How Criterion and Trimble Are Streamlining HR and Finance Workflows

If you’re in construction, you probably already know the strength of Trimble products. ERP solutions like Vista and Spectrum are trusted tools for companies that need financial tracking, job costing, and project visibility.

Both platforms offer solid payroll and project management functionality, but these tools weren’t built for advanced HR tasks. To manage benefits, time-off requests, onboarding, or training and compliance, you need a dedicated HR solution.

But simply having an HCM platform isn’t enough. To truly leverage your workforce (your most valuable investment) you need to connect HR data with your ERP. Without that connection, you’ll likely need to re-enter data manually, which can cause major errors across systems, and add hours of wasted productivity for busy HR & payroll teams.

In construction, retaining talent and staying compliant are more important than ever. But siloed processes only slow you down. That’s why Criterion is partnering with Trimble to build a new integration for construction HR and finance teams.

Criterion is well known for its advanced integration capabilities, its ease of use and its world-class customer support focus. When integrated with Trimble, you get the HR functionality you need, fully connected to the ERP power of Spectrum and Vista. In linking these systems, we’re helping construction companies become more productive and accurate by eliminating duplicate entries and reducing manual work across departments that drags down productivity.

Let’s take a closer look at how Criterion can work alongside Trimble to close the HR gap in your system.

What Is Criterion HCM?

Criterion is a cloud-based HR Platform platform that delivers enterprise-grade functionality with a user-friendly design and full configurability. It’s built for companies that need more than just basic HR tools — especially in industries like construction, where complexity is the norm.

With three core modules (HR, Payroll, and Talent Engagement) all on a single database, Criterion helps teams work smarter with fully connected data. Our open API allows every field in the system to be integrated with your ERP, accounting software, or any third-party platform you rely on.

When you integrate Criterion with Trimble’s ERP systems, you get:

A trusted ERP for accounting, project management, and job costing
A modern Human Capital Management (HCM) platform built for HR, payroll, and talent management in construction

Why Construction Companies Need Integrated HR and ERP Platforms

In construction, few administrative tasks are more complex or critical than payroll — and the challenge doesn’t end with cutting checks. Managing labor also means navigating union rules, job-based wage rates, cost allocation, and detailed reporting (e.g., for certified payroll or prevailing wage compliance).

Most construction companies already use software to manage parts of this process. ERPs like Vista and Spectrum do a great job on the financial side (payroll, job costing, accounting, etc.) but they aren’t designed to support the full employee lifecycle.

To better support your workforce, you need more than financial tools. You need systems that can manage benefits, time off, onboarding, training, and more — all tied to your core HR data.

Supporting employees with better hiring, onboarding, and development is essential even from a financial perspective. With a high-quality HCM system, you’ll boost retention and drive productivity and profitability from virtually every angle. But if you’re relying on disconnected systems (or spreadsheets) to do it all, you’re likely duplicating data, chasing down errors, or stuck performing manual work that slows everything down.

That’s why integration matters. You need two systems that actually talk to each other — in real time, without manual syncing or delays.

Your ideal setup should:

Use HR data to apply complex payroll rules
Share information automatically across systems
Connect HR and finance for accurate labor reporting
Automate benefit deductions
Track the cost of hiring and retaining top talent
Allocate time and labor to specific projects

That’s what Criterion delivers through seamless integration with Trimble’s App Xchange. We connect your ERP and HCM platforms so data flows cleanly between them — saving time, reducing risk, and giving you full visibility into your workforce.

What Can You Do by Integrating Criterion and Trimble?

For construction companies, integrating Criterion with Trimble creates a flexible solution for managing HR. Whether you want to use Criterion for just HR, or expand into time tracking and payroll, you get to decide how your systems work together. We’ve designed our integration to fit seamlessly into the Trimble ecosystem, no matter which ERP product you’re using.

Here are the three most common integration setups construction firms choose:

Setup	How It Works
Criterion for HR + Trimble for Payroll and Accounting	Use Criterion for onboarding, benefits, compliance, and employee data while processing payroll and accounting through Trimble. It’s an easy way to upgrade your HR without changing your financial systems.
Criterion for HR and Time Tracking + Trimble for Payroll and Accounting	Add time tracking in Criterion using our mobile app with GPS geofencing. Employees clock in easily, managers get better oversight, but payroll and accounting still runs through Trimble.
Criterion for HR, Time, and Payroll + Trimble for Accounting	Criterion can also manage complex payroll (including union rules, job-based pay, and certified payroll) then push journal entries and project costs directly into Trimble for accurate accounting.

Now, let’s take a look at some of the more specific capabilities possible with these setups.

Streamline HR and Payroll Processing

Unlike traditional ERP integrations that rely on flat-file transfers, Criterion uses a modern REST API to connect directly with Trimble products. That means cleaner, faster, and more reliable data flow, without the syncing headaches.

With Criterion, you get a single platform for HR, payroll, and talent engagement that’s user-friendly, fully configurable, and built to reduce admin work across the board. Features for immersive onboarding, benefits management, document control, compliance, and employee self-service are built in. It’s everything you need to run HR more efficiently.

