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Human Resources
Workforce Management RFP Template: WFM, Time & Attendance
Paste-ready workforce management requirements for time and attendance, scheduling, forecasting, absence, pay rules and labor-law compliance, plus vendor questions and a scoring rubric.
15 pages Microsoft Word
★ 4.5 of 5 366 downloads Updated October 5, 2026
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See the structure before you download. The Word file has every section listed below, ready to fill in.
What's inside
The sections in the document, in order.
- How to run a Workforce Management RFP
- Workforce management vs HCM: which RFP do you need?
- Workforce Management RFP requirements
- Questions to ask Workforce Management vendors
- Scoring rubric
- Frequently asked questions
- Related RFP templates
Use this workforce management RFP template when you're selecting software to record time and attendance, build schedules against forecast demand, manage absence, and apply your pay rules and labor-law requirements to hourly and shift-based employees.
It's written for the payroll, HR, operations and procurement team running the evaluation, and it covers the whole process: when to issue an RFI first, the requirements to send, the questions that separate vendors, and how to score the answers.
It also works as a time and attendance RFP: keep the time capture, pay rules, absence, compliance and integration requirements, and delete the forecasting and scheduling lines you don't need.
What’s inside this template
- A step-by-step plan for running the evaluation, including scripted demo scenarios built from your own pay rules
- Requirements for time and attendance, scheduling, forecasting, labor budgeting, absence, pay rules and labor-law compliance, each marked Must-have or Nice-to-have
- Questions that test how vendors handle union rules, overnight shifts, retroactive pay changes, biometric consent and payroll integration
- Guidance on when you need a workforce management RFP and when an HCM RFP is enough
- A weighted scoring rubric with 1-to-5 definitions
- An editable Word RFP with response codes, a pricing table and a timeline
Download the editable Microsoft Word version below. Every requirement, vendor question and scoring weight on this page is in the document, ready to tailor and send.
How to run a Workforce Management RFP
Workforce management software touches every hourly employee's pay, so the hard part of the evaluation is writing down your pay rules, agreements and labor-law obligations precisely enough that vendors can prove they handle them. The example schedule below runs about 14 weeks from kickoff to contract award; stretch it if you have many union agreements or jurisdictions to document.
- Inventory your rules and numbers (weeks 1-3). Collect every pay rule, overtime rule, premium, accrual policy, union agreement clause and scheduling practice in use, by location. List the jurisdictions you operate in and the labor rules that apply there (overtime, breaks, rest periods, minors, predictive scheduling). Record the numbers vendors will price against: employees by type (full-time, part-time, seasonal, temporary), locations, pay groups, and the time clocks you already have.
- Assemble the buying team. Include payroll, HR, operations and frontline managers, finance, IT, and legal or labor relations, plus a few frontline employees to test the mobile app. Bring privacy in early if you're considering biometric clocks or geofenced mobile punching, because consent and retention rules differ between jurisdictions. If your agreements or applicable law require you to consult union or employee representatives, plan for that now.
- Settle the scope, and decide whether you need an RFI (weeks 3-5). Decide whether you're buying a standalone workforce management system or the time and scheduling module of your HCM suite, and which modules are in the first phase. If you're unsure, or your long list has more than five vendors, issue a short RFI first covering module coverage, HCM and payroll integration, clock hardware and pricing model, and use the answers to build a shortlist.
- Tailor and issue the RFP (weeks 5-8). Delete requirements that don't apply, adjust priorities, and add your jurisdictions, agreements and systems to Section 1. Attach a set of anonymized sample pay rules and timecard scenarios so vendors answer against your reality rather than a standard demo. Give vendors three weeks to respond, with a written question-and-answer window in the first week.
- Score the responses (weeks 8-9). Have each evaluator score independently against the rubric before comparing notes, and set aside any vendor that misses a Must-have. For every pay rule, check whether the vendor says it is standard configuration or needs custom work, and whether each feature is generally available today or still on the roadmap.
- Run scripted demos and a sandbox test with two or three vendors (weeks 9-13). Give each vendor the same scenarios and watch them configure and calculate the results: an overnight shift that crosses a daylight saving change, a union overtime call-out by seniority, a missed meal break, a minor scheduled past permitted hours, and a retroactive pay rate change. Have frontline employees try punching, shift swaps and time-off requests on the mobile app. Call references with a similar workforce and union profile.
