NEW technology devised by Clifton Moor-based Mitrefinch Ltd, specialists in employee management software systems, is certain to produce fresh food for thought.

Not least because its new creation, PCTerminal.Net, has been successfully trialled at The Balloon Tree Farmshop and Café, at Gate Helmsley.

And who knows? The sophisticated data gatherer could spark a third win for the 99-employee firm in the Science And Technology Business Of The Year category of The Press Business Awards.

Mitrefinch, which scooped the title in 2005 and 2006, is also aiming for the Large Business Of The Year accolade.

Under Debbie Guppy, Mitrefinch’s chief executive, the objective set last year was to double the size of the business by 2014, but to do this it has been necessary to secure business in market sectors where it had historically struggled to gain a foothold, such as hospitality and retail.

The problem was that the cost of its hardware-based biometric terminals could not be justified by the numbers employed in these sectors, especially as a terminal device needed to be physically installed to capture time and attendance information. But the new imaging technology, housed in a small USB device, allowed Mitrefinch to develop a PC-based terminal that could gather employee time and attendance as well as performance management data.

Thus was born the PCTerminal.Net, which the company estimates could yield £600,000 in sales over the next 18 months.

With the web-based application only a single PC with broadband connection is required. A management “dashboard” provides administrators either locally or globally with a list of all onsite staff – useful also for multiple store operators.

“Clocking in” means employees are able to track their flexible working balances and receive customised messages from supervisors.

In short, says Tim Gorry, Mitrefinch’s marketing executive, the new technology means “advanced time and attendance functionality on a budget”.