Synel Americas' XactTime
XactTime is a web browser-based time and attendance software solution (ASP) with two options for deployment: hosted or licensed. XactTime is a flexible addition to your workforce management software that provides a superior user experience with flexible add-ons meant to grow and evolve with your company.
Tech Stack and Tools
About the Problem
Our introduction to Synel was a bit different from usual. Their time tracking software XactTime had been in use for several years but the code stored in version control had gotten out of sync with what was actually running in production. XactTime is used by thousands of employees across the country to track their hours and manage their benefits. The XactTime team wanted to fix and update the code, but first had to match it up to what was in use.
About the Solution
Before we could work on this project, we needed to set up the development environment. This project was different than our usual paradigm and required specific IIS configuration in order to run or build an installer to distribute. While we did this we recorded documentation and set up Windows automation to make the setup repeatable. With this in place we could now spin up an XactTime environment on a developer's laptop or a cloud-based Windows virtual machine. With setup complete, we were able to begin tackling the features and fixes to be delivered to XactTime customers.
The work we have done on XactTime has been widely varied. As with any software there are bugs to be fixed, but we have also worked on a selection of features and upgrades. XactTime can be used as a standalone management application but it also integrates with a variety of other time tracking and HR software packages. Some of these integrations needed to be updated to continue to be supported by the provider. We also created an XactTime widget to display on an integration partner's external dashboard that allows employees to quickly record time clock events from their HR portal. These features are aimed mainly at the employee users, but we also have done work targeting employers and managers. As with any HR software, reports are crucial to the administrative users of XactTime. We worked with the team at Synel Americas to create new reports to deliver specific information about employees to the administrators in an organized format. In addition to this, one of our tasks was to redesign the appearance of XactTime to look better on modern devices and follow an up to date UI layout. One downside of successful software is that if it works well for a long time, the appearance eventually starts to look dated. Beginning with the homepage, we have started re-imagining XactTime in the new "XTBlu" design style.