- Negotiate and award (weeks 13-14). Use the pricing table to compare like for like. Settle how seasonal and temporary employees are counted for billing, clock hardware terms, the renewal cap, the basis for implementation fees and the parallel-testing commitment before you sign, not after.
Workforce management vs HCM: which RFP do you need?
Workforce management (WFM) software covers how hourly and shift-based work is planned, recorded and turned into pay: time and attendance, scheduling, demand forecasting, absence, pay rules and labor-law compliance. Human capital management (HCM) software covers the employee record and the people processes around it: core HR, payroll, benefits, compensation, performance and talent.
Many HCM suites include a time and scheduling module, and many workforce management products are sold separately and integrate with any HCM or payroll system. If most of your employees are salaried and schedules are simple, an HCM RFP with a time-tracking section may be enough; use the HCM RFP template linked below. If you have a large hourly or shift-based workforce, complex pay rules, union agreements or several jurisdictions to comply with, run a dedicated workforce management RFP, and score your HCM vendor's own module against it alongside standalone vendors.
Signs you need a dedicated workforce management RFP:
- A large share of your employees are hourly, part-time, seasonal or shift-based
- Pay depends on rules such as daily overtime, shift differentials, premiums or union agreements
- Staffing needs change by hour, day or season, and you want schedules built against demand
- You operate in several jurisdictions with different overtime, break, rest, minor-work or predictive scheduling rules
- Managers struggle to fill open shifts, and employees expect to swap shifts and request time off on their phones
- You use, or plan to use, time clocks, shared kiosks or geofenced mobile punching
Workforce Management RFP requirements
Each line is written to paste straight into your RFP. Must-have means a vendor that cannot meet it is out; Nice-to-have earns extra points. Change the priorities to fit your situation, and delete what doesn't apply.
Functional
| ID | Requirement | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| F1 | Time capture from physical time clocks, shared kiosks, a web clock and a mobile app, with every punch landing in the same timecard. Clocks identify employees by badge, PIN or biometric reader; state which methods you support. | Must-have |
| F2 | Mobile punching with GPS geofences set per location or job site, configurable by employee group to allow, flag or block punches made outside the geofence. | Must-have |
| F3 | A configurable pay rules engine covering daily, weekly and consecutive-day overtime, shift differentials, premiums, rounding and grace periods, holiday pay, call-in and on-call pay, multiple pay rates in one workweek, and blended-rate overtime where applicable law requires it. | Must-have |
| F4 | Rules for union and collective agreements, maintained per bargaining unit: seniority-based offers of overtime and extra shifts, overtime equalization tracking, call-in minimums and contract-specific premiums. Delete this requirement if none of our employees are covered by a collective agreement. | Must-have |
| F5 | Timecard exception handling: missed punches, early or late arrivals, unapproved overtime and missed or short breaks are flagged for action before the pay period closes, with manager approval and employee sign-off workflows. | Must-have |
| F6 | Edits to timecards in closed pay periods, with automatic recalculation and export of the resulting pay adjustment to payroll as a separate, traceable entry. | Must-have |
| F7 | Attendance policy tracking (for example, points or occurrence-based policies), with manager alerts at set thresholds and configuration that keeps protected absences from counting against employees. | Nice-to-have |
| F8 | Demand forecasting from our volume drivers (for example sales, transactions, patient census, call volume or units produced), converted into staffing requirements by role and time interval using labor standards or staffing ratios. | Must-have |
| F9 | Machine-learning forecasts that account for seasonality, holidays and planned events, with forecast accuracy reported against actuals and manager overrides tracked. | Nice-to-have |
| F10 | Labor budgets in hours and cost by location and department, with budget-versus-scheduled-versus-actual tracking during the period. | Must-have |
| F11 | Schedule generation against forecast demand that respects employee availability and preferences, skills, labor rules and budget, and blocks assignments where a required license or certification is missing or expired. Managers can edit any schedule manually. Support for rotating patterns, split shifts and overnight shifts. | Must-have |
| F12 | Open-shift posting, shift bidding and shift swaps from the mobile app, with eligibility checks (skills, overtime, rest rules) before a request is approved, and a choice of manager approval or automatic approval by rule. | Must-have |
| F13 | Absence and leave management: configurable accrual policies (by tenure, hours worked, location or agreement), leave requests and approvals, balances visible to employees, and tracking of statutory and contractual leave types for [jurisdictions]. | Must-have |
