The Engineering Projects

Traffic Light Circuit using 555 Timer in Proteus

Hey pals! Welcome to the board. We are talking about a fascinating experiment about The Engineering Projects. We all know about the Traffic Lights. But today, we'll see inside the Traffic Lights and find some interesting working of the circuit of Traffic Lights. Before this, just have a look at the topics of discussion:

1. What is the Traffic Lights circuit with 555 Timer?
2. What does the 555 timer do in Traffic Lights?
3. What is the purpose of the 4017 IC Counter in the circuit?
4. How does the circuit of Traffic Lights work with 555 Timer IC?
5. How can we perform experiments with the circuit of 555 Timer Traffic Lights in Proteus ISIS?

In addition, we'll see some important points about the topic in DID YOU KNOW sections.

Traffic Lights circuit with 555 Timer

Whenever we rush toward any road that has a heavy flow of vehicles, we always follow some traffic rules. One of the most fundamental traffic rules is to follow the traffic lights. These traffic lights direct the vehicles to start or stop moving at the road according to our turn. These turns are decided by the Traffic Lights. The traffic Lights show the different colored lights and these lights turn on and off in a sequence. We know all these things, but we are revising these to get the logic behind the scene. we define the Traffic Lights technically as:

"The traffic lights are the combination of three LEDs colored as red, amber and green that are connected in a specialized circuit that gives the output from the LEDs in a specific format and this format is used to control the flow of traffic."

These LEDs are enclosed in a metallic body. Traffic Light signals are so useful that 99% of the countries use them. This makes the circuit one of the most fundamental and common circuits to understand.

There are many devices through which the Traffic Lights may be controlled. Out of which, two are common:

1. Traffic Lights with the D Flip Flop.
2. Traffic Lights with 555 Timer

We have discussed the 1st method in our previous tutorial, Let's have a look at the next one.

555 Timer IC Performance in Traffic Lights

before starting the simulation, let's have a look at its components briefly. The circuit of Traffic Lights uses a very common yet powerful device i.e, 555 Timer IC. The 555 Timer is so useful that it is said that annually, a billion of 555 Timers are produced and it is considered as the most popular IC of the year 2017. We introduce the 555 Timer as:

"The 555 Timer is a common 8 pins Integrated Circuit used in a variety of oscillation generators and Timers to generate a pulse of the signals that control the output sequentially."

In our experiment, we'll apply the Mono-stable Multi-vibrator mode of the 555 timer. The output of 555 Timer in this mode is in the form of a single pulse of current that has a specific length. This pulse is sometimes called the one-shot pulse.

4017 IC in the 555 Timer Traffic Lights

The 4017 is the special IC that is usually coupled with the 555 Timer. It works on the pulse generated by the 555 Timer and the definition for the 4017 IC is given as:

• "The 4017 is 16 pins counter and decoder of 555 Timer IC that generates a decade counter output from its output pins and the outputs advances from one to another with the positive edge of the clock pulse."

Once the clock pulse of 4017 IC in the traffic Lights goes from low to high, the IC started its cycle again and we get a sequential Logic output. The pins 3 to 12 of the 4017 IC Counter are said to be the output pins of the 4017 and we'll connect the traffic lights with them.

Working of Traffic Lights using 555 Timer IC

1. The Working of the circuit starts with the power connected to the Vcc terminal of 555 Timer IC.
2. the power in the 555 Timer in Mono-stable Multi-vibrator mode produces a uniform pulse of current that is stabilized with the help of capacitors used with the 555 Timer IC.
3. The current is then fed into the clock terminal of the 4017 decade counter IC that decodes these pulses of 555 Timer IC and produces the stream of output at its output terminals.
4. The terminals of the 4017 IC are connected to the diodes in a specific manner. These diodes conduct the electricity on only one side and so that a specialized sequence of the current is found at the outputs of these diodes.
5. There are two sets of the diode connections. Four diodes are connected in a set and two in another. The output of 1st set is fed to Green Light of the Traffic Lights. The Amber and Red lights of the circuit are connected with the second set.
6. The output of these two sets is connected with the resistor and then finally this current passes to the traffic Lights signal.
7. In the end, we get a specialized, clear and automatic output from the traffic lights.

Simulation of the circuit of 555 Timer Traffic Lights in Proteus ISIS

At the moment, we are going to design the circuit of the experiments. So let's start.

Devices required for 555 Timer Traffic Lights

1. 555 Timer IC
2. 4017 IC
3. Capacitors - 3
4. Resistors - 7
5. Diodes - 6
6. Traffic lights

• Fire up your Proteus Software.
• Choose the material from pick Library through "P" button.

Let's divide the circuit design into three parts:

1. 555 Timer connections
2. 4017 IC Counter connections
3. Connection of 555 Timer and 4017 IC

555 Timer Connections

• Choose the 555 Timer from the component's area and arrange it on the left side working area.
• Select the resistor then  arrange three resistors with pin 3, 6 and 7.
• Take capacitor and set two capacitors with pin 2 and 5 of 555 Timer.

• Go to terminal mode and set a Ground terminal at the Ground pin of the 555 Timer.
• Connect all the components of 555 Timer IC as:

Connections of 4017 IC

• Go to components, choose 4017 IC.
• Select diode and arrange the 7 diodes with the output pins on the right side of 4017 IC.
• Take care with the direction of the diodes.
• Set a resistor between the pins 13 and 16 of 4017 IC.
• Arrange three resistors  just after the diodes.
• Now set a Traffic Light signal on the right side of the resistors.

