Japan attendance-to-payroll integration: test hours, periods and corrections

For Japan buyers keeping a separate payroll system

This guide is for an employer selecting or replacing attendance software while retaining payroll. The examples use Japanese product documentation from Money Forward, Jobcan and KING OF TIME. They are distinct workflows, not interchangeable instructions.

Our recommendation is an acceptance test before purchase. It is not a payroll calculation policy, a legal interpretation or a claim that we have tested these products. Your payroll owner approves the categories, rates and treatment used in the trial.

Test seven hours and thirty minutes

Use a fictional duration of seven hours and thirty minutes. Its equivalent values are 450 minutes and 7.5 decimal hours. The decimal number 7.30 means 7 hours 18 minutes: twelve minutes less. These are mathematical equivalents, not prescribed file formats.

Ask the supplier to show the raw or exported value, the receiving field’s unit and the resulting interpreted duration. Do not “fix” a mismatch by changing punctuation until the total looks right. That can conceal the wrong mapping.

Money Forward: match the period and the units

Money Forward’s Cloud Attendance-to-Cloud Payroll guide requires matching employee numbers and closing dates. It specifies base-60 attendance output and tells users to align the receiving payroll units. Only enabled attendance items are linked.

This evidence concerns the named Cloud Attendance connection. It is not proof that Cloud Attendance Plus or every third-party connection behaves identically.

Give the finalist a small approved sample with a non-whole-hour duration and more than one time category. A successful transfer of ordinary hours does not demonstrate that a separately required category was selected and mapped.

Jobcan: midnight may be too early

Jobcan’s integration instructions recommend scheduling the link after attendance closing, allowing time for corrections. Their example uses a month-end closing date and a 05:00 day boundary: a transfer before that boundary can select the wrong month.

The same guide requires a configured work-data format when the payroll group uses decimal hours or minutes instead of the default format. Staff code, surname, given name and email must match for the documented employee link.

Ask the implementer to state the actual payroll group, attendance period and transfer time. “It runs on the first” is incomplete. Put the configured day boundary into the acceptance record.

KING OF TIME: closed does not mean no later data

KING OF TIME documents closing as a restriction on applications and edits, with exceptions for fully authorised administrators. It also states that time-recorder punches are not blocked: offline records can arrive after connectivity returns, even after closing.

Its closing workflow can leave employees with errors or pending applications outside the closed group. A manager clicking the close button is therefore not enough evidence that every intended employee is ready.

Require a list of included and excluded employees, then a process for identifying later changes. The buyer’s task is to reconcile the approved attendance version with the payroll version actually used.

Five tests worth putting in the implementation statement

1. Match the person. Use two fictional employees. Deliberately break one required identifier; demonstrate how the mismatch is surfaced and resolved without creating a silent duplicate.
2. Preserve the duration. Transfer the 450-minute example through each required time field. Record source value, source unit, destination unit and interpreted result.
3. Select the period. Use records either side of the configured closing boundary. Confirm which approved payroll period receives each record.
4. Expose exclusions. Leave one fictional employee with an unresolved approval. Show who is excluded, who sees that exclusion and what stops accidental omission from payroll preparation.
5. Correct without guessing. Change an approved fictional duration from 450 to 480 minutes. Repeat the transfer using the supported correction workflow. Confirm that the final intended duration is 480 minutes, not 930.

The last test does not presume that every integration adds duplicates. It tests whether the proposed workflow replaces, rejects or otherwise handles repeat data—and whether the operator can explain the final result.

Record the original import and corrected result

Use the vendor’s supported test environment and import format. This table is an acceptance record, not a file to upload to production. Check amounts separately against the employer-approved calculation; correct duration alone does not prove correct pay.

Price the monthly exception work before adding another connector

Request implementation scope for identifiers, time categories, units, payroll groups, closing boundaries and corrections. Include who maintains the connection after configuration changes and who answers during the payroll window. We have no equivalent supplier quotes and identify no cheapest route.

Keep a working payroll unless you also need to replace its functions. Before buying attendance software, agree who sends approved hours, resolves rejected records and checks that corrections reached payroll. Include that work in the cost comparison.

Questions buyers ask