Kent State University is transitioning from Kronos to Empower Software Solutions as the university’s timekeeping system vendor. Over the past two years, the payroll department and the Division of Information Services, with assistance from the Division of Human Resources, University Facilities Management, Dining Services, University Libraries, Regional Campuses and many others, have been assessing timekeeping and scheduling needs and looking for ways to better satisfy those needs.
Empower was selected after a comprehensive evaluation process that included issuing a request for proposal, reviewing the proposals received, selecting the top vendors and attending vendor presentations and system demos. Empower was the unanimous preference of the payroll department, information services and the end users involved in the evaluation process.
Empower is used by thousands of companies nationwide, including Home Depot, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Tufts University and the University of Northern Iowa.
Some of the features or improvements we will see with Empower are:
- FLASHcards can still be used to swipe time clocks.
- Empower software is HTML-based so there will be no Java issues.
- Empower software is compatible with Macs.
- Empower has more robust baseline scheduling options.
- Empower has more flexible reporting options.
The payroll department, information services and other user areas will work together to implement this new system. The transition will take place over the next eight to 12 months with plans for Empower to be fully implemented by Dec. 31, 2014.
Questions may be emailed to payroll@kent.edu.