Universities and colleges don’t run on a single workforce — they run on dozens of them. Porters, caterers, housekeeping teams, groundskeepers, maintenance staff, bursars and administrators all work different hours, on different contracts, often across a sprawling estate of listed buildings and modern faculties. Keeping track of who’s where, who’s owed what, and who’s approved for overtime shouldn’t fall to spreadsheets and guesswork.
We’ve seen how this plays out in practice. Heads of department need to see their own staff’s hours without chasing central admin. Payroll needs accurate data before overtime becomes an unplanned cost. HR needs absence records that match across systems, not duplicated in two places. And every department wants its own labour cost picture, not one blended number for the whole institution.
Focus.net is cloud-based time and attendance software built to handle exactly this kind of complexity, without adding to anyone’s workload. It’s supported by biometric and proximity clocking terminals suited to large, multi-building sites, and it’s already trusted by one of Cambridge’s oldest colleges to manage a genuinely diverse workforce.
Key Challenges
Workforce Management Challenges in Higher Education.
A genuinely diverse workforce
Catering, housekeeping, grounds, porters, maintenance and administration staff all work under different contracts and patterns. One rigid system rarely fits them all.
Complex rota patterns
Porters in particular often work rotating shift patterns that are difficult to plan and even harder to track manually without the right tools.
Mixed pay structures
Salaried staff, hourly-paid staff and variable-hours contracts all need to be timed and paid correctly, with absolutely no room for error.
Slow visibility for department heads
Without direct access to their team’s hours, heads of department can’t spot problems or approve overtime before it hits payroll.
Duplicated absence records
Sickness and holiday data often lives in two places — HR software and payroll — creating extra admin and the risk of mismatched records.
Access and site security across a large estate
Restricted buildings, out-of-hours access and visitor movements all need managing across a campus that may span multiple sites.
How We Help
How Focus.net Works for Higher Education
One system, every department
Set up multiple cost centres so catering, housekeeping, grounds and administration each get their own labour cost reporting — without losing a single, unified view for finance. (See how cloud-based T&A works)
Rotas that match reality
Recurring Work Schedules cover regular staff, while the Rota Planner handles genuinely complex patterns — including rotating porter shifts — with automatic lunch break deductions built in.
Pay staff correctly, every time
Up to 40 timesheet rates handle salaried, hourly and variable contracts side by side, with flexitime, TOIL and annualised hours all managed automatically.
- Editable timesheets with exception reporting
- Multi-level approval so heads of department sign off their own team’s hours
- Overtime rules and approval workflows that catch issues before payroll runs
Absence data that doesn’t duplicate itself
API-based integration with HR systems syncs absence and employee records automatically — no more keying sickness and holiday data twice, and full Bradford Factor support.
Security and visibility across the whole site
Access control integration manages restricted areas and out-of-hours entry, biometric and proximity terminals give clocking coverage across every building, and the Self Service App’s Visitor Management and Employee Directory show live clocked-in status at a glance.
Key Benefits
Tracking time accrued across multiple cost centres and departments
Time in lieu, annualised hours and flexitime options
Up to 40 timesheet rates
Multiple options for payroll reporting and export
Access control integration
Work Schedules for recurring working patterns
Flexible Rota planner & Editable Timesheets
Overtime approval and exception reporting
Trusted by Leading Higher Education Establishments
Peterhouse, the oldest college at the University of Cambridge, uses Focus.net to manage its diverse support workforce.
“Most of our departments have different working patterns but, with the help of the staff at Egress, we have been able to set up many different shifts, the complicated rota for our Porters, and to deduct appropriate lunchbreaks.”
“For the first time all our Heads of Department are able to see the hours worked by their staff in a timely manner, enabling them to address any issues promptly and ensuring that any overtime worked is paid correctly.”
“Egress have worked with our HR database suppliers to set up interfaces between the two systems so that we do not need to duplicate records of absences for sickness, holidays etc.”
Jill Slater, Project Accountant, Peterhouse, Cambridge
Built for the Demands of Your Sector
- Cloud-based platform accessible from any browser, no on-site server required
- Biometric terminals with fingerprint and face recognition
- Proximity card, fob and NFC clocking terminals, plus Focus Wave NFC tags for smartphone tap-clocking
- Support for salaried, hourly and variable-hours contracts on one system
- Up to 40 configurable timesheet rates
- Flexitime, TOIL and annualised hours management
- Recurring Work Schedules and a Rota Planner for complex shift patterns
- Multi-level timesheet approval by department
- Overtime approval workflows and complex overtime rule handling
- Absence management including Bradford Factor
- API-based HR system integration to avoid duplicate absence records
- Access control integration for restricted areas and out-of-hours entry
- Skills and qualifications tracking with start/end dates to prevent lapsed-qualification scheduling
- Employee Directory via Self Service App with live clocked in/out status
- Real-time “Should be in” dashboard
- Payroll integration with Sage, Iris, Earnie and others
- Custom report designer with Excel/PDF export and scheduled email reports
Visitor Management via Self Service App
One system for every department, every contract type, and every building on campus.
Get a no-obligation walkthrough of Focus.net configured for Higher Education — and see how quickly it could fit into your operation.