Time and Attendance Blog, Workforce Management Software

How Do You Plan On Choosing Your Time and Attendance Solution?

Several months ago one of our account representatives received a request for quotation (RFQ) from a prospective customer. With the help of one of our pre-sales engineers, we pored over the requirements and discovered some inconsistencies with the list. Upon discussing those findings with the prospect, we discovered that the list of requirements was generated from the quotation of another vendor. Of course, it’s not unusual to find requirements submitted by a prospective customer that were in fact, created by a vendor to sway the customer’s buying decision in their favour. However, what was unusual in this case, is that this particular prospect, had not taken the time to figure out their actual requirements. Without this important piece of information, they could not state what kind of time and attendance system would best fit their needs.

By carefully taking time to write down a list of requirements, customers stand a better chance of avoiding software problems. Choosing the right time and attendance requires a plan. It’s important to note, that despite what you might be told, not all time and attendance applications are created equal.

Some companies are so caught up on the price that they end up selecting a time and attendance system that lacks the capability to address what they want out of the application. A thorough analysis, including probing questions about how an organization is currently working, can uncover areas for improvement. This is a good starting point that can help in selection of the right employee time and attendance system.

The right time and attendance software can facilitate things like: data integration, labour, employee data collection and business intelligence reports all of which can be extremely beneficial to companies that are looking to streamline business processes. One of the best ways for companies to go about choosing a time and attendance software is to define an implementation strategy.

If companies follow some of this advice in choosing an employee time tracking software, they will quickly realize a return on investment and reap the benefits of the system.

To learn more or to view a demonstration, go to our website. You can also follow us on Twitter or join our workforce management software group discussion on LinkedIn.

You might like these:

How To Choose a Time and Attendance Solution
How Can We Quantify The Benefits Of An Employee Attendance Solution?
Will Our Cloud Time Management Solution Show An ROI?

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ATS TimeWork Time and Attendance is an award-winning workforce management solution that allows organizations to reduce payroll costs, work more productively and compete in today’s global economy. ATS time and attendance provides midsized and large businesses across Canada and North America with the tools to streamline your current business processes, and comply with collective bargaining agreements and labour law regulations. ATS Software as-a-Service (SaaS) gives you the power and functionality of an integrated application that includes the following imbedded modules: benefit accruals, overtime equalization, business intelligence, labour analytics, forecasting, employee scheduling and employee time clocks.

The Power of Web Deployment
ATS SaaS time and attendance deployment takes place in weeks not months or years. ATS intuitive software solution comes with inherent flexibility, power and security all managed and hosted by our state of the art data centre. The ATS SaaS time and attendance is ideally suited for organizations looking to have their system up and running quickly with affordable monthly payments in contrast to huge capital outlay. ATS SaaS time and attendance reduces the need for an internal IT infrastructure and provides a secure, cost-effective alternative for companies currently running critical business applications.

Data Integration
Customers looking to integrate their HRIS, Payroll, Talent Management, CRM and other third-party applications will realize this initiative with the ATS open database structure. For example, payroll can connect important business analytic information directly to operational managers and executives, HR connects key functional departments for better results and sales manager can track and control sales pipelines, resulting in shorter sales cycles, more closed deals, and higher revenues.

Add as You Grow
Our flexible deployment allows you to grow your company without growing IT resources. Add more users without worrying about installation, configuration, and support of additional hardware and software. With ATS SaaS time and attendance, you can extend your mission-critical business applications across Canadian and US regional offices without the need for local IT support or infrastructure.

Training and Support
Your solution is managed by a team of industry veterans with deep expertise in the world of time and attendance management and application hosting. Our ongoing maintenance and upgrades include a fully automated backup and a disaster recovery plan that protects your investment. Our North American network of implementation analyst and support representatives can provide you with on-site training, consulting and implementation assistance to help you realize a rapid return on your investment.

To learn about ATS Time and Attendance Solutions go to our website. You can also join the conversation on our Twitter or LinkedIn page.

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Streamline Operations with ATS Time and Attendance Transportation Suite

Thousands of businesses looking to optimize productivity have relied on ATS time and attendance system to help them achieve that goal. ATS TimeWork is a fully integrated time tracking solution that serves the distribution, transportation and logistics industry. ATS time and attendance will automate your business processes and reduce payroll costs with a time and labour solution designed to meet the needs of transportation and wholesale distributors. ATS time and attendance transportation solution provides in-depth capabilities for every area of your business which includes: customer orders, payroll, human resources, warehousing, job costing, overtime equalization and data collection.

Our industry-specific time management system provides managers with real-time data that ensures consistent, cross-functional use across operational departments. The robust application allows users to access labour analytics so they can easily manage wholesale distribution, manufacturing and employee attendance functions.

