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A Buyer's Guide to Employee Scheduling Solutions
Time Tracking Software Buyer’s Guide
Time-in, time-out; that’s a daily routine for each one of us who is working for our client or our company. As an employee, we used to track and record our time accurately so that we can receive our next paycheck with correct figures indicated. While time tracking can be done in a variety of ways, it is important that it is accurate and must be visible on-time to the person who is responsible for checking and computing it against our hourly rate. The traditional timesheet is still there, wherein we manually tracks and records our time and then our HR team will do rest. However, for many companies today, timesheet is no longer effective. The Time Tracking Software technology is now here and it is revolutionizing the world of time tracking.
In this Buyer’s Guide, we from ITQlick.com would like to discuss with you in detail the different types of time tracking solutions and our objective in mind is to help you find the right solution for your organization. Whether you’re from the HR department, workforce administration office, or a freelancer who is taking clients online or offline, there is certainly a time tracking solution that can serve you best. Our guarantee is that it is going to be worth-the-time spent if you read this buyer’s guide – be it timed or not.
Types
What is that time tracking solution that can record the time you spent on tasks naturally? This is not a hypothetical question. Recording the time being spent by an employee in doing his job, projects or work-related activities must be conducted in a natural way. While it is a responsibility to always keep an accurate record of your time, getting interrupted when doing this process shall not be tolerated in any workplace. So what type of tracking software can help improve employee efficiency and at the same time reduce fraud in the workplace? Here are the two options for you to examine.
Basic Time Tracking System
Solutions that fall under this type are capable of providing routine tracking and schedule management. Some systems have integration features wherein you can link their functionality with other systems such as accounting, payroll and HR management. Many basic tracking systems today can also be integrated with project management, email, and billing and invoicing systems.
Advanced Time Tracking System
Advanced time tracking solutions are those that have high security features, aside from basic time tracking and scheduling. In large-scale applications, hardware solutions including swipe cards, barcode scanners, and biometric scanners are combined with PC-based time tracking systems.
Features
There are different ways to track and record time – base on duration, by chronological order, location-based, and the common clock-in clock-out method. This variety of ways is what makes modern-day time tracking software solution more flexible in terms of functionality range and more scalable in terms of the number of users that it could handle. So how do you differentiate one solution from another solution in terms of scalability and functionality? That best answer to this is by carefully examining the following list of features.
Here are the general features to look for in a time tracking solution.
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Easy to configure
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Analytics and reporting
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Enhancements capabilities
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Easy to integrate with other systems
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Faster Return on Investment
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Extremely reliable
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High level security features
Here the more specific features to consider in a solution:
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Mobile integration
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Employee scheduling
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Job costing
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Payroll integration
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Labor regulation management
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Automatic time capture
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Billing and Invoicing
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User-friendly dashboard
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Email notifications
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Employee database
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Manual time entry
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Multiple projects management
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Offline/Online timesheets
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Task reporting
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Time categorization
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Time management
While all these features can be exciting to have in a time tracking software solution, not all can be applicable to your organization. We recommend that you only select the features that will suit into your current needs. Alternatively, if you need any assistance on selecting the right software solution with the right features for your organization, you can always refer to ITQlick.com. Our software experts certainly have the right solution to recommend.
Solutions per Business Size, per Vendor
There are two popular deployment models for time tracking software solution. They are the web-based and desktop or installed models.
Web-based solutions are often offered as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) package. The dashboard can be viewed or accessed via internet web browser. SaaS solutions support mobile devices that are running on Android, iOS, Linux and Windows operating system. Web-based solutions are offered on a monthly subscription basis.
Installed models are those solutions which will require you to download the software from the solution provider’s website at a certain upfront cost. You can start tracking your time by launching the application program in your desktop or laptop computer. Most desktop solutions can be integrated with other larger systems such as Human Resource Management system. Such solution is also best suited on large enterprises that deploy time tracking hardware kits on their employee entrance and exit points.
Both solutions can be advantageous if they are going to be implemented properly in any organization. As a buyer, you should identify right from the very start the size of your company at present and in three to five years time. That is because there are time tracking solutions that are applicable for freelancers, large enterprises, mid-size business, non-profit organizations, public administrations, and small business. So you should be really smart in choosing a solution that is just right for your organization.
These time tracking solutions are designed to help freelancers and self-employed individuals on their daily tasks:
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Grindstone
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Web2project
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1Daylater
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Toggl
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RescueTime
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ATracker
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Eternity
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Now Then
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TIME Planner
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My Minutes
This list of software solution brands is best suited for small businesses and non-profit organizations.
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Fanurio
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Timely
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Timesheet
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Hubstaff
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Time Doctor
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Worksnaps
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Screenshot Monitor
These solutions are perfect for mid-size and large companies both of which can have large workforces to time track.
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Kronos
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ADI Time
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SwipeClock
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Ultimate Software UltiPro
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DOVICO Timesheet
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Odesk Team
Pricing Considerations
Web-based time tracking solutions will only require you a small amount of investment. For freelancers, you can pay for as low as $3 to $5 per month. For small businesses with more than ten employees, the price range is from $5 to $15 per month. What’s great about web-based solution when it comes to pricing is that there are different service plans available. Basically, as the number of users goes up, the price per user goes down. But aside from the number of users, service plans are also prepared based on the features that go with them. Most plans include features like random screenshots, activity tracking via mouse movement, and keystrokes per minute tracking. Other plans offers fancy features like tapping your phone to start and stop the time tracker and setting of categories that tracks your time spent on play, work, and even shopping.
Providers of installed solutions normally are not publishing their pricing online. This is probably because other than the cost of the software product, their offered solutions include additional cost for hardware bundles, implementation activities, and help and support. From the above list of solutions for mid-size and large companies, you can more or less buy a solution at the price range of $50 to $200 per software license only.
It is always practical to directly contact the solution provider for any inquiry or concerns related to pricing. Ideally, because of the range of features available to both web-based and desktop types, price can considerably vary from one provider to another, most especially if the solution is for a large enterprise deployment.
Market Trends
The time tracking solution market is generally stable at present. Time tracking solution is widely used as a module in many payroll processing systems as they are seen to reduce paper consumption, produce easy-to-read reports, provide automatic data backup, and reduce manual errors.
The cloud-based solution is the top trend in the time tracking industry this year. Cloud-based systems are now the preferred models of many managers who want to track their employees whenever and wherever they are. Another advantage of using such solution is that because of the wide range of data collection methods, managers can identify work patterns of their employees and then predict trends relevant to workforce that they can then use on their future business decision-makings.
Mobile tracking apps with GPS functionality coupled with real time data delivery and alert capabilities are also in-demand to many staffs and crews who are spending most of their work hours outside the company premise.
Time tracking solution is absolutely proving its worth as a flexible and scalable technology for the present generation of virtually equipped and always-on-the-go workers. Your organization definitely needs a time tracking solution and today is the right time to invest on the right one.
ITQlick chart - 2024 best Employee Scheduling Software
Finding the right Employee Scheduling software for your business
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