Key Factors to Consider when Upgrading to Automatic Timekeeping

When the time comes to make the upgrade from manual to automated time and attendance tracking, the abundance of options and features can seem overwhelming at first.

Upgrading from Manual to Automatic Timekeeping Systems

Regardless of your requirements, company size, or business goals, automating your time and attendance processes is worth it: Automated time and attendance simplifies and standardizes procedures, while providing savings for years to come by making your timekeeping more efficient and accurate.

Planning a time tracking upgrade initiative is easier with a guide. Here, we will be outlining some of the most crucial factors and features to consider while making the upgrade to a fully featured automatic timekeeping system.

Analyzing your Business Needs

Every industry— and each individual business— faces a unique challenge when seeking to meet their time tracking needs. Therefore, we always recommend a thorough needs analysis early in the software prospecting process.

A representative from each major department should be involved to ensure you choose a comprehensive solution that will satisfy the needs of every department that will be the primary users and beneficiaries of the system. Typically, a project leader is also chosen to spearhead the project, usually the head of HR or IT.

We recommend first preparing for the transition by having each team member evaluate the current processes used to capture time and attendance, discussing desired functionality versus limitations. This process will help you determine the requirements for your ideal automated time and attendance system.

Once you have compiled the evaluations from your team members, you can assemble a preliminary list of requirements and identify which are critical versus optional or nice to have. With a list like this ready, you will be able to quickly work with a prospective timekeeping service provider to find the perfect solution for your organization.

Essential Factors in Upgrading

The following considerations are universally important across industries and can make a significant difference in the performance of your time tracking solution.

Cloud Software Hosting (Software as a Service)

Time and attendance software has made the move to reliable cloud implementations and away from locally hosted solutions.

Modern cloud deployments offer timekeeping through a SaaS (Software as a Service) model, upholding the most reliable distributed service uptime along with the greatest insurance of data security. This also makes it much more resilient to local internet outages and makes the system easier to update automatically as the software is improved.

Data Collection Methods

Every workforce is different. Some companies consist entirely of remote employees requiring a web-based time and attendance solution, while others want employee time clock hardware for their office, or on the shop floor of a manufacturing center. Others may need a mobile app clocking solution to track employees that are on –the-go, traveling between multiple work sites. Experienced vendors offer a multitude of data collection methods to accommodate any time tracking requirements.

Journyx’s time and attendance software is compatible with a wide variety of devices and data collection methods including PIN, non-contact RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), and biometric time clocks, as well as an online web clock and an easy to use mobile app.

Integration Considerations

Business applications rarely operate in silos. Yet, some time and attendance systems simply do not integrate and synchronize well with other business systems, which is a major shortcoming that stifles the benefits of automation.

You should carefully consider a prospective timekeeping service provider’s integration options to ensure that your needs will be met. When automatic timekeeping is partnered with your existing accounting and payroll solutions through integration, you will be able to realize the benefits right away. With better integration, you can more easily optimize your workflow, efficiently allocate your resources, and even forecast project costs and timelines using real-time, up-to-the-minute workforce data.

Regulatory Compliance

It is vitally important to understand your company’s responsibilities regarding regulatory compliance and workforce management.

Maintaining compliance with major regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley, FairPay Rules, and the Fair Labor Standards Act may be difficult with timekeeping software that was not designed with these regulatory standards in mind.

Some software providers may require expensive software add-ons and upgrades to provide auditing support or may not support the collection and preservation of this essential information at all, requiring you to handle these records manually. Fortunately, Journyx’s timekeeping software makes it easy to audit and securely store important workforce records while minimizing unnecessary data collection.

Improved Functionality

Many functionality considerations make vendor selection easy: either the vendor offers a function you require, or they do not. These make-or-break functionality considerations may include biometric clocking, real-time employee attendance and task tracking, payroll integration, complex benefit accruals, project tracking, employee scheduling, labor cost forecasting, and many more. Another important consideration might be the speed of innovation from the vendor. Do they continue to listen to customers and have a regular cadence of product updates to address customer requests?

You should be confident that the time and attendance provider you are partnering with is one that uses proven technology to provide the features you need and continues to innovate to help you continually improve and scale along with your business.

Effective Budgeting

Instead of just asking internal management for a budget, we recommend completing a return on investment (ROI) analysis first. If you have not researched the return on investment for time and attendance systems, you may be surprised to find what a good system can save your organization.

A well-designed automated time and attendance system will help to pay for itself in a relatively short time period thanks to the reduction of errors, prevention of time theft, automation of business processes, and the elimination of employee overpayment. And naturally, gaining clarity on how your workforce spends its time is essential for making informed business decisions.

We invite you to learn more about the ROI for Journyx’s automated time and attendance systems and consider the savings that can be found with automation. Armed with return-on-investment information, you can be certain your investment in an automated time and attendance system is worth it.

With a better understanding of automated systems, purchase criteria, options, and features, you will be much better prepared to make the upgrade, and much more confident in your selection too.

If you are looking for assistance making the leap from manual to automated time and attendance tracking, contact Journyx today for expert advice and a free customized demo.