If you want to purchase the right time and attendance products for your business needs, it is important that you conduct a situational analysis. The point of any product is to help you cut back on your costs and to better utilize your resources.

In this article, I will show you how to perform a situational analysis to do just that. After reading this article, you should have a clear idea of exactly how to most effectively find those products related to time and attendance that will give you the greatest return on investment.

If you want to improve your time and attendance situation, then you have to get a grasp on exactly what needs to be improved upon. Start from the beginning. Look at your current system, and determine exactly how it works. After you have went through the current time and attendance processes, now it's time to go back and pinpoint those problems that you feel should be made more efficient.

What you are looking at here is a way to turn manual processes into automatic ones. At the same time, there are certain processes that you are looking to cut out of the picture completely, so you can get direct savings benefits immediately. Areas to look at are data entry, inefficiencies in the process, the areas where dissatisfaction is found in the employee or the supervisor, where the most errors occurred in your payroll and where your costs are the highest. These are all areas which need to be improved upon.

But don't just judge the situation from your own viewpoint. If you're going to get the best time and attendance products, you also have to talk to your your staff. This starts with the head of each department in your company, all the way down to the hourly employees and even the lowest level of your business hierarchy. This is because everyone is in contact with the time and attendance system.

Find out their complaints, and if their paychecks are ever later or incorrect. Also, learn about what they like and dislike, when it comes to recording their hours, and listen to their suggestions. Just ask them what they would like to be improved upon or changed.

Once you have conducted a situational analysis, you should have a clear picture of the areas you need to focus on. Then, within those areas locate the right time and attendance products that will help you automate processes, reduce errors and improve employee satisfaction.