DID YOU KNOW?????????????????????????????

It is said by AAA, the average American spends 58.6 hours every year waiting at the red light of traffic signal.

• The circuit now looks like the image given next:

Connection of ICs

• Now, at the moment, we'll connect the ICs to finally set our circuit.
• Set a capacitor between both these ICs.
• Alter the names of the components by given them numbering so that Proteus may distinguish between different Resistors, Capacitors, diodes and ICs.
• Change the values of each component according to the table given next:

Component	Values
C1	0.01uF
C2	47uF
C3	6.8nF
R1	23k ohm
R2	10k ohm
R3	22K ohm
R4	100k ohm
R5	100 ohm
R6	100 ohm

• Observe deeply the image given below and connect all the components with the help of connecting wires.

• Our circuit is now good to go, Let's tap the play button and simulate the circuit.

The circuit shows the required output well. If you found any error, look at the steps given above again.

DID YOU KNOW????????????????

The working speed of the Traffic Lights can be varied by changing the values of capacitors connected with  pin 5 and 2 of the 555 Timer IC.

So, today we saw a fantastic circuit in which we learned that what are the Traffic lights signal using 555 timer, how does the ICs of 555 timer and 4017 IC Counter work with each other to show the output of the Traffic Lights and we designed the circuit of 555 Timer Traffic Lights in Proteus ISIS. If you have any questions, you can contact us through the comment sections.

Workforce Management: Definition, System, Software, Courses & Jobs

Hello people, I hope you all are having a great time. Let us start our discussion with a simple question, how you keep a track of your progress be it daily, monthly, or yearly? Or how your professor for fluid dynamics or any other course keep you on your toes throughout the semester? Definitely by keeping a proper schedule and record or maybe by tracking your progress through an app or anything manual! Have you ever thought about how big companies keep themselves on track? How they manage a huge network of employees by keeping in check their progress individually? Or how the day-to-day or hourly tasks are assigned and kept under check daily for every employee of the company? All these things are done through workforce management. Today, we will be discussing this process of Workforce Management through and through. Let us define Workforce first:

Definition of Workforce

Workforce can be defined as:

• "People duly engaged for performing specific tasks for a company or an individual, through a formal or informal setting are referred as the workforce of that particular individual or company."

You are very well aware of the meaning of workforce, it is time to get back on track and dive into the sea of workforce management.

Definition of Workforce Management

So, we define workforce management as;

• "Workforce management refers to the collection of different processes which keep the performance and progress of employees associated with the organization under check."

Informally, we can say that workforce management is the process through which a company keeps its employees on its toes, calculating every second of their time on the scale of progress! Oops!

Alternate Names for Workforce Management

There are a few alternate names for the workforce management system, I'm listing the possible ones below:

• Workforce Asset Management WAM
• Enterprise Resource Planning ERP
• Human Resource Management System HRM

Moving forward, Have you ever heard, seen, or experienced how established companies like Genesys, Amazon Cloud Services manage their employees or any famously known big company or a small one manages its workforce? let me tell you about Genesys for an overview, They do it through their custom made software specially tailored to keep an eye on the performance and progress of their employees, despite the fact that its employees have to move far away to the sites for installation and other stuff, but still, their system is developed enough to take care of everything.

Ever heard of UKG? Ultimate Kronos Group? Do you know what they do? They provide top-notch workforce management solutions to their clients who are looking for a better way to manage their businesses, Yes! It's a business too. And a highly profitable one, you’ll get to know this later in this article, keep reading!

Workforce Management System

The Workforce Management system is the amalgamation of several processes which keep the workforce or you may say employees of a company under check. That check may be associated with the attendance, performance, and progress of the employees and several other things which are deemed necessary for the well-being of the company.

Importance of Workforce Management

Let us first see why workforce management is important. There are a lot of advantages of workforce management, we will be discussing a few important ones in this section;

First things first, the benefits of workforce management can be summarized in three Rs.

• Right person for the job.
• Right time for the task.
• Right place for the task and the person performing the job.

These three Rs help the company to grow and achieve more.

• Workforce management helps you know the real-time situation of your company i.e. the real ground situation and help you devise a ground strategy accordingly.
• Workforce management results in the maximum use of resources without being heavy on the budget, because the right task is being assigned to the right person so it would lower the hiring cost without compromising the quality and standards of work.
• Companies that lay emphasis on the workforce management have a higher number of happy employees which means they perform well, when your employees are happy their services would ultimately lead to a better experience for your clients as well, leading to the overall growth of the company.

Basics of Workforce Management

There are a few things that are necessary to be taken care of for workforce management. I'm going to list all of them here;

• Data Collection
• Analyzing the workload
• Analyzing your staff
• Staff scheduling
• Analyzing daily performance

Now we will discuss the above-mentioned points in detail.

Data collection

• A record of everything i.e. every task from start to the end is necessary, for example, you are a huge bakery that bakes hundreds of cakes on daily basis, wouldn't it be important to calculate the timing for baking, assembling, and frosting the cake?
• It would help in the following ways;
• In order to make a better estimate of workload, you have at your place no matter how big or small it is or no matter what's the size of the task.
• To divide and assign the tasks in a better way and to schedule them properly.
• Hiring new people whenever needed, divides the workload.

Analyzing the workload

• When you are well aware of the workload at hand, you manage it better, I think we all know this! Don't we?
• For workforce management, it is a necessary prerequisite to know what awaits you in the future and manage it beforehand or at least develop a strategy to cope up.

