What Is SAP Fieldglass? Full Guide & TimeCamp Comparison (2026)

If you hire an external workforce for your company (especially contingent workers, such as freelancers or contractors), you should consider implementing a VMS (Vendor Management System) in your company. This way, you can:

Keep tabs on what projects are in progress
Manage contingent workers
And even ensure compliance with labor laws

Contingent workforce management platforms help businesses gain visibility and optimize workforce performance. Such tools usually come with many useful features that both service providers and staffing agencies can use to manage contingent talent and independent contractors.

In fact, automating administrative tasks like approvals and compliance checks reduces errors in contingent workforce management. Also, a VMS can help organizations meet rapid industry change, fill skills gaps, and attract top talent.

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What Are Vendor Management Systems?

Vendor Management Systems are, in essence, workforce management solutions. A VMS provides real-time insights into workforce performance, labor costs, and compliance risks. Such a software solution has been designed to manage everything relating to contingent labor, including managing contracts and rates, as well as tracking their work (both in terms of time and daily activity).

Such platforms usually comprise a workflow layer and a data/vendor layer so that companies managing gig workers or independent contractors can keep everything related to their work in one centralized platform. Centralized oversight is necessary for tracking vendors and ensuring compliance in contingent workforce management.

Take a look at the key features that such tools, including SAP Fieldglass, usually offer:

Feature	Description
External workforce monitoring	With a VMS, you can track all external workers and their projects/activities, analyze the results they’re getting, and easily share data across relevant teams (e.g., marketing, operations, and HR).
Regulatory compliance and local employment laws	VMS systems enable you to comply with regional and local tax and labor regulations. This way, you can lower potential compliance risk. SAP Fieldglass operates in 180 countries, thus helping you with maintaining compliance regardless of your (or your temporary workers’) location.
Real-time insights	VMS platforms enable you to track main KPIs and metrics to support your decision-making process across the business. For instance, you can use those insights to make informed decisions on how many seasonal workers you’ll need during the next summer vacation. Real-time analytics and reporting tools provide insights into labor spend and workforce performance.
Easier access to qualified staff	A good VMS system will help you assess every candidate through machine learning algorithms. You can also use this tool to schedule interviews and help onboard your new workers faster. Additionally, the platform enables a ‘Total Workforce Management’ strategy by integrating with SAP SuccessFactors, allowing companies to view their entire talent pool.
Worker Profile Management	Worker Profile Management provides a centralized system for maintaining records of non-employee workers, including security IDs, certifications, and training records. With this feature, you can see all contact information, work history, tenure, certifications, location and data access in one place.
Services Procurement	Services Procurement (SOW) manages project-based services and deliverables, tracking milestones and payments to ensure contract compliance. SAP’s services procurement solution helps track the who, what, where, when, why, and how of each project to streamline processes, reduce risk, and meet business goals.

What is Contingent Workforce Management?

Contingent workforce management solutions work similarly to VMS systems. In many cases, both names are used interchangeably. The main difference is that contingent workforce management software is more geared toward the contingent workforce. Such a tool helps organizations manage a freelance workforce and other temporary workers. Contingent workforce management platforms centralize processes, automate administrative tasks, and improve visibility.

SAP Fieldglass is a leading vendor management system that can also support your business with contingent workforce management. Keep in mind, though, that establishing clear policies and communication channels ensures consistency and compliance in managing a contingent workforce.

How to Choose a VMS System

Contingent workforce management solutions are increasingly necessary as organizations rely more on contractors, freelancers, and temporary staff. So, if that’s the case with your company, what are your options? First of all, consider what matters the most when you’re looking for a VMS system for your company.

Vendor management systems streamline and automate tedious, manual processes. However, choosing a contingent workforce management platform requires consideration of the platform’s scope and scale to handle the size of the contingent workforce. Organizations should assess analytics, visibility, and support when choosing a contingent workforce management solution. Lastly, you ought to check the available features. Real-time insights into workforce performance, labor costs, and compliance risks are essential features of a contingent workforce management solution.

