In today’s world, many organisations are under pressure to simplify their technology stack. With a growing number of systems in play, often 30+ applications per employee, it’s tempting to adopt an all-in-one suite that promises to cover everything from recruitment to payroll to time & attendance.
But here's the catch: when you aim to do everything, you risk specialising in nothing.
That’s where a dedicated time and attendance (T&A) platform like Crown comes into its own. It’s built solely to manage time, attendance, absence, shift scheduling and resource deployment, day in, day out. While your HR or HCM system focuses on talent, benefits and strategic human capital, a specialist time and attendance solution takes over the rest: ensuring accurate execution, maintaining compliance, managing operational scheduling and optimising your workforce.
Why HCM/ERP suites can struggle with T&A
- Broad-scope platforms cover many functions, but may not deliver deep functionality in time & attendance, especially for shift-based, 24/7 or complex operations.
- Customising large HCM/ERP suites to handle nuanced scheduling, entitlements, multiple sites and shift patterns, mobile clocking etc can be expensive and slow.
- Because the T&A module is just one part of a bigger suite, upgrades and innovation in this area can lag behind specialised platforms.
- Duplication of data and user experience challenges: many HR users may be restricted from employee self-service for clocking or rostering, pushing admin back to HR.
In short: if you’ve got a large workforce, shift-patterns, remote/mobile workers, compliance requirements (Working Time Regulations, break entitlements, seasonal peaks) then the “jack-of-all-trades” HCM may not deliver the agility and depth you need.
Crown complements your HR, ERP or HCM system
Rather than replacing your existing platform, Crown is designed to integrate with it seamlessly, so you get best-in-class T&A and scheduling, and your systems continue to manage talent, benefits and high-level employee lifecycle.
Seamless integration
Crown supports real-time data exchange with any HR, payroll or ERP system. This means you do not need to change your HR system: employee master data flows through Crow, where T&A and scheduling captured are captured, and processed hours, entitlements and exceptions feed back into payroll/HR, no duplication and no work-arounds.
Optimised for operational decision-making
Crown’s roots are in workforce management. Developed over 35+ years, the system has been refined for attendance, absence management, dynamic activity scheduling, shift patterns, access control. That history means Crown's features are tailored for the realities of operational workforces.
Latest features that make a difference
The latest version of Crown Workforce Management unlocks powerful new capabilities
- A modern mobile self-service interface: employees can view schedules, request time-off, clock via mobile.
- Self-Service Availability: staff can specify when they are available to work (ad-hoc, part-time, overtime) and schedulers can use that for smarter rosters.
- New Starter Wizard: streamlines onboarding of new team members, ensuring consistent capture of key data and faster time-to-productivity.
- Rolling entitlement management: complex policies (e.g., sick pay, TOIL, varied contract rules) are automatically calculated and reflected accurately.
- Geofencing for mobile clocking: ensures staff are only clocking within approved zones, critical for mobile or multi-site workforces.
- Self‐Service Document Access: employees can access and download return-to-work forms, fit notes, contract docs themselves, reducing admin burden.
- Open Data Platform and advanced analytics: better intelligence on workforce utilisation, scheduling demand, absence trends.
Compliance & security built-in
As an enterprise specialist system, Crown has robust security credentials and is built with compliance in mind, ideal for regulated sectors and large multi-site workforces.
The business case: scale, flexibility, speed
Choosing a best-of-breed T&A system to work alongside HR, ERP or HCM, that delivers measurable business benefits. The operational advantages include:
- Faster implementation: because the scope is well defined, you roll out T&A and scheduling faster than patching an HCM module.
- Configurable model: you can tailor shift patterns, entitlements, clocking rules and scheduling logic without waiting for generic HCM updates.
- Best-practice scheduling and optimisation: shift-based workforces demand more than standard HR tools; you get features specific to your operational reality.
- Reduced duplication and risk: data flows between HR/ERP/HCM and T&A so you avoid manual work and inconsistent datasets.
- Employee self-service: improves satisfaction and reduces HR/admin burden.
- Scalable and future-proof: as your workforce model evolves (mobile, hybrid, flexible, contingent) the specialist T&A system is ready to adapt.
When to consider a specialist T&A approach
Ask yourself:
- Does your workforce operate across shifts, sites, mobile or remote locations?
- Do you manage complex entitlements, variable hours, variable availability, multi-site attendance?
- Is your existing T&A/scheduling module lacking or generic?
- Do you need quick wins and flexibility rather than a long drawn-out overhaul of the full ERP/HCM suite?
- Would you rather optimise one part of the employee lifecycle (time & scheduling) with specialist tools, and leave the broader ERP/HCM for talent, benefits and global workforce strategies?
If you answered ‘yes’ to one or more of those, then a specialist T&A provider like Crown is worth serious consideration as a complement, not a competitor, to your ERP/HCM platform.