Analyzing Staff Requirement

• The number of people who are working to get a certain job done must be ample enough to do it easily, accurately, and in time.
• Let's suppose, you have been assigned to write a manuscript of ten thousand words in a day, would it be humanly possible for you to do that in a day? No, it won't be! So, whose fault is this? Obviously, the one who has assigned you the task which is beyond your ability is at fault!
• So, in workforce management, it is necessary to divide the workload among your employees evenly and humanly, if employees are scarce make a room for more to get things done in time with accuracy.

Staff scheduling

• Staff scheduling is a very important thing when it comes to workforce management.
• Scheduling can help you assign tasks in a better way to an employee who can perform a particular task in an efficient way.
• Take an example of the above-mentioned bakery, you would assign frosting to the baker who frosts in time with accuracy meanwhile the person who assembles and decorates well would be scheduled to do that particular task.
• When we schedule our tasks, it helps up know our workforce in a better way, pointing out who is better for a specific task and who isn't!

Analyzing daily performance

• If you are able to assess the daily performance of your workforce, it would help you achieve your milestones in a more organized manner.
• For this purpose set the following criteria for assessment;
• Are the employees really efficiently doing their indicated designated task?
• Is your workforce really achieving the milestones as a team?
• Are the new additions in your team really an asset to the company?
• Are the older employees up to date enough to cope up with the modern times and trends?

Processes and Departments Involved in the Workforce Management System

Let us have a look at the processes involved in a better workforce management one by one;

Human resource management HRM

• There would be hardly anyone on earth who has searched for a job and still doesn't know about the human resource department. The human resource department helps in managing the workforce of the company through and through.
• From scheduling to assigning and paying employees, they are involved in everything.

Real-time Data Collection

• As we have discussed earlier, real-time data collection is important for the workforce management it helps analyze the performance of the employees on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.
• This process is carried out easily through different analytical tools provided by the workforce management software, previously it was done through spreadsheets but now the world has changed its ways!

Performance Management System

• Performance Management makes sure that the performance of the workforce is aligning well with the milestones and long-term goals of the company.
• The outdated practices are replaced, based on low performance with the modern techniques and trends.

Training Management System

• Training management is the process of keeping your workforce up to date with modern trends and technology through proper modules and workshops.

Scheduling and Forecasting

• Scheduling refers to the planning and optimization of the tasks designated to the workforce and hence forecasting is the process of analyzing the future workload of the company on the currently available workforces to manage it efficiently.

Field Service Management

• Field service management refers to the management of off-site and on-site resources such as transportation for machinery and technical staff to the site and delivery of top-notch services to the client on-site.

Budgeting and Financing

• Allocating funds for the projects and employees is one of the most crucial processes in workforce management and needs to be done vigilantly to prevent any loss in terms of talent and resources.

Time Tracking and Attendance

• This is one of the most crucial systems for workforce management, it keeps a track of working hours, off time, paid time off, shift swaps and availability of the employees.
• There are countless available options which can used for developing the time tracking and attendance system of the company, you will get to know a lot of them in our next section about Workforce Management Software

Workforce Management Software

As we are done with the basics of workforce management, the processes and departments involved, let us discuss the software involved in the process of workforce management, the days when everything was done manually are long gone, we live in a modernized society where everything is automated to reduce time and labor cost, workforce management is one of those things as well.

Types of Workforce Management Software

Workforce management software is of different types such as;

• Time and attendance software to track the working hours of the employees.
• Software for absence and leave management of employees.
• Workforce analytics software to keep the check on the performance of employees.
• Workforce scheduling and tasking software to manage workflow.
• Payroll management software to pay according to the working hours and shifts of the employees.

Modern Workforce management software is a combination of one or more above-mentioned software, most of the available options can be tweaked according to the company's demand and culture. We will discuss the qualities and peculiar features of many available options for workforce management system in the market, in this section.

Criteria for Developing a Workforce Management Software

In order to qualify as a proper workforce management software, there is a certain criterion that must be fulfilled by that certain software either it is cloud-based software or web-based software. Let us have a look at the points which are absolutely necessary for this purpose;

• The software must allow the administrators to schedule work for employees, their leave requests, and paid time off.
• The software should be able to develop contingency plans without any delays in the system.
• The software must be able to report labor activities and produce analytics accordingly.
• There must be no technical glitches in tracking the employees' attendance and productivity through the provided app or system.
• The software must allow the users to forecast labor demands.

Famous Software for Workforce Management

So, the above-mentioned points must be kept in mind while developing and buying a software for workforce management, although there are countless available options in the market for this purpose but we will only discuss a few famously known and used ones, or we can say the ones which stood the trials and tests of time are being mentioned below,

ADP Workforce Now

• The first entry on the list of workforce management software is the ADP workforce Now software, it is an all-in-one software based on a single database.
• ADP Workforce Now is a cloud-based software which has the features of human resource management, talent management, payroll management, and time and labor management among many available features.
• It is extremely easy to use and above all, it is configurable as well i.e. you can tweak it according to your needs by contacting the service provider.
• ADP Workforce Now also helps in the management of taxation and other legal formalities without any hassle.
• There is an option of advertising the vacancies in the company to hire the new talent, hiring made easy!
• The cloud-based HR system provided by the ADP workforce Now reduces the paperwork with online document storage and helps develop a better workflow in the company.

Ceridian Dayforce

• Ceridian Dayforce is a Human Capital Management HCM company which provides modern HR solutions.
• Their motto is to "Make Work-Life Better" by providing top-notch business solutions for human capital management to their clients.
• Their software provides a user-friendly solution to the complex HR operational processes to the companies which are loved by their employees.

