Automated Tools & Payroll Integrations Are a Game Changer for McKinney ISD

Audit Indicates Need for New Time Clocks and Integrations

McKinney ISD is one of the largest school districts within the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex of Texas, with more than 24,000 students and 2,700 faculty and staff. McKinney ISD experienced an external audit indicating deficiencies with absence verification, time management and the approval of hours. This combined with faulty time clocks, inadequate time methods and tracking employee comp-time and accruals, led the district to upgrade to a superior time and attendance system.

Marlene Harbeson, Executive Director of Finance at McKinney ISD began to research K12-centric time and attendance solutions and selected TCP to accommodate their needs and integrate with Tyler Munis payroll and SmartFind, a sub search system.

Harbeson shared that McKinney ISD needed to address a few serious issues:

• Hardware failure with a lack of integration and connection issues prevented their employees from being able to clock in and out on a consistent basis and kept administrators from successfully running accurate reports.
• Previous time clocks were unable to verify new proximity cards when issued to employees and created inconsistencies with tracking employee hours
• Outdated and tireless system of manual entry to track workers at athletic events, resulting in incorrect and delayed employee pay

Moreover, McKinney ISD struggled with a homegrown system referred to as the “blackbox” that transferred information from their previous time and attendance system to SmartFind. This required the payroll team to manipulate data to transfer hours correctly. The process was inefficient and configuration was time consuming and complicated. It was time to implement a new time and attendance system.

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Simplicity for the Win!

TCP performed an onsite discovery, meeting with McKinney ISD stakeholders from their technology group, budget & finance, payroll, and benefits to acquire the exact needs of the district. They needed a solution that could seamlessly sync with their payroll system in Munis, as McKinney ISD uses it for their accrual balances and payroll.

During the discovery phase, Harbeson was impressed with the implementation and the simplicity of the process. “It was hands down the easiest discovery and implementation of any time clock product that I have ever done.”

To remove inconsistencies, RDTg proximity time clocks were installed and configured throughout the facilities with a secure connection featuring a plug and play option. “We had all 35 plus clocks up and running within a matter of a couple of hours,” said Harbeson.

With these time clocks, the district can utilize multiple sets of proximity cards and configure them to allow employees to clock in and out without delay. This gives McKinney ISD greater ability to track and manage employee hours.

TCP also eliminated the cumbersome “blackbox” allowing the district to integrate directly with SmartFind and to view the substitute information attached to the specific teacher requesting time off.

It was hands down the easiest discovery and implementation of any time clock product that I have ever done.”

Today, Payroll Processing Takes an Hour

“There wasn’t anything we could come up with that didn’t know the exact answer of what we needed to do and how to handle it,” said Harbeson.

TCP streamlined the payroll process by creating a synchronous solution with Munis. Zach Johnson, who supervises the payroll for the district, has already seen a definite improvement. “ our old system it was about half a day to process payroll, and now I can do the whole thing in about an hour.”

With TCP’s TimeClock Plus software installed, McKinney ISD can now successfully run reports and prepare for audits with proper documentation. Moreover, the school district is utilizing the comp-time and accrual features to enable employees to view their balances in real time.

McKinney ISD also requested the Job Costing Module to track employee hours during certain athletic events such as operating a ticket booth during basketball games. With this capability, the district will remove paper timesheets and outdated manual systems to become completely paperless. “We will truly be able to say that we are computerized,” said Harbeson. “We don’t have manual pieces of paper flying around anymore, which is a big deal.”

As McKinney continues to work with TCP, they are achieving their goal of becoming efficient and consistent by eliminating inconsistences that previously caused problems. Harbeson spoke highly of TCP and said she was impressed with the seamless process and professionalism displayed. “When you find a group of people that are willing to work with you like that…That paid for the system right there.”

“We don’t have manual pieces of paper flying around anymore, which is a big deal.”