Check-In app
The app solution to make time registration a lot easier
Introduction
We have always had a problem with our hour registration. It was a thing that was often forgotten by everyone who works in our studio. After some months, we decided to do something about it, and the idea to create an app was born.
The check-in app helps us register working hours in our studio. By scanning an NFC sticker with a smartphone in the office, personnel can check in, check out, and note their break time. Within the application, it is possible to set the attendance per person. With this function, the team always knows who will be in the office on any given day.
Workflow
We started by deciding which programs and applications would be effective for creating our app. The only limitation we had was that all applications had to work with Google Spreadsheets, since all the data is stored there.
To establish communication between the mobile check-in app and the spreadsheet, we used Google's App Script.
The app is made using the Cordova framework. Within Cordova, we used a system called Vue. Communication between interface elements in the mobile application is handled by Vue, enabling easy updates to the interface using data from the Spreadsheet.
First, we created the spreadsheet for our hour registration data. The next step was to think about what actions the user could perform. Examples of actions are:
- Checking-in and -out using NFC.
- Keeping track of the length of breaks.
- Employees can edit their attendance each week.
- Weekly overview: Employees can view the attendance of all coworkers for the current week.
Next, we designed a simple, visually appealing interface for the app, with icons and interface elements in our own home style.
Testing
Throughout the development of this app, we created 4 builds for testing. Every build was tested in-house by our team. Testers had the opportunity to provide feedback on our product and be part of the development process. After the testing period, we added some missing features to the app, such as attendance and a weekly overview.
Future plans
In our studio, we use this app every day. It made the tedious task of keeping track of our hours a lot easier.
We will be adding a few new small features and improvements to the app. We also want to collaborate with other companies and integrate our app into their planning and time-tracking workflows.
Conclusion
Every company in the Netherlands is required to keep track of working hours. We found that this can be a tedious task that often gets forgotten. At that time, we had two options. Either we could get an online check-in solution, or we could just make it ourselves. As ambitious as our team is, we choose to build an hour-registration app.