OnTheClock recently completed the largest software update in its 21-year history — a full modernization of its code base. This project was years in the making and marks a major leap forward in performance, scalability, and customer experience.

Why Modernization Was Necessary

Like any technology, time tracking, scheduling, and payroll software needs to evolve to keep pace with new tools, best practices, and customer demands. OnTheClock’s legacy system was built on older “Web Forms” technology, which was reliable but increasingly limiting as the company continues to grow and evolve. 

To accommodate, the company rebuilt its web platform using a modern, high-performance architecture designed for today’s most responsive and scalable applications. The upgraded technology strengthened the software’s web apps, dashboards, admin panels, component libraries, and much more. 

And, upon the software’s release on Aug. 1, very few customers were aware that the upgrade even occurred, which may have been the best part. 

“OnTheClock just released the biggest upgrade in its existence, and the majority of our customers didn’t even know it, which was our goal,” said Dean Mathews, CEO and Founder, OnTheClock. “We completely rewrote everything: Our website, APIs, and the underlying systems that run OnTheClock. Everything’s been rebuilt from the ground up, and it couldn’t have gone much better.”

Upgrading the software’s infrastructure strengthens OnTheClock’s performance, enabling the platform to scale seamlessly in real time.

“Our goal is to get to one million users, and as accounts get larger, older tech can cause runtime errors and slower load times,” said Steve McKay, Product Manager, OnTheClock. “This upgrade makes the software faster, more reactive, and easier to maintain, which sets us up for long-term growth.”

The modernization project revitalized 80% of the software’s code – a move that was necessary to allow the company to keep pace with the number of new customers it’s bringing on, said Sylvester Morgan, Development Manager, OnTheClock.

“This wasn’t about the tens of thousands of lines of code that were migrated and updated; it was about setting OnTheClock up for the next decade of growth and innovation,” he said. “Customers might not feel the impact right away, but these changes make it possible for us to deliver features faster while maintaining the excellent, reliable service they expect.”

For most small-to-midsized businesses, the changes won’t be immediately visible. But for large accounts — especially those with complex project costing or large time card histories — this upgrade is designed to create faster load times, smoother navigation, and fewer errors.

“I know a lot of the changes, such as brighter colors, cleaner layouts, and easier navigation, may not seem that significant at first,” said Noah Stull, Support Manager, OnTheClock. “However, each and every one of these upgrades is designed to make the workflow much better. For example, it’s now much simpler to make an employee a manager or perform other tasks within the system. This modernization is all about making everyday actions quicker and more intuitive.”

Key New Features for Customers

While much of the modernization work happened “under the hood,” two major new features stand out for customers:

1. User Profiles

Admins, managers, and employees now have dedicated user profiles with clearly assigned roles. This “user-first” approach makes it easier to:

• Onboard new employees;
• Assign multiple roles (e.g., someone can be both a manager and an employee and navigate easily between these identities);
• Maintain consistent profiles across related companies; and
• Carry profiles from company to company.

“In the past, switching roles required deleting and re-adding users,” said McKay. “Now it’s just a matter of checking a box.”

These upgrades are designed to save customers’ time, and, when it comes to running a successful business, every minute matters.

“It’s little changes like this that make a big difference in how smoothly you can manage your team,” said Stull.

2. Contractor Designation

Businesses can now officially identify employees as contractors, pay them accordingly via OnTheClock Payroll, and automatically generate 1099 forms at year’s end.

This change eliminates the need for separate spreadsheets or manual recordkeeping, and it makes transitioning workers between W-2 and contractor status much simpler.

Behind the Scenes: A Massive Team Effort

Launching an update that touched 80% of the software’s code base was no small feat — especially for a smaller, agile team, like OnTheClock.

Morgan said moving from a decades-old legacy platform to a more modern interface required deep architectural planning.

“We reworked user handling, authentication, and made upgrades to the entire experience, all while ensuring the integrity of our system and customer data,” he said. 

McKay describes the release weekend as one of the best team-building experiences he’s ever been a part of.

“We didn’t have to rollback anything,” he said. “We experienced no data loss, and, in reality, we only had one critical bug – which we fixed by the time employees were punching in on that next Monday.” 

Stull echoed that sentiment from the customer side.

“We know modernization can feel like a waiting game, and we appreciate everyone’s patience,” he said. “The payoff is that we’re now in a position to jump into the feature requests customers have been submitting for months — and that’s really exciting.”

Mathews credits every member of the OnTheClock team for their diligent attention to detail.

“Our product and development teams worked countless late nights,” he said. “Our customer success, marketing, support, and payroll teams kept customers in the loop and made sure everything stayed transparent. And our operations team kept everyone fed and caffeinated through it all. I’m so grateful to every member of our team for making this happen.”

What’s Next

Because timecards are the “nucleus” of OnTheClock, the modernization rollout was split into two phases:

1. Phase One – The recently completed launch focused on updating infrastructure and introducing new features like user profiles and contractor designations.
   
   
2. Phase Two – Coming by the end of the year, this phase will update timecards to the new architecture, significantly improving speed while maintaining accuracy.

Before phase two is implemented, the OnTheClock team will test and challenge the system’s timecards from all angles, pushing their limitations, comparing old and new systems, and ensuring any discrepancies are fixed before the public release.

“We’re focused on future-proofing our system,” said Mathews. “We’re building AI into our tools, adding advanced scheduling, upgrading time and attendance, and expanding payroll features. We’re also introducing what we call ‘HR light’ — things like employee directories, reporting, and meeting notes. It’s all designed to help you grow your business and lead your team into the future.”

As OnTheClock ushers in the next stage of its development, Mathews encourages OnTheClock’s users to continue to be catalysts for change. 

“This release is just the beginning — with our updated foundation, we’re ready to build the future of time tracking,” he said. “As a user of our software, if you have feedback, please share it. At the bottom of every page, there’s a little line that asks what you’d like us to do. Type it in. We’re listening — and we’re building this for you.”