Time Clock/Attendance Systems

Gracie · October 2001

I am sourcing around for a time clock/attendance system and would like to know if you are familiar with a great system out there or you are using that is highly compatible with ABRA HR/Payroll systems.

Thank you for taking time to tell me:

1. What systems are you using?
2. How do you collect your time data from employees? computer login, ID cards, others?
3. How do your managers use this system to approve vacation and sick time and whether they have access to your HR and Payroll systems?
4. The vendor support and maintenance package, what does it include and how is the service support given by the vendor?
5. The number of employees using time clock.
6. How do you handle sick/vacation hours of salaried employees ?

Once again, thanks for sharing with me your experiences.

Best regards.

Linda_CA · October 2001

We don't currently have a system in place however, we are looking at the Kronos System which is one of the largest timekeeping vendor in the country. Their system is very flexiable and can interface with a lot of the different payroll systems.

Gracie · October 2001

Thank you for your input. We are also looking at Kronos and also Unitime and Time-trak. Is anyone using any of these systems right now and would like to comment on its use. Please let us know so that we can learn from your precious experiences and shorten our learning curve altogether.

Thank you for your help with this.

Margaret Morford · October 2001

Gracie,

I did a quick poll of my clients and they are all using Kronos or an internally developed system. They all had good things to say about Kronos and its reliability. Hope that helps.

Margaret Morford
theHRedge
615-371-8200
[email]mmorford@mleesmith.com[/email]
[url]http://www.thehredge.net[/url]

dhnyct · October 2001

We are also considering a new timekeeping system. Currently using a computerized timecard that requires manual recalculation in the event of missed punches, etc. We have employees in and out of three offices and have occasional difficulty clocking in/out, especially when an outside location is open after the main office is closed.

We have enough problems with missing timecards, so I really don't want to go with a card swipe. Anyone using a hand stamp method???

I'll look into Kronos...what makes it so popular?

bones · October 2001

I am also using ADP but am looking for something that will interface with Checkbooks (Creative Solutions). Could you please send some information to me about Kronos.

Gracie · October 2001

Kronos can be contacted atwww.kronos.com or 1800-225-1561. The info on the website is sufficient to give you some insights to what Kronos can do.

Hope this helps.

bones · October 2001

Gracie, I am looking for a program that will interface with Creative Solutions ( Checkbooks. Could you send to me the info you have on these other programs you have? Thank you for your help.

Gracie · October 2001

We have Abra for our HR/Payroll systems. What I had done in the beginning was to ask Abra what they would recommend that is compatible with Abra. They gave me a long list. My initial thought was to purchase a system that is compatible without having any third-party interfaces.

These were suggested for Abra: Unitime, Infotronics, Timetrak, Jantek, Kronos, Simplex, API Qquest...

I was told that Kronos is the Lexus version of a time/attendance systems. Others are more like Camrys or Corollas.

I've taken a quick look at Unitime and Time-trak, both are equally powerful systems, I've yet to see Kronos, but it appeared to be an excellent product. These systems can be accessed directly using www.(product name).com.

Ultimately we need to decide what best meet our present and future needs, and is best suited for our current infrastructure (physical locations, IT networks etc).

Hope these help.

ps: FYI, when I tried to obtain info from Infrotronics, they never respond to my email. Time-trak and Unitime use resellers. By far, my interaction with Kornos is the best, very professionally handled. I suppose this will be an indication of what customer support will be like after we purchase the system.

Linda_CA · November 2001

You can also lease the Kronos System from ADP. We are also looking at that option. It's a lot cheaper, but then you have less flexibility.

peteing · October 2001

We have a system called "Genesis" which was in place before my arrival. I am looking at outsourceing payroll and it appears to be compatable with PayChoice Connections and PeopleChoice HR software. MY QUESTION.. has anyone heard of PeopleChoice or PeopleChoice HR??

thanks,

pete ingenhutt
gabilan manufacturing

Margaret Morford · November 2001

Pete,

The service that I was most impressed with when we looked at outsourcing payroll was a company called Paymaxx. We had 1,500 employees in 26 locations across the country. I have recommended Paymaxx to clients in the past and they have been really impressed. The company has been named one Inc. Magazine's top 100 companies for at least the last three years. If you will call me, I'll be glad to put you in touch with them

Margaret Morford
theHRedge
615-371-8200
[email]mmorford@mleesmith.com[/email]
[url]http://www.thehredge.net[/url]

skippy · October 2001

We use ADP for payroll and have their timeclock. It's a swipe badge (like an ATM card) and it records their punches directly into the payroll system. When an employee forgets to punch, they must complete a report to manually record the time not punched and it's approved by a supervisor. That information is manually entered into the system. It's pretty slick and works well. The problem that I do have is in keeping track of the break time. Breaks are paid so the employee doesn't punch out. In order to comply with NH state law, employees are required to take a 15 paid break for every 5 hours worked or an unpaid 30 minute break. What happens is employees often are delayed going to lunch and the time clock reports will show that an employee worked 5 1/4 or 5 1/2 hours. I'm having the employees complete a report to show that they in fact took a break during this 5+ hour time frame. When we had paper time cards, they would make notations on the back of the card when this situation arrived. I haven't gotten away from the procedure and I don't know if I need to continue it or not. As for exempt employees, they're not on the clock but they must submit reports requesting personal time, vacation leave, etc. Supervisors approve everything. They get a report once a quarter of what is available to the employee.

Nick · October 2001

We also use ADP for time clocks, Payroll and HRIS. The system's main drawback is report writing. It is very difficult and at times impossible to generate the information we require. We are currently in the progess of changing to OPEN4.

bsa · October 2001

1. What systems are you using?
We use WinStar by Simplex. I think it's Simplex/Grinnel now.

2. How do you collect your time data from employees? computer login, ID cards, others?
The employees have a barcode timecard that they swipe at the time clock. Salaried timesheets can be automatically generated within the program.

3. How do your managers use this system to approve vacation and sick time and whether they have access to your HR and Payroll systems?
WinStar has an attendance module that tracks attendance. The supervisor's approval would be his manual entry in the computer of an attendance ocurrence. I was told that WinStar is compatible with ADP, PayChex, and other payroll outsourcing for payroll transmittal (we still do this manually!!). We are able to import WinStar hour and dollar data into our Platinum job cost accounting system.

4. The vendor support and maintenance package, what does it include and how is the service support given by the vendor?
I have not had contact with tech support in probably 3 years -- haven't needed it. When I was getting my system set up and a few programming bugs corrected, the tech support guy brought his sleeping bag (just kidding). He was with me as long as I needed him to be, way after hours because we couldn't interrupt production. They also have an 800#.

5. The number of employees using time clock.
We only purchased 75 employees, but they tell me that this system can handle a few thousand.

6. How do you handle sick/vacation hours of salaried employees ?
Attendance hours have to be manually entered for everyone.

I have had my problems with this system, but all in all I am very pleased with it. I have learned ways around its little quirks and that is probably my biggest complaint -- training and documentation of everyday tasks was not good. It was frustrating to know that this system could do it, but the manual didn't have instructions. Last but not least -- it was not extremely expensive!

Time Clock/Attendance Systems

Comments