Just in Time Tracking by Pacific Timesheet

Pacific Timesheet White Paper JUST IN TIME TRACKING™ A comprehensive approach to extensible, expandable new systems INTRODUCTION The Requirements Challenge You need to successfully research and define your business requirements and implement a time tracking system, perhaps across the enterprise. It seemed simple enough at first, but then the needs of each department and division started to diverge. Maybe you have predecessors in your organization who have been down this road before: only an RFI (Request For Information) was completed, or an RFP (Request For Proposal) reached no unified approach. Now, as you continue, you are told to consider various options: Web-based time entry Biometric devices Badge swipe Proximity cards Hand punch Payroll system integration Accounting system integration HR system integration Custom reporting Single-sign-on Design on a Dime or Expensive Pipe Dreams? You might have a budget, or you might not. Either way, cost-effectiveness is a major concern. Your IT Department says they can design an adequate time tracking system “on a dime.” Others would like to spend real dollars. You have to navigate through this land – where there only seem to be either cheap choices that might not last or expensive pipe dreams that might not happen. And one option does little to serve the other. The cheap choice bargains down the importance of your requirements and the complexity of the task, saying this is an easy system to build. The expensive options warn “you get what you pay for,” but they do not seem to care when you will get your new system. Standards and Other Choices Then there are those nagging technical standards questions. How should the system be built? What about its architecture? What about LDAP or other integrations? There are hard choices to make. And what about your general systems environment? Will it support changing OS or database requirements? How long will this system last beyond its implementation? Disparate Systems Time tracking systems have always been around in some form. These include more modern software systems, but also a good smattering of off-line systems throughout any organization (paper-based, punch clocks, electronic spreadsheets, etc.) For many, the automation of these systems has been done in piece meal across organizations resulting in the dreaded hodge-podge of systems. In the best case, off-line systems “key in” or “call in” this information to other systems. This “double data entry” increases errors, fraud, and costs. Worst, these off-line systems do not integrate at all with other key payroll or accounting systems. Then there might be automatic systems (mainframe, client-server, or web-based), some of which are well-integrated and others that are not. In sum, time tracking might be the worst example of disparate systems of any information domain in the enterprise. Disparate Requirements Time tracking systems have no peer. Each function, department, or division of an enterprise is a 2 stakeholder in time tracking systems. They touch more employees than any other system in your organization. That said, the requirements of all stakeholders are often overwhelming. These systems, more than any other, must be flexible and able to evolve with additional requirements over time. They must allow for both centralized and de-centralized administration, as well as incremental or full-scale implementation. Is There One Time Tracking Solution? Is this the Holy Grail: one time tracking system that provides a single point of integration with other key systems? Can you have such a system that is extensible – that organically can expand as various parts of the enterprise come on line? Can such a system harmonize time tracking standards across an organization? At Pacific Timesheet, we believe in extensible, expandable time tracking solutions – important technology assets whose value will increase over time. MEETING REQUIREMENTS The name of the game is meeting requirements. Among stakeholders reviewed, our studies have identified several key stakeholders in time tracking systems development. From Senior Management to outside contractors, requirements can vary across functions. More troubling is requirements can vary division by division. Approaches to identifying requirements vary. Requirement Analysis Normally, this phase of work is known as feasibility analysis. Typically, a development team visits the customer and studies their system, investigating the need for possible software automation of an existing process. By the end of the study, the team completes a specifications 3 project's schedule, and target dates. The requirements gathering process is intensified and focused specially on software. There are a few problems that arise in most software requirement analyses: 1) In many cases, the requirements analysis can take many months. 2) They can often exclude key user needs, use cases or scenarios from consideration. 