When you look at all of the costs associated with Time & Attendance Software, you will quickly notice that a considerable portion of those cost are related to implementation, training and consulting costs. I have been asked dozens of time over the years if a client can implement the Time Attendance Software on their own, with little or no assistance from us. I always have the same answer, "It depends. It depends on a number of factors"

• First, it depends on the size of the company setting up the TimeandAttendance software. If the organization has less than a few hundred employees, it is certainly not out of the question that they could implement the Employee Attendance Tracking Software themselves as long as they are provided sufficient resources, sufficient training time, and that they have the time to commit to the project. The most difficult aspects of setting up Time & Attendance software is the import of data, rules setup, interfacing with any other systems, and report writing.

• Second, it may be that the company is able to install the software, set up all the code tables, setup users, and import the employees themselves and then have an implementation expert assist them in writing the rules and formulas to handle the company rules and policies and any other areas that they may have trouble with. The biggest advantage is they will be far more knowledgeable about the software after having been involved with all of these areas directly instead of having someone else do it for them. The disadvantage is that they may waste a lot of time only to find that they don’t have the skills, resources or time to successfully implement the TimeandAttendance application on their own.

• The third factor is the complexity and ease of use of the Time and Attendance Software. I have reviewed many Attendance software applications and they vary greatly. On some of the systems that I have reviewed systems the rules setup, employee import capabilities, and report writer were so easy to use that without question most any user from a smaller company could setup the system themselves. In contrast to that I have seen other Time & Attendance Software where I would never believe that a new user would be able to implement the system without significant assistance and training. Anyone considering implementing a system themselves, it is important to review the system setup ease of use and capabilities during the evaluation process.

• The fourth factor is TimeandAttendance System Experience – If the implementer has worked with that Attendance Software system before, it is not out of the question that they should be able to implement the system themselves. If they have not worked with that system before then experience on time and attendance systems will play a significant factor in the success.

• The fifth and final factor is why a company doesn’t want to self implement their Time and Attendance software. In my over twenty years of working with HR and payroll departments, I have not seen a single department that is overstaffed or under worked. I have seen implementations struggle badly even with an implementation expert involved because the staff simply don’t have the time for the project.

As you can see there are many factors involved on whether a company should use an implementation export or not. Each company should weigh each of these factors carefully to see if their prospects are reasonable or not. If the people in their organization have not used the system before, they are implementing a sophisticated new system or everyone is already very busy in their day to day work then they should strongly consider hiring either an independent implementation expert or one from the time and attendance software provider. Even if they were able to set up the basic system, it is highly unlikely that they would do so in the best manner and would more than likely not take full advantage of the capabilities available.

Remember: The advantage of trying to do an implementation yourself is that if you succeed, you will have saved your money for your company and you will be far more knowledgeable about the software. The disadvantage is that you might spend a tremendous amount of time and energy and then determine that an implementation expert was needed from the start.