Are proximity time clocks right for your business

 

Proximity-based Time & Attendance

 Is this the right technology for your business?

Proximity devices are Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) devices. They are more often referred to by their manufacturer's brand name or even the generic name of the technology.  

HID, Indala, EM, Smartcard, Legic are all common card names, and generally, they represent different formats which are unreadable by hardware using other formats.

 

They are usually a card or a keyring fob which is swiped over a fixed reader. The reader, in turn, is attached to some kind of intermediate hardware device, whether that is a time and attendance clock or an access control device.

When choosing a time clock for time and attendance, there are many options, and many companies select a biometric system because there can be advantages to using a biometric system. Biometric systems can impact employee time theft, but they can also be a less costly alternative as they do not require the purchase of tags. This mainly applies when you have a larger workforce.

Proximity time clocks are arguably the easiest technology to implement. Fingerprint or any other biometric system can be more difficult for many reasons, not the least of which user acceptance; Some employees view biometric systems as an intrusion into their privacy. 

Probably the best application to use proximity devices is where the is an existing card-based access control system. Providing the employee with a single common device for both access to the building and for their attendance recording simplifies the process significantly.

All the major formats are supported by one time and attendance supplier or another, so the choice of suppliers comes down to your specific attendance requirements and how well they match the product features of the supplier's attendance solution.

Integration between access control and attendance systems is frequently discussed, but it is more often that not a problematic proposition. In my time as an independent attendance consultant, I was commissioned more than just a few times to manage the integration between products were either impractical or imposssible due to differing hardware or system requirements.

Typically, employees use access points frequently throughout the day and, these access records are irrelevant from a time & attendance perspective. The only practical method of separating attendance clockings from access control clock is to use separate clocking hardware devices for the attendance events.

In summary, unless you are concerned about employee time theft than using your existing proximity cards or tags with an appropriate time and attendance system is an excellent idea.

Jim Courtwood

Time & Attendance Consultant