Administrative | News

Virginia State Tackles Timekeeping Automation Project

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 08/09/10

Virginia State University, based in Petersburg, will be automating its time and attendance processes with software from Kronos. Once the new timekeeping application is implemented, the university said, it will save the institution $200,000 annually.

The university said it's looking to minimize payroll errors through standardization and automation of the processes involved in tracking hourly and student employee timekeeping. Through biometric technology the new software will also prevent "buddy punching," in which employees clock in for one another.

The university said it hopes to reduce overtime costs by up to 20 percent a year by providing managers with real-time access to time records and staff schedules. Those same people will also spend far less time on payroll processing, which has been done manually in many cases.

Kronos will automate employee leave requests and provide real-time leave reporting to help ensure accuracy and timeliness of the process and compliance with federal, state, and other labor laws and regulations.

"We are excited about implementing Kronos as it will help us achieve immediate savings as well as enable us to meet our long-term goals without requiring additional resources," said David Meadows, vice president of finance and administration. "Having a standardized, automated time and attendance system for the entire employee population is definitely a best practice to reign in budgets."

The software is also in use by the Cal Poly Pomona Foundation, a non-profit organization serving the needs of California State Polytechnic.