Coming, caring and rock and roll. How to choose the right time tracking system in 2015

    Time tracking systems have already gained popularity in the West. Gradually, innovations enter our post-Soviet space. But what it is and with what it is eaten, many have only to find out.



    As a consultant on improving the efficiency of employees, the client asked me to help him choose a time tracking system as one of the effective methods for unlocking the potential of employees.
    Going through various key phrases, I formed a list of 7 companies. By the way, such decisions are divided into 2 main types:

    1) Programs that capture the actions of a person on a computer. Their main task is to issue a report: which employee on which site spent how much time - that is, tracking computer activities.

    2) Solutions that record the arrival and departure of workers, especially popular in the field of trade, catering, and where activities also go beyond the scope of tasks on a computer. As a result, the chef’s table lays a list of latecomers and who left work ahead of time, which is convenient for calculating salaries, bonuses, or applying penalties so popular in the news.

    The customer saw very well that his employees are working, and not doing their own business. But every morning he was tired of coming to a half-empty office and was afraid that as soon as he left at the end of the day for a business meeting, half of the workers would immediately go home. Is that familiar?

    In addition, the company only part of the work is done on a computer, so we were more suited to a system that takes into account the arrival and departure of employees. With this in mind, my list was reduced to 3 systems.
    Next, we determined for ourselves the main criteria for choosing a suitable system for recording working hours, and among them were:

    1) Ease of installation . Having read about the “great torment of the sysadmin” in the article “Installing a time tracking system: try it for yourself” , we dreamed of installing it in a few clicks, because we did not have a full-time sysadmin and had to do it on our own.

    2) Operational Technical Support. You always want to deal with professionals, and not to get your goods shoved quickly, and then wave your hand pretty: “Good luck, sort it out now, as you want.” Therefore, the speed of answers to our questions from the STO has become one of the priorities.

    3) Cloud cover . The client did not want to spend money on expensive equipment, its installation, maintenance and repair in case of breakdown. The desire is quite rational, given that technology is developing dynamically and every six months to buy a new system is somehow not comme il faut. Do you agree?

    4) In addition, he was interested in the so-called “long tail” in marketing , that is, additional features of the time tracking system. “And the longer the tail, the better,” he remarked to me.
    So began the natural selection of 3 systems with a common set of the following functions for them:
    - the ability to customize the work schedule;
    - set sick days, days off, business trips, holidays;
    - unloading information about hours worked in timesheets or reports, which is convenient for the personnel department and accounting.
    - receiving schedules in the context of the entire company, department or employees.

    We could only compare the companies with each other and find out the features of their offer:
    1) I liked the reasonableness and flexibility of the Biotime system :
    - it automatically determines the time spent by an employee in certain rooms: in the office, in the dining room, etc .;
    - allows you to modify 14 reports to individual customer needs;
    - full compatibility with the software “1C: Salary and personnel 7.7” and “Salary and personnel management 8.1 and 8.2”
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    But in addition to working on the basis of a biometric terminal, the system was still tied to the server, and our priority list included mobility, which provides namely cloud cover.

    2) “Yaware” impressed us with the possibility of video surveillance, which is especially convenient when there are regional offices. I liked that thanks to cloud technology, you can simply create an account and use the service without worrying about maintenance. They noted the compatibility of Yaware Dashboard with many systems, for example: CRM / ERP - systems, accounting, an electronic store, task management. But we just did not need these functions, so we decided not to overpay for them.

    3) “Biotrack” - 2 advantages attracted the attention of my client: an intuitive interface and a free 2-week period sufficient to study the system. “Long Tail” offers a number of useful functions, for example:

    - storing documents in the system and providing access to them, for example, accountant Katya;
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    - accounting for additional funds issued to the driver Sergey for the purchase of a bouquet of flowers in honor of the birthday of the VIP client;

    - accounting for assets. By giving Pete a corporate tablet, you can make an appropriate entry in the system. Then you do not have to conduct a poll "who has a tablet?" With this option, we are already doing an inventory in the company.
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    As in the case of Yaware, we were satisfied that this is a cloud solution with round-the-clock access anywhere in the world.

    But even more we were attracted by the free Timepad application for Android and IOS with 3 types of identification: NFC-cards, QR-code and PIN code. That is, we saved on the purchase of expensive equipment, its installation and maintenance. And in business they say: "The saved ruble is the earned ruble."

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    In general, we just downloaded the application on the tablet and immediately started using it. Yes, a couple of questions appeared in the process, but the support service quickly explained what to harvest and why. Therefore, from this point of view, we are also satisfied.

    Who cares, you can connect a biometric terminal to the Biotrack system, but at this stage, one TimePad application is enough for us. And then we wait and see.
    So fascinating was the search for a suitable time tracking system.
    What would you choose?

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