Iflexion provides a construction company with an enterprise-grade system designed to optimize work time tracking and payroll calculation, as well as make the data on resource usage transparent and available for further analysis by top management.
Our Customer, Sturgeon Services International (SSI), is a full-service company providing construction and maintenance services throughout California and the West in general. Founded as a small oilfield contractor in 1927, the company has expanded its focus beyond the oil industry and now also serves commercial, industrial and government sectors.
In response to their rapid business growth, SSI management launched a core transformation initiative in order to automate key business processes. With existing gaps in employee information handling and payroll management, the Customer needed a consolidated enterprise software suite that would help them deal with invoice generation, workflow management and payroll calculation more effectively. Given Iflexion’s service record and expertise in web application development for enterprises, the company was entrusted with the full-cycle solution delivery.
In the course of the project, Iflexion’s team was responsible for the end-to-end development of the enterprise time tracking software that would also enable automated payroll calculation. The future solution was to hit the following business goals:
The delivered solution, iPayroll, is a robust construction time tracking software that eliminates the need for inputting and handling work time and payroll data manually through a convenient, thought-out functionality. The solution automates the following activities:
The system imports data on employee work time (with such parameters as labor code, job number, etc.) from tickets created in eTicket – a custom ticketing solution developed by Iflexion. Supervisors can review, edit and approve timesheets of employees working in their crew. If supervisors don’t approve timesheets on time, the system automatically notifies them about the delay.
The process of payroll sheet calculation (number of working hours, overtime, double time, travel time, etc.) is based on the Customer’s corporate rules and the US legislation. Performing calculations, the system considers different time zones employees work in.
After payroll sheets are calculated, users can review them, make required modifications (for example, add earning codes with hours worked, vacations, and holidays) and attach necessary files before approving them. The data from approved payroll sheets is then converted into CSV-files and is exported to Viewpoint for further processing.
The application supports multiple validations, checks timesheets in accordance with the predefined rules, and notifies users in case of errors. For instance, it validates that an 8-hour working day includes lunch time of no less than 30 minutes. The history of changes is available for both timesheets and payroll sheets and contains information on date, time and author, as well as describes the changes made.
Iflexion was tasked with the full-cycle development of the enterprise time tracking software and took charge of requirements analysis and development, system design, development, integration, testing, maintenance, and support.
When it comes to payroll accounting, one of the most important aspects to consider is ensuring its full compliance with the state labor regulations. Implementing payroll schedule calculations, Iflexion’s team of qualified business analysts and tech leads spent several weeks onsite to discuss and define the exact requirements that would meet both the US labor legislation and the Customer’s business needs. Iflexion’s specialists collaborated with the Customer’s representatives and a third-party lawyer hired by SSI, to finalize the system requirements.
Having developed the required solution, Iflexion went ahead with the system testing. Four independent QA engineers carried out a number of tests, including smoke testing, functional testing, regression testing, and defect validation. Testing activities ensured that the system meets all the functional and performance requirements and operates properly.
Iflexion professionals developed a robust system with all the components built from scratch to ensure it addresses the Customer’s business objectives.
The system is built on the ASP.NET MVC 4 framework, which is based on the model-view-controller pattern, bringing a better support for test-driven development.
To design an intuitive and simple interface, our specialists leveraged a set of proven front-end frameworks, including Bootstrap, Knockout.js, jQuery, jQuery UI, and Moment.js.
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Microsoft SQL Server 2012 were used as relational database management systems.
The Quartz framework was utilized for runtime configuration, whilst the Entity framework provided an automated mechanism for accessing and storing database data.
The team also integrated the construction time tracking software with the Customer’s enterprise systems, including:
Iflexion accomplished all the objectives set by Sturgeon Services International and delivered the enterprise time tracking software within the timeframe and budget. With its convenient functionality and a user-friendly interface, iPayroll ensures automated work time tracking and payroll calculation, thus eliminating the need for manual data processing. Through the delivered solution, SSI can optimize the core business workflows, reduce human errors and make data processing more effective and transparent.