Does VMS Help With Time Tracking?

In general, yes, although it’s not the primary feature for such systems. SAP Fieldglass provides you with several time-tracking features, including:

Comprehensive time administration: With SAP Fieldglass, you can manage and oversee employee time and attendance processes with auto-approvals, alerts, and embedded reporting.
Flexible time recording for your employees: Managers can give their employees the option to record time from a desktop, mobile device, or clock terminal.
Integrated time and payroll ecosystem: Time tracking rarely works as a separate process. Typically, companies use it to manage their employees in a more effective manner and integrate time-tracking data with payroll and accounting tools. With SAP Fieldglass, you can use pre-delivered integrations with payroll systems (also from SAP).

What Can SAP Fieldglass Help Your Company With?

SAP Fieldglass is a comprehensive vendor management software. SAP Fieldglass was acquired by SAP in 2014 and has been a vendor management system since 1999. It helps you manage your external workforce and vendors through a single, centralized ecosystem.

a promotional image of sap field glass that shows its web and mobile apps

It assists you every step of the way, from creating job requisitions and sourcing contractors to onboarding, tracking time, and handling invoicing (via integrations with other SAP tools). Additionally, SAP Fieldglass enables you to standardize your processes, primarily in order to reduce manual work, minimize errors, and give your team(s) better visibility into their operations, especially in terms of:

Who they’re hiring
How much are they paying
How vendors/workers are performing

Also, this platform helps you maintain full control over costs, compliance, analytics and reporting. If analytics is a big part of your process, SAP Fieldglass comes with built-in analytics and integrations with HR and finance systems to help you monitor spending, optimize vendor usage, and make more informed, data-driven decisions about your external workforce strategy, which is especially beneficial if you run global operations and are looking to increase your operational efficiency.

SAP Fieldglass vs. TimeCamp: Full Comparison

Both tools can come in handy when it comes to managing the external and contingent workforce in your business. However, there are some crucial differences. The main one is that SAP Fieldglass is a comprehensive vendor management system, while TimeCamp is a time and activity tracking platform. Both TimeCamp and SAP Fieldglass can provide you with useful information that helps you with managing independent contractors and generating cost savings for your business.

However, keep in mind that TimeCamp is not a workforce management platform, so if you’re looking for an all-in-one tool, SAP Fieldglass is likely the better option. Take a look at the comparison of both tools:

Factor	SAP Fieldglass	TimeCamp
Software type	Vendor Management System	Time-tracking platform
Primary use cases	Full vendor management and external talent management	Tracking employee time and activity
Workflow automation	Advanced (managing employees, onboarding, regulatory compliance, hiring)	Limited (TimeCamp focuses on the time aspects of workforce management)
Target users	Enterprises, contract employment agencies, global compliance companies	Mid-size and enterprise companies
Works internationally	Yes	Yes
Offers a free plan	No	Yes
Integrates with invoicing/HR software	Yes	Yes
Implementation complexity	High (it’s an enterprise-grade tool that requires full integration with your business processes)	Low (TimeCamp is a quick-setup self-serve SaaS platform)

When Should You Consider SAP Fieldglass?

SAP Fieldglass is a good solution when you need an all-in-one vendor management system (VMS) to manage contingent labor in your company, streamline payment processing and supplier management. And with integrations with other SAP tools as well as other invoicing and HR platforms, you can create a fully optimized ecosystem for managing everything that’s related to your external/temporary workforce management in your company.

When Should You Consider TimeCamp?

