1. Site visit and workflow review
Start on the ground, not on a call. Walk the sections, watch one full muster and one weighment, and record the estate's actual practice:
- Which sections run muster where, and at what time.
- Weighment points, scale condition, and bag tare practice.
- Current task norms, deduction slabs, and fine leaf rules.
- Office workflow: who reviews attendance, who prepares wages.
- Connectivity at muster points, weighing sheds, and the office.
The rollout plan comes from this list. Skipping the visit is the most common cause of a rollout that fights the garden's routine.
2. Master data and device setup
Before the first device reaches a line, load and check the records the field depends on:
- Workers with their permanent estate IDs, sections, and roles.
- Sections, work codes, and task definitions.
- Rules: tare weights, rainfall slabs, fine leaf settings, task norms.
- Device users and permissions for each supervisor.
- Bluetooth scales paired and their tare configuration checked.
Check this data against the muster book section by section. Every name fixed here is a dispute that never happens at payroll.
3. Enrollment and training
Capture enrollment photos section by section, following the capture practice in the enrollment guide. Then train the people who will run the system:
- Supervisors: muster, punch work, weighing, session handling, and the manual fallback.
- Weighing staff: scale pairing, tare, deductions, and what to do when Bluetooth drops.
- Office staff: review views, corrections, finalization, and exports.
Keep the training in simple language and on the actual devices. A printed manual is no substitute for the first supervised muster.
4. The parallel run
Run face attendance beside the paper register for about a week. Supervisors get comfortable, and the office can compare both records daily. Expect a short list of fixes in week one: a few re-enrollments, a device placement change, a tare correction. That is the parallel run doing its job.
5. Go-live and the first month
Switch a section off paper when its muster, weighing, and office review have run clean through the parallel run. During the first month:
- Check sync status at end of day from every device.
- Review the office views daily until corrections become rare.
- Handle re-enrollments as they surface, not in a batch at month end.
- Keep Sarbani Associates support contact close for the first pay cycle.
Section by section, the paper register retires itself. No big-bang date, no line stopped for a software change.