Helping Kronos Timekeeper Make Up Its Mind - Punch Interpretation

Kronos Timekeeper does an excellent job... except when it doesn't. Now don't get me wrong, 99% of what Workforce Timekeeper does is excellent! There are just those few issues that present challenges for a manager who is editing employee timecards. You know, the stuff they either didn't learn in training, or couldn't remember for one reason or another. A good example of that is punch interpretation.

It Isn't Always Kronos' Fault

So let's be clear. The Kronos punch interpretation issue I'm talking about isn't caused because Workforce Timekeeper doesn't handle it properly; it's more an issue of programming... and decision making.  

Kronos Timekeeper Has To Follow The Rules It's Programmed To Follow

Every installation of Timekeeper is programmed with a long lunch setting. You know what I mean; the longest meal an employee assigned to this rule will have is XX minutes. If the time between out and in punches is longer than that, Workforce Timekeeper will interpret that period of time as something OTHER than a meal. 

Which leads us to one of life's rules... As soon as you create a rule, people start breaking that rule; or in this case, as soon as you set a maximum meal setting, an employee will take a meal that's longer than that setting. For example, the two hour lunch an employee took because they had a doctor's appointment. Workforce Timekeeper doesn't care that he went to the doctor, only that he was out longer than the maximum meal setting, and therefore, this can't be a lunch. 

So rather than blame Kronos let's fix the situation by changing the way Timekeeper interprets this punch. Fundamentally, we will make Workforce Timekeeper change it's mind. 

But Be Careful!   

What we are doing is changing the punch interpretation for the in-punch from the two hour meal the employee took. This is a simple task, but the devil is in the details. Make sure you select the appropriate interpretation rule. If you aren't sure, check with your Kronos system administrator. Once the correct interpretation is selected, its as easy as clicking OK and saving your changes. I won't describe the entire process here, it's documented in the QuickTip video below. 

The QuickTip video reviews this process, step by step, and shows the results in the timecard. Please review this video and tell us what you think in the survey or leave me a comment. We value your feedback and look forward to your comments.