Clock-in methods
Choose how staff clock in and out, at the kiosk or on their phone, and what each plan includes.
Agoo is in early access. This page describes the feature as it ships to early-access organisations; screens are illustrative.
Staff can clock in at the kiosk by the door or on their own phone in the Workspace app (iPhone, iPad and Android). You choose which methods your organisation allows in Console → Settings → Organisation → Clock-in methods, and each site can choose its own under Console → Settings → Sites → (site) → Clock-in.
The methods
| Method | Where | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Printed badge | Kiosk | The employee holds their printed staff QR badge up to the kiosk's camera. |
| Badge on their phone | Kiosk | The employee opens Me → Badge in the Workspace app and holds the phone up to the kiosk's camera. The code changes every 30 seconds and counts once, so a screenshot or photo of it is no use to anyone else. Works with no network. |
| Rotating QR | Workspace app | The kiosk screen shows a code that changes every 30 seconds, with a ring counting down to the next; the employee scans it with the Workspace app. A photo of the code stops working within a minute, so nobody can clock in for a colleague. |
| PIN | Kiosk | The employee finds their name and types their personal PIN. You can switch PIN off (for example "face only"); the kiosk still offers it as the fallback after a failed face match. |
| NFC card | Kiosk | The employee holds a staff card or tag to the top of an iPhone running the kiosk, or to the NFC reader of an Android phone or tablet. iPads have no NFC reader, and nor do many budget Android tablets: staff at those kiosks use their badge or PIN. |
| Geofenced phone clock-in | Workspace app | The app clocks in only when the phone is inside the site's geofence, or on one of its Wi-Fi networks when you turn the Wi-Fi check on. You can add a selfie. |
| Face on kiosk | Kiosk | The kiosk matches the employee's face, with PIN as the fallback. Staff only. Planned. See Face clock-in. |
| Terminal | Your system | Your own turnstile or reader sends punches through the API. |
At the kiosk
Turn on the Staff clock-in button for a kiosk in Console → Devices → (device), or set a device to Clock-in only for a staff entrance, with no visitor screens. The kiosk offers the methods the site allows:
- Who is it? The camera waits for a staff badge, printed or on their phone, as the site allows. Beside it are Tap your card (on an iPhone or an Android device with NFC, when cards are on) and Use your PIN, where the employee finds their name and types their PIN. When the rotating QR is on, the kiosk also shows the code for the Workspace app, under Using the Agoo app?
- Hello. The kiosk greets them by name, says whether they're clocked in now and, where they have one, their shift: "Your shift today: 08:00 to 17:00, break 12:00 to 13:00" (on Growth and above: from the published roster, or else their weekly shift). It offers Clock in or Clock out, the likely one first. Not you? goes back.
- Evidence, if you ask for it. When your organisation asks for a selfie, the kiosk shows your selfie notice the first time, then takes the photo with a short countdown. See Evidence and notices.
- Done. "Good morning, Nii." or "See you soon, Nii.", with the time, and their shift today again.
The kiosk checks the badge, card or PIN itself, against what it holds, so clock-in works with no network and nothing is sent to check it.
When a phone's badge can't be used, the kiosk says why: That code has just expired (hold the phone up again), That code has been used (wait for the next one), We don't recognise this phone's badge (set it up in Agoo Workspace under Me → Badge), or that badges on phones, or printed badges, aren't used at this site. The punch keeps the time it happened at the kiosk, and Agoo works out the shift and any lateness when it arrives.
If none of the kiosk methods (printed badge, badge on their phone, PIN, card or rotating QR) is on for the site, the kiosk says clock-in isn't set up there and to ask a manager.
On a kiosk in a browser
A front-desk computer set up as a kiosk in its browser clocks staff in by name and PIN. Turn on its Staff clock-in button, or set it to Clock-in only, in Console → Devices → (device); the button shows when PIN is on for the site.
