What You Are Actually Buying
Timesheet products bundle four different systems under one name. Knowing which ones you need decides the shortlist, the price and the integration work.
Explainer
Step 01
Requirements
Four different products share this category name, and the rule engine decides which are viable at all. Plus the requirements that start with "not", which are the ones that get skipped.
10 notes
Writing Requirements That Survive
Most requirement documents are a feature checklist copied from a vendor's website. What to write instead so that evaluation means something.
Procedure
The Requirements That Start With Not
Negative requirements are the ones that get skipped and the ones that decide whether a deployment is accepted. What to exclude explicitly, and why.
Reference
Sizing Before Shortlisting
Four numbers change which products are viable and what the licence actually costs. Most evaluations discover them after the shortlist.
Procedure
Who Needs to Be in the Room
Timesheet systems touch pay, law, privacy and daily work at once. Missing any of those voices produces a system that fails in exactly that dimension.
Analysis
Recording Away From a Desk
Field, site and shift workers break assumptions a desk-oriented product is built on. The requirements that only surface when someone tries it in a yard.
Analysis
The Rule Engine
The part of the product that decides whether it can serve you at all, and the questions that reveal its real limits.
Analysis
What the Worker Can See
Accessibility of the record is part of the legal standard in several jurisdictions and a product capability that varies widely. What to require.
Reference
Where to Start
The first ninety days, in an order that produces constraints before it produces a shortlist.
Procedure
Project Attribution
The dimension that serves costing and billing rather than pay, and the design decisions that determine whether the data is usable.
Analysis