Time and Attendance and Fingerprint Time Clocks
Time and Attendance and Fingerprint Time Clocks
May 31Probably the most common biometric technology used in time and attendance is the fingerprint time clock. Fingerprint biometrics use a reader which measures a number of points on the user’s finger and constructs a algorithm ( a mathematical representation) and then stores this as a user template. Contrary to popular or alarmist belief biometric time clocks do not store actual fingerprint images so, from a user privacy perspective, there is no need for concern regarding any chance of reverse engineering a employee template into a complete fingerprint .
There are basically three types of readers used in fingerprint time clocks. Currently, the most popular is the optical , however, from time to time the ultrasonic and capacitance readers have enjoyed greater popularity. There are also two recognition methods used. Verification method requires the user to enter their ID number followed by their finger . The reader then “verifies” that the finger belongs to the user number . This method is easiest and the most common. The second method is identification in which the employee simply puts a finger on the reader and the device “identifies” the user from the template database.
There are a number of important specifications and benchmarks used with biometric time clocks including the False Acceptance Rate (FAR), the False Rejection Rate and the (FRR) the Equal Error Rate (ERR). Technical specifications aside the most important factor when considering a fingerprint time clock is how often will it stop any of your employees from clocking in or out. It is in this area that this technology can let you down
In most case, implementation of fingerprint time and attendance the motivation behind the introduction of a more secure technology is some mistrust of the employees. A good fingerprint time clock should completely remove any employee misrepresenting their working hours of clocking on for their colleagues . In this environment employees will not always be as cooperative as might hope and may take any chance to buck the system. So, if your fingerprint reader does not work very reliably for all you staff you may end up having to allocate a number and password option for one or two employees. Almost immediately you will find other employees will start having problems as they realize the system is flawed. This is why your chosen biometric system must work for all employees.
The other important consideration is how quickly staff will be able to clock. Imagine For example: If you have 100 employees using the same clock and the shift ends at 4:00pm. All your employees are lined up at the clock and each employee takes a total of 5 seconds to clock out. That’s a total of 8 minutes until the last employee can clock out. It wont take long before your employees are complaining about the waiting time and either stopping early or hitting you up for overtime.
You can find information on the web to better understand the technical and operational considerations for fingerprint time clocks but essentially there a few guarantees that you want to obtain from your supplier: It will work virtually first time every time for all employees and all employees will be able to clock in and out in a reasonable time.
Anything less than this and your system may be more trouble than it is worth
James Bell
Time and Attendance Consultant