Seven steps to purchasing your company’s time and attendance software systems

Purchasing a new enterprise-wide attendance tracking software product is probably the most dangerous thing a company can do. Think of it – productivity, training, and maintenance are so bound up in the systems that employees use that any usability or functionality issues could spell hundreds of human resources hours to overcome (if you ever do). If you follow these steps, however, you should find a great product that helps to streamline your business processes.

1) First, list your current processes around time & attendance, and do an audit of your computer systems and capabilities. Record the software and hardware that you have or plan on purchasing in the near future. List 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 easy, but it’s the most neglected step in this process. Separate required from nice to have, and don’t revisit of any nice-to-haves unless there is the need for a tie-breaker. Weight your requirements by how operationally essential they are – if the system was down 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 takes into consideration 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 absence management industry and can cut through the cruft.

4) Call your shortlist and get 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 – look for 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 speak to 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 attendance tracking software. Analyze the results – if the absence management 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! Keep in mind that new absence management systems (and their sales teams) always bring huge expectations, and the tendancy is to compare it directly with the old system (which is getting replaced for a reason…) Learning curves often bring disappointment as expectations are brought down to earth and users discover that each attendance and time management system functions differently from what they used before. This soon turns into satisfaction, however, as the system is fully learnt, begins to shows its unique strengths, and proves its worth!

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