In addition to powerful functionality, ATS TimeWork time and attendance delivers embedded enterprise-wide features that help elevate your business into a real-time, on-demand organization that is responsive to the needs of your customers.

Workflow Automation- Streamline operations and enhance information flow between employees, payroll, department managers and human resources departments.
Data Integration- Promote faster, more effective management reporting and decision-making with real-time labour analytic tools.
Employee Self-Service-Employees can access their schedules, benefits, and make time off requests.
Data Collection- Automatically collect employee hours, verify and upload data in real-time across your business operations.
Benefit Accruals- Automatically adds sick time, vacation and other types of leave time to an employee’s account.

ATS time and attendance is scalable, so it can be implemented incrementally or company-wide to support your business processes, in phases or during growth.

To learn more join the conversation or LinkedIn. You can also view our time and attendance product suite on our website. To speak to one of our time and attendance representatives, call us at: 866.294.2467

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Owning a BlackBerry Smart-Phone: Is it a Thing of the Past?

Armchair pundits and analysts alike have had a great deal to say about BlackBerry’s recent smart-phone, the XZ10. Some have predicted its demise due in part, to the amount of time it took to bring out a device comparable to the iPhone, Android, Samsung Galaxy and many others on the market. In the end, the success of Blackberry lies with consumers liking and purchasing its products, not the views of analysts.

Some years ago when BlackBerry launched its smart-phone, the device gave users the ability to send and receive e-mails through the device at a time when this was viewed as revolutionary. At that time, it catered mostly to corporate executives and government users. As time went on, Apple, Google and other companies launched their own smart-phones. Apple was the first to launch its iPhone with great fanfare using ads featuring hip youngsters showing off their phones. In addition to e-mails and texting, you could also browse the web at lightning speed, view various features and download many software applications that BlackBerry phones could not do. All of a sudden the public started taking notice and the line ups to get an iPhone stretched for several blocks. These new smart-phones were now accessible to everyone, not just corporate executives. Some have argued, BlackBerry came across as stuffy and refused to include the younger generation in its ads and that is one of the many reasons it has struggled to gain new users.

BlackBerry has its diehard fans and some have argued that the Z10 is the start of great things to come. Many BlackBerry users also say that they love the product because of its built-in encryption which makes it a better-managed platform than its competitors. Whether you are a BlackBerry fan or not, the consumer always wins when there is competition.

The history of Apple chronicles that it, too, went through a rough patch many years ago, but most its loyal fans stuck with it. Most companies go through a period when they have to find out what made them successful and be able to change with the times.

Companies using a BlackBerry Z10, Ipad, Windows Mobile or other smart-phone device can access the ATS web-based time and attendance software from anywhere. ATS TimeWork time and attendance software features include; tracking of benefit accruals, pay policies, employee shifts; overtime and premium pay codes, statutory holiday tracking, employee self service, job costing and labour analytics. ATS time and attendance is an integrated and scalable application that is designed to meet the most challenging the timekeeping and workforce management needs of any organization.

Kudos to BlackBerry on the launch of its Z10! Their success or lack thereof will be determined by the consumers. That said we wish them continued success.

To learn more, go to our website and download a white paper on the benefits of an automated time and attendance solution.

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Can Your Current System Go Beyond Employee Time Tracking?

Time and Attendance has evolved in the last several years from mere employee time tracking to include; employee self-service, workforce planning and business intelligence to name a few. Companies today, want a solution that can grow as their needs evolve without multiple customizations. If your company is using a system that is heavy on customization, it’s time to look at alternatives.

ATS workforce management software is designed for mid size and enterprise businesses. Our time and attendance solution helps organizations across a variety of industries to effectively forecast and manage their workforce. The integrated ATS workforce management solution includes: time and attendance, data collection, employee scheduling, forecasting, employee self-service and business analytics. TimeWork can be utilized in its cloud-based or on-premises format. ATS solutions helps companies control labour costs, streamline business process and manage compliance risk.

ATS Time & Attendance Includes:
Benefit Accruals-TimeWork automates employee accruals and time-off requests. In addition, it has the flexibility to facilitate your organization’s most complex benefit policies and transform them into enduring practices.

Attendance Management-Detailed attendance records can be maintained for employees. Managers can be proactively notified through various business analytic reporting.

Employee Self-Service-Through a web browser, employees have direct access to their personal information so they can request time-off and review schedules.

Overtime Equalization- Automatically notify employees of overtime offers and enable employees to review, accept and reject overtime on the same console they use for attendance and labour transactions.

Data Integration—Integrate ATS time and attendance data with; Talent Management, Human Resources Information Systems, Customer Relationship Management and Payroll applications to produce accurate data.

