Replicon helps Ropes Courses, Inc. get a grip on time and expenses

A comprehensive, streamlined time and expense solution
After using Replicon’s free trial, Kinnison decided to implement a suite of Replicon offerings – Time & Attendance, CloudClock, Project and Cost Billing, and Expense Management.

Replicon Time & Attendance provides businesses with real-time insights and reports on time and attendance data, for easier payroll processing, labor law compliance and insights into workforce productivity. Highly configurable and intuitive timesheets can be tracked for any employee type, while supervisors can keep overtime costs in check with configurable calculation rules, review time off accruals and approve time off requests.

CloudClock is a proprietary technology that transforms any ordinary tablet into a powerful cloud-based time clock that makes punching in and out of shifts fast and easy. The CloudClock app, combined with Time and Attendance, works seamlessly with Replicon’s Time and Attendance solution so that employees can use the same device to swipe their employee ID cards to start their shifts. The app deters buddy punching by automatically taking a picture of who is logging in, providing supervisors with a photo audit history of employee clock ins. Employees can also conveniently request time off and view their time off bookings, as well as gain visibility into assigned shifts and schedules.

Replicon Project and Client Billing was also deployed to capture time for the company’s salaried production employees who work on multiple client jobs, eliminating the need to manually enter timesheets into QuickBooks.

Finally, Replicon Expense Management gives businesses immediate visibility into all expense types, including reimbursable and project expenses – to help businesses control costs. For employees, the solution means that expenses can be easily submitted – even when on the go – through a simple and clean interface, that can be tracked to a specific project or client, and compared to projected expenses for the activity.

Kinnison oversaw the entire implementation process, so that she could be assured that all employees could use Replicon’s solutions with minimal training. The technology also needed to meet Rope Course’s goals to automate processes, improve time and expense data accuracy, and drive significant efficiency and productivity gains across the entire organization.

“A major driver for choosing Replicon was that it delivered a cloud-based, easy-to-use system that we foresaw as driving strong efficiency, accuracy and scalability improvements in all of our offices and to all of our employees. We knew once the system was in place and everyone became accustomed to using it, that the system would practically run itself in managing all our project-related costs and expenses,” Kinnison said.

Setting up for success
Ropes Courses, Inc. has embraced the mobile capabilities of Replicon’s solutions to improve workforce efficiencies. For example, Replicon’s Expense Management offering has been configured to reimburse its employees for expenses weekly, improving accuracy and time-to-reimbursement within the business. Recently, the company built a ropes course on a cruise ship overseas, which incurred dozens of timesheets and expenses to review and approve.

“Previously, the process of submitting timesheets and expenses would have dragged on for months. We would have had to wait for employees to come back with their wad of paper receipts to input and submit, have multiple back-and-forth discussions regarding the accuracy of the data, then finally approve all the costs and reimburse the employee and bill the client. Sometimes for lengthy installation projects, if the expenses are significant, corporate cards can become maxed out, leaving employees with no source of payment for travel expenses.

“Now, employees can upload and categorize all expenses instantly, even from a ship, making the process a breeze. The data syncs with our accounting system for quicker payment, making the process as simple and painless as possible,” Kinnison said.

Meanwhile, using CloudClock, Ropes Courses, Inc. has insight into the actual hours worked across all offices, helping with scheduling and ensuring that the company meets increasingly stringent labor compliance requirements on how long an employee should work. Ropes Courses, Inc. has been able to identify and deter “buddy punching” instances – when an employee has clocked in for a co-worker – using CloudClock’s photo auditing capabilities – and has also stopped workers from working longer than their required shifts in accordance with labor regulations.

Ropes Courses, Inc. has been impressed with the insights that Replicon’s solutions have delivered into the company’s business performance. As the company continues to expand, it plans to keep Replicon’s solutions at the core of its business operations.