A Must-Have Feature Checklist For An Attendance System

The attendance system market is flooded with solutions. All biometric device system integrators claim to have an attendance management software. With software developers coming out from every home in India, designing a good looking software isn't a challenge. But what about functionality?

In this checklist, we are assuming that web-based, cloud-based systems are the future. Any good T&A system will take care of leave management too.

If you are looking to find out an attendance system software which is comprehensive, with depth & maturity, this checklist will help you decide.

We have created this checklist based on our thorough background in HR automation for about more than a decade. Attendance management is a crucial subject and needs enterprise treatment. Because it tracks an employee’s performance, productivity & salary cost for the organization.

If you are considering to buy, upgrade or migrate to an Attendance system here are the key features to look for:

1. Biometric devices:

The biometric device is the 1st step taken for the correct attendance automation. With so many cheap biometric devices available in the market, it is tough to select the right biometric device. But a wrong biometric device can lead to losses, like salary lapses, business productivity loses, security lapses. Check this now!

Tips to choose the correct biometric device:

Check for sensor quality & warranty. It's critical to check if it can detect the fake fingerprint. Traditional devices are unable to do so.

Biometric Attendance System with Push technology: The attendance data should seamlessly flow to a central data management system on a real-time basis. 

• Finger / Biometric template storage on a central server.
• IP65 & other compliances to work in various climatic conditions
• Multi-country presence – applicable to businesses and companies with a Global presence
• Importance of biometric device: If the correct biometric device is not installed, the whole time attendance management will be a failure. It is plain and simple: Junk data in is junk data out.

The uptime of biometric is a critical factor in capturing employee presence on the work. If even 3% data is manually captured the efforts to generate T&A register is high & purpose of automation is defeated.

Recommendation:

Buy the right biometric device, there are a few good quality devices which are reasonably priced and has high ROI value. We suggest Virdi or Kronos.

2. Attendance rules:

Attendance rule takes care of company specific requirement for employees working time. Rules are the 1st factor of evaluation for a perfect time management software to work with the hardware. Once the data is dumped from the biometric it is important to apply the right time attendance rules.

Parameters an attendance rule should allow to configure:

• Define working hours, full day, half day, short hours
• Attendance policy, late coming & early go rules, mandate login time as per business needs
• Deduction of leave/pay rules if a violation of policy
• Define shifts, multiple shifts, break shift, weekly offs
• Define Shift rules, auto shift, manual shift, rotational shift
• Other parameters like regularisation rules within specific time/days window
• Attendance lock for monthly payroll

Importance:

Rules & policies as per company needs & state statutory compliances helps in the accuracy of employee attendance & avoid manual interventions. ZERO manual intervention & transparent practices across the organization is the success of a T&A management software.

Recommendation:

Today most organizations buy the software which comes along with the biometric device or vendor recommendation. The time is to evaluate the software service provider separately who understand time attendance system & HR domain.

2 such service providers are CuckooTech and Kronos.      

3. Rostering module:

Rostering or shift planning feature is a default/mandate for a progressive & enterprise organization. Highly used in Hospitality, BPO’s & manufacturing companies. 

Rostering features we need to check for in the application:

• Scheduling of shift, team-wise & manager wise
• Amendment to shifts as per business dynamics
• Shift rules as per compliance, the employee cannot be allocated continuous shift
• Shift rules as per business needs, no women workers post 10.00 PM
• Auto shift creation in case of the shift not pre-schedule
• Shift rotation policy & Skip option to handle exceptions
• Statistical data for efficient shift planning, shift plan VS actual attendance
• Publish roaster on the platform & allow the employee to request for a change in shift

Importance:

For a Company with multi-shift needs, defining shift is an important business requirement, in fact, managers have high KRA for effective shift planning. Just imagine an aviation business running only on one fix shift, or state electric department running only one shift.

Recommendation:

A software, which meets business needs as per industry requirement. Check if your software provider understands & implement your business specific requirement.

4. Attendance regularisation:

Attendance regularisation, the success of a system is measured on its usage. Here we are referring to employee using the time management functionality. For them to hook on the system, employee self-service functionality is a must.

Features that need to be part of the attendance regularisation functionality:

Employee attendance can be regularised on a click. Request to regularise missed punch, outdoor activity & working from home should be easy.

Manager self-service function, with capabilities to approve requests.

Importance:

100% employee involvement is the only parameter to measure success. Assume employees do not have an option to regularise because of biometric fault or a human error. It will directly impact their pay. The last thing an organization wants as a reason for an employee to resign.

Recommendation:

A system that allows regularisation of time, quickly, based on rules. A service provider with a robust attendance solution with similar functionality is the winner.

