What is the Human Resource Information System? The Human Resource Information System (HRIS) is a central automated HR information tool that manages the data of employees and applicants such as Recruitment & Selection, Training & Development, Performance Management, Disciplinary Procedures, Grievance Procedures and Leave Administration. What is the purpose of the HRIS and what will be its function? The HRIS supports the Government of Montserrat in improving data accuracy and information as it relates to its workforce and future HR planning. It creates an improved means of aligning the Government's human resources to its policy priorities and assists with our thrust towards modernization. It will provide data for informing and strengthening line management capabilities in people management. Overall, Government would have better knowledge of its HR costs, numbers and skill-set for future manpower planning, succession planning, and decision making in managing the size of its public service and be able to better ensure that the human resources are fit for purpose. The automated HRIS will enable Government of Montserrat to maintain vital organizational data in an organized manner. How will the system benefit you, the Public? There are several benefits to be derived from the HRIS System. For example, whenever you apply for a job in Government, you will be better able to know where we are in the recruitment process in a timely manner. Individuals who have worked for the Government, will take pleasure in knowing that key information during the years of employment, such as training received, promotions and performance, have been captured from their first day of work to retirement. Government of Montserrat would be better able to report to you with accurate and timely information on issues such as the skillset and health of the organization. Reporting and accountability is made easier. So where are we now with the implementation of the Human Resource Inform

It's crowded at the top of the to-do list. We've just published the 2013 Lodging Technology Study, where hotel executives reveal which technology projects are top priorities for the year ahead. Their biggest investment (20% of their overall IT budgets) will be in guest room technology, focusing first on Wi-Fi access and bandwidth, and soon thereafter on upgrading door locks. Pressure to provide ample bandwidth is on, with high guest expectations for connectivity. But at the moment, it's room locking technology that's in the hot seat. Hotel guest room technology - and door locks in particular - received national attention in recent months when Forbes broke the news about a potential room lock security flaw found in Onity locks by a 24-year old software developer and security researcher. In a highly-contested decision (criticized as poor judgment by some and applauded as necessary full disclosure by others), the researcher released specific details of how to perform the lock hack. Since then a handful of hotels have alleged that the method was used by thieves in a series of guest room break-ins. While the threat is limited to one manufacturer's locking technology, it still could impact as many as 4 million hotel rooms. Onity responded with a fix, but is charging hoteliers for replacement technology, also a decision under criticism. Hotels, meanwhile, are putting a priority on upgrading locking technology. According to our survey, which was conducted at about the same time that the news broke about the potential lock flaw, more than one-third of hoteliers (35% overall) are planning to upgrade their hotel locks. About 20% will do so by the end of 2013, and another 15% will upgrade sometime thereafter. Right now, there are plenty of fingers being pointed with regard to ownership, if the hack method becomes a repeated source of break-ins. But regardless of who is to blame, it's the guest whose safety is compromised and the hotel whose name will

Duval's New World Café, rated the "#1 Seafood Restaurant" in Sarasota, Florida by OpenTable diners, recently became the very first install to incorporate Future POS Mobile Ordering for fast and easy order entry via an app. Duval's uOrder App, installed by Future POS, Inc., offers restaurant patrons the convenience of placing orders directly from their smartphone. Unlike other mobile ordering apps on the marketplace, the uOrder™ App allows customers to control their dining experience from start to finish. Upon opening the app, the customer can choose to "Order To Go" or to "Eat At Duval's/Table." When the latter option is selected, the user is presented with a QR code that is then scanned by the host or hostess. From that point on, the entire dining process lies in the hands of the customer, eliminating all unnecessary order and payment delays. In addition to enhanced efficiency, the app also offers quick access to previously ordered items, configurable order types and a customizable information page for advertising. Customers can simply visit their smartphone's app store, search for the uOrder™ App and complete the free download. To develop the app, the Future POS team worked with Corona SDK, a robust and reliable mobile development framework with cross-platform capabilities. The app is skin-able to the restaurant's unique logo and color scheme, allowing restaurateurs to create a personalized product that is unique to their business. When someone orders via the app, the order is sent directly to the store's kitchen and receipt printers, allowing direct and seamless integration into the restaurant's operations.