TimeCamp is a time-tracking and activity monitoring platform. It also comes with quite an extensive workforce management solution, including:

And more. However, TimeCamp mostly focuses on monitoring your team’s activity and productivity (for both full-time employees, contract workers, and independent contractors). Those insights can be immensely beneficial in terms of the way you manage temporary staff and make business decisions regarding your extended workforce. But TimeCamp will not be able to automate all the processes for you.

a promotional image of timecamp time trackin g software for a blog post about what is sap fieldglass

So, to summarize, if you’re looking for a VMS tool, choose SAP Fieldglass. If you’re looking for a time-tracking platform that comes with budgeting, billing, and invoicing features, as well as AI timesheet support, choose TimeCamp. If you need to manage vendors but also monitor your team’s activity to optimize processes and eliminate potential bottlenecks, choose both tools.

Start Tracking Time And Streamline Workforce Management With TimeCamp

If you’re looking for a flexible platform that will help you manage both full-time and temporary employees, track their activity, and streamline billing and invoicing processes, TimeCamp has got you covered. We invite you to start with a free trial access today. You can also choose a free plan that provides you with basic functionality.

And if you want to test the full functionality of our platform for a longer period, our Starter plan costs only $3.99 per user/month, so you can test if TimeCamp is a good fit for your business without a significant financial investment. If you’d like to test TimeCamp, start here for free.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is SAP Fieldglass?

SAP Fieldglass is a cloud-based Vendor Management System (VMS) for managing contingent workers, freelancers, contractors, and external service providers. Acquired by SAP in 2014, it helps organizations source, manage, and pay their external workforce across 180+ countries while ensuring regulatory compliance.

What is the difference between SAP Fieldglass and TimeCamp?

SAP Fieldglass is an enterprise-grade Vendor Management System designed for full external workforce management — sourcing, onboarding, compliance, and invoicing. TimeCamp is a time tracking and activity monitoring platform focused on tracking work hours, measuring productivity, and billing clients. SAP Fieldglass manages who works for you; TimeCamp tracks how they spend their time.

Does SAP Fieldglass have time tracking?

SAP Fieldglass includes basic time and expense management features — workers can submit timesheets and managers can approve them. However, it lacks automatic time tracking, activity monitoring, and productivity analytics. For advanced time tracking, organizations often pair SAP Fieldglass with a dedicated tool like TimeCamp.

Is SAP Fieldglass free?

No. SAP Fieldglass is an enterprise-grade platform with custom pricing — businesses need to contact SAP for a quote. TimeCamp, by contrast, offers a free plan with unlimited users and projects, with paid plans starting at $3.99 per user per month.

Can I use SAP Fieldglass and TimeCamp together?

Yes. Many organizations use a VMS like SAP Fieldglass for workforce management and compliance, while adding TimeCamp for detailed time tracking, productivity monitoring, and billing. TimeCamp integrates with invoicing and HR systems, complementing SAP Fieldglass’s vendor management capabilities.

What is a Vendor Management System (VMS)?

A Vendor Management System is a software platform that helps organizations manage their external workforce — including contingent workers, freelancers, contractors, and staffing agencies. A VMS automates sourcing, onboarding, time tracking, invoicing, and compliance management. Examples include SAP Fieldglass, Beeline, and Magnit.

Who should use SAP Fieldglass vs. TimeCamp?

Choose SAP Fieldglass if you manage a large contingent workforce across multiple countries and need end-to-end vendor management with compliance automation. Choose TimeCamp if you need detailed time tracking, activity monitoring, productivity analytics, and billing for both full-time and contract workers.

Sources:

https://www.sap.com/products/hcm/workforce-management.html

https://www.sap.com/canada/products/spend-management/services-procurement.html

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Ola Rybacka Product Marketer and Content Specialist at TimeCamp. Remote worker advocate; has been working from home for 10+ years so far. Knows TimeCamp far and wide and does her best to translate the technical jargon into reader-friendly English to help users gain better understanding of our time tracker. Feels best in writing, but is also open for creating short video explainers. Privately, passionate about any form of Japanese culture and has been learning 日本語 for 4 years so far to devour animes and mangas in their native language.

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