Frequently Asked Questions

A collaborative best effort was made to provide answers to questions regarding Kronos at UNM. As more is learned about the system and its capabilities, answers will be updated as information becomes available and as specific and definitive decisions are made regarding the Kronos implementation. These FAQs will be corrected and kept current as necessary, as well as adding questions as needed.

This PDF version is provided as an alternate format.

To use this FAQ, click on a question to expand and read the answer.
The questions are numbered to facilitate referencing and to share information. The revision date appears at the end of each answer in the form of yymmdd.

1. What is the timeline for the implementation?

Phase 1 of the UNM KRONOS Implementation will begin in February 2012, going live in June 2012. Phase 2 is scheduled to begin in June 2012 and completed September 2012. Phase 3 and 4 will be determined based on need. (r111107)

2. How do we fund grant or contract employees?

Enterprise wide IT and system costs are not charged directly to restricted contracts and grants. These would be considered indirect costs. You will need to work with your dean or director on identifying other sources of funding. (r111107)

3. Is the supervisor the only one who can see leave taken?

Access is role-based and is accessible to those who have been granted the necessary user security permissions. Roles will be determined and established as part of our implementation. (r111107)

4. How are labor distributions handled? Can labor distributions be overridden?

Kronos has the functionality to allow the approver to perform labor distribution overrides prior to time being approved. (r111107)

5. Does the user pay for a full year of maintenance at implementation?

Yes, license renewal is done at the beginning of each fiscal year, several licenses were purchased in preparation of Phase 1 and 2 implementations and these costs will be recovered from departments at implementation. (r111107)

6. How will the implementation of Kronos affect on-call employees?

On-calls will record time in the same manner as all other non-exempt employees, using the web or time clock. (r111107)

7. How will employees working remotely in the field enter time?

Employees in the field will be able to clock in from anywhere with internet access on a computer, assuming they have been grant authorization to do so. (r111107)

8. Is an e-mail sent to notify supervisor of a leave request?

Yes, the system will send a notification to the supervisor that there is a leave request awaiting his/her approval. (r111107)

9. Can a supervisor see the reason leave was taken?

Yes, the leave request form that is filled out by the employee on either the time-clock or computer asks for a reason for the leave request. (r111107)

10. Can Kronos be accessed using a Macintosh?

Yes. The following browsers have been certified to work with Kronos:

Apple Safari 4.x
Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 (service pack 2 required for Windows XP and 32-bit Windows Server 2003)
Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0
Mozilla Firefox 3.5

Please refer to What operating systems are recommended? FAQ for a complete list of client software requirements. (r111107)

11. What operating systems are recommended?

Due to the delivery of Kronos through the Web, there is tremendous flexibility regarding the Operating System and Browser requirements.
Client Software Requirements

Item	Requirement
Operating System	Microsoft Windows 7 (32 and 64-bit) Microsoft Windows XP (32-bit) with service pack 21 Microsoft Windows Vista (32-bit)1 Microsoft Windows Server 2003 (32-bit) — Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, Small Business Server Editions1 Microsoft Windows Server 2003 (32-bit) R2 — Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, Small Business Server Editions1 Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (32 and 64-bit) Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit)
Browser Support	Apple Safari 4.x Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 (service pack 2 required for Windows XP and 32-bit Windows Server 2003) Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0 Mozilla Firefox 3.5
JRE support	Sun JRE 1.6.0_17 — ships with Workforce Central and is downloaded first time Workforce Central is accessed.
	Next Generation User Interface or Java Client	HTML Client
Processor	Recommended: 2.0 GHz or better, Intel Pentium III or AMD equivalent	Recommended: 1.0 GHz or better, Intel Pentium III or AMD equivalent
Memory	Recommended: 2 GB Minimum supported: 1 GB	Minimum supported: • 512 MB (Windows XP) • 1 GB MG (Windows Vista, Windows 7)
Hard Disk Space	Minimum free disk space: 100 MB	Minimum free disk space: 50 MB
Display Resolution	Recommended: 1024 x 768	Recommended: 1024 x 768
Adobe Acrobat Reader	Adobe Acrobat Reader v6.0	Adobe Acrobat Reader v6.0. For Mac OS, may need to be set up as default application.
Network Bandwidth	Fractional T1 or T1–T3 (Recommended) 56K dial-up or Frame relay 56K (Minimum supported)	Fractional T1 or T1–T3 (Recommended) 56K dial-up or Frame relay 56K (Minimum supported)
Other Requirements	Network card Non-persistent (session) cookies enabled JavaScript enabled for Java Client Pop-up-blocking software configured to enable the browser to show pop-up windows

(r111107)

12. How do we address part-time employees?

You will need a license for a part-time employee. The licenses are assigned per individual, so we cannot split a license or discount it for employees that work part-time. (r111107)