From lodging to foodservice, the point of service is the premiere place for customers to get their first - and hopefully not last - impression of an establishment. Streamlining and fine-tuning the service that occurs at the POS is of utmost important and operators are always seeking out the latest technologies to make this possible. The move to mobile payment is always top-of-mind as well, but lingering confusion and trepidation still remains for many customers. Owners and operators must seek out ways to implement the technology without intimidating customers. Last month's POS headlines proved this as stories ranged from a study tracking the public perception of mobile payment to improving drive-thru functionality and reducing maintenance costs with cloud-based systems. Study Shows Interest and Confusion Over Mobile Payments At Mobile World Congress, MasterCard in partnership with Prime Research, has released the first global Mobile Payments Social Media Study tracking 85,000 related social media comments across Twitter, Facebook, Online Blogs and Forums from around the world. The study shows a high volume of conversation and consumer interest in adopting mobile payments but cites security, customer support and confusion over the array of options available today as barriers to entry. Taco Bell Streamlines Drive-Thru Experience Across Franchises Desert de Oro Foods' Taco Bell locations had a range of drive-thru communications systems that were deployed over the last five years. However, restaurants were experiencing poor sound quality due to a limited range of wireless capabilities with the current systems. Poor audio quality led to increased wait times for customers as a result of miscommunications and mistakes. In addition, Desert de Oro Foods knew it needed to move to a digital system as the analog bandwidth of its current systems would be ruled out by the FCC at the end of 2012. Panasonic's Attune® drive-thru communications system offered the o

Current rating: 0 (0 ratings) 10/4/2012 Learn about the multi-dimensional software from CBS that instantly deploys recipes, updates, training and more straight from headquarters into kitchens, prep areas and manager offices at every restaurant in the chain. In the process, Recipe Viewer also serves a healthy portion of ROI for multi-unit operators.

Statistically speaking, CIOs don't become CEOs. But it's not because they don't want it. Research shows that nearly half of CIOs aspire to become chief executive, but only four percent actually get there. Much more frequently, CEOs for the world's top companies - about half in fact - come up through C-level financial or operating roles (Vanson Bourne, 2012). Chris Laping, CIO of Red Robin Gourmet Burgers (www.redrobin.com), strongly believes this is because technology executives are too often focused on engineering and IT solutions to embrace their most valuable leadership quality: the ability to manage change. Technology leaders, he believes, possess powerful project management skills that can and should be leveraged across the business for even the most non-IT initiatives, with the particular role of being agents for change. Laping's official role at Red Robin is indicative of that practice: he's the company's senior vice president of business transformation and CIO. In that role, he oversees the company's technology, learning and development, enterprise project management and operations services teams. In this exclusive interview with Hospitality Technology, Laping shares how the technology team has taken on a business transformation role at Red Robin, and describes his overall vision for IT leaders. But it's not something CIOs are handed; they have to drive it, says Laping. Driving this change, perhaps, will also help more CIOs chase down their chief-executive dreams. HT: Let's start with some definitions: "business transformation" and "change agents" are pretty heady buzzwords that get tossed around executive boardrooms. What does business transformation really mean? LAPING: If you look at a classic Wikipedia definition of business transformation, it talks about people, process and technology. So when you push change through people, you usually do that through training. If you want to change business performan

ince its founding as a hotel management company in 2003, Ascenture Hotel Group has evolved into a full-scale development firm with 10 properties in five states and more on the horizon, including a five-star resort in the Dominican Republic. To meet investor expectations and track profitability targets, Moffa relies on Profitvue enterprise accounting and financial planning software from Aptech Computer Systems to calculate and communicate crucial business data on his assets data each day. Ascenture's brands include Hilton, Holiday Inn, and Comfort Suites. One reason his company chose Aptech is because Profitvue accepts performance data from all brands and systems, regardless of flag, and easily creates centralized daily property reports and consolidated financials and delivers them online or by e-mail. Ascenture's move to Profitvue also saves it money. Ascenture has only two people in its accounting office for all its assets. "Aptech creates a more efficient operation so we save about $80,000 in additional salaries," says Joseph C. Moffa, Ascenture president. Moffa's team monitors each hotel's operation against budget with a flexible set of metrics that show property financial health. "Our partners and investors are in business for a profit," explains Moffa. "A hotel is a different investment with a different return than an office building. It is a 365, 24/7 living, breathing business that never closes. We use Aptech to keep our investors and partners informed. I want them to be the smartest owners in the hotel business and understand how we manage their investments to increase value. We use Profitvue reports to show how we manage costs down to the smallest amenities." Profitvue also enables his management team to monitor property performance while they are traveling, explains Lisa Zifer Ascenture's director of operations. "Aptech makes our company and its services portable. We access data remotely us

