HR and payroll software built for Indian workplaces
HR and payroll software in a factory has a harder job than in an office. Workers rotate across shifts, overtime changes week to week, some staff are on piece rates, contract labour comes through agencies and field staff rarely visit the office. Payroll has to handle all of it correctly and on time, with statutory deductions that follow Indian labour and tax rules.
The HR module in DotOne is designed around that reality. Attendance can be captured through biometric devices, the mobile app with location checks or supervisor entry. Payroll then calculates earnings and deductions from that attendance and posts the result directly to accounts and cost centres. You avoid the month-end routine of exporting attendance to spreadsheets, correcting it by hand and re-entering salary journals.
Attendance: biometric, mobile and location-based
Accurate attendance is the foundation of correct payroll. The ERP accepts punches from biometric or face-recognition devices at plant gates, and we integrate the devices you already use where they support data export.
For staff who work across sites or in the field, the DotOne mobile app supports location-based attendance. Employees mark in and out from their phone; the app records GPS location and time, and geo-fencing can restrict punches to approved sites such as a plant, branch or customer location. A selfie capture option can be enabled where identity confirmation is needed.
- Geo-fenced punches for plants, warehouses and branches.
- Field staff attendance with visit logs for sales and service teams.
- Supervisor-marked attendance for sites without devices.
- Missed-punch requests and regularisation with manager approval.
- Daily attendance dashboard by department, shift and location.
The mobile ERP app page explains the other functions available to employees and managers on their phones.
Shifts, overtime, leave and holidays
Factories often run two or three shifts with rotating rosters, weekly offs that vary by department and overtime rules that differ by grade. The ERP maintains shift definitions with start and end times, grace periods, break rules and night shift allowances, and assigns rosters to employees or groups.
Overtime is calculated from actual punches against the shift, with approval before it is paid. Leave types such as earned leave, casual leave, sick leave and compensatory off are configured with accrual and carry-forward rules. Holiday calendars can differ by location, which matters for companies with plants in several states.
Shift changes, swaps and temporary transfers between departments are recorded with approval, so the payroll team is not surprised by unexplained attendance patterns at month end. Supervisors can see who is present on their line before the shift starts, which helps them reassign people when absenteeism is high.
Payroll processing and statutory compliance
Payroll in India involves several statutory components, and rules vary by state and wage level. The ERP calculates salary from configurable pay structures and applies deductions according to the settings you maintain, with changes in rates updated centrally.
- Provident Fund: employee and employer contributions with wage ceilings as configured, and data for ECR upload.
- ESI: contributions for eligible employees with wage-limit tracking and contribution period handling.
- Professional Tax: state-wise slabs applied based on the employee work location.
- Labour Welfare Fund: state-specific deductions where applicable.
- TDS on salary: projected annual income, declared investments and regime choice used to calculate monthly deduction, with Form 16 data at year end.
- Bonus and gratuity: calculation support according to configured rules and eligibility.
Payslips are generated for every employee and can be shared through the app or email. Bank transfer files are prepared in the format required by your bank, and salary journals post automatically to the accounting module with department and cost centre allocation.
Contract labour, piece rates and production-linked pay
Many manufacturers rely heavily on contract workers supplied by labour contractors. The ERP can record contract workers with their contractor, track their attendance at the gate and calculate the amount payable to each contractor, including statutory contributions the contractor must deposit. This gives the principal employer visibility of compliance, which is important under contract labour regulations.
Where workers are paid per piece, per kilogram or per operation, wages can be calculated from production entries made against job cards. Because production and HR share data, piece-rate wages reflect the output actually recorded on the shop floor, and labour cost flows into product costing at the right level.
Employee lifecycle and self-service
Beyond payroll, the HR module keeps a complete employee record from joining to exit. This reduces paperwork and makes information easy to find during audits or inspections.
Document expiry dates, such as for driving licences of drivers or medical fitness records for certain roles, can be tracked with reminders, and access to sensitive personal data is restricted by user role.
- Recruitment and onboarding: candidate details, offer letters and joining documents.
- Employee master: personal data, bank details, UAN, ESI number, documents and history of changes.
- Loans and advances: sanction, recovery schedule and outstanding balance.
- Expense claims: travel and field expenses with receipts and approval.
- Exit: notice period, clearance and full and final settlement.
- Self-service: employees view payslips, apply for leave and submit tax declarations on mobile.
How AI agents support HR teams
HR teams in MSMEs are usually small, and much of their time goes into answering routine questions and checking data before payroll. AI capabilities in DotOne reduce that load.
- Pre-payroll checks: flags missing punches, unusual overtime, employees with no attendance and bank detail changes before salary is processed.
- Employee questions: answers common queries such as leave balance or payslip components through a conversational assistant.
- Attrition and absenteeism signals: highlights departments or shifts with rising absence or exits.
- Labour cost summaries: explains changes in monthly labour cost by department and cause.
These features follow the approach described on our AI-powered ERP page: the agent prepares and alerts, and the HR team decides.
HR and payroll reports
Reports serve HR, finance, plant management and statutory needs. They are generated from the same attendance and payroll data, so there is one version of each figure.
Statutory registers that factories are expected to maintain, such as attendance, wages, overtime and leave registers, can be produced in the formats your compliance team uses. We configure these formats during implementation because requirements vary by state and industry.
- Muster roll, attendance summary and late-coming reports.
- Salary register, bank statement and payslip summary.
- PF, ESI, PT and TDS reports for filing and reconciliation.
- Overtime by department, shift and employee.
- Headcount, joining and exit trends.
- Labour cost by plant, department and cost centre.
What should you look for in payroll software for a factory?
Generic payroll tools often assume a fixed monthly salary and an office attendance pattern. For a factory, check whether the software handles rotating shifts, overtime approvals, piece rates, contract labour and multi-state statutory rules without manual adjustment.
Also check how attendance is captured at your sites, how corrections are approved and how payroll data reaches accounts and costing. If HR is isolated from production and finance, payroll may be correct but labour cost insight will be missing. A practical checklist for broader evaluation is in our guide on how to choose ERP software.
