Human Resources Information System Hand Scanner Project

Human Resources Information System Hand Scanner Project

Palm Beach County, Florida Page 1 “The Best of Everything”

Abstract

Palm Beach County Parks and Recreation promotes better quality of life for Palm Beach County

residents and visitors by providing diverse, safe and affordable recreation services, welcoming

parks, and enriching social and cultural experiences. In collaboration with Parks and Recreation,

the Palm Beach County IT Department, Information System Services (ISS) designed, developed,

and supported a state-of-the-art and easy-to-use Hand Scan module in Human Resources

Information System (HRIS) that replaces NOVAtime, a timekeeping product developed by a

software vendor which was used by Parks and Recreation department to interface with third

party biometric device to record employee time in and out. The in-house ISS team also

significantly augmented existing Time Attendance System (TAS) module of HRIS to robustly

manage time data. This solution has allowed Parks and Recreation department to eliminate

NOVAtime software support and licensing costs of $16,000 annually, maintain use of biometric

devices previously acquired, and to efficiently and accurately process employees' time in/out for

timekeeping and payroll purposes.

The Need for the Program

Parks and Recreation department relied on HandPunch biometric product series manufactured

by Schlage to account for employees' attendance via hand punches and on NOVAtime to perform

time audits and approval. The department has many remote locations that are best served using

web-connected devices to account for employees’ attendance. However, growing software

licensing cost, inconsistent support and workflow inefficiencies from vendors motivated the

department to contact ISS for a solution.

Workflow inefficiencies included:

• Inconsistent time and pay records;

• Cumbersome employee hand template registration and enrollment to devices;

• No accurate, up-to-date time information, approvals, and audits;

• Duplication of records across disparate systems; and,

• Difficulties in retro-pay processing.



Program Description

Hand Scan module of HRIS

Hand Scan module is developed by ISS to interface with HandPunch biometric product series

manufactured by Schlage. The module is developed with friendly user interface incorporating UX

(User Experience) design that is functional, effective and visually pleasing. Staying with

enterprise-grade technology that is compliant with W3C standard, this module is web-based and

viewable in any web browser and in any device.



Hand Scan module is also a result of modernization process of current HRIS application that

provides a foundation for upcoming HRIS 2.



Using Hand Scan module, staff may register employee's hand geometry (templates) using any

available device nearby and register that employee to authorized work locations, all in a matter

of seconds.

Audit logs captures employee hand template registration, device enrollments, device

activations, device assignment, user id, and date time stamps. Logs may be exported to Excel or

PDF format.



Attendance Log provides time-saving search capability with such parameters as department,

employee ID, employee names, employee position, division, device location, device asset ID,

and dates.

Results of attendance log search consist of employee name, employee ID, department, division,

device serial number, device asset number and location and hand punch date time, all of which

may be exported to Excel and/or PDF format.



Various device management tasks, such as device addition/removal/update in network, platen

sensor sensitivity adjustment, and local date & time syncing, are all conveniently done by using

Hand Scan module. There are built-in search functionality in each screen to accommodate

filtering and for added convenience. Search results may be exported to Excel and/or PDF format.



Searchable error logs and email notifications are also provided to empower staff to

troubleshoot quickly or escalate support request, therefore minimizing downtime. Logs may be

exported to Excel and/or PDF format.



Time Attendance System (TAS) module of HRIS

Time records from devices are collected in a 5-minute interval into its own repository and into

TAS module, providing accurate and up-to-the-minute employee data. Staff may audit employee

time records via Attendance Log located in Hand Scan module or via time card in TAS module.

TAS time card displays employee attendance in/out punches, corresponding locations, approval

(routing) history, comments, time card status, paid hours, as well as supervisory/admin approval

tasks.

Built-in audit logs in TAS module can be utilized to track approvals, edits, adjustments, and

comments.



TAS module also enables supervisory staff to review, edit, and approve employees’ time cards

grouped by pay periods.

TAS Search functionality allows supervisors and admin staff to search time records using such

parameters as name, id, job title, dates, locations, departments, time card status, missed punch,

employee attributes (permanent, payroll ID, terminated), and audit history.

The corresponding search results that consist of employee ID, employee name, payroll ID,

employee’s supervisor, work date, clock-in, clock-in location, clock-out, clock-out location, paid

hours, and time card status can conveniently be filtered according to resulting columns, and

exportable to Excel, or printed for further processing.



The Cost of the Program

ISS jointly specified functionalities and workflow of HRIS Hand Scan and TAS modules with the

Parks and Recreation department. The ISS in-house team of dedicated developers, project

managers, and testers then further performed extensive research during design and

development phases to ensure system interconnectivity, stability and to ensure enterprise

technology maturity and relevancy; and carried out a thorough testing phase and staff training

to assure seamless and smooth incremental rollout process over the course of 6 months. Existing

development tools and HRIS application framework were used without the need to purchase

additional software and hardware. Parks and Recreation department was also able to extend the

useful life of Schlage HandPunch assets.

Results/Success of the Program

Since HRIS Hand Scan and TAS modules went operational in 2019, the application has received

numerous compliments from Parks and Recreation department staff and employees who are

using the system on a 24 hours / 7 day a week basis. The modules effectively reduce Parks &

Recreation's operational cost of $16,000 annually and improves efficiency and internal customer

service while also providing the following additional benefits:

• Provides detailed reports for calculating labor costs.

• Resolves disputes relating to time records.

• Calculates retro-pay adjustments to prior pay periods.

• Saves time to maintain and support time-keeping activities.

• Integrates into existing county payroll process and business rules.



Palm Beach County’s mission is to continually improve the quality of services provided to our

customers:

• All aspects of the Program are consistent with acceptable governmental and financial

management practices. HRIS application promotes general accountability to the public

by reducing costs and streamlining business processes.

• The development done by internal staff using existing tools, framework, and devices

make this system an especially cost effective implementation.

• The ability to integrate into Palm Beach County's enterprise workforce solution to help

manage time from point-of-entry to paycheck for all 35 county departments.

• The web-based application employs enterprise-grade technology and is viewable in any

web browser and in any device.

• The state-of-the-art system provides county employees various practical functionalities

to emphasize dependability, traceability, and transparency, which has gained approval

and recommendation from county's Human Resources department.

Date post:	16-Oct-2021
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Human Resources Information System Hand Scanner Project

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