He explained that when an employee in possession of any company assets is due to leave, a pre‑set reminder will, on the employee’s last day, pop up on a Human Resources screen to remind Human Resources to recover the assets.  Human Resources will then send a message to the employee to submit the assets to the department before leaving the premises.

Like other Pastel products, Payroll  comes with varying security level features. All employees in a company will have their own log-in name and password, which they can use to log in and view information such as their performance review, as well as update their individual details. However no detail that HR deems sensitive will appear. The employee will see only what the HR department wants him or her to see.

Payroll can also be programmed to issue reminders for such actions as to review a salary after three months.

Payroll obviates the need for lengthy consultations, Mr Meyer said. A supervisor or manager is able to obtain an overview of what has been happening in the company or his division, such as who has been coming in late for work, who is in possession of company assets or who has been subjected to disciplinary action lately.  He will be able to see these without having to log into each individual’s profile.
 
Mr Meyer said  Pastel Payroll and HR has been in use in South Africa for a while. Because of its significance, the Payroll and HR  division in South Africa is operating as a separate division from the main Sage Pastel company.

He said the Pastel Payroll and HR programme being rolled out  in Zimbabwe in November has been custom-made to suit Zimbabwe. It will include things such as Pay As You Earn (PAYE), National Social Security Authority (NSSA) and Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA).
 
This week’s Pastel road shows in Harare and Bulawayo were held to increase awareness among Pastel clients and prospective clients of the range of Pastel products and services that Pastel Software Zimbabwe offers them.

On Monday, Sage Pastel International strategic sales product manager Alfred Nhira provided an overview and demonstration of the capabilities of Pastel Evolution, a fully integrated automated business solution.

Some of the features of Pastel Evolution are general ledger, accounts receivable, which deals with customers and customer journals, accounts payable, annuity billing, credit control, order entry, point of sale, cash manager and job costing for those in the service industry.

Explaining cash manager, Mr Nhira said many companies were closing down, not necessarily because of the recession but because they were failing to track their cash. He said with cash manager, everything is recorded in the system, including what excuse the customer last gave for failing to pay up.

Some of the benefits that Mr Nhira said come with Evolution include the fact that it can be seamlessly integrated with other software applications, is cost effective and easy to use, caters for business growth, makes it possible to manage employee productivity and see who is working and who is not, and enhances customer relations.

He said it also has the advantage of being backed by an international standard of service and support infrastructure locally.

Mr Nhira also gave an outline of the Pastel Municipal Billing system, an add-on module to Pastel Evolution that was launched recently in Zimbabwe in response to the need of various municipalities to have a good billing system for water, rates and other charges.

The same module would also be useful for real estate and any other businesses that use meters for their billing.

The module provides for both metered consumption and flat rate billing using different differentials for different categories of consumer.