5 Questions to Ask Before Integrating Your ERP System

You know the time is right to upgrade your time-and-attendance and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to get the full benefits of improved employee identity verification, automated data routing and collection, reporting and much more. However, you have existing ERP system and human capital management (HCM) system and processes in place and want to be sure that the integration of your new time clock system will go smoothly. Here are five questions to ask your time clock vendor upfront, to ensure fewer headaches down the road.

Does the Solution Integrate with Your Existing Systems?

While this may seem obvious, you’d be surprised by the number of vendors that will say their solution is not only seamless and has a plug-and-play approach when it in-fact is not.  When a vendor over promises and under delivers the results can be detrimental. A solid and tight integration solution between your HCM or ERP software system and the time clock should be part of your discussion.

You may have a preference to have all information stored on your local system, and wouldn’t be interested in a cloud-based solution.

A good time clock vendor will lead you through all the choices and options to ensure your time clocks integrate successfully.

Does It Meet Your Payroll Requirements?

You have to find out how the time clock system handles the data it collects, once you’ve determined that it can communicate with your existing payroll system. Can it, for example, handle the way you are currently paying employees overtime?

Can it accommodate both salaried and hourly employees? Does it handle sick-day and vacation accruals? Can an administrator add, edit and delete employee time punches?

Can You Track Employee Time by Cost Center or Project for Reporting?

A good time clock system will have the flexibility to be customized to your tracking and reporting needs. If you have to track the data for a single project – so you can accurately invoice a client – or by cost center, this can be easily arranged with the right reporting tools.

The system should also be scalable, so as your business needs expand, the time clock solution will change with you.

How Long Does It Take Before a New Employee Can Start Punching in?

The sign-up process for a new employee should be fast and easy, so HR can concentrate on orienting the employee instead of performing a lot of administrative work. A good time clock system will allow an employee to enroll at the clock in a matter of seconds. With a biometric time clock system, the enrollment can be done quickly. After this, the employee biometric template data can be made available through all the company’s time clocks (no need for separate scans and registrations).

Is Your Vendor a Good Partner?

The success of integration and maintenance of your time clock solution also depends to a great degree on the strength of your partnership with the vendor. Do they have a good track record of developing and selling time-and-attendance systems? Are their costs for ongoing support reasonable? How often is their software updated and what costs are involved with the updates? Are there any hidden costs you should be aware of?

At Accu-Time Systems, we can answer all these questions and more to ensure the smooth integration of our time clock solutions with your existing systems. We are a trusted leader in delivering time and attendance, workforce productivity, human resource data collection, employee self-service and labor management solutions.