New technology brings new capability. Within the retail POS hardware industry, new technology is driving change in retail hardware platforms. Cloud-based software, coupled with the emergence of powerful and feature-rich mobile devices, offers new possibilities for retailers to better serve and engage their shoppers at the Point of Purchase. Typical construction of a Point of Sale cash register is centered on a PC workstation. These cash register systems are often positioned in one or more fixed locations in the retail store. They might be served by an array of peripheral devices: a touch display, a customer pole display, a handheld scanner, a receipt printer, and a cash drawer. These peripheral devices are typically configured with serial or USB interfaces and connect to a port on the PC workstation dedicated to each device. Software developers engage each device through OPOS or native DLLs drivers created by the hardware manufacturer. In this setting, a shopper is compelled to queue up at the cash register and stage their goods for itemized sale. By contrast, software functionality and mobile device technology allow a retailer to bring the Point of Sale transaction to the shopper at their Point of Purchase. In this way, a retailer can increase shopper loyalty by providing a more convenient, more personalized, and more interactive transaction experience. A purpose-built Point of Sale solution can be developed from the ground up for the mobile transaction faster than ever. Hardware manufacturers are creating new solutions to support this trend. By selecting hardware that maximizes the benefits of a mobile transaction, a retailer can significantly improve system performance and significantly reduce the total cost of the system. However, the current PC-centric workstation architecture presents several technical challenges as a retailer chooses to deploy a mobile POS solution. Consider this example: A mobile credit transaction performed on a smart phone

Subsidizing a product to get a long-term use commitment from a consumer base is nothing new; it existed before high tech hardware was made affordable by software or service agreements. Think about the razors you buy, assuming of course that you're not a fully bearded male. The initial cost of the razor isn't all that expensive, but replacing the razors for a month costs upwards of twice the razor itself. And if you've shopped for a printer lately, you know the same strategy applies here. The printer itself isn't the greatest expense over the life of the asset; the ink, which is required and usually specific to the device itself, is where you will spend the most money. The most well known form of subsidization, or at least most glaring, comes from the coupling of cell phones and cell service providers. An iPhone, for example, costs a lot more than most people actually pay for it. The new iPhone 5, the basic version with 16GB will run you $649. Not to mention the cost of new adapters, chargers, cases, etc. However, if you commit to (or renew) a two-year service contract with AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint, the phone itself costs $199. How does this work? The same way the printers and printer ink work. The service providers (i.e. AT&T) subsidize the majority of the cost of the phone in order to lock customers into a contract that ends up costing much more in usage and data charges over the life of the contract. The idea is to make the cost of entry relatively cheap. Then, the cost the company loses at the initial purchase is recouped through purchases, or service charges, over the long term. Unscrupulous? Not really, although some would say so after receiving their phone bill. But that has more to do with not being aware of the stipulations of the contract you sign to get the cheaper phone at the outset. Although I personally find it annoying, I try to look at as something akin to amortizing the asset, and remember that, at least for me, a monthly fee

Property management systems should be chosen after a lot of deliberation and research. With many property management systems in the market, it is important that you are not cheated or you don't hastily buy something that doesn't work for you. A quick check on 10 features that you should be looking for in a web based property management system are listed below: 1. Web Reservation: One of the most important things to look for in a web based property management system is its web reservation features. Having a good hotel with great facilities is no longer enough. Letting people know about it is crucial for the success of the business. A hotel management software is the right tool for this purpose nowadays. When you are looking into a PMS, check that its web reservation system is easy to use, not time consuming and is flexible. 2. Revenue Management: Getting your finances sorted is essential so that even in the most testing times, you finances and revenue are well managed. A PMS that has a good revenue management system will see that you can control your rates efficiently and provide easy yet detailed reports of the same to any authorized person as and when required. 3. Front Desk Management: Sorting out the checking in and checking out process, facilitating the guests with whatever they need, and linking the same details with all the concerned departments are some of the things that a front desk console should be doing for you. Check that your hotel management software can efficiently take care of these. 4. Back Office Work: One of the most boring yet very essential departments is the back office. All expenses are doubled checked here; all means of revenue calculated and audited, statistics are prepared as are ledgers. A property management system should be having a console that can look into these things easily and without much human effort. 5. Housekeeping: Hotel management software can be a great help when it comes to taking care of rooms. Fro

