Custom absence and Gatekeeper Act file software for employers
Appfront builds software that turns a sickness report into a file with its own timeline. The software sets up the steps required under the Dutch Gatekeeper Improvement Act (Wet verbetering poortwachter), monitors the deadlines for the problem analysis, action plan, adjustments and evaluations, and collects every document for the reintegration report. Medical data stays with the company doctor; the line manager only sees employability and agreements. So a wage sanction caused by a gap in the file can no longer happen.
What is absence and Gatekeeper Act file software?
Absence and Gatekeeper Act file software records, for each employee on sick leave, what happens from the first day of illness. The sickness report starts a timeline with the steps from the Dutch Gatekeeper Improvement Act (Wet verbetering poortwachter): problem analysis, action plan, periodic evaluations, the notification to UWV in week 42, the first-year evaluation and the reintegration report. Every task has an owner, a date and a document attached to it.
Without such a file, the knowledge sits in separate mailboxes. A line manager reports someone sick in the payroll software, the occupational health service sends a problem analysis as a PDF, HR puts an appointment in the calendar, and later another case manager takes over. At the WIA application it turns out that an adjustment to the action plan is missing, and the employer has to continue paying wages for longer.
We build custom software because your absence policy, your contract with the occupational health service and your collective agreement on continued wage payment determine which steps and roles you need. We connect to your payroll system, your HR system and the company doctor's feedback, and to your own rules on who may see which field. Off-the-shelf software doesn't know your own absence thresholds, job groups and arrangements per location.
Timeline with statutory deadlines
From the sick report onwards, the steps required by the Gatekeeper Improvement Act (Wet verbetering poortwachter) are ready, each with a date and an owner. If the first day of sickness changes, the whole timeline shifts with it.
A case file that is complete
Problem analysis, plan of action, revisions, meeting minutes, occupational health assessments and track 2. Everything is attached to the case file and ends up in the right order in the reintegration report.
Separate roles
The occupational physician records medical data, while the line manager only sees capacity to work and agreements. For each role, you decide which fields and documents are visible and what gets logged.
How we build your absence and Gatekeeper Act case file software
We start with your absence protocol and the file of a current case, so we can see which steps you are currently monitoring by hand.
We walk through the case from sick report to WIA application (the Dutch long-term incapacity benefit claim): who reports, who calls the occupational health service, who monitors the deadlines and which documents belong to which step.
Employees, contracts and line managers come from your HR system. We define which roles exist, who may see medical data and which types of absence you use.
Reporting sick, reporting recovered, recording conversations, adding documents and ticking off tasks. Alerts go to the task owner before a statutory deadline expires, with an overview for HR.
We build integrations with payroll, HR and the occupational health service, set up the export for the reintegration report, and take the software into maintenance with logging and periodic checks.
What absence and Gatekeeper Act case file software actually does
The components below appear in almost every absence case file. Which ones you need depends on your size, your occupational health service arrangements and whether you handle case management yourself.
Statutory deadlines
The timeline calculates from the first day of sickness and sets up every statutory step. If someone reports sick again shortly after recovering, the software keeps counting.
Early alerts
The task owner is notified before the deadline expires, and HR sees in a single overview which cases are falling behind and who is responsible for them.
Documents in the case file
Problem analysis, plan of action, revisions and evaluations are stored with the employee, with version, date and signature, ready for the reintegration report.
Roles and access restrictions
Medical data is only visible to the occupational physician and the authorised case manager. Every access and change is logged and can be traced later.
Integration with payroll and HR
Sick and recovery reports go to the payroll system, while changes in employment and contracts flow back. You enter data once, in one place.
Management information
Absence rate, reporting frequency and average duration per department or location, with the option to click through to the underlying case files.
Who we build absence and Gatekeeper Act case file software for
The software is designed for organisations that manage absence themselves and where several people work on the same case file.
Employers who manage absence themselves
You handle case management yourself and only buy in the occupational physician. The timeline with deadlines and the division of tasks between HR and line managers are the core of the system here.