ADP, LLC

• ADP, LLC is the human resource management software and service which automates the HR Management, tasking and scheduling for small and big businesses.
• Alongside HR management it also manages payroll and taxation of the companies using ADP, LLC services.
• ADP, LLC helps companies achieve productivity at lesser costs and lesser employees to do a task, with best available tools for tasking and scheduling and then analyzing employee’s performance.
• It's a cloud-based software with an efficient mobile app to connect employees at a single platform, reducing paperwork and making hassle-free communication possible.

Paycom

• ADP, LLC, and Paycom are often compared with each other, but the main difference lies within the fact that Paycom is used by big companies i.e. Enterprise level companies meanwhile ADP, LLC is used by small or medium-sized businesses.
• Paycom is a cloud-based solution for HR management and Payroll management.
• Paycom being cloud-based also has a user-friendly mobile app to connect the employees of the company using it, each employee has its own user id and login pin.

Workday

• Workday is also a workforce management software provider which is particularly focused on developing a better Human Resource management solution and Finance management solution for its users.
• It is a cloud-based software that provides a personal id to each and every employee of the company using it, the employee can enter and alter personal information such as emergency contact and address, and employees can also view their work schedules, off time, paid time off and can print the details as well.
• You can download the workday app easily from the play store if you are an employee of the company using it.

Rippling

• Rippling is also a famous workforce management software that helps manages the HR, IT, and Payroll of their client's company.
• Rippling works by collecting and managing the data of employees and the company all in one place on its cloud based system.
• It performs fully automated functions with a single click without any paperwork, easy! Isn't it?

UKG Workforce Central

• UKG Workforce Central is one of the most famously known software for workforce management.
• It was previously known as Kronos workforce central.
• UKG Workforce Central helps in scheduling, attendance, absence management, and a lot of other things associated with this section of managing the working hours of the employees.
• UKG Workforce Central organizes the entire workforce of a company on a single cloud-based software.
• UKG Workforce Central claims that its service is mobile, secure, and efficient.

Deputy

• Deputy is one of that workforce management software, which have received rave reviews from its users.
• It is a web-based solution for workforce management.
• Deputy makes it easier for its clients to manage payroll, scheduling, timesheets any tasking easier with a single click.

APS Core HR Solution

• As the name indicates it is almost clear what does APS Core HR Solution provides to its users?
• It provides HR and payroll solutions.
• It helps automate the complex processes of HR management without any disturbance in the workflow.
• APS Core HR Solution helps process the payroll in hours which is itself an unmatched ability of workforce management software.

EPAY HCM

• EPAY HCM helps in human capital management.
• It considerably reduces the cost of HR management for the company by automation of the workflow.
• EPAY HCM takes responsibility for new recruitments in the company, time and attendance, payroll management, and taxation.
• EPAY HCM also provides its customer support throughout the clock in case of any system failure.
• It provides a highly user-friendly experience to the employees for better workforce management.

Namely

• This workforce management software provides a seamless solution for Payroll management, HR, and Benefits platforms.
• Namely provides an HR software tailored according to the needs of the company using it and above all, it is cloud based and user friendly.

PayloCity

• PayloCity is a very well reputed software that provides customized software for workforce management to its clients.
• It is responsible for HR management, Payroll, and benefits.
• PayloCity is extremely client-oriented and user-friendly which paves a way for better automation of day-to-day tasks.
• You can save a lot of time by using PayloCity for workforce management without having to do a lot of paperwork.

Bamboo HR

• Bamboo HR is a SaaS company which means Software as a service.
• It is usually a preferred choice for companies which are having a larger system or workflow. On the parallel lines, Bamboo HR is used by small businesses as well which are on the road to progress because it is not that much costly.
• Bamboo HR is a cloud-based software and above all, it is fairly reasonable or you may say affordable.
• The Mobile app for Bamboo HR is easy to use and has personalized information stored for each employee in the company. You can easily manage everything with a single click.

Enterprise e TIME

• Enterprise e TIME helps the big and small companies to automate their system.
• They provide help with talent management and analytics along with these two, Enterprise e TIME is also responsible for Payroll management.

Planday

• Planday is an employee scheduling solution, you can easily manage a shift-based business with this platform.
• Planday takes responsibility for scheduling, shift swaps, payroll management, and working hour management of the employees.
• Planday is a web-based system.
• The most amazing feature of Planday is that it is fully integrated employee communication system which enables the authorities to text or email an employee within its designated portal.

Zoomshift

• Zoomshift is a cloud-based software which is responsible for scheduling and tasking.
• You can easily manage and publish work schedules through this software for your employees to check and comply.
• Zoomshift takes responsibility for managing overtime, availability, working hours, and shift conflicts of the employees.
• One of the most amazing features of Zoomshift is sending notifications to employees when a new schedule has been uploaded or an older one has been updated.

When I work

• When I work is an app-based workforce management software.
• It helps in scheduling, payroll, time tracking, and communication for businesses which hire hourly employees.
• When I work can be integrated with the payroll provider of the company and you can pay your employees according to their working hours, without any hassle and with a single click.
• It also manages the scheduling of the employees according to their availability and is amazing in managing shift swaps as well.

Paycor

• Paycor is a human capital management platform that pays attention to the strategic goals of the company.
• It is a core HR solution that provides everything in a single place with a single click without the hassle of switching between different platforms.
• Paycor analytics is one of the most powerful systems available in the market providing enterprise-level insights to the small businesses.

