Five Things to Consider When in The Market for a Time & Attendance Solution

One thing that I have noticed working with companies to improve their time and attendance is that clients can be easily overwhelmed with shiny new features they want, and further down the line, end up blind sighted by the features that they did not know they needed. Hopefully, the following considerations will provide you with some tips and tools that set you on the best path forward in your decision.

5. Product Features

Are you looking for a smarter system that automates process segments that are painfully manual now? A new time and attendance system’s features must address organizational pain points before you jump for joy at the shiny new widgets. Some common examples of “show stopper” features are:

• Departmental job transfers
• Time off requests
• Manager time approvals
• Timesheet corrections
• Allocation of time to projects, breaks, or specific jobs
• Interface of hours to payroll
• Security roles/profiles
• Rounding rules

Some common examples of “nice to have” features are:

• Checklists and case management
• Email integration for approvals
• Accrual balance calculation
• FMLA leave management

4. Software Integrations

One of the previously mentioned “must haves” for a new time and attendance software is the software integrations required for the system to be useful. Common practice is for hours to be recorded, edited, and approved in the time and attendance system. The software then pushes those approved hours to a payroll system. The posted pay hours are sent to the accounting software of record to be recorded in the General Ledger with debits to an expense account and credits to a payables account, and others to tax, bonus, contributions, etc. Bank transfers are made, and checks are generated. At the point of pushing hours to the payroll system, can the software be integrated to payroll elegantly? Can the HRIS system of record push out employee data updates to the time and attendance software consistently without error? The vendor should be equipped to supply to the resources to build and support such integrations.

3. Company Profile

Understand that time management solutions are generally targeted toward a particular market of company size. Are you a restructuring multinational with a sprawling network of software integrations? Are you a growing mid-market regional industry leader, or a small company carving out a niche? The pricing scheme may differ depending on that market size, and how firms of a particular size intend to use the software. Do you have a firm grasp on the internal pain points of your company’s management, and maintain a strong picture of the financial position? Where are there opportunities for process improvement? Developing a company profile will add clarity to your decision by showing you in plain language why you seek software upgrades. You can then narrow down your search to vendors who excel at serving your market.

2. User Profile

Just as important as your company profile is the profile of the workers you employ. How will the employees be empowered or emburdened by the system? Will the implementation of a new time and attendance solution require you to hire additional administrators or clerks to manage the verification and approval process of employee punches? Are any layoffs or job merges expected? Will any temps or contractors need access to punch in and out?

What is the age spread of your firm, and do they tend to be more technically proficient in some areas of the company? Do you have an effective system of trainers and training programs to ensure the workforce uses the system properly? It is not enough just to have high user adoption, it is also necessary for the product to be used in ways that are effective and align with your firm’s strategies.

For how many languages will the punch screens be required to be translated? Across how many time zones will the time clock users be distributed, and can this new even system handle multiple time zones? Is the product available in all the countries we have employees? Finally, and perhaps most importantly, how open to new ways of doing things is our workforce? A company with stalwart employees in influential positions can stop an otherwise successful software launch dead in its tracks, so it would be important to foresee these issues and involving these key players early on in the selection process.

1. Hardware

Hardware considerations tie into strategy of the company as much as it ties into its cost. Time clock hardware placement can promote on-the-job safety, reduce tardiness, and even promote comraderie between employees. Determining how you will have employees enter their work time can be difficult, but consider the following scenarios: we have factory technicians working in the production area, warehouse workers packaging and picking inventory, sales people moving between offices and client visits, drivers on the road transporting finished goods and field technicians traveling to service calls on site. Each one of these scenarios will require a different approach to capturing time, and determining the needs of each of your employee groups is a key component in making the choice on what hardware is best for your firm. Security is also a major concern for harware selection. Biometric fingerprint scanners, barcode badge scanners, and password key entry are the most popular hardware options on the market today, though mobile devices (native time management apps and mobile-optimized websites) are becoming popular options for companies with employees constantly on-the-go, some which come with built in biometrics, geolocation, and password entry on touch screens.

In closing, while effective project management and knowledgeable solutions experts can solve part of the problem, it is also important for you as an emerging firm which has outgrown your obsolete time management system to do your own internal research and set strategy and expectations for a new time management system accordingly.

By Cody Bess, Functional Consultant for Arbela Technologies

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