BambooHR tracks holiday and sick days, but not who's cleared to step onto the Devonport dockyard in Plymouth tomorrow
Custom HR (Human Resources) software for a Plymouth defence or marine employer typically costs £35,000 to £95,000 over 3 to 6 months. BambooHR, Workday, and Gusto handle holiday, payroll, and reviews well; they have no native model for security clearance levels, dockyard passes, or marine competency certificates, which are the records that actually decide who can work tomorrow.
For a Plymouth defence subcontractor, the HR questions that matter aren't who's on leave, they're who holds current SC or DV clearance, whose dockyard pass and induction are valid, and whose welding or survey certification hasn't lapsed. BambooHR and Gusto have a place for none of that, so it lives in a spreadsheet the ops manager guards, and a clearance or pass quietly expires until someone's turned away at the gate.
The expensive version of this is discovering on the morning of a job that the fitter you scheduled lost their pass last week, the work can't proceed, and the vessel's tide window is closing. Standard HR software never warned anyone, because it didn't know the data existed.
Budgeting a hr build in Plymouth
| Project scope | Typical cost | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| HR core plus clearance and pass tracking | £35,000 to £55,000 | 3 to 4 months |
| Added competency certs and eligibility-aware scheduling | £55,000 to £78,000 | 4 to 5 months |
| Full HR platform with scheduling and system integrations | £75,000 to £95,000 | 5 to 6 months |
The case for owning your hr
Custom HR software makes clearance, passes, and certifications first-class records with expiry tracking and proactive warnings, and ties them to scheduling so the system simply won't let you put an ineligible person on restricted work. It keeps the standard HR functions you already need and adds the defence- and marine-specific layer that decides who can actually work, which off-the-shelf tools ignore entirely.
- Clearance, passes, and certs decide who can work and aren't in your HR system
- Expired passes or certs have already disrupted a job
- You need provable eligibility evidence for audits
- Scheduling needs to respect eligibility automatically
- Your workforce has no clearance or certification requirements
- BambooHR or Gusto covers your leave, payroll, and review needs
- You're small enough that a simple cert spreadsheet is genuinely manageable
- Budget won't stretch to a bespoke build right now
What your build should include
HR services we deliver in Plymouth
Digital Heroes builds the full HR stack for Plymouth teams. Typical engagements cover performance management software, custom HR software, HRIS development, payroll software and employee onboarding system.
Delivery, week by week
Exactly what you get
You get HR software that answers the question a Plymouth dockyard employer actually asks every morning: who can work today. Clearance levels, dockyard passes, and competency certs are tracked with expiry warnings, scheduling won't put an ineligible person on restricted work, and you have audit-ready proof of eligibility, alongside the ordinary leave, records, and reviews you still need.
How to choose a developer in Plymouth
Choose a team that understands defence and marine workforce eligibility, not just generic HR. Ask how clearance expiry triggers a warning, how scheduling enforces eligibility, and how it integrates with your payroll and project tools. The right partner will keep standard HR simple and focus the custom effort on the clearance-and-certification layer that off-the-shelf tools can't touch.
- Clearance, dockyard passes, and competency certs tracked with expiry warnings
- Scheduling guards that block assigning an ineligible person to restricted work
- A single source of truth for workforce eligibility instead of a guarded spreadsheet
- Audit-ready evidence of who was eligible for what, and when
- Integration with project management and field service tools so eligibility informs planning
- More expensive than a per-seat BambooHR or Gusto subscription
- You may still need a payroll provider alongside it, adding an integration
- Eligibility rules need maintaining as clearance and dockyard requirements change
- For a small team with no clearance or certification demands, off-the-shelf HR is plenty
- !A vendor who treats clearance as a custom text field; ask how expiry alerts and scheduling guards work
- !No eligibility logic; ask how the system stops you scheduling an ineligible fitter
- !Ignoring payroll integration; ask how it works with your payroll provider
- !No audit-evidence story; ask how it proves who was eligible and when
- !One-size HR demo; ask to see clearance and pass handling specifically
Most Plymouth teams pricing hr end up comparing notes on pos, warehouse management, helpdesk & ticketing too; the systems share one data spine.
Rohan advises mid-market and enterprise teams on ERP, CRM and custom software, and has led delivery on dozens of business-software builds.
Writes for Digital Heroes, shipping business software for 2,000+ brands across 55+ countries since 2017.
Frequently asked questions
Can't BambooHR just store clearance in a custom field?
It can store the text, but it won't warn you before a clearance or dockyard pass expires, and it won't stop you scheduling an ineligible person onto restricted work. For a Plymouth defence employer those active controls are the whole point, and they're what custom software adds.
What happens when a dockyard pass is about to expire?
The system flags it well in advance, prompts renewal, and, if it lapses, prevents that person being scheduled onto restricted work. That replaces the spreadsheet that nobody checks until someone's turned away at the gate.
Do we still need a payroll provider?
Often yes. Many firms keep a dedicated payroll tool and integrate it, letting the custom HR software own the clearance, pass, certification, and eligibility-scheduling layer that payroll tools don't handle.
How does this connect to scheduling?
Eligibility data feeds your scheduling so the system blocks assigning anyone whose clearance, pass, or certification isn't valid. That's the link that prevents a job stalling at the dockyard gate on the morning it's due.