Hireology

• If you are looking for workforce management software that can be used to hire people easily and efficiently then hierology is your best bet.
• Hireology hires the best available team required for your day-to-day tasks according to the culture of your company.

Intradiem

• Intradiem is an AI-powered system that provides solutions for the automation of customer service teams.
• Intradiem manages the call centers with a huge influx of data as they can't manage it on their own efficiently.
• It can effectively determine and manage the activity of every employee in the call center.

So, this last entry concludes our list of software available in the market for workforce management, finally! As I told you earlier there are countless other options as well, but it is another story for another day!

Pricing of Workforce Management Software

Let us talk about the pricing of this software for workforce management, pricing varies from company to company and totally depends on the nature of the contract between the two parties, by two parties I mean the service provider and the company which is buying the service from them, sometimes a third party is also involved in the process which adds to additional costs. Cost is calculated by adding in all the on-site and off-site expenses and charges for using cloud based system. The service provider can charge per user price or it may charge according to the amount of data that is to be handled.

Let us move to the next section of our discussion which involves the detailed account of courses you can get yourself enrolled in if you want to be an efficient workforce manager.

Courses for Workforce Management

Now it's time to know how you can learn workforce management. Read the following section to explore your options.

• Up till now, there is no specific degree particular to workforce management, meanwhile, a separate degree for workforce management is not essentially important too if you want to pursue it as your career, Bachelor's in human resource, finance, and other fields related to social sciences would be enough for this purpose when topped with available online course related to workforce management.
• Workforce management can easily be learned through online available courses present on educational sites such as Udemy, Coursera, and many others.
• Some of these courses are free meanwhile some of them are paid, the cost of each one varies according to the site from which you opt to buy one!
• One of the famously known courses involves the call center school workforce management online courses, it is a paid course available on their website. You can complete the whole course in six months by having video lectures, written notes, and a self-assessment kit provided by them. The call center school has thoroughly explained the whole process of workforce management, its challenges, and everything you need to know and learn about workforce management.
• Icmi Bootcamp is also an available online course for workforce management, you can learn the whole process through different modules dedicated to each step required to learn the workforce management. I'm listing the modules included in this course;
• Workforce management
• Statistics and Excel
• Forecasting
• Long-term staffing
• Weekly staffing and scheduling
• Real-time management
• Report and Data administration

Pricing varies for every intake of their Virtual classroom, it's a four-day-long course and for the rest of the information you can check out their website.

• Oracle workforce management, cloud training, and certification is another important name in the available online course for workforce management. There are several certifications available on their website, you can get yourself the one you think suits you the best.
• Some of the available options include;
• Benchmark portal workforce management certification
• Strategic workforce planning SWP certification
• Society of workforce planning professionals SWWP
• Call center workforce management Bootcamp
• All the above-mentioned online resources are paid and prices vary from course to course, let me be honest, if you are really into something invest in your choice if you have chosen the workforce management as your career path you should take the course keeping up with your pocket.
• No doubt some of the available resources are free as well but they are only basic ones i.e. you would only be able to cover the basic aspects of the job, you can't get full fledge workforce manager or workforce analyst training for free at all!
• I hope this section has cleared everything about the courses available in the market which can help you learn workforce management, now, we will be moving towards the last section of our discussion which involves the jobs related to the workforce management. Let's get started,

Workforce Management Jobs

Talking about jobs related to workforce management, there are two important roles which include;

• Workforce manager
• Workforce Analyst

We will be discussing both the roles in this section one by one.

Workforce Manager

• We talked about the system and courses related to workforce management, role of a workforce manager revolves around that i.e. keeping a check on the performance of employees, tasking, and scheduling and lot of other stuff.
• It is one of the key roles of a workforce Manager to keep the track of employees' performance and assign them due tasks according to their utmost capabilities. In simple words, assign them the task they are best at!
• A workforce Manager must have a problem-solving approach with a higher emotional quotient because it is easy to lose your calm at the end of the day, as everyone is coming with their due problems you need to solve. I would recommend a reading for this, if you have got enough time, read a book titled Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves, it would help you understand how the best workforce manager keeps calm and navigate through his or her day to day work routine.
• The most important of all the things at which a workforce manager must be efficient is tasking and scheduling, timing and the right move is everything in terms of business if you really want to excel! Isn't it?
• A workforce manager is in charge of the overall workflow of the company, the processes that are going on, and their relevant things.
• A workforce manager also takes care of the culture and policies of the company i.e. is everything aligned with the goal and vision of the company or not?
• Workforce manager is responsible for the milestones set for production, if the company is achieving them efficiently or not? If not, then what are the key factors that hindering the growth of the company?
• Good Communication is the key to a better workflow, for this purpose workforce manager is responsible for carrying out meetings with the head of departments and teams involved in the processes to keep everything going or we may say running on the road to progress and success.
• Workforce manager is an important entity that checks the viability and feasibility of a project when the company has to sign any contract with a second or third party.
• The workforce manager must be picky enough to pick the right one for the right job as it falls under the duties of the workforce manager to appoint team heads for the day-to-day tasks of the company.
• Now you must be thinking about how much a workforce manager earns after performing all these jobs? According to an estimate, a workforce manager earns up to $75000 a year.
• It not necessary that the workforce manager would perform all these duties alone, instead, the workforce managers work in collaboration with their team and higher authorities to perform all these duties.

Workforce Analyst

We will now talk about the role of a workforce analyst.

