- Attendance Module Features
- Scheduling Module Features
- TimeClock Module Features
- Common Features
- Attendance Module Features
- Attendance Tracking
At the center of the attendance module is the software’s calendar. It gives managers a visual overview of their employee’s time offs, upcoming holidays, and company events. The calendar’s interface is a user-friendly one that does not require any technical know-how to master. The software allows you to shift between a monthly and weekly view. Besides, there are several ways you can add time-off to the tracking calendar. Both, clicking on a date on the calendar or the plus sign on the top right-hand corner opens a pop-up box that allows you to record absences, time-offs, and events.
Here, you can select the reason for your entry and duration of the absence and specify from which PTO bank can deduct the absence. There is also a provision for managers to add pertinent notes to their entries. Importantly, the system also alerts managers if they have any pending time-off requests they need to address. TrackSmart has a repertoire of 23 time-off or absence types and 14 event types from which to choose. You cannot, however, customize and add one of your own. What you can customize are the accrual plans that allow you to set up a time-off plan for your employees complete with an accrual schedule and maximum balance limit. You can configure as many accrual plans as you want.
1. Timesheet Management
TrackSmart’s timesheet functionality is available only for its Flextrack and Powertrack subscribers. The software allows you to tweak several settings that define how your timesheet calculations go. These include workweek and overtime rules. Each timesheet gives managers an overview of the total hours worked by an employee, along with a breakdown of the exact amount of overtime that needs to be paid, PTO accruals, and other events. The software provides users two ways to make timesheet entries. The first is the ‘In-Out’ method, where employees or supervisors enter their start and end work times, and the software automatically calculates the number of hours worked each day. Alternatively, you can manually enter the hours worked yourself. While employees cannot edit their submitted timesheets, managers can do so. Importantly, all edited time entries show up in a different color, so admins are always in the know of any changes made.
2. Employee Record-Keeping
The platform allows users to maintain a central repository of employee records, so you have easy access to the data. There is a ton of information that you can store on your employees. These range from contact and personal data to job and health plan details. Admins also have the freedom to add notes and details they find relevant about an employee. Helpfully, once you have recorded personal information such as birthdays or anniversaries, they will automatically show up on the software’s calendar. This feature provides an easy way for managers to keep track of and celebrate these events with their employees. More importantly, the software helps avoid costly FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) errors by allowing you to classify your employees correctly on the profile page.
- Scheduling Module Features
- Employee Scheduling
Like the attendance module, the central scheduling calendar is easy to use and functional. You will need to set up your various locations, departments, and positions before you can start creating and scheduling shifts. You can also create different shift blocks complete with a shift name, timing, number of employees, and positions. Once done, the shift blocks can be easily added to any day, an excellent time-saving feature that gets rid of repetitive tasks. Notably, you can color-code each shift differently for easier distinction. The scheduling calendar allows you to shift between a daily, weekly, and monthly view.
To schedule a shift, all you need to do is click on the day, add a shift block, and populate them with employees. Helpfully, while scheduling, the system displays only available employees, ensuring that you do not schedule those who are on leave or are already working. Once a scheduled shift is published, the system will send emails to all scheduled employees, notifying them of the same. The platform also makes managing multiple locations a breeze. For one, the top left corner has a dropdown menu that allows you to switch between locations without leaving the scheduling page. For another, no matter where you schedule from, the system always displays shift schedules in the local time zone, a boon for businesses that have outlets in different geographical sectors.
The platform also has an auto-scheduling option where the system automatically assigns shifts to employees according to your settings. The only negative here is that the interface does not have a drag-and-drop functionality with which you can easily drag shifts from one slot to another. You will have to use the copy-and-paste method for that.
3. Labor Costing And Compliance Management
TrackSmart Scheduling has several settings that you can use to ensure you are complying with your local labor laws. These include break rules, overtime, and maximum hour settings. Once you have defined these categories, the software will automatically add them to every shift that you schedule. Besides, if you have configured full and part-time pay rates, the platform will also show you how much each shift will cost you. This feature is an excellent way for managers to keep an eye on their labor costs as they are scheduling.
4. TimeClock Module Features
The application allows you to turn any computer or mobile device into a time clock. So, employees have the freedom to clock in and out from their devices, even from remote locations. Helpfully, several settings give you plenty of control over where and when employees can clock in. Also, you can define who can view and edit the time clock records. Furthermore, the module also ties in with the scheduling module, so you can prevent employees from clocking in too far outside of their shifts. However, it does not have features that can prevent buddy punchings, such as facial recognition, image capture, or geotagging. You also cannot use it to record breaks.
1. Common Features
2. Employee Portal
According to the permission settings you define, allow your employees to take care of some tasks on their own. This provision, of course, looks different for each module. Accordingly, the attendance module allows employees to submit their timesheets and request time off. With the scheduling module’s self-service portal, they can view their schedules, swap shifts among themselves, and claim open ones. Importantly, any time employees swap or claim shifts, the system immediately notifies the schedule manager of the same. Finally, with the TimeClock module, employees can request time off, swap shifts, and clock in and out using their desktop or mobile devices.
7. Team Communication
All of TrackSmart’s modules have several ways that managers and team members can use to communicate. First, you can send emails to all or a select few from your team right from your dashboard using the ‘Email Staff’ button. Second, you can send out a text message to all or individual employees directly from the system too. Third, the software has a team wall that acts as a virtual bulletin board where you can post important messages or announcements for the whole team to see. Importantly, admins can delete posts made by other employees if they feel the need.
8. Reports
Each module has about 7 -10 predefined reports from which you can choose. These include absence reports, time-off summaries, weekly summary reports, and timesheet and labor cost reports. The system does allow you to customize the reports by changing some filters, but by and large, there aren’t too many changes you can make to them. You can save a generated report as a PDF or export and share it with others in CSV form.