5. Attendance System functionality

Attendance rules, rostering, regularisation are all the features of a time capturing system, the above features work well if supported with the following functionality:

• Employee & manager self-service portal
• Employee & manager portal should have options for
• Web check-in
• View its own attendance data on a daily/weekly/ monthly / yearly basis with all relevant info like hours work & present status
• Regularisation & approvals
• The employee should be able to read all the attendance policy  & shifts planned
• The manager can do data analysis for its team, like hours worked, short hours, regular late coming, Over time workers. Real-time attendance deviation based on shift planned
• Timesheet one of an important function for IT & ITeS companies
• Admin should be able to lock the data as per defined dates, any change in data post attendance lock is considered for next month payroll as arrears
• Attendance alerts via email / SMS notifications
• Mobile app for offline attendance marking & various attendance related request while on move or at the comfort of a sofa at home
• Gamification of attendance function, to engage the employees on the online portal

Importance:

These features are the backbone of the attendance system, without these features, the system cannot run independently. It is like we have the data in a box, but accessibility to the box is restricted, and it is of no use. Similarly, an attendance system with best biometric, rules & practices cannot work, if we do not have the ESS & MSS portal for employees ease.

Recommendation:

Attendance system should have a capability to check for information on the employee portal in real time, the user interface should be simple for the employees to use, and they can navigate their current & past information with ease. Mobile version of the solution is a must.

6. Mobile App:

Any smart attendance solution provider cannot miss the mobile app. App design should have all important functionalities and must be responsive to all kinds of mobile devices. So the employees do not mind installing one more app.

Checks for a mobile app:

• Availability of native apps Android & IOS
• The capability to store relevant data offline & then sync on demand.
• The app should have features to capture geo location, geo fence location to restrict unauthorized marking, option to click selfie, supports validation in case of an audit.
• Notification option
• Process driven installation of attendance app, to avoid proxy marking.
• Capability to integrate with API, for data exchange with payroll software, HR system & SAP.

Importance:

More than 30% of the office staff are on the move for various business support work, ranging from sales, services, support. Business like food delivery, taxi services, e-commerce rely heavily on the mobile app only to track for employee’s attendance. The younger generation is more comfortable using a mobile even on their working desk.

Recommendation:

Subscribe to attendance app that is native for sure. Integrates using API. Capability for integration with 3rd party app using Cordova or similar capability. Scalable to meet other HR function needs like expense claims, leave, helpdesk, Chabot. One app sure to be looked for is CuckooTech.

7. Attendance System configuration:

Attendance System configuration, the importance of the configuration feature is same as a backstage team. The ease of any application is because of the right configuration options.

Checklist for a perfect configuration feature:

1. User creation with roles & responsibility
2. Can configure the email & SMS gateway for communication
3. Mapping of reporting manager for teams with effective dates of responsibility
4. Bulk upload with all applicable rules to avoid junk upload of data
5. Setting up of attendance alert rules as per business needs
6. All attendance reports in PDF, for internal audits & maintaining transparency
7. Audit trail exports on demand available

Importance:

Any automation solution not having the capability to support administrative work is not qualified as per software standard practices.

A simple example of, how system config comes handy: an employee has not turned up to work for more than a week, in a workforce of 500 it goes unnoticed, but with alerts & business logic configured, an SMS / email comes directly to the concerned person. Not to forget importance of audit trails in case of any misuse/breach of data.

Recommendation:

The attendance configuration maturity comes with experience only. The handling of clients across various verticals helps build rules & knowledge repository. My vote again goes to CuckooTech considering the Indian scenario & value for money.

This content is published post extensive study & mastermind series with Sr. HR fraternity, understanding the complexity of the attendance system, and expectations of HR team from an Enterprise Attendance system service provider.

If you would like to participate or contribute to mastermind series please connect with me on 9821186599 or email me on

dhwani@opportune.in

Source: https://www.cuckootech.com/a-must-have-feature-checklist-for-an-attendance-system/

13 Must Evaluation Parameters Before You Buy An Enterprise Attendance System

Attendance systems are a crucial component in HR automation. But what worked smoothly a few years back seems to be lagging in handling today’s work demands. So progressive companies in general are upgrading to advanced Enterprise Attendance System.

If you are considering to upgrade, I have compiled this exhaustive list of 13 must parameters. It comes from our 10+ years of experience servicing the attendance industry, catering to 200+ clients in various verticals.

It is clear from our experience that attendance system is no more just restricted to installing biometric devices and capturing the attendance. The attendance system is now seen as a source of crucial data for business performance evaluation and enhancement.

Let us carefully understand the relevance of each item & how it impacts the business.

1: Domain expertise – Every business has its unique proposition for success. To extend this success the solution also has to be aligned to industry practices and peculiarities. This can be delivered only when the solution provider understands the business & configures the solution to meet the business need.

Be aware, any AS IS solution with free frills does not give the required business success experiences.

Take away: Appoint a service provider who is a subject matter expert.

