Entry-Level Versus Advanced Time Clock Systems

Like many technology products, Time & Attendance Systems are available in a broad price range, and not surprisingly, the price is closely related to the functionality and quality of the system.

When we talk about price, there is the basic cost of the attendance devices (time clocks), the software, the cost of implementation, training and ongoing maintenance. These are the direct costs, but there are other indirect costs. An example of a direct cost is the price of the system to purchase.

An example of an indirect cost is the cost of lost time of your employees while the product is being implemented. Many lower-priced "entry-level" products perform well in less demanding applications, but as soon as demands on the system increase in areas such as reliability, the flexibility of attendance rules and integration with third-party products, they can underperform to the extent that the system becomes a liability.

Time and attendance recording is a critical business process. Accurate and timely attendance records are essential for your weekly, fortnightly and monthly payroll, and these attendance records must be retained for seven years.

Small family-owned companies can "get away" with using less functional budget-priced products, but larger organisations tend to have one or more of the following challenges to work with that make budget-priced products a risky investment.

 1) Mulitple Sites

2) Mulitple Users

3) Complex Attendance Rules

4) Harsh Environments

5) Security Considerations

6) Payroll or other integration requirements

Entry-level products either lack the functionality to accommodate these requirements or are not robust enough to deal with them reliably. If your organisation has more than 50 employees, multiple locations or multiple users, then a more advanced attendance system is a much better option.

 Advanced attendance systems have highly automated award interpretation, drastically reducing the need to make manual adjustments. Advanced systems have reliable communication between devices and very robust database backends for the security and accessibility of your employee data. They allow multiple users and employee access.

 If you would like more information on entry-level and advanced attendance systems, you contact us using the methods below.

Time & Attendance Consultant

jimc@timeandattendance.com.au

1300 553 254