Occupational health services and case managers
You work for multiple clients, each with their own protocol. Separate client environments and reporting per client matter most here.
Healthcare and education
Rosters, capacity to work and replacement are all interlinked. The integration with planning and the recording of adjusted work carry the most weight here.
Temporary staffing and secondment agencies
Many short contracts and changing temporary workers. Automatic continuation of the count for repeated absence and the handover of case files between locations are central here.
Test your idea first: a working prototype in 1 day
With OneDayBuild, we make your idea tangible in a single day for €1,150, so you know whether further development is worth the investment. Decide to go ahead with the full build? Then we deduct the cost in full.
View OneDayBuild →Technology and integrations
This page covers recording and monitoring absence and reintegration files. For absence in general, see our page on absence management software, for occupational health services our page on occupational health service software, and for payroll administration our page on the Loket.nl integration. You can read about our approach on building custom software.
Why Appfront for your absence and Gatekeeper Act file software?
A Gatekeeper Act file is only as good as the step nobody forgets. That is what we build on: every task has an owner, a date and a document.
A gap in the file costs you continued salary payments
When you submit a WIA application, UWV assesses whether you have done enough and whether that has been recorded. Missing evaluations or adjustments lead to an extension of the salary continuation period.
Medical data does not belong with the line manager
You may record whether someone is fit for work and what arrangements have been made, not what is wrong with them. The role model enforces that separation rather than relying on people to observe it.
Your protocol leads, not the package
We build your steps, your types of absence and your agreements with the occupational health service into the software. You do not change your process because the software was designed differently.
Security and privacy in absence and Gatekeeper Act file software
The file contains personal data, fitness for work, agreements and documents from the company doctor. Medical data is special category personal data and is only accessible to the roles legally entitled to see it. Every view, change and download is logged. We set up retention periods per document type, in line with the GDPR and, for healthcare organisations, NEN 7510.
The software runs in a European data centre, with encrypted storage and daily backups. Integrations with payroll, HR and occupational health systems use their own keys, which can be revoked per integration.
Frequently asked questions about absence and Gatekeeper Act file software
Questions that HR managers and case managers ask before getting started.
The software turns every sickness report into a file with a timeline. The steps required by the Gatekeeper Improvement Act are ready with a date and an owner, from problem analysis and action plan to the evaluations and the reintegration report. Documents and agreements are attached to that file, so everything is in one place when you submit the WIA application.
Not as an employer. You may record that someone is sick, their expected fitness for work and the agreements that have been made. The company doctor records the medical side in a separate, protected section. We build that separation into the permissions, so a line manager cannot open those fields and every access is logged.
Yes. The statutory steps are fixed, but almost every organisation also has its own arrangements: a check-in call on a set day, a meeting with HR in case of frequent absence or an extra evaluation. We add those steps as custom tasks in the same timeline, with your deadlines, your roles and your forms.
If an employee reports sick again within four weeks of recovering, the waiting period continues on top of the earlier period. The software calculates this automatically and shifts the open tasks accordingly, so you do not accidentally start a new timeline and miss a deadline.
That depends on what your occupational health service offers. If their system can exchange data, we integrate the consultation appointments and the feedback directly. If it can't, we set up an upload and a fixed structure, so documents still end up in the right file without anyone having to email them around by hand.
Yes. The software puts the components of the reintegration report in the right order and delivers a single file with the accompanying documents. You check the whole thing before sending it, and the screen immediately shows which components are still missing or have not yet been signed by the employer or employee.
Check that first. Many HR and payroll packages have an absence module that tracks sick reports and percentages, and for smaller organisations with full occupational health outsourcing that is often enough. Custom software becomes interesting if you manage absence in-house, work with multiple systems, have your own protocol steps or manage files for several clients.
Want a file that is complete before UWV asks for it?
Tell us how many employees you have, who currently handles case management and which systems your sick reports and documents are currently in. We'll show you what the timeline with deadlines, the restricted section for the occupational physician and the reintegration report export look like.