• As the name suggests, workforce analyst works closely with implementation and analysis.
• Workforce Analyst is responsible for gathering real-time information about the procedures going on in the company and implement ways to improve the situation.
• Problem-solving especially the technical ones is also an important job of the Workforce Analyst, gathering information on everything related to the problem and steps to alleviate the situation.
• Workforce Analyst must be aware of the modern trends and requirements of the market and should be confident enough to implement them when needed.
• Workforce Analyst also works closely with the technical teams to assess the requirements for the pieces of equipment required in the off-site and on-site work.
• The most important of all Workforce Analyst is responsible to keep in check the finances of the ongoing projects if they are going well with the budget of the project or there is a need to improve the situation.
• Replacing the outdated practices and trends also falls under the responsibility of Workforce Analyst, important decisions make a brighter future for the companies meanwhile sticking to the old practices yield nothing but loss.
• Workforce Analyst works closely in monitoring the changes implemented in the company to undo a change or make amendments in a decision if it is not working in favor of the company.
• Workforce management jobs are available remotely as well, it is not necessary for a workforce analyst to work from the office they often work on contract on an hourly basis or virtually from anywhere in the world.

I hope this section has cleared everything you need to know about the workforce management jobs, both these roles were a sort of workforce management job description either be it office-based or remote, these roles are the same almost everywhere despite the type of company you are being hired in i.e. either it’s the call center workforce management job or a hospital workforce management job, the roles would only differ according to the culture of your organization.

So, it's a wrap for today! That was all about workforce management and everything you need to know about it, I hope you have learned something new from this discussion, in my opinion learning something new is not a difficult task at all, the most difficult of all is to unlearn the things and concepts that aren't right. I really hope to see you with another discussion real soon, for any suggestions or feedback either positive or negative you can use the comment section below. Have a good day ahead!

Top 20 Workforce Management Software

Hello friends, I hope you all are doing well. Today our topic of discussion is Top 20 Workforce Management Software, software that establishes the foundation of uninterrupted and seamless workflow for companies of varying sizes and industries.

With the automation of day to day tasks, workforce management is a relatively easy process in this era of technological advancement, I hope you have a clear idea about workforce management and how it is done, let us define workforce management for those who don't Know;

Definition of workforce management

Workforce Management can be defined as;

• "Combination of processes that keep the track of employees performance and progress in a company."

Processes in Workforce Management

Following processes are involved in workforce management;

• Human Resource Management
• Payroll management
• Scheduling and tasking
• Time track and attendance
• Finance management
• Benefits

Workforce Management Software

Now let's have a look at what is workforce management software!

We live in a modernized tech-based society, using manual techniques, methods and processes are old school things now. Everything is automated these days to save time and money. Workforce management is also done through workforce management software to a huge extent for managing employees and workflow.

Definition of Workforce Management Software

• "A workforce management software is a designated system which automates the processes such as HR, payroll management, scheduling and tasking in a seamless way for companies using it."

Workforce management software is either cloud-based or web-based, most of them have mobile apps as well, for the convenience of their users. For example, online booking software from companies like SuperSaaS offer automated scheduling capabilities that allow organizations to save time and money. They enable businesses to send automated confirmations, reminders, and follow-ups via SMS or email. Furthermore, they can connect to apps, link to bookable calendars, or can be embedded directly into websites.

Features of a Workforce Management Software

A certain criterion is followed to develop Workforce Management Software, a top-notch Workforce Management Software must have the following features;

• Ability to develop contingency plans.
• Scheduling and tasking
• Security to keep the data of the employees and company safe
• Biometric modalities
• Error-free tools for generating performance analytics
• Time tracking and attendance system
• Can be integrated with other tools and software
• Payroll Management

List of workforce management software

Now it's time to start our list for top 20 workforce management software, let's get started!

Paycom

• The very first entry on our list is Paycom, you might have guessed by its name what does paycom do but here is a brief description of its features;
• Paycom is an American company that offers Human Resource Management and Payroll management to both small and big businesses.
• Paycom is not only used by small, medium, and big businesses, it also helps people who use it according to their roles in different companies such as CEOs and Owners, IT decision-makers, operations executives, Humans resource managers, and payroll managers.
• Paycom claims to be everything you need from hire to retire for an employee.
• From talent acquisition to talent management, labor tasking and scheduling, and then payroll paycom cover everything you need to have.
• Paycom provides a seamless payroll solution to the company which is error-free and less time-consuming and helps with taxation as well.
• Through paycom employees can enter, manage and edit their personal data with ease because of its user-friendly interface.
• Paycom is indeed a good choice for those looking for a one-touch solution to everything.

Paylocity

Paylocity is an extremely versatile workforce management software having everything you need for seamless and easy workforce management in one place. Paylocity provides the following services through their workforce management software by automating the workflow;

• Workforce management through time tracking and scheduling with the help of geofencing parameters and time clocks.
• Talent management through fully automated recruiting software.
• Data insights through highly analyzed reports and surveys to improve the company's performance and productivity.
• A payroll management system that can be configured and can be integrated with different service providers in the niche.

Paylocity is used by small, medium and big businesses depending on their affordability and need, you can easily get a quote for their service through their official website.

