Time tracking software typically records and controls attendance and punctuality of all employees in a company or an organisation, whose management decides to deploy such a solution. Typically, such solutions can be applied to organisations of different scale and sizes, but is particularly useful in case of organisations with a large workforce and expected minimum number of duty hours. This family of software typically permits monitoring of ‘punching in’ at the beginning of a work day, ‘punching out’ at the end of a work day, breaks taken for lunch or otherwise etc.
Typically, data inputs to such software –
regarding punching in, out or taking breaks is provided by employees through one
or more of the following:
- A log-in though a terminal linked to the server, and located at the workstation of the employee;
- A swipe-in or swipe-out of an access card used by the employee to enter into or leave his work area.
- A fingerprint or retinal (also commonly referred to as bio-metric) scanner that is required to be swiped every time the employee enters or leaves the work area.
Swipe-in cards are one of the most popular options, since these also (usually) carry a photographic identity card of the
employee, apart from a coded smart card which communicates with a sensor located near the door, and swiping the card typically opens the door. However, cards can be lost, misplaced or sometimes forgotten by employees while coming to office. In such a case, temporary access cards have to be issued, but reconciling records of a temporary access
card and the regular card of the employee usually needs being done manually.
Biometric cards scanners are less popular as an
option, even though they eliminate the need for carrying a swipe-card. While a
bio-metric scanner potentially eliminates impersonation (i.e. misuse of identity of one employee by another
individual), over time, scanners can become increasingly less sensitive to
finger prints as or retinal patterns. Biological changes also cause
fingerprints or retinal images to become
progressively difficult to read, especially in the case of ageing employees, or
employees whose work habits cause changes in their finger prints (skilled shop
floor workers, for instance).
Terminal based login systems are usually
least preferred, since they have to be manually logged into. If the terminal is not configured to log into
the attendance system at the time of logging into the network, this can imply
attendance not being recorded even if the employee is actually present in
office. Further, the system is usually not able to identify breaks taken for
lunch or other breaks from work, resulting in over-reporting of working hours.
In offices which support usage of Virtual Private Networks or VPNs, terminal
based logins can also be done remotely, even if the employee is not present in
office, but possibly working out of home or from the field. In terms of
advantages, terminal based login systems do not require specific hardware and
can largely utilize the information technology infrastructure of the office
itself.
Time Reckon is leading time and attendance software for employee time tracking. For more information visit www.timereckon.com
