the time card report, targetted overtime simply re-checks that 39 hours (or whatever you have indicated) have been worked at standard rate and if not, takes the balance form the Saturday overtime rate.

ALTO uses drag and drop functionality to help you make changes quickly and easily as seen in this shift assignment screenshot

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Ease of use
Setting up and configuring ALTO to work for your company is a simple process. Enrolling employees takes seconds and configuring the reports is a simple process, using 'drag and drop' functionality.

Nothing is 'hard-set' in the system. If you are not happy with the results of your reports, you can simply modify the configuration of the reports or amend the time transactions and re-launch the report. The reporting within the system is extremely fast and accurate.

Export to payroll and/or other database applications
ALTO is capable of exporting all of the employee's hours, including break deductions. The export is a built in feature, so the software has total control of what to export.

Links available to Sage payroll and Sage Payroll Professional
Using our Paystandard Payroll Import program, or any other payroll import program of your choice, you can import the figures you want into your payroll system. Paystandard supports Sage Payroll and is 100% efficient & accurate.

Password Protection
The software is password protected for maximum security. Users can be setup at any time and you can specify their exact permissions within the software; allowing or denying certain privileges as you please.

Extra Terminals and how ALTO handles them
The reporting software could be on one computer on a network. Other PCs anywhere on that same network may have up to 32 ALTO terminals connected to each one using our RS485 converter and in any event you can still have as many remote sites (non-dedicated terminals) as you wish. The PC's do not need to be turned on until you require to collect the transactions from the ALTO terminal.

The only limitations are the amount of serial ports available on your PC(s).


Key Personnel Display


The software provides a 'live' on screen presentation of who is in and who is out.

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This real-time screen constantly updates itself to show you exactly who is on or off the premises. You can select who you do or do not want to see as well as sort the information in a number of ways, change the colours used, the font styles, override the status - you can even add your own notes to the employee's details such as "on extension 212". You can install the Key personnel display on as many PCs as you need - each with their own independent customised displays and selections.
• What ALTO does • Time card Report • Time bands • Targetted overtime • Link to Payroll •
• Key Personnel Display • Fire report • Real time operation • Portable use • FAQ • Network options • System Requirements•

Fire Report

This is a "as it happens" printout of employees' time transactions sent to hard copy. A printer can be located anywhere on the network to handle this printout. You can enhance the report; having one printer at the site of each scanner to give you localised reporting, ideal for larger sites where a single central printout is not convenient.

As employees clock IN or OUT this information is sent to any previously configured dot matrix printer anywhere on the network. In the event of an emergency or during a drill, you can simply remove the hard copy report and take it with you - nobody wants to stand in a burning building waiting for a complicated report to print - this hard copy solution is ready for immediate and accurate use in a roll-call.

Below is an example printout:

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Network Options

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Remote site capability
ALTO also allows units to be polled over a network, they can even be polled over the Internet, thus allowing fingerprint units to be based in online remote locations. You can also install ALTO at remote sites, operate locally and e-mail the data to another office for processing.

Real time use and Networking features of the ALTO system

You can connect the ALTO terminal in many different ways

Hardwired
When the ALTO terminals are hardwired to your P.C. you can use the 'automatic polling feature' to collect the employee's time transactions directly from the terminal. The automatic polling can constantly collect the transactions this whilst you run other programs. The transactions are used to update all the Fire Reports and Key Personnel Displays so that they will contain the most accurate and up-to-date information.

1) The ALTO terminal can be hardwired to the P.C. that is running the reporting software.
2) The ALTO terminal can be hardwired to a P.C. on a network of PC's and you can have the reporting software on another P.C. on the same network.
3) You can hardwire up to 32 ALTO terminals on each P.C. on a network (using our RS485 converter).

With the above options you can use all the features of the software.

Portable terminals - 'non-dedicated connection'
The ALTO terminal has independent battery-backed up memory and can store 8000 transactions (clockings) for a substantial time without being connected to a computer. You can have terminals anywhere that are not connected to a P.C. at all. The ALTO terminal must be connected a PC at some point to collect the transactions from it. To download the transactions just connect to the P.C. serial port with the cable supplied.

With portable terminals it will not be possible to update any of the real-time features of the ALTO system - the fire report and Key personnel report.

You can use any or all of the hardwired or remote terminal connection options from the above.

Frequently asked questions

 How many ALTO terminals can I connect on my network?
You can have up to 32 terminals linked to one PC. You can have as many PC's as you like running the ALTO system.

How many portable terminals can I have?
You can have as many portable non-dedicated ALTO terminals as you wish.

Can I use both hardwired and remote options?
Yes you can.

Can I use the Fire report and Key personnel report on more than one P.C. on my network?
Yes you can. You may run the Fire Report and Key Personnel Display on as many PC's as you wish.

Typical Network Configuration
In a networked environment you could have the Key Personnel Display on your reception desk so that the receptionist is able to route telephone calls according to whether or not the desired employee is at work. You could also have the Fire Report running on a PC near to the Fire Exit and Assembly Point so that the hard-copy report is available immediately in the event of a fire drill or emergency evacuation. The Time Card Reporting Software would be running on the Personnel Manager's PC in his/her office. The ALTO terminal(s) would be attached permanently to PCs near to the point at which you wanted your staff to clock in/out for work. This might be in the staff room for example or at the area where they actually perform their work. The employee's time transactions are collected by the automatic polling feature and distributed across the network transparently.

What kind of network do I need?
To use the ALTO software on a network you need any Microsoft Windows compatible server-based network (this includes Microsoft Networks, Novell and most others). The software's communications does NOT require any special transport mechanism such as TCP/IP or IPX/SPX - if your network supports Microsoft Windows then ALTO should be able to run on it. There is also no need for any complicated installations and configurations - no plug and pray, we use a method that is completely "one click", transparent and supportable without the need to involve technical staff requirement.

System Requirements

Requires a PC running Windows 95 (OSR 2.1, ), 98SE2, Windows ME, Windows 2000 or Windows XP, with a Pentium 233
processor or better, CD-ROM drive, one free serial communication port, 80mb hard disk space available and 64mb RAM.

Terminal Specifications

Power
240vac/9VDC optional 110vac 50/60hz/9VDC

Dimensions
170mm x 99mm x 48mm (L x W x H)

Environment
0° - 55° C

Standards
CE, UL, CSA

Comms
RS232. RS485 multidrop

ALTO Memory Capacity
 8200 transactions


To order or to find out more about our data collection solutions,
please call our sales team on 01908 281000.

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Specification subject to change without notice.

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