Workday

• Workday officially known as workday inc is a single solution to all your HR, talent management, Enterprise management, and payroll management problems.
• Workday being an efficient workforce management software has an excellent time tracking tool with geofencing, the employees get a reminder for check-in and check-out when an employee enters the site of the job.
• Workday workforce management software also provides self-service to employees by giving them the option to enter and edit their personal data through a mobile app, they can view the full schedule and timelines of the project in the company's calendar available to everyone.
• Along with hassle-free payroll, workday also provides an open shift board with a swapping option i.e. employees can mention their availability and take a paid time off.
• With workday, you can get a global labor cost analysis, with this feature you can easily view the global labor trends and ongoing situation of the industry all thanks to the strong analytical tools of the workday helping you make better decisions for the growth and progress of your company.
• Workday doesn't mention the per-user cost for their workforce management software or any other tools, if you are planning to get the service for your company, you can request a quote by filling a form available on their website.

Whosoff

• The name sounds interesting so is the task of this workforce management software.
• Whosoff is super simple and used only for managing the leaves and vacations of the employees and nothing else like those specialized system that automate the whole workflow.
• Employees can apply for annual vacation or simple day leave with this workforce management software.
• The user interface is simple and easy to use the only flaw reported by the users is that you cannot cancel your leave request once you have submitted it! Yeah, there's is no going back!
• Small and medium sized companies that don't want a highly functional workforce management software can go for Whosoff to manage their leave management system easily, it is super simple, convenient and above all it is not heavy on the pocket at all, what else you need!

Sage People

Sage People is a workforce management software dedicated to the seamless provision of HR services. Sage People optimizes the workflow for medium-sized companies. Sage People provides the following features;

• Time tracking and attendance
• PTO
• Compliance
• Benefits
• Customization and internalization of different fields for a project

The only drawback of Sage People is the excess of important documents and files to everyone in the company which can somehow pose threat to sensitive information of the company which must not be disclosed to everyone.

ADP LLC

• ADP LLC is an immensely famous software used by small, medium, and big businesses having en employee range from 1to 50 up to 1000+ employees.
• ADP LLC has up to 80,000 clients who use their workforce management software services.
• ADP LLC significantly reduces the burden of managing the workflow by automating the whole process.

You can also recruit and train new employees through ADP LLC, and above all, you can also keep track of their performance through strong analytics provided by ADP LLC. They have a mobile app for time tracking which is accurate and up to the mark, employees can log in anytime without being surrounded by heaps of timesheets wasting their time. Leave case management is also an easy thing to do with several features provided by ADP LLC. ADP LLC helps you manage the following;

• Payroll
• Taxes according to regulations of federal, state, and local government.
• Human resource management

ADP LLC generously offers a three months trial which isn't provided by most of the big names in the workforce management industry. But wait, Don't be too much excited, terms and conditions do apply! You can also get a quote if you are interested in buying their service for your company, just go to their offical website, fill the form and voila! You are done!

Jiblee

The next workforce management software on our list is jiblee, jiblee provides the following features to its clients;

• HR management
• Time tracking
• Payroll management

Let us talk about time tracking first, jiblee has an efficient mobile app that can easily track time spent by employees on a task, the time they check-in and check-out is also tracked using a geofensing tool.

• Jiblee also provides automated timesheets which significantly help in payroll management, pay your employees within hours according to the tracked time and days without heaps of calculations.
• You can also get a detailed preview of your team's overall performance and productivity through strong analytics provided by jiblee.
• Jiblee can also be Integrated with slack and google teams which would make your workforce management process super easy and on the go!
• As per the reviews of jiblee users, their customer support team is super supportive and responsive, in case you are looking for a one-touch solution to your everyday workforce management problems, jiblee can be your best bet!

Built for teams

• Built for teams is a workforce management software that provides seamless HR management. let us talk about some unique features of this software;
• The org chart and company directory are loved by new recruits of the company letting them understand who is who and what is what!
• Paid time off requests are super simple to make and are really appreciated by the employees as well.
• The companies using built for teams workforce management software really appreciate their customer support team and response to feedback.

Schedule Flex

• Scheduleflex is a workforce management software and is particularly determined by the HR management of the companies using it.
• There is a shift board feature that helps employees comply with their work schedule in a well-oraganized manner.
• Shiftboard is particularly effective for better performance of the employees resulting in lesser labor costs.

Teleopti

• Teleopti WFM provides workforce management solutions to Enterprise Level businesses.
• Teleopti workforce management software is geared towards staffing and scheduling along with customer support.
• The company claims that their software can fully automate your workflow from effectively managing staff to creating automated schedules for the employees and later on analyzing their performance as well.
• Teleopti also provides in-depth and well-analyzed reports to help companies improve the customer service operation of the companies using it.
• Teleopti also provides automated training of employees to cover their lacking, helping them improve their skill and competency.
• One of the most amazing features provided by Teleopti WFM, mobile workforce management software includes the option of internal communication through instant alerts and text notifications during working hours to keep everyone aware and connected throughout the project.
• You can easily get a quote from them through their official website if you are planning to buy their services, good luck!

Namely

Namely provides the following solution for workforce management;

• Payroll management
• HR
• Benefits Platform.

If you are looking for workforce management software that can be tailored according to your company's culture and structure, then namely can definitely be your go to option.

WebHR

WebHR as the name indicates has everything you need for the human resource management of your company. It is an efficient workforce management software that manages everything from hiring to retiring of an employee through an advanced AI-based system. I'm listing some of its features;

• Time tracking and attendance
• Paid time off PTO
• Payroll management
• Benefits
• Employees self-service

CoreHr

• Corehr is dedicated to HR management of medium-sized businesses only, it is not made for big businesses.
• CoreHr helps recruit new employees and track their performance, the clocking system is perfect for check-in and check-out as well and lastly, the fully automated payroll system is a cherry on top.
• The only existing problem with CoreHr is its complicated user interface which isn't liked much by the users and needs to be improved.

