Time & Attendance software: Locally-installed or Web-based?

The time & attendance market has seen a great revolution in recent years leveraging the power of the “cloud”. Web-based software allows the user to login from any computer and manage their organization’s time & attendance.

The major advantage to web-based software is the lack of locally-installed software that can require on-site upkeep and might be subject to computer crashes, viruses, and even the cup of coffee that falls on the desktop. You’ll always need a reliable computer to perform computerized time & attendance functions, whether it is a locally-installed software or web-based.

Some of the downsides of web-based software of any sort include the need for a dedicated internet connection that is reliable and the potential for security breaches that can’t be mitigated by even the best security at your office. When it comes to security, you’re only as secure as your web-software provider’s security: the entire database is located on their servers, such as employee names, social security numbers and other sensitive information. Data breaches make the news on a weekly, if not daily basis.

While locally-installed software is subject to local issues, such as your computer’s reliability, it is much easier to control and secure. A local computer can be placed behind a corporate hardware-based firewall, as well as secured with a software firewall. All these things make it more difficult for a person to gain unauthorized access to your workstation.

Also, with locally-installed software, the internet connection can be intermittent without affecting your time & attendance functions.

Finally, the most tangible benefit of locally-installed software is that you purchase it once and your expense is fully realized. Web-based software uses a monthly pricing model that is usually very competitive on the monthly basis, but when added up over time, becomes very close to the upfront investment for locally-installed software.

Don’t count “local” software out of the game yet, as it still has a wide variety of situations where it is advantageous to have, instead of web-based software.

Use the Reports screen to find the exact report you need.

Detail Reports provide punch-level details, showing the actual punches:

Use Guaranteed Hours to track and accrue salaried employees’ labor burden.

The employee screen has two fields: Guaranteed Daily Hours and Guaranteed Period Hours. This field can be used to add time to an employee’s time sheet that doesn’t use the Smart Clock or clock in or out.

When salaried employees are omitted from the software, Reports will be under-reporting labor expense/burden. Guaranteed Hours are a way to account for this.