Q›TAR Solutions

Q›TAR Equipment

Contact P&Q

To contact a P&Q advisor for more information on any topic, please call:
0845 1300 707

or send us an email with your enquiry:

What our clients say ...

Capita plc Financial, Insurance and Business Management Services

“Q>TAR has been in place for over twenty five years and has been used as our time recording system for monitoring staff attendance, sickness and holidays. The data captured has been instrumental in ensuring there has been sufficient oversight of the company's staff utilisation across its operation.
During this time, there have been minimal issues with the software in terms of reliability and ease of data access. The hardware, as it has aged, has shown an expected level of reliability, with any fix on fail requirements dealt with efficiently under the annual maintenance agreement.
All in all, the use of Q>TAR has continuously satisfied the needs of the company, and the service provided by P & Q International has been very satisfactory.”
(Tim Sill of Capita plc)

Cadbury (Ireland) (Manufacturer of Confectionery products)

“We employ approximately 1400 employees between two plants in Ireland. We have been using QTAR since 1987 and operate it in both these plants. Our shift patterns are very variable. The staff at P&Q are always very helpful.”
(Catherine Murphy of Cadbury (Ireland))

Monarch Aircraft Engineering (Aircraft servicing & repairs)
P&Q client: Monarch Aircraft Engineering

“We installed QTAR in 1991. It revolutionised our whole system of doing the payroll. QTAR is reliable and flexible and P&Q are always ready to help, they respond very fast.”
(Pat Thomas of Monarch Aircraft Engineering Ltd)

Goodyear Dunlop (world's largest tyre manufacturer)

“At the Wolverhampton site, the rules for calculating employees' gross pay are incredibly complicated, depending on a multitude of factors such as the type of work, when they are working compared with their normal shift, the reason for the overtime or shift swap and even how dirty the work is! So QTAR has to be used to calculate the gross pay for each period of work. The supervisors approve and record reasons for overtime, shift swaps and absences during the shift, directly into the system, which has streamlined the process enormously.”
(Audrey Woolvin of Goodyear Dunlop)

Caparo Precision Tubes (Manufacturer of Steel tubing)
P&Q client: Caparo Precision Tubes

“We first installed QTAR in 1991. We have found QTAR extremely flexible - it can do anything you require of it. Day-to-day operations are simple. It rarely goes wrong or gives us trouble. The Support team is well-informed and comprehensive. P & Q have kept their focus squarely on T & A - they simply have to be good at it.”
(Bob Sharratt of Caparo Tubing)

Crown Cork and Seal (International packaging company)
P&Q client: Crown Cork and Seal

“We've had QTAR installed for quite a few years, and we find it to be a good program. P&Q are very friendly and helpful. If I have a problem or question they are always ready to assist me.”
(Christine Wathan of Crown Cork and Seal)

Unisys Insurance Services (Administering Life Insurance schemes)
P&Q client: Unisys Insurance Services

“We have been using QTAR since 1991. We have a flexitime system with complex flexible working time requirements. It is largely self-administered (within the rules configured into the system) by the 1,500 employees. A competing system was installed and then rejected, since it was unable to cope with our requirements.”
(Julie Coldridge of Abbey Life)

TMD Friction (Manufacturer of Brake friction components)
P&Q client: TMD Friction

“Our shift patterns are complex – 5-day, 7-day, morning, afternoon, nights and rotating, and we also have people on fixed salaries. QTAR handles these fine. When we upgraded QTAR just before Christmas, that went very smoothly.”
(P. A. Rothwell of TMD Friction)

Kraft Suchard (Manufacturer of Chocolate and confectionery)
P&Q client: Kraft Suchard

“We have a workforce of about 850 and have used QTAR since 1992 to keep track of shift work, contractor hours and salaried personnel for payroll. We also rely on QTAR in our costing processes, to authorise overtime, book employee holidays, report excessive unauthorised absences, etc.”
(Martin Buckle of Kraft Suchard)