Here’s how the data flows between platforms:

Trimble to Criterion: Project info, job details, and tasks flow into Criterion, so you can track time and labor accurately across jobs.
Criterion to Trimble: Employee records, time entries (optional), and general ledger (GL) data move from Criterion into your ERP to support smooth payroll and accounting processes.

Data like hire dates, job titles, deductions, and union wage details can be synced automatically. This gives your team real-time accuracy between platforms with less manual effort.

How Criterion and Trimble Enable Accurate Labor Cost Allocation

In construction, profitability often comes down to how well you manage labor. When you use Criterion for HR, Time, and Payroll, you can connect payroll data directly to the financial performance of each project. Here’s how it works:

When a new project is created in Trimble, key financial details (like job fees, customer rates, and project codes) automatically flow into Criterion.
As employees track time, that data is automatically factored in with wage rates, union rules, location, and tax information to process payroll.
Once payroll is processed, Criterion pushes a journal entry back into Trimble. This data can be used to generate custom labor reports that show true labor costs by project. You can even break down the data by branches or divisions within your organization.

With this setup, there’s no manual re-entry or delay — just clear visibility into what’s working and what’s costing you more than it should.

With Criterion’s flexible reporting engine, you can go even deeper. Analyze labor costs against materials, equipment, union rates, or location data. The platform gives you complete access to your data, allowing you to build custom reports using any field in the system. We provide fast, accurate insight your finance team can use to make smarter decisions on every project.

More Possibilities With App Xchange

This integration already brings major value to your team — but what’s even more exciting is where it can go next. At the core of our partnership is Trimble’s App Xchange, a powerful middleware layer that allows Criterion to connect to all of Trimble’s products behind the scenes.

Criterion now integrates directly with App Xchange, opening the door to more integrations far beyond Vista or Spectrum. HR, payroll, and recruiting data from Criterion can flow into any Trimble-connected tool. Future integrations could extend to subcontractor payment systems like Trimble Pay or project management platforms like ProjectSight.

For now, we’re focused on delivering seamless integration with Vista and Spectrum. But thanks to the shared App Xchange infrastructure, the possibilities are wide open. And with Criterion’s open API, you can build custom connections to other Trimble tools as your needs grow — no matter how complex your tech stack becomes.

What Else Can Criterion Do for You?

Beyond integration with Trimble, Criterion offers a full suite of tools to help construction companies attract talent, simplify payroll, and automate workforce management from one platform.

Talent Engagement

Criterion’s talent management and recruiting tools support every stage of the employee journey — from hiring to onboarding to development.

Track Applicants - Manage applications, pre-screen candidates, and collaborate on hiring workflows to save time and improve the candidate experience.
Immersive Onboarding - Create configurable onboarding workflows that automate and streamline key first-day steps — so employees feel supported from day one. Assign tasks, complete digital forms, reduce admin with e-signatures, and support a culture of continuous learning.

Even if your payroll runs through Trimble, Criterion can manage certifications, onboarding, training, and performance reviews — all tied to your core HR records.

Payroll

Criterion’s payroll module is built for the complexity of construction work. Job-based pay to union rules and certified payroll — we can handle it all.

Simplify Payroll - Process multiple pay types, deductions, and fringe benefits with ease. No matter how complex your rules, Criterion can automate those processes.
Automate Construction-Specific Calculations - Configure rules for CBAs, union local rates, and prevailing wages, then automate payroll according to all those complexities to save time and reduce error.
Track Time and Labor - Log time via Criterion’s mobile app (with employee self-service features) and determine labor costs with custom reports.
Stay Compliant - Use geo-coding to assign correct tax tables and manage local tax rules with confidence.

AI Features

AI is becoming a necessary tool for HR leaders. Our AI assistant, ch.ai, helps HR teams work smarter by automating routine tasks — so you can focus on what really matters:

HR Chatbot - Let ch.ai handle common employee questions about time off, policies, and more — saving time for your team.
Predictive Analytics - Plan ahead with insights based on workforce trends, including forecasts for hiring, turnover, and productivity.
Auto-Generated Offer Letters & Policies - Quickly draft offer letters and HR policies using generative AI, so you can send or publish them faster with less manual work.
Resume Parsing - Automatically sort and rank candidates based on predefined criteria — so your team can focus on the top contenders.
Facial Recognition - Improve time tracking accuracy and reduce time theft with facial scan verification for time punches.

See the Criterion Integration Live

Modern construction companies can’t afford to let their systems operate in silos. If your HR, payroll, and financial data aren’t connected, you’re likely spending too much time on manual admin work and missing out on critical insights.

By integrating Criterion with Trimble’s ERP platforms, you can:

Streamline HR-to-payroll workflows
Automate multi-level labor allocation
Generate detailed custom reports
Expand your ecosystem through Trimble’s App Xchange

It’s the best of both worlds: powerful, flexible HR from Criterion, robust ERP from Trimble’s Vista and Spectrum.

Want to learn more?Book a demo and see what’s possible when your systems and teams are fully connected.