At Craven Community College, chasing signatures, fixing math mistakes, and reviewing hand-written timecards was eating up more than a week of work every month.
It wasn’t just inefficient, it was unsustainable.
Today, that same payroll process takes just a few hours, thanks to automated time tracking with TimeClock Plus.
Here’s how one North Carolina college replaced manual chaos with a faster, more accurate system that saves time, reduces errors, and helps keep labor costs under control.
Paper timesheets ate up time and created costly errors
Craven Community College, located in Craven County, North Carolina, serves more than 13,000 students each year across three campuses. Its workforce of roughly 565 employees includes full-time and part-time faculty, staff, adjunct instructors, and student workers — each with unique time tracking needs.
Before 2014, every hour worked was recorded on paper. Every department was responsible for managing, collecting, and submitting physical timesheets to HR.
“Across the college, every department had challenges with paper timesheets,” said Sabra Smith, Payroll and Benefits Specialist. “Not only was it incredibly time-consuming to track down employees whose timesheets were missing, but paper timesheets were also more likely to contain mistakes due to employees rounding their hours incorrectly.”
The manual payroll process created several layers of administrative burden. Smith spent hours interpreting illegible handwriting, correcting math errors, and manually verifying hours across 15+ departments. She estimates she lost a week and a half of productivity each month just fixing mistakes and finalizing payroll.
Worse, the college couldn’t confidently track hours related to benefit eligibility under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or leave eligibility under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Without automation, part-time employees working close to the 30-hour weekly limit could easily slip through the cracks — potentially triggering compliance issues and unplanned costs.
At the same time, employees who worked across departments had to submit multiple timesheets, making it difficult to spot overlapping hours or prevent time fraud.
“I was spending at least a week and a half each month just going through timesheets and correcting mistakes,” said Smith. “That is now time that I have back to use towards more strategic projects.”
Automated time tracking that saves hours every week
Craven needed a better way to track time — one that reduced administrative workload, protected against errors, and brought consistency to a very complex process.
Craven Community College implemented TimeClock Plus to bring structure, speed, and accountability to its timekeeping system. The shift from paper to automation didn’t just refine payroll, it improved employee productivity, reduced compliance risk, and created new opportunities for operational improvement.
Fast, accurate payroll in a fraction of the time
What once took days now takes hours. Smith can close out payroll each week in a single afternoon. The entire monthly process that used to eat up 25–30% of her time is now centralized and predictable.
Digital timesheets improve accuracy and accountability
As part of the rollout, the college shifted from monthly to weekly timesheet submissions. This reduced the risk of employees forgetting hours or submitting late and helped managers identify issues sooner.
“The combination of using automated timesheets coupled with being able to review timesheets on a weekly basis has made my life much easier,” said Smith.
The system’s mobile app made the transition even smoother, allowing employees to enter hours on the go. That helped drive adoption across departments and reduced the learning curve, even for employees unfamiliar with digital features.
“TimeClock Plus helped make the transition to digital timesheets as easy as possible for our administrators and employees,” said Smith.
Smart features that simplify review and approvals
To make payroll processing even faster , Smith configured a numbering system that categorizes employees by classification — like full-time non-exempt or student workers. With a few clicks, she can filter timesheets and review only the group she needs, instead of navigating a stack of mismatched sheets
“Being able to review by employment category has made my life so much easier,” she said.
Big time savings, fewer errors, and stronger compliance
With TimeClock Plus, Craven Community College isn’t just saving time. They’re reducing risk, improving accuracy, and staying ahead of compliance requirements.
Manual tracking made it nearly impossible to monitor ACA thresholds or FMLA-eligible time. Now, TimeClock Plus flags when part-time employees approach the 30-hour weekly limit, helping the HR team stay compliant with benefit eligibility rules.
“We set up a Rules and Exceptions report that notifies us if employees are over on their hours,” Smith said. “That used to be a job in and of itself.”
This proactive approach gives HR tighter control over labor costs and protects against both accidental errors and intentional time abuse.
Automatic checks prevent double entries and time fraud
Some employees work across multiple departments and submit more than one timesheet. TimeClock Plus automatically identifies overlapping hours or potential duplicates, something Smith used to catch by hand.
“The system flags anything that doesn’t add up,” she said. “It’s made it much easier to prevent overpayments and errors.”
Saving time, reducing risk, and focusing on strategic work
For Craven Community College, time tracking is no longer a reactive chore — it’s a reliable, automated process that supports accuracy, compliance, and operational efficiency across the entire organization.
The HR team now spends less time correcting avoidable mistakes and more time on strategic initiatives. Managers can focus on leading their teams, not chasing paperwork. Employees have an easier way to submit their time and more trust that they’ll be paid accurately and on time.
“Using TimeClock Plus allows me to work more efficiently than ever and save hours and hours of work each month,” said Smith.
With flexible features, real-time insights, and scalable reporting, TimeClock Plus helps Craven maintain control over labor costs and compliance while simplifying payroll for hundreds of employees across three campuses.
What started as a fix for a paper-based headache has become a foundation for smarter workforce management — and a stronger employee experience.
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Ready to learn how TCP Software takes the pain out of employee scheduling and time tracking? Speak with an expert today.
