Holistic approach instead of isolated solutions
For Möbelwerke A. Decker GmbH, based in Borgentreich, North Rhine-Westphalia, quality craftsmanship and sustainability in the production of solid wood and upholstered furniture are among the cornerstones of the company’s philosophy of success, now in its third generation. The high demand for transparency and efficiency in processes was also the reason for switching to the DATEV financial and payroll accounting software in 2013, which was expanded in 2016 to include the time recording solution timeCard from REINER SCT was added in 2016.
The timeCard– payroll+ extension from DATEV partner LANOS closes the gap in the necessary payroll data preparation in the company and saves two man-days of manual data entry effort every month for the administration of around 350 employees thanks to consistent, fully automated data exchange.
Cumbersome time recording: Isolated solution with extra data silo
The company introduced the DATEV solution portfolio back in 2013 to relieve the administrative burden and simplify processes relating to financial and payroll accounting. However, the additional workload due to interface synchronization and redundant data maintenance of the previously existing isolated solution in the area of personnel time recording made further consolidation of the application landscape necessary at the end of 2015. “Our employees’ working hours are recorded at a total of four terminals at the various access points of our production and administration buildings. Until now, however, we were unable to transfer these to our accounting system in an automated process, but had to keep them separately in an isolated solution and process them manually in advance,” says Ralf Lang, authorized signatory at Decker, describing the situation. “This workaround not only caused an enormous amount of additional work and costs, but also entailed unnecessary risks of error. That’s why we finally decided to replace our time recording system in favor of a solution that allows reliable, consistent data exchange with DATEV without redundant data.”
The holistic solution approach was convincing
After an initial exploration of the market, the Decker project team focused on three DATEV partners, including managers from IT, the payroll office and finance. After evaluating the requirements profile provided in advance in the form of a specification sheet, the solution providers were finally invited to comprehensive in-house presentations. “In the end, the system house LANOS won the contract with the timecard and the data preparation tool Payroll+. The geographical proximity to our location actually played a rather subordinate role, as the project team was able to convince us above all with their well thought-out, holistic approach to solutions and their consulting expertise for complex problems,” says Ralf Lang, summarizing the decision.
Live in less than three months
In the following two consulting days, the further “roadmap” and details for the subsequent parameterization and customizing phase were coordinated in order to adapt the solution to the individual circumstances: Which wage types are to be taken into account, how are the time accounts to be handled, which surcharges apply, individual shift profiles, etc. At the same time, all existing specifications and guidelines had to be implemented in reporting, such as smoking break lists, absence lists or daily control lists for controlling the time recording stamps. A special feature of the system implementation was the interface to the ERP system MBI, a Unix-based industry solution for the furniture industry. The challenge was to determine the premiums for the production orders by comparing the arrival and departure times of the employees with the processing times of the workpieces.
No more manual recording
“In the past, ad-hoc queries, for example in relation to the various wage types and wage premiums, were only possible after a time-consuming manual data entry process from DATEV, but today the detailed information is imported in an automated process via the LANOS interface. The elimination of redundant personnel masters saves us two man-days of data entry and maintenance every month,” summarizes Ralf Lang. “We have not only been able to improve our data management, but have also been able to implement all the requirements of our specifications, for example with regard to reporting and interfaces, in a lean and at the same time very flexible solution. With this ‘application setup’ and a competent solution partner at our side, we are also well positioned for very complex issues relating to payroll accounting.” The timeCard and Payroll+ solution is currently used by 350 employees at a total of two clients, Möbelwerke A. Decker GmbH and Reposa Polstermöbel GmbH, as a supplement to the DATEV application portfolio.