| F14 | Labor-law rules configured for [jurisdictions]: meal and rest breaks, minimum rest between shifts, maximum hours, overtime thresholds, and limits on the hours and times of day minors may work. Rules apply when schedules are built and when time is recorded, with warnings before a violation occurs. | Must-have |
| F15 | Predictive scheduling (fair workweek) support for the jurisdictions in [list] that require it: advance schedule posting, tracking of changes after posting, calculation of any premiums owed for changes, and records of employee consent. Delete this requirement if none apply. | Must-have |
| F16 | Fatigue and rest rules for regulated or safety-critical roles: limits on consecutive shifts and on hours within a rolling period, minimum rest, and warnings at scheduling and at punch. Make this Must-have if any roles are subject to hours-of-service or fatigue rules. | Nice-to-have |
| F17 | An employee mobile app for iOS and Android to punch, view schedules and timecards, request time off, swap or pick up shifts, set availability and check leave balances, with push notifications for schedule changes and approvals. | Must-have |
| F18 | Labor allocation: recording time against cost centers, departments, jobs, projects or work orders, including transfers during a shift, with labor cost reported by allocation. | Must-have |
| F19 | Reports and dashboards for labor cost, overtime, absence, schedule adherence and compliance exceptions, filterable by location and manager, with scheduled delivery. | Must-have |
| F20 | AI assistance for managers and employees (for example, schedule suggestions or answers to questions about schedules, policies and balances), with each feature able to be switched off and no change applied without a person approving it. | Nice-to-have |
Technical and architecture
| ID | Requirement | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| T1 | A cloud service with production, backup and disaster-recovery hosting locations stated, and our data stored in [region]. | Must-have |
| T2 | Pay rules, accrual policies, labor-law rules and scheduling rules configured by our administrators in the application and effective-dated, without custom code. Identify any rule type that needs vendor services or scripting. | Must-have |
| T3 | A non-production environment for testing rule changes against copies of real timecards, refreshed from production on request, that receives each new release before production does. | Must-have |
| T4 | Time clocks that keep accepting and storing punches when the network or service is down, and upload them automatically when it returns. State the offline storage capacity, and whether the mobile app can record punches offline. | Must-have |
| T5 | Correct handling of overnight shifts, shifts that cross a workweek or pay-period boundary, daylight saving time changes, and employees who work in more than one time zone. | Must-have |
| T6 | Performance at peak load, such as shift change across all our sites and pay-period close. State the punch and timecard volumes you have tested. | Must-have |
| T7 | Web and mobile interfaces that meet WCAG 2.2 AA, available in [languages], with employee-facing screens and notifications in each employee's chosen language. | Must-have |
Integration
| ID | Requirement | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| I1 | Effective-dated employee data from our HCM/HRIS [system]: hires, terminations, transfers, and job, pay rate and manager changes. Failed records must be reported, not silently dropped. | Must-have |
| I2 | Export of approved hours and earnings to our payroll [system] using mapped pay codes, for every pay group and pay frequency, with a reconciliation report of hours and amounts sent per employee. | Must-have |
| I3 | Synchronization of accrual and leave balances with HCM or payroll, with one system named as the source of truth for each balance. | Must-have |
| I4 | Single sign-on with our identity provider via SAML 2.0 or OIDC, plus a secure sign-in method for frontline employees who have no corporate account or email address. | Must-have |
| I5 | Import of demand drivers from our operational systems (for example POS, ERP, EHR, contact center or production systems) by API or scheduled file. | Must-have |
| I6 | Documented REST APIs for employee, timecard, schedule and absence data, plus scheduled file exports over SFTP. | Must-have |
| I7 | Scheduled export of labor hours and cost to our ERP or general ledger by cost center, and to our data warehouse or BI tools. | Nice-to-have |
Security and compliance
| ID | Requirement | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| S1 | A current SOC 2 Type II report and ISO/IEC 27001 certification covering the proposed services, available under NDA. | Must-have |
| S2 | Role-based access scoped by location, department and manager hierarchy, delegation of approvals when a manager is absent, and administrator access through SSO with MFA. | Must-have |
| S3 | An audit trail of every punch, timecard, schedule and accrual change showing who made it, when, the before and after values and a reason code, with an option to show employees the edits made to their own timecards. | Must-have |
