Write a one-page buying brief
Record your employee-count range, locations, office or shift patterns, current tools and intended switch date. List three recurring problems in plain language: for example, managers approving claims after cut-off, duplicate employee records, or finance rebuilding payroll inputs every month.
Keep personal employee records out of initial sales conversations. Use fictional examples to explain the workflow. Decide which tasks must work at launch and which can wait.
Run the same five scenarios with every vendor
| Scenario | Ask the vendor to show | Evidence to keep |
|---|---|---|
| New starter mid-month | Create a profile, assign an owner and show what reaches payroll preparation. | Supported fields and the review flow. |
| Missing clock-out | Find the exception, route it to a manager and retain the original record. | The correction history. |
| Leave after payroll cut-off | Explain who can approve it and how the change reaches the next review. | The agreed cut-off process. |
| Change in salary | Show the effective date, permission checks and reviewer. | The audit record and export. |
| Employee departure | Show handover, access removal and data export or retention controls. | The offboarding checklist. |
Check Singapore requirements explicitly
Ask how the product handles the Singapore payroll requirements relevant to your workforce. Separate a supported workflow from a statutory calculation, a file export and an actual government submission. These are different capabilities.
Use MOM’s employment-record requirements to review record fields and retention. For annual employment-income reporting, check IRAS AIS participation guidance for your organisation. Request evidence for any claimed integration, approval or grant eligibility.
Make migration part of the decision
Ask which historical records can be imported, which fields need mapping, who resolves duplicates and how a test import is checked. Agree on who signs off the data before the first production cycle. A parallel review using a sample period can reveal differences that a polished demo will miss.
Put the implementation owner, employee training, support channel, export options and any exit requirements into the written scope. Test access with the least-privileged role as well as the administrator role.
Use a scorecard your whole team can read
For each scenario, record shown, partly shown or not shown, plus the evidence and an owner for follow-up. Keep critical requirements as pass/fail items; a good average score should not hide one missing capability you cannot operate without.
Download the vendor scorecard ↓CSV template · No email required · Contains no employee data
Compare the full scope, not only the headline price
Check the billing unit, employee count, included modules, implementation, migration, support, applicable taxes and contract terms. Coden’s advertised starting price is S$2 per employee per month. Module scope and availability are confirmed in your quote. Use the Coden pricing page as a starting point for your own team size.
Bring the brief to your Coden demo
Coden is in early access. Bring the scenarios that matter to your Singapore team so we can discuss fit, production availability and scope. Our website uses illustrative product screens and does not process payroll or employee datasets.
Prepared by the Coden team at MUST Technology Pte Ltd, Singapore. Workflow examples are illustrative. Regulatory links were checked on 4 October 2026; confirm current requirements with the relevant authority. Suggest a correction.