TIMEDOCK is a time tracking application, though you won’t find the standard Start and Stop buttons that should be pressed by your workers. In this case clock ins and clock outs are registered by placing worker’s card in front of the reader that can be installed into any Android or iOS device. It may look like when a worker arrives at work he is required to place his card in front of iPad mounted on the wall of the lobby and do the same while leaving. If you are interested in this ergonomic time tracking approach, you are most welcome to continue reading – details are below.
The Cards
You can either print badges with QR code or, for enhanced security (and if you have extra funds) use NFC cards, copying which is much harder than making a photo of QR code and then placing it in front of the scanner.
So, if you decided to use simple paper badges, after you have entered all your employees into the system you will be able to print out all their personal cards:
You can see from the screenshot above that there are several options for printing cards on various paper formats. Ultimately you get 85 mm x 55 mm cards (standard size and, as far as I am aware, it is not possible to change it):
If you decided to use cards with NFC chip, you can order them right away from the page featuring the list of employees (see “Buy cards” option below “Print” button). These cards are made of plastic and also contain QR code for scanning on devices without NFC reader. Each card will cost you $2.5 + $10 delivery charges. It’s up to you to decide.
The Devices
You can use as a reader virtually any device that is equipped with camera and able to recognize QR codes. As you can see from mobile apps download page even Windows Phone and Symbian are supported (by the way it took me quite some time to find this app in Play Market, which is why the fastest way of getting this app is via the link above). If you want to use NFC cards, then, perhaps, you will need an Android device.
In addition, you can purchase TimeTablet™ – a special Android tablet suitable for mounting on the wall and enclosed in a special tamper-proof frame and good exclusively for reading cards. Naturally, it supports NFCs:
The price of this useful gadget starts from $149 and depends on the number of employees.
How It Works
So, you have registered an account with timedock.com, added employees and downloaded the application on your smartphone. How does time tracking work? Very simple: place QR code in front of your smartphone’s camera and your worker will be promptly identified and registered in the system (only if your device is connected to Internet).
At the same time, if the screen frame is green – the smartphone registers the beginning of work, and if red – the end of work. Frame color can be changed by tapping the screen.
QR code can be scanned both with main camera and frontal camera. For example, using main camera is more convenient if the manager scans workers’ id cards. If you mounted smartphone on the wall so that workers can clock in and out themselves, then frontal camera should be your choice.
There are several buttons at the bottom of screen. You can use them to see who’s working now and what kind of work is being done at the moment.
Projects, Tasks, Activities and Hashtags
If worker’s presence and simple tracking his time is not enough, TIMEDOCK can offer additional features of a standard time tracking system. It can offer the following features:
- Project – large, one-time, long-term task (like “New House”)
- Task – recurrent work that may be part of a larger project (like “Housekeeping”)
- Activity – specific activity that may be part of a certain task (like “Floor sweeping”)
- Hashtag – used to register a specific event
Registration of the beginning of task or activity is also done via QR codes. You can print them right from TIMEDOCK website like you did with workers’ cards. This is how they look:
As soon as your worker begins some activity he can specify the activity or job, which will be reflected in report available in TIMEDOCK web-interface:
Moreover, if worker’s activity can be expressed in production units, you can adjust TIMEDOCK in such a way that upon clocking out with badge the smartphone will request to enter the number of accomplished units. This is useful for calculating the Key Performance Indicator (KPI).
In addition to that, you can use app’s web-interface to view clocked in workers in real time (you need to refresh the page for updates though):
Working time that has been tracked can be viewed in a weekly time sheet and payroll can be uploaded to such apps like QuickBooks, iPayroll, Infusion and 12 other or simply saved in CSV format.
The Price
In the end of my review I would like bring you back to the reality and reveal the price of the app for end users. The price is dependent on the number of workers and it is $5 per one worker per month. Apparently you need to put the cost of devices that will scan the cards on top of that and the number of such devices depends on the level of details you want time tracking app to record.
It is up to you to decide whether this time tracking ergonomics is worth the money, but many find it efficient and convenient.