| S4 | Retention of time, schedule and pay-related records for the periods required by applicable law in [jurisdictions], and export of those records on request for audits, claims or disputes. | Must-have |
| S5 | If biometric identification is used: recorded employee consent before enrollment, storage of encrypted biometric templates rather than images, a written retention and destruction schedule that meets applicable biometric privacy laws in [jurisdictions], and a non-biometric alternative for employees who decline. | Must-have |
| S6 | Location from mobile punches captured only at the moment of a punch or other employee action, not tracked continuously unless we enable it for specified roles, with employees told when location is recorded and access to location data limited by role. | Must-have |
| S7 | Encryption of our data in transit and at rest, a data processing agreement, a current list of sub-processors, and support for our privacy obligations (for example, GDPR). | Must-have |
| S8 | A contractual commitment to notify us of security incidents affecting our data within a defined time. State the time. | Must-have |
Implementation and support
| ID | Requirement | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| M1 | A discovery phase that documents every pay rule, union agreement rule, accrual policy and scheduling rule, signed off by us before configuration starts. | Must-have |
| M2 | Parallel testing for at least [number] full pay periods, comparing hours and pay from the new system with our current process and resolving every difference before go-live. | Must-have |
| M3 | Identification of who delivers the implementation (vendor, partner or both) and the named team's experience with organizations in our industry and, where relevant, with unionized workforces. | Must-have |
| M4 | A rollout plan for time clocks and the mobile app covering site and network readiness, installation, employee enrollment (including biometric consent, if used) and employee communications. | Must-have |
| M5 | Training for payroll administrators, managers and employees in formats that suit frontline staff (short videos, in-app guidance, [languages]), plus train-the-trainer materials. | Must-have |
| M6 | An availability SLA with service credits, and 24×7 support for critical issues such as employees unable to punch or a failed payroll export, with response targets by severity. State your targets. | Must-have |
| M7 | A defined process for labor-law changes: how you notify us, which rule updates are included in the subscription, and which we must configure ourselves. | Must-have |
Commercial and pricing
| ID | Requirement | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| C1 | Pricing by module (time and attendance, scheduling, forecasting, absence, analytics) and metric (for example, per employee per month), showing list price, discount and net price. | Must-have |
| C2 | A clear definition of which employees count for billing (active, seasonal, temporary, terminated during the period) and how pricing handles seasonal peaks in headcount. | Must-have |
| C3 | Time clock pricing both as a purchase and as a rental or subscription, including installation, warranty, repair and replacement terms. | Must-have |
| C4 | A cap on price increases at renewal. State the cap. | Must-have |
| C5 | Implementation priced as a fixed fee or a not-to-exceed estimate, with rates for added pay rules, integrations or sites. | Must-have |
| C6 | Exit terms covering export of all punches, timecards, audit trails, schedules and accrual balances in a usable format, and transition assistance at the end of the contract. | Must-have |
Questions to ask Workforce Management vendors
These questions are designed to separate vendors, not to collect brochure answers. Ask for evidence: a demo, a document or a reference.
- Configure one of our sample pay rules live during the demo, such as daily overtime combined with a shift differential and a union call-in minimum. Which parts are standard configuration, and which need your services team or custom scripting?
- An employee works an overnight shift that crosses a daylight saving time change and the end of a pay period. Show how the system assigns the hours, overtime and premiums.
- A pay rate changes retroactively for the last three pay periods. Show how the system recalculates and what it sends to payroll.
- How do you fill an overtime call-out under a seniority-based union rule, and how are the offer, any refusal and the award recorded so we can answer a grievance?
- Show how a schedule is checked against break, rest-period, minor-work and predictive scheduling rules before it is published. Which rule sets do you maintain for [jurisdictions], and what happens when a law changes?
- How does your biometric clock handle consent, template storage, retention and deletion, and which jurisdictions' biometric privacy requirements is it designed to meet? What do employees who decline biometrics use instead?
- What does the mobile app record about location, when, and who can see it? Show the geofence setup and what happens when an employee punches just outside it or with location services turned off.
- What happens to punches when a clock or the mobile app loses its connection? How are offline punches identified, synchronized and protected from tampering?
