Workforce software guide: how to choose

Attendance, timesheets and payroll are not the same

Time attendance records when someone started and finished. It produces raw data: who, when, where.

Timesheets are that raw data interpreted by rules: days worked, overtime hours, days on leave. The same records produce different timesheets under different shift rules.

Payroll converts timesheets into money and is bound by legislation: social security, tax, deductions. Most workforce systems prepare payroll data while the official payroll run stays with your accountant.

Who creates the record, and how?

How the record is captured determines both cost and whether the system will actually be used.

⚠️ Biometric attendance tracking is now prohibited in Türkiye. The Turkish Data Protection Board’s principle decision 2026/921, dated 29 April 2026 (Official Gazette: 2 June 2026), found the processing of fingerprint, facial, iris and retina data for attendance tracking unlawful. The critical part: employee consent does not make it lawful. The reasoning is proportionality — no statute requires biometric identification, and less intrusive alternatives exist (cards, PINs, location-verified mobile check-in). The decision covers private employers and public bodies alike.

If you already run fingerprint readers: disable biometric verification, destroy previously collected biometric templates and record the destruction, inform your employees, and move the check-in method to cards, PINs or location-verified mobile. Most devices keep working in card or PIN mode, so the hardware is not necessarily wasted. Work with your lawyer on the legal documents; we handle the technical migration. Note that this is a Turkish requirement — under the GDPR, biometric processing remains possible on a valid legal basis, so multinational setups need separate assessment per country.

Where GPS monitoring stops and law begins

The short answer: location is personal data and must be proportionate.

• Purpose-limited. To answer “did they arrive at work”, verification at check-in is enough; all-day tracking goes far beyond it.
• Not outside working hours. Collecting location off-shift is not defensible.
• Transparent. Employees must know in writing what is processed, why and for how long.
• Retention-limited. Location records are not kept indefinitely.
• Personal devices need separate thought. A company phone and an employee’s own phone are not the same case.

If a vendor promotes “continuous tracking” as a headline feature, they are also selling you liability. Make sure the setting can be switched off and that the default is proportionate.

Understand the pricing model

Workforce software is usually priced one of three ways. Without knowing which, you cannot compare quotes.

• Per employee, per month. Predictable but grows fast with headcount. Cheap at 20 staff can become a serious line item at 120.
• Per module. Cheap base package, paid add-ons. Get the included modules listed item by item.
• One-off setup plus maintenance. Higher upfront, lower monthly. Usually cheapest long term — provided the maintenance scope is written down.

Budget hardware separately: terminals, readers and cards often cost more than the software and rarely appear as their own line in a quote.

Contract clauses that become traps

• No data export means no exit. Verify — by trying — that you can export employees, timesheets and leave data.
• “Unlimited support” is unmeasurable. Put response time and scope in writing.
• Price escalation. If the basis for annual increases is vague, year two becomes a surprise.
• Training after deployment. Who gets trained, for how many hours? An unused system is an unbought system.
• Refund of setup fees. What happens if you withdraw during the trial?
• Where data is stored. Servers abroad require an additional data protection assessment.

The hard part isn’t the software

In our experience projects struggle not because of software but because rules were never made explicit. Before switching on, these answers should exist in writing:

• After how many minutes does overtime start? Is there rounding?
• What is the lateness tolerance, and is it applied differently to anyone?
• How are weekly rest and public holiday work multiplied?
• Which hours count as a night shift, and how is it paid?
• Who can correct a missed check-in, and is the correction logged?
• Who approves leave, and how does delegation work when they are away?

These questions already exist today — the answers just live in someone’s head. Moving to a system forces them into writing. That is the real gain.

A checklist you can use anywhere

• Do I have field staff? If yes, mobile plus location verification is essential.
• Are my shift rules standard or unusual? If unusual, ask about flexibility.
• How many managers, and whose data should each see?
• Is data exchange with accounting or ERP required?
• What will headcount be in twelve months, and what will the price be then?
• Can I export my data — and have I tried?
• Are the information notice and retention periods ready?
• Is there a trial period with real data?

Use this list with any vendor. How our own product answers these questions is set out on the workforce management page.