Itawamba Community College

From manual to modern:
How Itawamba Community College enhanced their time tracking process for hourly and student workers

CHALLENGE

With locations in Fulton, Tupelo and Belden, Mississippi, Itawamba Community College (ICC) has always prioritized meeting the diverse academic needs of its students—delivering high-quality instruction with flexible scheduling options, including day, night, weekend or online classes.

TimeClock Plus is used in a variety of ways here for the college to meet the various needs for the different working positions and schedules that we have. It’s really streamlined things for us.
— Timothy Senter, Vice President of Human Resources and Administration

Before 2017, Itawamba Community College used a manual timekeeping process that wasn’t working for their approximately 300 employees—or for Timothy Senter, ICC’s Vice President of Human Resources and Administration.

Employees physically inserted timecards into a punch clock to track their hours, a laborious manual process. To make matters even more difficult, punches were recorded in military time, creating a tedious and human error-prone task of converting to standard time per employee. The result?

Notable challenges in timekeeping and payroll efficiency and accuracy.

Gathering payroll necessities was further complicated by distance barriers between locations. “We have three locations, as much as 30 minutes driving distance from each other. But it made it a huge endeavor to get from one location to the other to process payroll. And if we had ice and snow, it would make it even worse,” recalls Senter. “So it was just not a good situation.”

Moreover, all employee timecards were stored in boxes in a storage facility, making it difficult to quickly access paper records during yearly audits.

SOLUTION AND RESULTS

Recognizing the need for a modernized time tracking system, ICC implemented TimeClock Plus, TCP’s automated time and attendance solution.

TimeClock Plus not only automates timekeeping for 325 student and hourly college workers but also streamlines time off requests and simplifies compliance with yearly auditors, driving efficient business processes for ease and accuracy.

SIMPLIFYING CLOCK-INS ACROSS LOCATIONS FOR IMPROVED ACCURACY

From staff who work at a desk, to physical plant workers in custodial services and grounds maintenance, to college recruiters who are constantly traveling, ICC employs a range of positions across its three locations. Today, TimeClock Plus unifies timekeeping across roles and locations with flexible time tracking options.

Gone are the days of physical punch cards. Now, employees have the convenience and flexibility to log their hours no matter where they work. Office staff log their hours through the Web-based clock on their computers, while grounds maintenance and other physical plant workers utilize iPads. Recruiters and on- the-go staff record their time using a mobile app.

Plus, additional measures were taken to ensure the integrity of timekeeping for student employees in residence halls, preventing clock-ins from the halls to maintain time accuracy via geofencing.

“TimeClock Plus is used in a variety of ways here for the college to meet the various needs for the different working positions and schedules that we have,” says Senter. “It’s really streamlined things for us.”

Now, all clock-ins and clock-outs are automatically logged in standard time, eliminating prior military time conversions and calculation errors.

Plus, seamless automations between Ellucian Banner ERP system and TimeClock Plus delivers even greater time and attendance accuracy with dramatically reduced effort.

AUTOMATED LEAVE MANAGEMENT

TimeClock Plus also automates leave and absence management to minimize errors and provide employees with transparency and accountability. For supervisors at ICC, employee time and attendance records are now digitally accessible, enabling informed decision-making and efficient oversight.

Senter recalls an incident when a supervisor suspected habitual tardiness from an employee. He was able to access the employee’s record simultaneously while speaking to the supervisor on the phone. “It’s just a lot more information at your fingertips to be able to make decisions at a more efficient pace,” said Senter.

Supervisors can view, edit, make changes and approve time off requests effortlessly for employees who work 12,11-,10-, or 9-month periods out of the school year.”

“It’s just a lot more information at your fingertips to be able to make decisions at a more efficient pace”

FLEXIBILITY TO MATCH EVOLVING NEEDS

Senter also notes the system’s operational efficiency and adaptability to the college’s unique needs. When ICC transitioned all employees to a salaried classification, thanks to TimeClock Plus, payroll didn’t miss a beat. TimeClock Plus automated and enabled quick updates to payroll procedures. This flexibility also accommodated ICC’s holiday schedule—two weeks off at Christmas, spring break and Thanksgiving break among others—allowing for consistent payroll operations during closures.

“It was very beneficial to us to be able to pivot and move all employees to a salaried classification,” says Senter. “I don’t know if we could have done that had we been in the previous manual system beforehand.”

EFFICIENCY WITH COMPLIANCE

As a state institution, ICC undergoes audits every year, so adhering to compliance requirements is key. Gone are the days of shuffling through stacks of boxes in a small storage facility to pull paper timekeeping reports for auditors. With the automation provided by TimeClock Plus, historical time records are digitized and securely stored, expediting the audit process and minimizing the risk of discovering a human error during the audit.

It was very beneficial to us to be able to pivot and move all employees to a salaried classification.