Every worker loves new technology, right? Not quite. The truth is, even in today’s business world, where certain segments seem dominated by news of an ‘always on’ culture, adopting and training on new technology can be daunting for plenty of employees. Training Employees on New Time & Attendance Software Perhaps you’ve recently added one or […]
Read More >3 Seamless Time and Attendance Software Integration Tips
- nettime solutions staff
When it comes to integrating cloud-based time and attendance software, there are threeways to ensure your integration will be successful. These three ways are: flexibility, security, and documentation.
#1: Flexibility
Typically there are two types of software integration options. These are a file-based integration or a web service integration.
A file-based integration you can determine what data sets you would like to share between two different software platforms. Data is exported out of one software platform and then imported into another. If you’re planning on using file-based integration, it’s important to make sure this can be done manually, if needed, via FTP (file transfer protocol), or via SFTP (secure file transfer protocol).
Nowadays, many companies select to their integration to be done via web service. The communication stream between software platforms allows your data to flow naturally to achieve optimal integration. Unfortunately, some web services may not support all markup languages, however if your software provider it flexible, their web services integration option should be able to support SOAP and REST standards.
If necessary, you can start with a file-based integration and transition into a web services integration as your needs change.
#2 Security
Security is paramount in successful time and attendance software integrations. You’ll want to ensure your integration takes place over a secure line such as SSL or SFTP. SSL, or Secure Sockets Layer, is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. This link ensures that all data passed between the web server and browsers remain private and integral.
For security purposes, all integrations should be audit trailed. An audit trail is simply a security-relevant chronological record that provides documented evidence of any sequence of activities so you can know what is being performed on your system. You should also ask your software provider if they offer SSO (single sign-on) via SAML (simple access markup language). SAML is a secure single sign-on protocol that the most security conscious enterprises in the world rely on, and if security is of the utmost importance to your organization, this should be a significant factor in all of your integrations. Finally, you should be able to disable your integrations at any time. If you were to discover that someone is using your web services to pull data out or push data in, you should be able to immediately cut off that activity.
#3 Documentation
You always want to have the ability to view the integrations that will be taking place between your systems. Sophisticated web services integration should give you access to every type of web services layout structure and schema. Depending on the software company you choose to integrate with, they should offer an API library that allows you to test the web service and see how it will work within your platform before you take the time to write your integration. Some software providers offering integrations may require you to write your program first before beginning testing. Other documented resources such as quick start guides and SDKs (software development kits) can help you connect efficiently by providing simple copy and paste code samples that require minimal adjustment and will get you up and running relatively quickly.
To learn more about HR software integration check out a recording of our webinar:
