Let us make this perfectly clear:
a Workforce Management Glossary
We’ve compiled a list of the most commonly used terms in the workforce management industry to help you understand what all this means to your business.
Accruals & Benefits
Refers to sick, vacation and other types of leave or benefit time. Benefits and accruals are an important part of an employee self service system in which the employee is able to view current accrual balances before submitting leave requests.
Application Service Provider (ASP)
See SaaS below.
Auto Populate
Auto Populate functionality means that the system automatically fills in certain information for you. For example in TimeZone™, the system can auto populate schedules based on certain user-defined criteria (e.g. who is qualified/available for a certain job/shift).
Attendance Management
Attendance management is the process of managing and controlling attendance or presence in a workplace to minimize loss due to employee downtime. Attendance management is handled using several methods including time clocks, time sheets and computer software.
Barcode Card
Like Magnetic Cards, employees slide this card or badge through the data collection terminal to record a time transaction (clock in or out; start/stop break, change departments or jobs, etc.).
Bell Relay
A feature of certain data collection terminals whereby the terminal triggers a bell, or other sound, to signal certain times, for example a shift beginning or end, or a break start/end.
Benefits & Accruals
Refers to sick, vacation and all other types of leave. Benefits and accruals are an important part of an employee self service system in which the employee is able to view current accrual balances before submitting leave requests.
Biometric Input Device
Hand geometry or fingerscan terminals that identify the unique hand or fingerprint of each employee to ensure that the correct person is logging in and out of the time and attendance system. These devices help prevent buddy punching.
Buddy Punching
The practice of workers logging in or out for each other so they can get paid for time they do not really work. There are several biometric technologies used by time and attendance applications to eliminate buddy punching including fingerscan and hand geometry recognition.
Cleaner Cards
Used to clean the Magnetic or Barcode reader swipe units in data collection terminals [link to Data Collection Terminals>badge/PIN terminals page] from dust and debris collected.
Data Collection
The gathering of ‘raw’ (unprocessed) time, absence and labor data through the use of any method that is appropriate for your employees. Data collection methods for automated systems include biometric terminals, timesheets, badge/PIN terminals and PC. These methods record information directly to the time and attendance software, where it can be verified, corrected, analyzed, compiled into gross pay and exported to payroll.
Direct Keypad Entry
Direct Keypad Entry refers to the use of a keypad on the terminal to type in an employee’s PIN or other numbers, such as department or job codes.
Door Access
Equipment that controls access to your facility, with the ability to integrate door access punches into your time and attendance system.
Electronic Timesheet
A timesheet is an online method of recording the elapsed time that an employee spends on job or project. Originally developed simply for an employer to determine payroll, timesheets are now also used to record the start and end time of tasks and their duration. They may contain a detailed allocation of tasks to certain projects or departments, as well as the assignment of expenses associated with such work.
Employee Messaging
The ability to send an individual, group, department or company wide message from the time and attendance software.
Employee Self Service
Employee Self Service (ESS) enables employees to access personal information independently of the Human Resources department. ITR’s ESS functionality, in its TimeZone™ Professional module, enables employees to review time and attendance information and schedules, check accruals balances, request absences and communicate with supervisors and managers online in a secure environment.
Encrypted file transmission
A systems software security measure to protect data from tampering during payroll exports, etc.
Fair Labor Standards Act
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) establishes minimum wages, overtime pay, recordkeeping requirements and youth employment standards affecting full-time and part-time workers in the private sector and in Federal, State, and local governments. For more information, click here.
Fingerprint Templates
When an employee enrolls in a biometric fingerscan time clock, the fingerprint image is converted into a series of mathematical logarithms and is stored as a template, to be used at a later date to authorize employee time punches.
Interfacing
Using XML, ASCII or text files or other database integration, interfacing refers to the exchange of workforce management data between applications including the TimeZone™ workforce management application, Payroll, ERP and HRIS.
Labor or Job Allocation
This module enables you to allocate labor to specific departments or jobs, to track actual versus projected time and costs. Labor costs can be attributed to projects by employee, department, job, etc. Accounts for time worked by location, department, branch, cost center, job, position, project, or any other names you designate
Labor Management Systems
Another term for time and attendance systems that feature increased functionality and more sophisticated reporting for larger companies.
Magnetic Swipe Card
Similar to a barcode card, magnetic cards work like a credit card with a magnetic stripe on one side that employees slide through the time clock to record a time transaction (clock in or out; start/stop break, change departments or jobs, etc.).
Network Hosted Application
Workforce management software can be hosted on your local network instead of being hosted by an Application Service Provider (ASP).
On Demand
See SaaS below.
Payroll Export
A payroll export is the electronic transfer of employee time data from the workforce management system to the system (inhouse or outsourced) that calculates payroll.
Proximity cards
Identification badges that transmit data when held within range of the appropriate reader, instead of being swiped through a card reader like a magnetic or barcode badge.
Retroactive Calculations
An option that allows for the correction of payroll errors and back-calculation of salary and benefit adjustments, to a certain date.
SaaS
SaaS stands for Software as a Service, sometimes referred to as ASP (Application Service Provider) or On Demand, which means the software is hosted at a central location (not the user’s) and is licensed for use, but not ‘owned’, by the user. For workforce management systems, SaaS provides all of the benefits of a time and attendance system without the IT infrastructure requirements (database, server hardware, data backups, security management, system management, service packs and patches, etc.). With SaaS, an advanced time and attendance system can be setup without ever having to install any software on your employee workstations or network.
Scalable
This term describes the ability of the workforce management system to keep pace with the growth of an organization.
Scheduling
Assigning, tracking and planning both work time and time off. TimeZone™ enables scheduling by Job or by Employee.
Smart Card
A type of badge or card embedded with a micro-processor which can process data.
Time and Attendance Systems
This term refers to systems that provide tracking of employee time and labor activities and calculation of hours for gross pay. These systems usually interface to other back-end systems such as HR, payroll, finance, ERP and MRP.
TimeZone™
TimeZone™ is a comprehensive workforce management system that streamlines the collection and calculation of employee time and labor information, ensures payroll accuracy and simplifies the administration of Benefits and HR tasks. Optional modules include Scheduler, Professional (for ESS, Timesheets and WebPunch functionality), Labor Allocation and Letters.
Time Theft
The misrepresentation of the quantity of time an employee worked, either through rounding up, extended breaks, or ‘buddy punching’.
VAR’s
VAR’s (Value-added resellers) are vendors that re-sell another company’s products, typically with additional services such as installation and training.
Workforce Management (WFM) is a term used to define any technology or business solution that helps organizations more effectively manage processes for planning, scheduling, and managing time and tasks for employees. WFM systems typically include: Time and Attendance, Labor Budgeting or Forecasting, Schedule Optimization, Accruals Tracking, Employee Self Service, and Task Management.