The financial crisis of 2007-2008 is considered by many economists to be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. It resulted in the threat of total collapse of large financial institutions, the bailout of banks, and downturns in stock markets around the world. The bursting of the U.S. real estate bubble, which peaked in 2006, caused the values of securities tied to U.S. real estate pricing to plummet, damaging financial institutions. Prior to this crisis strategies to develop new hotels or acquire existing assets with a small percentage of cash out of pocket were plentiful. Today to secure funding it may take 30%-40% of hard cash to move a deal forward. The Small Business Administration (SBA) is offering a way to leverage funds at well below market rates for major renovations and new construction with as low as 10% cash down. The catch? Some money-saving energy efficiency or renewable energy measures must be in the mix. Millions of dollars in SBA 504 loans have been available for decades to help small businesses grow. The greening of the program began when the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 added 3 public policy goals that could qualify businesses for a loan for construction, renovation, or refinance to: 1.Build a new facility (or retrofit an existing building) that consumes at least 10% less energy. 2.Incorporate sustainable design such as LEED into the new construction or renovation projects or building purchases. 3.Incorporate the production and use of renewable energy onsite for the business and/or for the local utility. Another area the 504 green loan program can assist the hospitality industry is to bring cash to the table for major renovations. Hotel franchise companies have been lenient over the past several years on product improvement, as not many hoteliers have had the financial ability to perform major renovations. In the past several months the need for franchise companies to protect their brand have

Laguna Beach welcomes more than 6 million visitors annually to its sandy shores. Now visitors who stay in the beachside city's 22 hotels and lodging establishments will be inadvertent participants in a citywide effort to recycle all of the soaps, shampoos, hair conditioners, lotions and bath gels that are left over after a night's stay. Starting Monday, Laguna Beach becomes the first city in the nation to have all of its hotel properties with more than 20 rooms participate in Clean the World -- a Florida-based nonprofit that provides recycled hotel soaps and hygiene products to those in need. Montage Laguna Beach, Pacific Edge Hotel and Best Western Laguna Brisas are among the 18 participating hotels, along with four of the city's six bed and breakfasts, for a total of 1,229 rooms. In an average year, with an estimated 75% occupancy rate, Laguna Beach hotels generate 336,000 bars of soap and a slightly lesser number of shampoo, conditioner, bath gel and lotion bottles, all of which were previously thrown in the trash. Working with Clean the World, those hygiene products will be reclaimed by the housekeeping staff and set aside in a separate receptacle to be shipped to a Las Vegas processing facility. The bars of soap are cleaned of hair and paper, sterilized, ground into pellets and pressed into new bars of soap that are distributed to non-governmental organizations in 45 countries that do not have ready access to soap. The bottled amenities are likewise reclaimed. If they're full, the bottles' exteriors are sterilized and redistributed to homeless shelters and soup kitchens inside the U.S. If the bottles are 25% empty, the plastic is recycled or potentially upcycled for use in other products. Founded in 2009, Clean the World has 1,200 partner hotels across the U.S. and Canada, 126 of which are in California, including the Disneyland Hotel, Disney's Grand Californian Resort & Spa and Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel in Anaheim. Since joining the Clean th

The multi-billion-dollar ecommerce industry is a part of our everyday lives, but many don't realize the numbers and history behind it, so we collected 16 things you probably don't know about ecommerce. 1. By connecting a modified domestic television with a phone line, Michael Aldrich invented online shopping in 1979. 2. Although Amazon launched in 1995, the first yearly profit wasn't until 2003, and as of June 2012, the average order value was $47.31. 3. Because of forced account registration, online users abandon their shopping carts 26% of the time. 4. Netflix wasn't the first online DVD subscription service - Blockbuster announced Blockbuster.com in 2004, but it's unclear whether services such as Netflix and Redbox led to its ultimate bankruptcy. 5. During the third quarter of 2012, $4,423 was transacted per second via PayPal. 6. Zappos' referrals from social media per order yield $0.75 from Pinterest, $2.08 from Facebook and $33.66 from Twitter. 7. Approximately 46% of online users count on social media when making a purchase decision. 8. 71% of shoppers believe they'll get a better deal online than in stores. 9. In 2010, Groupon turned down Google's $6 billion offer and became an IPO the following year. 10. Pizza Hut began offering online ordering on its website in 1994. 11. India is home to the fastest growing ecommerce market, and France is home to the slowest ecommerce growth. 12. Ecommerce sales are expected to surpass $200 billion in 2012. 13. Consumers spend between $1,200 and $1,300 on online shopping per year. 14. E-retail will grow to 9% in 2016, up from 7% today. 15. Online sales from social networks will grow 93% percent per year within the next four years, according to consulting firm Booz & Company. 16. From 2011 to 2016, 15% more people will shop online, taking the number to 192 million in the U.S. 17. Analysts say that an explosion in the mobile payments market is just around the

When your city has an abundance of free WiFi signals it can help tourists navigate different parts of the city and connect residents with local businesses that might have not come across otherwise. Both are good for the local economy. But free WiFi seems to be all around us.

Restaurant Listens to Demands for Mobile Pay and Sees ROI