Cloud based time and attendance systems are judged by a small employer in a demo, and the demo is usually about the clock-in app. The better test is one screen: pick one employee, and ask for their shifts, the events against each, the points each event scored under the policy on that date, the total in the rolling window, the room under the threshold and the write-ups on file. A system that can show that from a phone on the floor has understood the job; a system that shows a punch log and a report builder has moved the spreadsheet to the cloud. This page is that test written out, with the arithmetic the system owes and the free tools on this site that do it now, with no account.
The one-screen test, and why it is the whole evaluation
Every dispute about attendance comes down to one employee on one date: what they were scheduled for, what happened, what it scored and what the policy said. A cloud based system that answers that as a lookup has kept the employee, the shift, the event, the points and the write-up linked; a system that answers it by exporting three reports has kept lists. The National Institute of Standards and Technology's definition of cloud computing, linked below, is about where the record lives and how it is reached; the one-screen test is about whether the record is a record. Run it in the demo with a real employee and a real month.
The arithmetic the system owes the lead on the floor
From the policy's five numbers the system must compute, for any employee on any date, the points still in the window, the room under the threshold and which event would cross it. On this site's worked example (1 point per unexcused absence, 0.5 per tardy, 2 per no-call, threshold 8, 12-month window) an employee with two no-calls and two absences is at 6, has 2 points of room, and one more no-call ends employment while two more tardies do not. A lead deciding at the start of a shift whether the next conversation is a reminder or a final warning needs that number, not a punch log. The attendance points calculator on this site works it on the page.
Cloud based time and attendance systems priced for a crew
The suites price per user per month, and the bundle is a clock-in app plus the record plus, usually, a rota. For a crew of twelve the monthly figure is the product of the seat price and the headcount, and it buys the clock whether the crew uses one or not. The attendance management system guide on this site works that arithmetic against a flat crew price. RollCallWorks Pro is the record only, in the cloud: employees, shifts, points in the window and write-ups that cite the policy, with reminders at the threshold and export, at one price for the crew.
What the system must hold at zero, with the reason
Some absences are recorded and scored at nothing by law, and a cloud based system read by every lead has to show them that way with the reason attached, or a lead who was not there will score them. Leave under the FMLA, absences that are a reasonable accommodation under the ADA and service absences under USERRA are the ones a small crew meets; the Department of Labor's and the EEOC's pages linked below describe each. The one-screen test should include an excused event: it should sit in the window, at zero, with its reason, and the total should not move.
Questions people ask about cloud based time and attendance systems
What should a cloud based time and attendance system show for one employee?
Their scheduled shifts, the event against each (absence, tardy, no-call, excused), the points each event scored under the policy on that date, the total in the rolling window, the room under the threshold and the write-ups on file with the policy paragraph each cited. On one screen, from a phone.
Is a clock-in app required?
No. The capture can be the shift lead's roll call, entered on the floor. The system scores what the roll recorded; the free tracker template on this site does the same from scheduled and missed shifts.
How do cloud based systems price for a small crew?
Per user per month: Deputy Lite is $5, Core is $6.50 and Pro is $9 per user per month in USD. RollCallWorks Pro is $6.50 per month for the whole crew, flat, and is the record only.