2: Attendance rule engine – The success of Attendance Management System depends on integrating organisation’s rules in the system. This is a must for optimising the business productivity, keeping in mind the employee flexibility.

Take away: Attendance rules configuration flexibility is a must.

3: Attendance features – The attendance capturing is a complex thing in today’s business scenario. With people on the move, part-time and contract employees, dynamic shift hours, work from hone employees, all needs to be taken care of.

Complexity of these attendance scenarios need to be simplified with a feature rich & user friendly enterprise attendance system.

These features range from attendance rules, requests, approval, shift planning, attendance compliance, reports, analysis, and attendance alerts. Using a smart device on move is the need of the day.

Take away: Intuitive & user friendly attendance software needs to be deployed.

4: Custom development for Business requirements. The attendance solution should be flexible enough to be configured for unique business requirements, or to add a component of the custom piece to exactly fix that business need.

Like the high demanding attendance system for Facility / Manpower industry, or, any organisation with high dependency of employees on remote sites.

Take away: Attendance solution provider should be flexible and capable to custom build a piece. Also evaluate if their core system can accept the customisation smoothly.

5: API for integration – Enterprise attendance system, or any system, that cannot handshake with other systems is a resounding NO. Integration of data seamlessly with various ERP solutions is a must for better productivity and fulfilling crucial business demands.

We highly recommend you to buy a solution with API capabilities, even if the solution has one less feature.

Take Away: The enterprise attendance system should be ready for API integration with existing ERP solutions, may it be SAP or a custom built in-house solution.

6: Scalability – Two things to check for scalability. One the volume it can handle considering the next 5 year growth plan of the organisation. Two, ability to scale up and add-on modules for HR, from attendance to payroll on a single integrated platform.

Take Away: Appoint service provider with a vision to grow in the Attendance & HR vertical. A company which can continuously upgrade and scale the system to match up with new age requirements. You need not just vendors, but experts who can advise on the attendance trends in the industry.

7: Multi-location management – This is one of the features of Attendance System, but this is critical & hence part of this evaluation matrix.

Today companies do not restrict the business to cater locally. But are expanding in various geographies. Even globally. In such scenarios the solution should be able to cater multi-location & multi-time zone.

Take away: The capability of MLM feature is to analyse data from the multi-location workforce, rostering of shifts, real time attendance info, finger-template management across locations.

8: Contractor management - With companies shifting its focus on the core business, the trend in outsourcing support function is on rise, so it is important to have a checker in place as the cost of contract resources makes a dent in the pocket, if not monitored for actual attendance & performance.

Take away: The solution should be able to monitor the work order of contractor, to attendance & billing. The key to success is to integrate contractor attendance system with the Vendor management tool. A case study

9: Attendance compliance - Reports as per state statutory is a must. From overtime rules, to compensatory off, number of leaves per year, working hours per day, breaks available and many more details.

Take away: The solution provider must be able to generate the reports, or integrate with a compliance management system for monthly audits.

10: TAT & SLA adherence – Finally, when we are going to on-board a service provider for an enterprise attendance system, kindly validate, review & do reference check for the services. Few SLA like up time of the system, frequency of patch & version upgrade. Chances of downtime because of updates. Response time to resolve critical errors.

Take away: No matter how good is the solution, at least 30% selection score goes to ongoing services & support by the attendance system service partner.

11: Biometric support - The starting point to any attendance system is Biometric Attendance System. It is as much important to evaluate the correct device for the organisation. While cost can be a barrier for good devices. But with onetime expenses spread across 5-7 years, it is a clear case of buying quality device over a cheap solution.

A recent news of employees using fake fingers to mark attendance has caused panic in corporate world, as it affects the security too.

Take away: Biometric device with Push technology, finger template management, sensor warranty, guaranteed capability to detect fake & live finger. And most importantly biometric data should integrate seamlessly with attendance system.

12: Attendance system Security - Data is asset for any organisation. With cybercrime on rise. It is a mandate for any attendance system to have IT security checks in place.

Take way: The attendance system should be security compliant. Need to check for HTTPS, VAPT report & APP security report.

13: Data migration – Each organisation will have historical data in some format available. Implementing a new system without past data will delay the advantage of implementing a new system. Because the new system will not have enough info for analysis & building attendance trends.

Take Away: The attendance system should have the capability to import past data.

We are sure, if the checklist is adhered than you as an organisation will implement a robust, productivity-enhancing, successful online attendance system. One which will save you time and money and will repay its own cost multiple times.

Kindly share your learning, success/ failure case studies.

Looking forward to connect with you for an interactive discussion on attendance automation. Feel free to write to me on dhwani@opportune.in or call me on 9821186599

Source: https://www.cuckootech.com/13-must-evaluation-parameters-before-you-buy-an-enterprise-attendance-system/