13. How do we address employees who work remotely, whether at an offsite location or from home?

The license for an employee that works remotely will need to include the web login component so that the employee can enter time and leave from a web-enabled device. (r111107)

14. What happens to my license if an employee leaves the department?

If an employee leaves your department, his/her license will be available for you to reassign to another employee within your area. You will also have the opportunity once each year to determine the number of licenses you will need for the upcoming year, and you will have the ability to add additional licenses throughout the year as needed. Because we pay Kronos for maintenance on licenses annually, you will not be able to drop or prorate licenses mid-year. It is important to note that you will never be required to pay the one-time implementation fee more than once for licenses you have already purchased. (r111107)

15. How will student interns work with Kronos?

You will need a license for each student intern. The licenses are assigned per individual. If a student intern leaves your department, his/her license will be available for you to reassign to another employee within your area. (r111107)

16. Will I need to purchase licenses for both an approver and a backup?

Anyone who will approve time or act as a backup will need to have a license that includes the manager option. (r111107)

17. We have a very slow network. Will there be a grace period for logging in, or how will we address timing issues for clocking in that are caused by access delays?

We will need to work with Kronos on best practices for addressing this type of issue so that we can recommend strategies to departments who face concerns with computer or network performance. Some strategies could include grace periods for clocking in, leaving a machine in sleep mode versus completely shutting down, etc. (r111107)

18. Can we designate existing University Hospital (UH) time clocks to work for UNM employees? Is it a blanket designation for Dept, by org or by person? Can we pick specific time clocks (vs having access to all)?

Because UH uses a different HR/Payroll system, we’ve been told by Kronos that there are technical limitations that will prevent us from sharing time clocks with the Hospital. You will, however, be able to share time clocks with other UNM employees using the Banner HR/Payroll system. We have also been told that we can determine whether individuals or groups of employees must use a specific clock or have the flexibility to use more than one clock, provided they are using the same HR/Payroll system. (r111107)

19. Do we have to install all the time clocks at the same time, or if we feel we need more, can we do that at a later date?

Additional time clocks can be added later and/or can be shared among UNM departments. (r111107)

20. Would there be an overall Department Time Keeper to check for errors and unapproved items?

Kronos allows us to manage approvals and oversight in a variety of ways, including automated reports and notifications that can be configured to both highlight issues and, in some cases, send out alerts. As we move towards the implementation, UNM HR and Payroll will be better equipped to assess these options and the requirements for effectively managing the automated time reporting process. (r111107)

21. Is there a report to track the licenses or would the department need to keep track internally? In case we want to re-assign a license between divisions when not in use (vs buying a new).

UNM IT will manage the licenses and will be able to work with you on ensuring that you are getting the most out of your available licenses before you need to purchase additional licenses. Specific criteria for reusing licenses will have to be addressed to ensure that the process can be managed appropriately, but reusing purchased licenses in a department is absolutely the desired approach. A department will never have to pay implementation costs for an individual license more than once. (r111107)

22. Will non-exempt employees be paid for time clocked even if it is less than 80 hours per paycheck or will annual leave automatically be added to bring the time up to 80 hours per paycheck? What about OT or comp time … if they work over, will it automatically go to OT (with manager ability to change to comp time).

Individuals will not be paid for hours they did not work without the time being charged to the approved leave categories. The system will need to be able to address the comp time selection, when offered, although we do not yet have the specifics on how that will work. As we move towards the implementation, UNM HR and Payroll will be better equipped to identify specific configuration settings in accordance with UNM Policy. (r111107)

23. How will we address Process/Policy for manual override in cases of Snow days and/or Forgetting to clock-in/out?

The Kronos system does allow for adjustments when a user has the appropriate access roles, and it flags transactions that have been adjusted. Procedures to address adjustments for forgetting to clock-in/out will be established as part of our implementation, as will the appropriate handling of snow days and other exceptions to standard time reporting. (r111107)

24. How labor intensive is the process for the Department? Trying to determine who needs to be involved to shepherd the process.

We will work with the vendor and the department to determine the appropriate level of involvement required of the department for both implementation and ongoing efforts. In general, we will need any department-specific process expertise, as well as testing and validation assistance from your area. Training will be established for employees entering and recording time or leave, managers utilizing the manager console, and anyone performing approvals within the system. (r111107)

25. If a person has computer login, can they log in from any workstation (or is their computer login designated to one device?) In other words, can someone also use an iPhone to login?

We have been told that access can be controlled by individuals or groups of individuals. We could control access such that an on-campus computer is required for some, or access is open to any computer for others. We did not purchase the mobile option from Kronos, so any mobile device would likely be limited to use with a web browser for the near-term. (r111107)

26. I made an assumption that everyone would need a computer login, because even if they use a time clock they will need to be able to get in to deal with S/L schedules etc. Is that correct?

