Manually processing payroll in today’s digital world is time-consuming and ripe for human errors. With instant access to data for various reports, forecasting, and business strategies, utilizing a software solution is much easier, more efficient, and significantly more accurate.
Whether you are on the hunt for your first payroll and/or timekeeping solution, or simply exploring options to change things up, our experts have weighed in on how long it might take to research and implement new payroll processing and timekeeping solutions.
Procuring Payroll Processing System
If you are just starting the hunt for your own payroll processing system, you will soon discover how difficult the process is. When you are researching a system for your company that is not an outsourced solution, you will need to identify what your company needs are. For example, if your company does government jobs that require job costing, be sure your research includes that functionality.
Many software options include trials, which allow you to test the system before purchasing. After testing different systems and choosing the best option for your company, be prepared for a difficult implementation period and a steep learning curve. Every system has its own quirks and may or may not offer features that you may have used elsewhere.
Time required for procuring your own payroll processing system:
- 2-3 months of research for the right system
- 1 month for full integration
- 6-12 months for system competency
Procuring Timekeeping System
If your business has yet to integrate to a time & attendance system, rest assured it will save your business money. From minimizing human errors and eliminating rounding up hours, to ensuring accuracy and saving time, a timekeeping system is worth the investment.
Like searching for your own payroll processing software, finding the right time & attendance system depends on your company’s needs and budget. For example, will employees have access to a device to punch in and out digitally, or will they need a timecard or proximity card/badge? Are there any concerns with employees sharing timecards or clocking in for each other? Can your company afford a system with biometric features to punch in with fingerprints or an eye scan if other options are not manageable?
Finding the right system takes a lot of time researching, testing, and implementing. And, like researching for the right payroll software, you will need to plan on spending extra time for an implementation period and learning curve.
Time required for procuring your own time & attendance system: 1-2 months.
Integrating Timekeeping with Payroll System
You now have your payroll software and time & attendance system; but do they communicate with each other? Hopefully that was part of your criteria when you researched them both!
Many systems are built to work seamlessly together, but oftentimes companies have one system in place before adding the other, or perhaps business needs or relationships force a change in one system. What is required to integrate the two?
This is a job for your IT (information technology) team and/or developers to handle. Oftentimes, they must utilize APIs (application programming interfaces) to connect the two systems. A developer may get a file from one system and then write programming for the other to put it into a format that communicates the data received. However, sometimes the systems are simply not compatible and require a different solution.
Time required for integrating your time & attendance software with your payroll system: 5-10 hours of IT time, assuming the systems are compatible.
Stratus HR is Your Solution for Seamless Payroll and Time & Attendance Systems
At Stratus HR, we take away the hassle of researching which payroll and time & attendance systems integrate, and provide you with a single interface backed by certified payroll experts. While we offer a preferred timekeeping system, our custom-built software can integrate with any timekeeping solution that can download hours into a CSV-related format.
Our Stratus time keeping solution is web-based, available in multiple languages, and includes the following features:
- Punch in/out
- Meal break tracking
- Time off bookings
- Balances and accruals
- Holiday calendars
- Activity tracking
- Schedules
- Configurable validations
- Custom fields
- Timesheet templates
For managers, our preferred timekeeping solution has the following functionality:
- Perform comprehensive audit trail of all changes
- Edit time punches
- Track IP (Internet Protocol) or GPS of where an employee is clocking in
- Copy and paste assignments for prior weeks
- Access employee availability and match shifts
- Assign shifts and add pertinent data to each assignment
- Validate time punches with pre-defined or custom rules
- Monitor overtime and compliance
For more information, please book a free consultation and our team will contact you shortly.