Data Collection-Collect and distribute time and labour metrics to quickly enforce employee schedules and job assignments.

Support-Our integrated implementation support offers reliable response to technical disruptions, and maintains the health and integrity of the system. With this offering, companies benefit from insights into ATS solutions and expertise to mitigate risk, while tapping the innovations that ATS continually introduces.

ATS integrated solution delivers a web-based time and attendance set that includes: employee data collection, workforce planning, scheduling, employee self-service and business analytics. Our comprehensive solutions, help companies streamline business processes and improve workforce productivity.

To learn more, go to our website and arrange a demonstration, contact us.

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NFL Embraces New Technology

In a world of Smart phones, social media and an app for just about everything, it was no surprise to read an article about sports teams embracing technology. According to an article in the Toronto Star and NFL.com, NFL latest to abandon old media for iPad, apps “20 of the league’s 32 teams have implemented iPads for playbooks or video study, a trend teams and developers say saves time, paper and, most importantly, money.”

Does this mean that all sports leagues will be rushing towards this new technology? It would be great if they all did, but change is difficult for many people to accept. More importantly, the issue of security will be top of mind for most NFL executives, coaches and players. Another quote from the article cited the following; “In the US, Stanford University’s football team recently converted to digital playbooks, citing a desire to save money and reduce the team’s carbon footprint.”

In the National Football League where the playbook is regarded with the same level of security as the CIA and FBI affords the President of the United States, teams adopting new technology want to make sure their data is secure.

Is your company still using paper-based systems when technology could save you time and money? Join the conversation on Twitter. To learn more, go to our website.

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As your company grows, is that off the shelf product still viable?

There comes a time when small and mid-size businesses find out that their “off the shelf” business software tools can’t grow with them. A punch clock purchased to track attendance when a company had 10 employees will not meet that company’s needs when it grows to 100 plus employees.

ATS hosted workforce management software for small to mid-size companies, helps businesses cut costs, while improving productivity. ATS hosted time management solution allows for the tracking of: sick leave, vacation time, overtime and statutory holiday. Instead of re-entering and constantly monitoring employee data your HR and payroll department can focus on other issues.

Benefits of the ATS cloud based workforce management solution:

No software installs, free updates, access from anywhere
You can manage your employees from any computer with internet. The software can be accessed through major web browsers including: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and Opera.

Our solution is used by businesses of all industries and sizes
Small businesses with 30 employees to large organization with thousands of employees use our solution. Our customers are spread across different provinces, states and countries.

Payroll and overtime calculation
Everything from data uploading to payroll HR and ERP applications is made easy with our flexible import utility. Calculation of overtime, premium and attendance hours is done with relative ease within the system. A breakdown of overtime and attendance can be captured through a variety of reports.

Customer login
Each company is assigned a dedicated login. Your employees can also clock in and out and also access the self-service portal. Managers can login to access employee time-off requests and navigate through various reports.

Control employee logs
You will be able to see which computer an employee clocks in/out from through IP tracking.

Export reports to Excel or PDF
Reports can be generated through Excel, PDF or other outputs and can be used to see overtime, labour distribution, track projects etc.

Online approval
Managers can add or edit time cards and go to any date to review an employee’s timesheet. You can also review absences and accrued time.

ATS cloud workforce management software for small to mid-size companies is uploaded to our servers and provides instant access to our customers. In addition, our communication servers send out reports via email and sms. This helps organizations manage their workforce productivity seamlessly from anywhere in the world.

The ATS time and attendance software automates and tracks overtime, sick leave, vacations and a variety of absences. To learn more about ATS workforce management software for small to mid-size businesses visit our website.

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The Evolution of Workforce Management Software

A blog by Cindy Waxer titled “A New Dawn for Time and Attendance Technology” encapsulates the importance of a time and attendance system in an organization. Here excerpts of the paragraphs we found most poignant:

“For years, time and attendance software has been the least sexy cousin of the work-force management family – a humdrum tool lacking payroll’s sense of urgency and analytics’ flair for number crunching. But that’s slowly changing.

These days, time and attendance software is quickly gaining a reputation for generating more accurate data, boosting revenue and cutting labor costs. In fact, according to “Evolving Time and Attendance,” a report by Aberdeen Group Inc., the best-in-class companies surveyed were able to improve the accuracy of time data by 65 percent and decrease overtime costs (as a percentage of payroll) by 59 percent by using time and attendance solutions.”

Here is another paragraph we felt pretty much sums up the evolution of time and attendance as we know it today.