Rippling

Rippling is a famous workforce management software that provides the following features to its users in terms of HR management and Payroll management;

• Time tracking and attendance
• PTO
• Performance analytics of employees
• Payroll integration with different service providers
• Tax management
• Self-service portal for employees and benefits dashboard.
• Rippling is loved by HR Managers because of its ease of use, it has an easy-going user interface that doesn't require a training session for employees to be learned.
• Some of the features provided by rippling workforce management software are complex such as payroll management and team management which need further improvement as per the reviews of people using this software.

If you are interested in buying the services of Rippling for workforce management then you can consider rippling as one of the strong candidates in the workforce management software Industry!

BambooHr

• BambooHr is an all-in-one Human Resource Management software having a user-friendly app for this purpose.
• BambooHr gathers, store and analyze employee's data conveniently and efficiently at a cloud-based database.
• BambooHr Mobile app is client-oriented, you can schedule anything on the calendar and publish it for your employees. Announcements can easily be made through the BambooHr app for a project or a single task with a single tap and it reaches everyone within seconds.
• The most unique feature of BambooHr is the time off feature, let me tell you about it in simple words, the time off feature allows the employees to send requests for leave by following a few steps meanwhile the HR Managers can approve it within a single click.
• BambooHr provides the feature of electronic signatures,  employees can sign documents anytime and anywhere without having to use a pen and paper.

EPAY HCM

• EPAY HCM is geared towards human capital management.
• It helps in the cost reduction of HR management for the company by automation of the workflow.
• EPAY HCM automates the following processes;
• recruitments in the company using it
• time and attendance
• payroll management

EPAY HCM app is user-friendly and free of complexities. One of the most appreciated things provided by EPAY HCM is its customer support throughout the clock in case of system failure or any technical glitch.

Skedulo

• All the above-mentioned workforce management software was related to people who work in a typical office setting, except one or two which had the geofencing feature. Skedulo is particularly designed for people who aren't office-based.
• You would be amazed to Know the DHL and American Red Cross along with several other organizations trust skedulo and its deskless productivity cloud to manage their system.

Skedulo provides an efficient solution to companies for managing;

• Tasking and scheduling the employees
• Over job scheduling
• For the employees who are working remotely, skedulo is a blessing because it helps them manage their day-to-day tasks effectively.
• Better management of daily tasks through skedulo helps in cost reduction of operational on-field tasks, all thanks to analytics provided by skedulo workforce management software.

Skedulo has a very user-friendly app that is available for Android as well as iPhone users and has the following features;

• Mobile forms that can be easily filled and submitted
• Scheduling and creating tasks and jobs
• Synchronized calendars and maps
• Photo attachment option
• Electronic Signature option for customers
• Mapping and routing which can be used to locate an employee as well
• Chat option for employees in the same team or job
• Leave submission

Intradiem

• All the above mentioned workforce management systems are not made for a particular industry or niche, the one we are about to discuss is particular to call centers, yes you heard it right! Intradiem is workforce management software for call centers.
• Intradiem can manage the call centers with a high influx of data because it is not humanly possible to manage such an influx without an external system or assistance.
• It is an AI-powered system which helps in the automation of customer service teams.
• Intradiem  can efficiently schedule and manage the activities of every employee in the call center by keeping a track of their performance through strong analytics.

Branch

• Branch Mobile app is particularly used by the people who work on an hourly basis.
• It is used by small-sized businesses as well as big businesses.
• You can easily manage the workflow by tasking and scheduling your employees through the workforce management software of the Branch.
• Branch shows the availability of employees, their Working hours, shift swaps, and shift timings.
• You can even integrate Branch with your desired payroll provider for easy payment based on the working hours of your employees.
• In case you are looking for workforce management software that is effective for shift management, then Branch can be a considerable option.

Nowsta

• Nowsta is the last workforce management software on our list of best 20 workforce management software.
• Nowsta is a one-touch solution that can manage payroll and the work shifts of your staff.
• Nowsta also has an app for the ease of its users, The user interface and scheduling window of the Nowsta app are super simple and convenient and are highly admired by the users.The time tracking service of Nowsta is top-notch as well.
• Nowsta has an incredible activity dashboard in case you want to check out what is going on in the projects at hand, in short, you can easily trace the timeline and project progress side by side.
• The most remarkable of all the features provided by the Nowsta workforce Management system is the payroll system which is hassle-free and time-saving.
• Nowsta Employee's database stores data hence reducing heaps of paperwork for provision of the workflow in the company using it. You can also incorporate many other applications with your Nowsta account for better coordination.
• Nowsta also provides insights and in-depth analytics about the performance of employees in different endeavors of the company.

Pricing of Workforce Management Software

• So, this last entry concludes our list of top 20 workforce management software to use, the other most frequently asked question about the workforce management software is their pricing, in case you want to know the price of a particular software, you can contact the relevant software provider or company through their website to get a quote according to your requirements, you would be getting a customized and tailored proposition!
• Some of workforce management software companies have already provided the per user price on their website but most of them haven't, you can also get a free demo from a few of these companies but again it varies from one company to the other. You can easily find a best match for yourself if you dig a bit deeper into the demo, details and reviews , Good luck!

Its a wrap for today, that's all you need to know about 20 best workforce management software, in case you know a better option; the one you have personally used , you can let us know in the comment section below. I'll see you with another discussion soon, have a good day ahead!