The concluding part of a 2-part series. The first part appeared in IPF February 2012 issue.

When complex leave programs are administered manually, it is costly and cumbersome to monitor eligibility, leave requests, approvals, remaining leave balances, and enforce leave policies fairly and accurately, more so when the organisation operates from multiple locations. Manual methods are error-prone, and could result in leave abuses and costs related to absent staff.

Employees no longer have to chase their leave requests and HR does not need to follow-up with people to reconcile their absences.

Features of leave management and attendance tracking system:

•   Integration with Attendance Logging system (RFID based GPRS)
  
• Online application for leave without the need for paperwork
  
• User defined work flows for Leave Approvals
  
• Applicant and Approving Officer can see complete leave records and approval history
  
• Leave records are updated automatically once applications are approved/cancelled
  
• Leave records may be printed out or generated into reports
  
• Leave records may be exported to any backend system for payroll
  
• Facility for approver to delegate approving authority to any peer during absence
  
• Tentative and Approved Leave calendar to know who is planning leave and when leave carry forward
  
•  Location based leave sets for multi location operations l Grade wise eligibilities and credits
  
•  "My Leave History" to display leave requests status, leaves carried forward, credits in current year, availed and current balances
  
• Attendance Administrator role - to mark attendance of multiple executives who do not have access to computer network, and
  
• Customised branding and integration into the client's domain. Benefits to the Organisation
  
• On-line attendance logging
  
• Real Time Processing
  
• Integration with Attendance Logging Systems
  
• Easy data uploads, where necessary
  
• Organise and monitor attendance and leave data
  
• Lower leave administration costs through reduced HR intervention
  
• Single repository of Executive details, history and documents Benefits to HR
  
• Maintains applicable leave balances and shown to the employees in real time
  
• Empowers the organisations to get reports in real time
  
• Standard masters for Leave Types with eligibility, applicability, carry forward and other rules
  
• Centralised definition of location wise leave types, standard holidays, working days of a week
  
• Reduced margin of errors in leave entitlement calculation Benefits to Employees & Managers
  
• Online leave application & approval
  
• Online access to leave balances
  
• Online access to leave transactions for processing and approvals
  
• Facility to delegate authority for processing leaves transactions during absence
  
• Tentative leave plans of Colleagues for planning vacations without affecting work

A web based - integrated attendance, leave and time tracking solution is offered on a Software as a Service (SaaS) Model.

The system has provision for various leave types to be defined along with details of annual credits of the same - location wise and grade wise, where applicable. The leave type specification includes, whether the same is gender specific - making the same applicable as specified, to allow future leave or not - accident leaves, etc., to allow start or end date to be a holiday (tours/trainings may start/end on a holiday), maximum of permissible days for each type in a single request (not mandatory).

For each leave type a work flow is defined to the system on whom to present the leave request for review and how to carry the same through comments, approvals and intimations to all concerned to complete the job cycle. This entire work flow is automated with the system adding a record as an event pending to the concerned executive who is next in the work flow once the current event is completed.

Leave sets are defined for each location, wherein standard holidays, working days of a week and applicable leave types and number of days for each leave type (either across all grades or grade wise) are defined by the administrator in December for the ensuing year.

The system takes inputs from the attendance logging systems where available. A portal role "Attendance Administrator" is assigned with special rights who can supersede the data logged in by the attendance logging system. Provision for manual upload of data through a csv file is also available as an option to the administrator.

The application also has a provision for executive explaining his absence due to other reasons like tours, training sessions, forgetting access card, etc which shall follow a work flow for suitable acceptance by concerned authorities and attendance marked. The executives can also tentatively plan their leaves and vacations, which shall be displayed on a calendar to assist other executives, plan their vacations to ensure that their department performance would not be affected.

The advantages of improved leave management include lower total costs, streamlined operations, fair application of paid leave policies and a more productive workforce. (Hyderabad-based M?tier Software Solutions provides high quality on-site services for software development and the end users on a broad range of hardware and software platforms and latest technologies. Within a short time, M?tier Software Solutions has carved a niche for itself in the IT industry and has increased its business by acquiring some major domestic projects. The company has been able to make a name for itself because of its ability and commitments to ensure customer satisfaction by offering quality work in time.

Contact: Kumari N, Sr Manager - Marketing, Metier Software Solutions P Limited, Hyderabad. Tel: 040-66025513-15. Mobile: 099080-18021. Email: kumari@m-s.co.in)