“Corporate America’s rekindled interest in this age-old HR technology is understandable. More and more companies are now struggling to manage an increasingly mobile, culturally disparate and geographically scattered work force. “A lot of the renewed interest in time and attendance systems has to do with the changing demographics of the work force,” said David Weldon, an Aberdeen analyst and author of the “Evolving Time and Attendance” report. “Companies are trying to capture, analyze and measure data from a lot of different locations for a lot of different people. That’s getting harder and it takes more work to do it right.”

Apex Time Solutions product offerings are complemented by a portfolio of web-based software solutions. Our software suite represents years of investment in capturing our industry expertise and an ongoing commitment to add value to our customers’ business operations.

To learn more go our website or check us out on Twitter for product updates.

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Who Has The Time to Track All That Stuff Manually?

November 8th, 2011 | Posted by Apex Time Solutions in Absence Management | Hosted Time and Attendance Software | Overtime Equalization | Payroll - (0 Comments)

Overtime, premium hours, statutory holidays, vacations, shift rotation and tracking employee time spent on different jobs. These are just a few of the things that payroll professionals and HR managers have to handle in an organization. In many cases, the larger the organization, the more complex these work rule policies tend to be.

Business executives are stretched for time, and cost containment heads the list of their priorities. Controlling labour costs and improving productivity is paramount to most organizations. A reliable Workforce Management Software will help companies with the following:

Accurate Record Keeping
ATS Workforce Management Software automates the calculation and reporting of hours worked and provides a full range of tools to help deploy and track employees and their performance using real-time labour analytics. The result is enhanced productivity, increased profitability and better short, and long-term decision making.

Labour Analytics
ATS Workforce Management Software helps you to accurately manage attendance and leave policies more consistently. The ATS Time and Attendance Solution provides organizations with a suite of management reports that include: Time Costing, Forecasting, Schedule versus Actual, Overtime Equalization, Payroll, Absenteeism and Summary Detail Reports to name a few. Our system contains an inherent flexibility that is configured to the needs of organizations of every size in virtually any industry.

Return on Investment
The ATS Workforce Management Software helps you lower labour expenses, anticipate workforce demands and comply with provincial, federal and state labour laws. Another huge cost saver is the elimination of paper time sheets. A growing body of evidence has shown that using a time and attendance solution has historically decreased the time it takes to prepare your time cards and payroll by about 80% and has saved companies 1-5% on their net payroll costs.

To learn more, follow us on Twitter and SlideShare for updates. You can also download brochures from our website.

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Purchasing a Time and Attendance Solution

You have finally decided to replace your manual time sheet and equip your company with a 21^st century time and attendance solution. Of course, you want to get the best bang for your buck! Before we continue, it is important to note, that the cheapest is not always the best. As the saying goes, “you get what you pay for”. At the same time we are not suggesting that you “give away the farm” but that you get a system that will meet your requirements.

Once you have compiled a list of requirements you are ready to start!

Do some research: Start by trying to find a solution that matches the requirements on your list. Ask your work associates and other companies within and outside your vertical, what system they are using.

Keep it simple: Over the years, time and attendance has grown to include HRMS, Overtime Equalization, Employee Self-Service, Job Costing, Labour Forecasting and a range of other modules. If you are deploying a time and attendance system for the first time, the basics will likely do. If you are switching vendors, it’s likely you are familiar with some core features as well as other workforce management modules. If that’s the case, a more comprehensive system may be needed and that will also depend on the size of your organization and work rule policies.

Data Integration: The Payroll, ERP or HRMS interface. Many of today’s applications have import files. Some vendors are still stuck with a 1980s mentality and they will tell customers that their payroll software cannot integrate to any other product unless it is certified by them or a partner of theirs. If companies are still selling software (Payroll, ERP and/or HRMS) that cannot be integrated with other applications, you should steer clear of them.

Timelines: If you think you have found the product and company, ask for timelines. Most experienced companies will be able to give you an approximate timeline.

Support: The length of time a company has been in business and the number of awards it has on its walls has no bearing on the quality of service it renders to its customers. Providing quality service is a corporate philosophy that’s either ingrained within an organization’s DNA or it’s not. When choosing a system that meets your needs, focus on this important aspect.

For example:

How long does it take to get a response when you call support?
What happens to sales person after you purchase the product?
If you require additional training and/or configuration of your software, (several months after the implementation) will you be redirected to watch online videos?

There are a number of inherent factors that can contribute to cost savings of an automated Time and Attendance Solution. Some of these factors include: reducing payroll processing errors, eliminating manual data entry, and lost time or from long lunches and breaks, tardiness and early departures.

To determine how much your company can save with an ATS Time and Attendance Solution, go to our website. Download a copy of our white paper on “Finding the Right Time and Attendance for your Organization”.

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How Do You Plan On Choosing Your Time and Attendance Solution?

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