Pinoy Entrep

The steps to purchasing software and hardware systems are basically the same for every project, and time and attendance software purchasing is no different. However, the consequences are severe when the systems in question interact with virtually every employee in your company. If something goes wrong, an organization can expect to lose thousands of people-hours and spend thousands of additional dollars on training and maintenance. But if you follow these seven (very easy) steps, purchasing time and attendance systems should be relatively painless – and successful.

1) First, record your current processes around time & attendance, and do an audit of your computer systems and capabilities. Review the software and hardware that you have or plan on purchasing in the near future. Record your current scheduling and absence tracking procedures – don’t neglect the most basic unit: the on-the-ground employees – and record your policy and procedures around pay, hours of work, and workflow. Thoroughly review your day-to-day administration of time and attendance tracking procedures and systems.

2) Draw up your requirements document. First and foremost, what are your technical needs – and limitations? What do you actually need the time tracking software and hardware to do? Seriously, this sounds simple, but it’s the most neglected step in this process. Separate required from nice to have, and don’t consider of any nice-to-haves unless there is the need for a tie-breaker. Weight your needs by how operationally essential they are – if the system was unavailable for a day, what processes would simply fail? Rank those first!

3) Send out a Request for Proposal to at least five time and attendance software vendors. Request a response that addresses each of your itemized requirements. Specify that if they can’t meet the requirement they should lay out what it would take (in time and money) to implement it. Ask about new developments in the industry. As the experts, the vendors are in much better touch with what’s available. If you can, retain a consultant who can’t bid to go over the technical offerings with you. Vendors will use acronyms and fancy graphics – get somebody who understands the time and attendance industry and can cut through the cruft.

4) Call your shortlist and ask them to present. Ask for high-level overviews and a general budget proposal. Pay close attention to the company’s values and dynamics – do they present as a team, or is each module presented separately? This is – seriously! – an important indicator of how well the system’s components will integrate too. Specify that you would really love to get both a software engineer and workflow management expert on the presentation team, not just the sales group.

5) Select vendors like you’d select employees – focus on great references, and a winning personality. Then courier the winner a letter of intent subject to a reference check. One tip: make sure the reference can address the areas that are most important to your company specifically, and not just the vendor’s services in general.

6) If there’s no perfect fit, ask for a “proof of concept” period. Like a trial period with commercial software, negotiate a trial period for a nominal fee that will let you try out the time and attendance software. Analyze the results – if the attendance tracking software does most things, ask the vendor if they can quote on specific modules / additions, if required – if you want it, other people might just want it too!

7) Enjoy your new system! Remember that users of new technology always start out with huge expectations (it’s so much better than our old system!), but this is quickly followed by despair as staff expectations are brought down to earth (it doesn’t do this thing that our old system did…). But it then levels out – at a higher level than the old system – within a few months, as the software is adopted, learnt, and begins to shows its unique and useful strengths.