T.A.P.E!

By Richard Foulds|19th July 2018

Where does TAPE come from and why did we need it?

There is an old English proverb that says ‘Necessity is the mother of invention’ and that was certainly the case when I decided that it was time to move away from a process of recording the company timesheets in Excel spreadsheets.

The old method had been in place for many years and was both time consuming, inconsistent and difficult to manage, even though I was only handling the details for 8 employees

As most people do, I proceeded to scour the Internet for online time sheet applications. I checked review sites and ultimately registered for 7 or 8 trials.

I had previously been involved in designing and developing ‘Time Recording’ applications for one of the largest accounting firms in the UK. That knowledge, plus my own requirements enabled me to make a list of the main functionality that I needed.

I was most surprised to find that even some of the most basic functions were not available in any of the trialled applications.

e.g.

I needed to be able to create a project and post both chargeable and non-chargeable time to that one job. Virtually every trial required me to define a job as chargeable or non-chargeable.
I needed to be able to post multiple timesheet lines to the same job on the same day. Virtually every trialled application had 1 entry per job per day.
I needed to assign employees to projects so that only they can post to it.
I wanted to record travelling time, but also record the mileage at the same time.
I wanted all reporting to be in Excel output…..etc

So, given that I couldn’t find what I wanted, I decided that as a software company, we could write it ourselves and ultimately produce a packaged application for the open market.

I worked alongside a single developer for about 6 months and the 1^st prototype was born. We tested and started using internally. After a couple of months and a few adjustments, we went live and now it has been running for around a year.

The subsequent launching of a product to market is another project by itself. Firstly, we needed a name and logo for the product. After a few ‘convoluted’ attempts, our talented marketing team came up with TAPE (Time, Absences, Projects and Expenses) and the excellent logo.

Then came the boring, but necessary business parts. Pricing structures, advertising, Beta testing and documentation etc.

Now they are all done and TAPE is ready to go !!!!

If the management of staff time, holidays, absences, expenses and travel time are important to your business, then you can: –

Contact the TAPE team at [email protected]
Request a personalised demo and test site by registering at https://www.deansplc.co.uk/timesheet-and-absence-projects-expenses/
Contact your account manager on 01937 541411 or here

Richard Foulds

T.A.P.E!

DCS Development Director

DCS 40^th Anniversary Easter Competition Terms & Conditions

· As the competition runs up to the 14th of April the prize will be sent out asap, however, the winner will most likely receive the prize after the Easter weekend.

· The Promotors competitions with entry via Twitter and/or LinkedIn are open only to residents of Great Britain (excluding Northern Ireland). One (1) winner will be chosen at random from all entrants and across all platforms.

· No purchase is necessary. Winners will not be required to pay to enter the competition.

· Entrants must be over 18 years old on the date of their entry.

· Employees of The Promoter are not eligible to enter.

· Twitter or LinkedIn are not in any way affiliated or involved in the competition.

· Only one entry per social platform per person will be accepted.

· The Prize will be awarded to a randomly selected winner who has entered on Twitter or LinkedIn, using a random number generator. The Promoter will not be held liable if the named prize becomes unavailable or cannot be fulfilled.

· The Promoter will not be held liable for any failure of receipt of entries. The Promoter takes no responsibility for any entries which are lost, delayed, illegible, corrupted, damaged, incomplete or otherwise invalid.

· To the extent permitted by applicable law, The Promoter’s liability under or in connection with the competition or these terms and conditions shall be limited to the cost price of the Prize in question.

· Prizes are non-negotiable, non-transferable and non-refundable. No cash alternative is available. Where a Prize becomes unavailable for any reason, the promoter reserves the right to substitute that prize for a prize of equal or higher value.

· The name, address, email address and phone number of the winner must be provided to The Promoter if requested and will be shared to enable the fulfilment of the Prize.

· In the event of unforeseen circumstances beyond The Promoter’s reasonable control, the promoter reserves the right to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the competition or these terms and conditions, either in whole or in part, with or without notice.

· The Promoter’s decision is final. No correspondence will be entered into.

· The winner’s name and social media username may be posted on the social media profiles of The Promotor after the winner has been selected.