Workforce Management RFP Template: WFM, Time & Attendance

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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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

Technical and architecture

Integration

Security and compliance

Implementation and support

Commercial and pricing

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.

1. 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?
2. 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.
3. A pay rate changes retroactively for the last three pay periods. Show how the system recalculates and what it sends to payroll.
4. 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?
5. 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?
6. 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?
7. 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.
8. What happens to punches when a clock or the mobile app loses its connection? How are offline punches identified, synchronized and protected from tampering?
9. 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?
10. Show a demand forecast for an operation like ours, how a manager overrides it, and how forecast accuracy is reported afterwards.
11. 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.
12. 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?
13. Which features in your proposal are generally available today, and which are in preview or on the roadmap? Give dates for the roadmap items.
14. How do you run parallel pay-period testing, and what are the most common causes of differences and delays in deployments like ours?
15. 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.

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.

Related RFP templates

• Human Capital Management (HCM) Software RFP Template
• Compensation Management Software RFP Template
• Benefits Administration Software RFP Template
• Employee Engagement Software RFP Template

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