3) The process often does little to develop a consensus across various system stakeholders 4) When there is little consensus there is also seldom a workable extensible model requirement that is produced at the end of the process. In short, software requirement analysis often comes in very late and falls short of what is needed. Pacific Timesheet believes that many software and system development projects go wrong in the requirements analysis phase. Part of Pacific Timesheet's approach is to apply important tools and overlay certain processes to this phase to ensure positive, on-time results. Part of this toolset is Pacific Timesheet’s best practices database. Best Practices and Benchmarks From many years of industry experience, Pacific Timesheet has defined various best practices to suit different organizations and functions. These practices range across many areas such as payroll, human resources and financial reporting. Using best practices significantly increases the productivity of requirements definition and clarifies stakeholder objectives upfront. In short, requirements are not only gathered, they are filtered against various standards and practices bringing them more quickly into focus and ensuring that they are actionable. System Analysis and Design In the software development process, normally the software's design and structure are defined. Design 4 technology, number of tiers and layers in the architecture, the data model, are all completed during this phase. Major mistakes in the design phase can be costly to the overall development process. First, ill-defined requirements can impede design. Second, creating enterprise components from scratch, or reusing objects or components from unrelated systems can lead to poor results later on. Pacific Timesheet's approach offers significant time and cost savings in system analysis and design phases. Pacific Timesheet utilizes clearly defined requirements from its best practices database to customize and configure an already existing enterprise software platform as a foundation to build the system. System Objects have already been designed, tested and proven in a time and work tracking systems environment. Pacific Timesheet's platform is also highly extensible, with workflow rules, customizable business logic and custom objects developed during this phase. In sum, Pacific Timesheet's enterprise platform approach can save up to 60% in time and costs during this phase. Development and Configuration This phase is driven purely by completed requirements and the system’s design. Pacific Timesheet’s software and services platform includes various tool sets that enable rapid development and configuration by our technical services teams. Webbased interfaces and database configuration tools ensure that all functionality, from usability, screen design, to administration dashboards, are designed and configured to spec. In other words: No surprises. No re-work. On time. On budget. Implementation In golf, many experts say a shot is 90% completed 5 with the backswing. For Pacific Timesheet, research, analysis and preparation for any engagement is critical. However, our professional services implementation team will provide the necessary skills, balance and temperament to complete the job. Pacific Timesheet System & Services Platforms Pacific Timesheet’s time tracking software and services platforms deliver to your organization a robust Time and Activity Tracking Portal (see Figure 1). Configuration of workflows, rules, policies and custom objects are all included in any Pacific Timesheet engagement. You want to succeed. Arpent can help. Pacific Timesheet Enterprise Platform Time and Activity Tracking Portal* Data Entry Interfaces Data Entry Interfaces HR Payroll Acctg./GL MS Project LDAP *Payroll Time Tracking, Project Time Tracking, Work Tracking, Scheduling, Time Off, Other Objects Figure 1: Pacific Timesheet Enterprise Time and Activity Tracking Platform 6 Figure 2: Time Tracking Requirements Across the Enterprise Time Tracking Requirements Across the Enterprise Function/Division Senior Management Stakeholders Executives Requirements Reporting: costs, allocations, division or department performance Time-Off tracking Employee record data Issue Areas Consolidated or business intelligence reporting Human Resources VP Human Resources Workers responsible for: All Data responsible for: Employee and Group record data Automated rules/policies enforcement Payroll Payroll Manager Workers responsible for: All Data responsible for: Employee Status, Time-Off data Time-Off tracking Overtime tracking Other Rules/Policies Disparate payroll systems Automated rules/policies enforcement multiple pay rates, shift differentials IT, Engineering, Construction Exempt/Non-Exempt Managers Workers responsible for: Dept./Division Data responsible for: WBS, Project/task hours, costs, status Project or job costing Project time tracking and management Bill or charge backs Systems integration with accounting and portfolio project management Accounting/Finance CFO. Controller Workers responsible for: Finance/budget/accounting analysts Data responsible for: Financial cost data Robust reporting on payroll costs, headcount, job or project costs Business Intelligence reporting integration Manufacturing/Service Delivery Exempt/Non-Exempt Managers Workers responsible for: Dept./Division Data responsible for: Work hours, Attendance, Time-Off, Schedules, job/project costs, status Attendance performance Scheduling Rules/Policies enforcement Automated rules/policies enforcement multiple pay rates, shift differentials Contractors Exempt Managers Workers responsible for: Contractors Data responsible for: Hours, job/project costs, status Job costing, billing Multiple billing rates 7 Time Entry Interfaces Pacific Timesheet supports a variety of time entry interfaces, including, but not limited to: web-based, time clock, badge swipe, biometric, hand-held devices, and interactive voice response (IVR) (see Figure 3). Data Entry Interfaces Web-based • Browser• • • • Time Clock Keypad PC Kiosk HP 4000 Other biometric • Proximity Hand held Devices • Synchronize Phone/IVR • Call ID Application based badges • Magnetic with off-line client badges authenticates worker location Figure 3: Time Entry Interfaces To learn more about Pacific Timesheet’s platforms and services, go to http://www.Pacific Timesheet.com or call 1-866-416-2061. 8