All critical functions for the employee can be handled via the time clock, including leave. Because the employee will obviously not be onsite to address sick leave at the moment they call in, we will need to determine from Kronos whether the manager will note this in the system, whether it will be an adjustment after the fact, or whether the employee can note it in Kronos at the time clock after the fact. (r111107)

27. My department is interested in proceeding as an early adopter; however, we did not budget for this expense in the current fiscal year. Is there any flexibility in the payment options?

We are using a project account to manage the expenses and reimbursements associated with the Kronos implementation. We can therefore be flexible with the payment options, and can even address the upfront costs into the next fiscal year if necessary. (r111107)

28. Can Kronos function as a key logger (capturing what people type), tell how long employees are at their computers, or serve any other variety of spyware functions?

Kronos is a time reporting and leave management solution that relies on employees using a time clock or web service to clock in and out, or to request leave. It does not function as a key logger or serve in any way as spyware. (r111107)

29. Right now, payroll has us turn in time early due to holidays and we have to estimate the time for the days that haven't been worked yet but are in the time period. How will this be handled in Kronos?

Kronos definitely has the potential to capture time records in a much more efficient manner. We do not yet know the impact that this will have, if any, to holiday time reporting schedules. We will post an update to this answer as we get more information through our gap analysis and implementation. (r111107)

30. Will all UNM schools/departments be required to purchase and use Kronos for timekeeping and time reporting?

Phase 1 and 2 are intended to be for interested departments only and will not be mandatory. At the time we presented this plan, the Regents audit committee did recommend that we ultimately have all UNM non-exempt employees on Kronos. We certainly considered this as we built our cost model, but a formal directive that makes Kronos mandatory has not been issued at this time and we have not purchased licenses for all UNM non-exempt employees. (r111107)

31. Will Kronos be applied to all employee groups, faculty, staff and students?

At this point, any interested department would implement time and leave reporting for non-exempt staff and students, and would have the option of implementing leave reporting for exempt staff. Faculty were not included for time or leave reporting in our Kronos proposal, however it is possible that a faculty member could serve as an approver if staff report to him/her. (r111107)

32. Kronos is supposed to allow us to move away from our hard copy internal time sheets -- do the employees enter their time directly into the system where we would review it?

Yes, either through a time clock terminal or through the computer. (r111107

33. There are a lot of Kronos modules -- how many modules is UNM purchasing?

Specific modules include Workforce(WF) Timekeeper, WF Integration Manager, WF Absence Manager, WF Record Manager, WF Manager, WF Employee, and MJAT - Multiple Jobs. A high level description of each of these can be found on this site under Components. (r111107)

34. This appears to involve local client installations, but the data will be centrally stored?

Other than time clocks which may or may not be needed for a department on premises (web-based option is also available), this is a centrally located and managed service. Some departments that use Kronos today are managing it locally, but will be brought on board with the institutional implementation in Phase 1. (r111107)

35. Will Kronos allow departments to more easily do labor distributions, and precisely calculate benefit costs for grants and other soft money sources?

Kronos does have the functionality to allow the approver to perform labor distribution overrides prior to time being approved, but we do not yet have complete details on all aspects of labor distribution management within Kronos. We will post an update to this answer as we get more information through our gap analysis and implementation. (r111107)

36. Is there information available on what kind of power and installation would be required for a time clock?

We have not yet gathered the specific details, but our implementation team will ultimately be responsible for the installation of the time clock. Network connectivity hookups and power receptacle installation, if needed, are not included in the cost of the time clock. We will post an update to this answer as we get more information through our gap analysis and implementation. (r111107)

37. How will scheduled outages be handled?

As part of the implementation, we will develop procedures to address situations in which a time clock or computer access may be temporarily unavailable or inaccessible. These procedures will be shared as part of standard training. In addition, we will be establishing backup and disaster recovery protocols.

38. What is the timeline for the implementation?

Gap analysis and installation will occur in February, 2012. Phase 1 of the implementation will launch on March 1, 2012 and departments will be live on June 1, 2012. Phase 2 of the implementation will launch on June 1, 2012 and departments will go live on September 1, 2012. Phase 3 and 4 will be scheduled based on need, but would likely be completed no later than June 30, 2014. (r111107)

39. Can you prevent an employee from clocking in outside his/her shift?

If we utilize the scheduling component of Kronos, we may be able to set specific time frames in which an employee may clock in based on the identified schedules. In addition, we can configure supervisor notifications for certain events, and there are management reports which will also be available. Decisions such as these will be made during our implementation, and this question will be updated once that determination has been made. (r111107)

40. Is Banner a possible solution for time entry?

Banner has a component called Web Time Entry that is not being used at UNM. While web time entry does offer an online form for employees to enter information on hours worked, it does not offer the same level of automation or analytical resources that Kronos offers. For example, Kronos uses a system time stamp for logging in and out time, while Web Time Entry has an input box for the employee to identify when they came in or left. (r111107)