Choosing The Right Time Management Solution

It’s a new year!!! You have likely already finalised your HR plans for the year or about to commence execution of your plans. One of those plans could be that your organisation wants to say a final goodbye to the manual process of tracking your employees time and attendance. Hence, you have decided to automate this process which would enable you simplify the process of scheduling your employees’ work shifts, produce accurate pay and a lot more.

The process of selecting a solution for your organisation is an important task and must be dealt with strategically. This is because the application solution you eventually select should meet your current needs as well as adapt to the growth and change your organisation will undergo in the foreseeable future.

Every organisation comes with its peculiarities and as such there is no universal “Time & Attendance Solution” in the market. Therefore, ensuring the application chosen meets the needs of your organisation requires a thoughtful and guided process.

If you are struggling to decide on the right solution, check out the following advice:

1. Assess and determine what your organisation needs

Selecting a solution that meets your organisational needs is key, but that cannot be achieved if you do not first ascertain what exactly are your needs. Note that this is a company-specific process.

For example, organisations with flexible work hours will require a system that can accomodate for multiple shift types. This is a feature that an organisation with a fixed work hours e.g. 9-5 might not require. The result of your assessment will determine the features that the solution must have to cater for your needs.

2. Identify and list out your requirements

One of the outputs of step 1 would be a list of processes and challenges you want to improve with the Solution.This list can be converted into a list of requirements which will then serve as a criteria to measure the offerings and limitations of the various solutions available to you.

For example: A key challenge for an organisation can be their inability to effectively capture employees’ overtime. Hence, one of their requirements would be “a system with an overtime feature”.

The following highlights some of the most popular features of a Time & Attendance Solution that will influence your final decision:

• Work Shift Scheduling

Nothing beats an effective Time and Attendance solution as its ability to allow for flexible scheduling of employees’ work shifts.

• Reports

Analytics and reporting are essential to help you make well informed decisions, so look out for solutions with dashboards and reports.

• Mobile Responsiveness

The world is becoming a global village. People interact more from their mobile phones. A solution should either be accessible on a mobile web browser or have its mobile application.

• Overtime & Undertime

Efficient time tracking also includes tracking of the time employees spend above and below their assigned work hours

• Time off Tracking

A system to help you track your employees time off work as well as leaves and vacations is essential for an attendance Solution.

• Intuitive interface

You want a solution that your employees can pick up within a short time. Therefore, it is pertinent to select a user-friendly application.

• Cloud Storage

If your company is not a large one, there is no need to go for an on-premise application. A SAAS application is a good option

• Scalability

If you expect your organisation to grow - especially in staff strength - then you need a system that can accommodate this growth. Else, you would have to change to a new system in the future.

• Security

A Solution should ensure 100% security of data. If data is leaked it can hurt your employees and organisation at large.

• DIY Toolkit

A guide is essential when using a new Solution. Ensure that your preferred Solution has a Do-It-Yourself guide to avoid extreme dependence on the service provider.

• Live Support

When using a new Solution, it’s common to face some issues or difficulties. You might need to contact the providers about these issues. Providers that have a Support centre will solve your issues promptly.

3. Evaluate Selected Solution to your organisation’s needs

Now that you have a requirement list, it is now time to evaluate the different Solution you have selected. This can be best done using a spreadsheet like google sheet. On one column you have your challenges or requirements listed out and on the top row you have your Solution option listed out.

4. Estimate your Budget

This is a key step and should also be listed as a requirement. Software Solutions have different pricing models. Some adopt a yearly subscription model while others give you the option of a monthly subscription. Some charge per employee while some charge in batches of employees i.e. 1- 50 employees, 51 - 100 employees etc.

Estimating your budget and the payment plan that works for you is also a key deciding factor when selecting a Solution.

5. Make a Final Decision

Once you have evaluated the attendance Solution available, I recommend references of the providers should be evaluated as well. This is a great way to validate your decision.

Also, when providers offer free trials or demos be sure to test the system thoroughly before committing to it financially. Also request that your team members participate in testing the Solution as well. Opinions about it should also be expressed so that a collective decision can be reached as to if the Solution is worth paying for.

Final Thoughts

Selecting the right Attendance Solution for your organisation requires time and a thoughtful process. I hope the steps listed above guides and helps you select an attendance solution that best suits your organisation.

You can also check out our Attendance Solution TAMS. TAMS is a cloud based time and attendance focused human resource management solution. We have provided potential users the ability to create a free account to help you experience first hand the features and benefits.

You can sign up for your free account here

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