- Which HCM and payroll systems do you have pre-built integrations with today, and which data flows in each direction? Who maintains each integration when either system changes?
- Show a demand forecast for an operation like ours, how a manager overrides it, and how forecast accuracy is reported afterwards.
- Show an employee swapping a shift, picking up an open shift and requesting time off on the mobile app, including the rule checks that run before each is approved.
- Which features in your proposal use AI (for example, forecasting, schedule generation or assistants), what data do they use, and can managers see and override every recommendation before it takes effect?
- Which features in your proposal are generally available today, and which are in preview or on the roadmap? Give dates for the roadmap items.
- How do you run parallel pay-period testing, and what are the most common causes of differences and delays in deployments like ours?
- Provide a reference customer of similar size, industry and union profile that has used your system for at least one full year of payroll.
Scoring rubric
Score each criterion from 1 to 5, multiply by its weight, and add the results. The weights below are a starting point; agree on your own before any proposals arrive so the scoring can't be bent around a favorite.
| Criterion | Weight | What a strong response shows |
|---|---|---|
| Time capture, pay rules and timecard accuracy | 25% | Your sample pay rules and union rules configured without custom code, correct results on every test scenario, and a complete audit trail. |
| Scheduling, forecasting and labor budgeting | 15% | Schedules built against demand that respect skills, availability and rules; forecast accuracy reported; easy manual edits for managers. |
| Labor-law, union and privacy compliance | 15% | Rules for each of your jurisdictions applied at scheduling and at punch, a clear process for law changes, and careful handling of biometric and location data. |
| Employee and manager experience | 10% | A mobile app frontline employees can use with little training for punching, swaps and time off, and fast exception handling for managers. |
| HCM and payroll integration | 10% | Working integrations with your HCM and payroll systems, a clear source of truth for each data item, and reconciliation you can audit. |
| Implementation and support | 10% | A named, experienced team, documented discovery, committed parallel testing, and support targets that protect payroll deadlines. |
| Commercials and total cost | 15% | Transparent per-module pricing, a fair definition of billable employees, clear clock hardware terms, a renewal cap and fair exit terms over a three-year view. |
| Total | 100% |
Scoring scale
- 5 Exceeds: meets every Must-have and most Nice-to-haves, shown in a demo or proof of concept, with a matching reference customer.
- 4 Strong: meets every Must-have and some Nice-to-haves, with clear evidence.
- 3 Adequate: meets most Must-haves; gaps have a credible workaround or a dated roadmap commitment.
- 2 Weak: misses one or more Must-haves, or the answer is vague.
- 1 Poor: does not meet the requirement, or no answer.
Frequently asked questions
What should a workforce management RFP include?
Your workforce profile (employees by type, locations, jurisdictions and union agreements); requirements for time and attendance, scheduling, forecasting, absence, pay rules and labor-law compliance, marked Must-have or Nice-to-have; integration requirements for HCM and payroll; security and privacy requirements, including biometric and location data; support terms; a pricing table; and the rubric you'll score with. Attach anonymized sample pay rules and timecard scenarios so vendors answer against your situation rather than a standard demo. This template includes all of them.
What should a time and attendance RFP include?
A time and attendance RFP focuses on how time is recorded and turned into pay: time capture methods (clocks, kiosks, web and mobile with geofencing), pay rules and overtime, timecard exceptions and approvals, absence and accruals, audit trails, record retention and payroll export. To use this template as a time and attendance RFP, keep those requirements and delete the forecasting and scheduling lines you don't need. If you use physical time clocks, keep the hardware lines in the pricing table.
Should we buy workforce management from our HCM vendor?
Consider both options. An HCM suite's time and scheduling module shares one employee record and one contract with the rest of your HR systems, which simplifies integration. Standalone workforce management products are worth including when you have complex pay rules, union agreements, demand-driven scheduling or many jurisdictions. Score your HCM vendor's module against this template alongside standalone vendors, and let your own pay rules and test scenarios decide.
How long does a workforce management RFP take?
The example schedule in this template runs about 14 weeks from kickoff to contract award, including three weeks for vendor responses and about four weeks for scripted demos and sandbox testing. Allow more time if you have many union agreements or jurisdictions to document, or if legal and privacy review of biometric clocks or mobile location data is new to your organization. Implementation and parallel payroll testing come after the award.
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