LEONI Wiring Systems (Manufacturer of Lucas brand electronic vehicle parts)
P&Q client: LEONI Wiring Systems

“We originally purchased QTAR in 1990 purely for payroll management, with up to 3000 individuals on the system. We found that using the system was simple, with a lot of standard reports included. But when we realised how QTAR could be expanded, we had extra ones written for reporting things like absenteeism in different ways that suited our requirements better. P&Q staff give good support and are easy to talk to, even if you aren't very familiar with computers.”
(Stella Pepper of LEONI)

British American Tobacco (Tobacco manufacturer)
P&Q client: British American Tobacco

“The QTAR system has been in our factory since 1986 and has been very stable with few issues. P&Q support has been reliable and efficient. The application has outlived a number of HR system transitions, and migration of interfaces has not been problematic. A number of custom modules have been designed to meet our special needs, including absence and overtime reporting.”
(Hans Commandeur at BAT)

MBM Produce (Foodstuffs)
P&Q client: MBM Produce

“We have been using the QTAR system about 16 years. It works well. It's hard to make set rules about this kind of factory. Work patterns change often. People work very variable hours. Sometimes they make time up when they need to come in late. I find it easy to go into the system and override it. We upgraded a few years ago, and we found P&Q very helpful. They are happy to talk me through any problems I may come across.”
(Jenny Hawkins of MBM Produce:)

Dunlop Oil & Marine (Manufacturer of Industrial hosing)
P&Q client: Dunlop Oil & Marine

“Dunlop Oil & Marine has been using QTAR since 1984. We have had no trouble with the system in all that time. Because P&Q concentrate on T&A, the system works perfectly.”
(Sue Thomas of Dunlop Oil & Marine)

Some P&Q clients (from UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Africa, etc)
Some P&Q clients:

About P&Q – a brief history

P&Q was formed in February 1979 by our Managing Director, Donald Q Gardiner, as a Software Consultancy (P&Q Associates Ltd) providing consultancy and development services to large companies in the UK and overseas.

During the initial years, we did development and analysis projects for companies such as Cyanamid, Citibank and BP. Our projects included developing systems for:

Stock Control
Data Collection and Analysis: to detect and report telephone network node failures
Time and Attendance

Recognising the need for a powerful and comprehensive Data Collection package, we designed and developed the Q›TAR System during 1984. This was the world's first Time & Attendance Recording package available for the then-new microcomputers. Other applications and platforms soon followed.

The success of the Q›TAR package led to a steady expansion within P&Q Associates and to the opening of an associate company in New Zealand (BCS Systems) in 1988. We are also represented in West Africa by Aeon Ventures Ltd in Ghana. The company name was therefore changed to P&Q International Ltd in 1990 and to P&Q International plc in 1994, though P&Q is still privately owned.

After nearly 18 years at the same location in the countryside near Ware, in December 2000 P&Q moved a few miles north to new premises on the edge of Braughing, Hertfordshire. In 2017, we made the move to our current location on the northern edge of Cambridge, from where we have easy access to the rest of the UK and Europe, and indeed to the rest of the world.

P&Q's customers now include multinational manufacturers, financial institutions and government organisations. Read more >>

Delivering innovative solutions for your business

We have maintained our lead by continually developing and enhancing our products to meet changing business needs and technology.

We tailor these applications for individual businesses and organisations, and support them with a full range of complementary services, including hardware provision, installation, on-site training, telephone/e-mail hot-line and maintenance services.

In addition to our industry-leading Time and Attendance, Access Control and Data Capture solutions, we provide consultancy, using our expertise to find new solutions for particular business challenges.

We are customer-led and are always happy to discuss unusual problems and innovative solutions with existing or prospective clients.

Quality

At P&Q we are dedicated to providing the highest quality of service and are fully ISO 9001 certified. We are also SAFEcontractor accredited, and are members of the Federation Against Software Theft. Our staff have been trained in site safety by the Safety Passport Alliance.