Terminal at the entrance or a mobile app: which to choose for records

Both lead to the same records

First, the good news: you do not have to choose forever. Both a purpose-built terminal and a mobile app feed clock-ins into the same records and the same report. The key is that the record is created at the source, at the moment of clock-in. The only question is what better suits your workplace.

When a terminal is better

A purpose-built terminal at the entrance has the advantage when:

• workers have no company phone or several of them share one,
• there is a clear entrance to the shop floor, branch or construction site and work is done in shifts,
• conditions are harsh: dust, moisture, cold (rugged enclosure, IP65, IK10, down to −20 °C),
• you want a clock-in with a card or key fob in a few seconds, with no training.

When a phone or tablet is enough

Your own device makes sense when:

• the team is smaller and workers have their own phone,
• work is done from the office or in the field with a mobile clock-in within the location radius,
• you want to start for free and without waiting for delivery, for example during the trial,
• a tablet at the counter can serve as a kiosk for clocking in with a PIN.

Criteria for the decision

In practice, five questions settle it: how many workers you have, whether they share a device, what conditions they work in, how many locations there are and what the connection is like. The more numerous your workers, the more field-based, and the less likely they are to have their own device, the more a terminal makes sense.

You do not have to choose forever

The most common path is to start for free on a device you already have, and add a purpose-built terminal when needed, per entrance or branch. The records stay the same throughout. See the example for plant and production or the pricing with both options.

Related: Records on the construction site and in the field.