Case Study

The Melbourne Racing Club (MRC) accounts for almost 50% of metropolitan racing in Melbourne. It operates 60 race meetings annually along with numerous functions and events through its commercial operations. The club employs up to 2000 staff during peak racing season who work as ground staff, as staff for catering and events, and in two Tabarets. A large number of the staff are casual, due to the seasonal nature of the club’s activities.

Searching for a solution

The Racing Club’s former software solution for tracking staff time and attendance and interpreting award conditions didn’t meet their needs. It wasn’t interpreting awards accurately, and it didn’t provide forecast reporting. MRC was also using a phone-based rostering system which was both time-consuming and inefficient.

Another key area needing better management was costing employee hours. As staff were often working multiple combinations of events, departments and venues during the same shift, ensuring that all hours were costed to the appropriate cost centre was vital. MRC also had a short timeframe to find a solution as the support license for its current software provider was soon to expire.

Making it Work

MRC undertook a detailed and extensive product evaluation and quality assurance process involving multiple vendors. We at RosterLive came out on top as the solution best suited to our client’s requirements. During initial project meetings, RosterLive and MRC decided on key stages for the implementation process:

1. Installation of all biometric terminals
2. Implementation for the two Tabaret sites
3. Implementation for Operations (Catering & Events)
4. Implementation of Ground Staff   

This phased approach was carried out successfully to meet the tight time constraints of MRC. The success of the project was a testament to the successful working partnership between RosterLive service delivery staff and the project team at MRC. MRC staff worked hand in hand with RosterLive to providing the documentation and assistance needed for a smooth and timely implementation.

The results?

Problems solved, better management, smooth functionality and new benefits including:

• Tailored rostering solutions for each of the three main areas of the business
• Automated time and attendance data capture, and accurate award calculations
• A solution when needed to allow shifts to be costed to multiple cost centres
• An online employee self-service kiosk where staff could advise on their availability, respond to offered shifts, view rosters, review timesheets and update other personal information
• Complete integration of employee information and pre-calculated timesheet data with its payroll systems provider.

Seamless Integration, Cost Benefits and a Happy Client.

MRC changed its payroll provider in 2010. While RosterLive had originally configured its interface with the previous provider, they successfully adapted the interface to the new payroll system and went live.

MRC continues to grow. It’s now taken ownership of a number of hotels and an additional racetrack and will continue to use RosterLive. Setting this up for new venues is easy. In fact, the setup and rollout can largely be carried out by MRC by trained administrators - of course, with the assistance of RosterLive staff if needed.

Arlene Reid, Manager of Human Resources for the Melbourne Racing Club reported, “During our research for the upgrade of our rostering and time and attendance system, we found that the RosterLive system was the best suited to our business. Now, two years on, we still believe this to be the case. Whilst implementing any new system into a diverse organisational structure comes with its challenges, the team at RosterLive was responsive, helpful and provided intelligent and flexible solutions. The system has streamlined and improved the management of our rostered workforce - and has been cost-effective too."