Kronos® Helps Meet the Unique Time and Labor Needs of the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board
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Tony Franzonello, immixGroup
September 20, 2006
Introduction
The U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) is an independent, quasi-judicial agency in the Executive branch with approximately 230 employees. Chartered by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, MSPB's mission is to ensure that the employees of the federal government are both well-maintained and protected from abuses based on merit. MSPB is headquartered in Washington, D.C. with eight offices around the country.
Business challenges
MSPB's existing time and labor system used 20 timekeepers and required the maintenance of three separate databases. The databases required a significant amount of manual data entry. After MSPB underwent a reduction in force, which reduced the number of staff members responsible for time-keeping duties by nearly half, MSPB was faced with a significant challenge.
Kronos webTA™: A government-specific solution with a strong return on investment (ROI)
The MSPB decided to look for a simplified, streamlined and government-friendly solution. Kronos webTA, a time and labor management solution designed for the Federal Government, satisfied the MSPB's requirements.
For the end user, webTA provides a user friendly, web-based solution that is easy and straightforward to use, and can be accessed remotely. This met the requirements for the MSPB attorneys who traveled to hearings or frequently worked outside of the office. Additionally, webTA was configured to allow users to input their information using easy to remember key words, which simplified the process and helped ensure user acceptance. webTA also addressed the requirements of the MSPB's IT staff, as it runs off of a single database, unlike the three needed for the earlier system. This freed up the IT staff's time to address the organization's other systems requirements.
Most significantly, however, the streamlined processes provided by webTA (which included the elimination of manual data entry and re-entry of data from one database to another) dramatically reduced the time needed to spend on recording and overseeing time and attendance information. In fact, using WebTA enabled MSPB to successfully accomplish its timekeeping tasks with about half the manpower following the agency's reduction in force. The savings in time with the webTA system allows employees to spend more time on other agency activities. In addition to the benefits described above, the webTA system has a very reasonable price tag.
Key ingredients for success
webTA is user-friendly. In addition, Kronos is successful because of its attention to detail and customer support. Kronos employs a hands-on, consultative sales approach which enables Kronos to understand the unique needs of its customers up front. Finally, Kronos' commitment to customer support makes a transition to the webTA system smooth and seamless.