- The employee types the first three letters of their name and chooses it from a short list of first names and initials. Only staff with a PIN are listed, and only at the sites they work at.
- They type their PIN. Agoo checks it, so the computer needs its connection. Five wrong tries lock that PIN on that kiosk for 15 minutes, then longer.
- The kiosk shows their shift today, if they have one, and offers Clock in or Clock out, the likely one first.
- When your organisation asks for a selfie, the kiosk shows your selfie notice the first time, then takes the photo with the webcam.
Printed badges, badges on phones and staff cards aren't read by a browser: for those, use the Agoo Kiosk app on a tablet or phone.
On a phone
Staff whose time you keep get a Me tab in the Workspace app, with a clock card on Home. The app offers the phone methods that are on at their site:
- At the site (geofenced phone clock-in). When they tap Clock in or Clock out, the app takes one location fix and checks it against the site's area, and checks the phone's Wi-Fi network when the Wi-Fi check is on. A map shows the site's area and where the phone is. Outside, the app says roughly how far away they are and offers the kiosk's code or Check again.
- The kiosk's code (rotating QR). They tap Clock in or Clock out on the kiosk and scan the code under Using the Agoo app? with the app.
Before the app uses location or takes a selfie for the first time, it shows your notice for each, and a selfie follows when the site asks for one. The app uses location only while its clock-in screen is open and never tracks anyone in the background. It only ever clocks in the person signed in to it, whatever their role, and Agoo checks every phone punch again when it arrives: the method on at the site, the location or Wi-Fi, the code, and the selfie. What employees see, step by step, is in the Workspace app guide.
What each plan includes
From the price book (each plan includes everything in the plan before it):
| Plan | Clock-in methods |
|---|---|
| Free | QR badges (printed or on a phone), rotating QR, PIN, NFC cards |
| Starter | + Geofenced mobile, with the Wi-Fi check and selfies |
| Growth | + Face on kiosk |
| Pro | + Biometric terminals |
| Enterprise | + HR and payroll sync |
If you move to a plan that doesn't include a method, Agoo switches that method off and records the change in the audit trail. Punches already made with it are kept.
Biometric terminals are dedicated face and card readers at the door, such as the Attendance terminal in our hardware kits, configured to sync with Agoo. They're included on Pro and Enterprise and connect to Agoo when the terminal integration ships, which is planned. See NFC and terminals.
Set up clock-in
Open Console → Settings → Organisation → Clock-in methods
Turn on the methods your organisation uses. To set a site apart, open Console → Settings → Sites → (site) → Clock-in, turn off Same as the organisation and choose its own; a warehouse may use cards while head office uses phones. Kiosks pick up the change at their next sync.
Turn on the methods you want
Kiosk methods work on any kiosk paired to that site in Console → Devices. For phone clock-in, open the site in Console → Settings → Sites, turn on Clock-in area under its map pin and set the radius so the circle covers the building and car park, not the street.
Issue QR codes, PINs or cards
In Console → People, open an employee and use Clock-in: Issue a badge (print it or save it as a PNG when it's shown), Link a card (type the number printed on the card, or read it with a phone's NFC reader app) or Set a PIN (tell them in person; Reset the PIN replaces it). Revoke, Unlink and Remove stop a badge, card or PIN at each kiosk's next sync.
Staff can do two of these themselves in the Workspace app, under Me: set up their badge on their phone, and set or change their own kiosk PIN. The same Clock-in panel lists their Badges on phones, one for each phone, with Remove for a phone that's lost or changes hands.
- PINs are 4 to 8 digits. Agoo refuses easy ones, such as 1111, 1234 or 9876. After 5 wrong tries, that kiosk pauses the person's PIN for 15 minutes, then longer. Each pause appears in the audit log.
- NFC cards belong to one person at a time. An iPhone kiosk, or an Android kiosk with NFC, reads them; an iPad can't. Revoke a lost card, and it stops working on every kiosk at the next sync.
- Staff QR badges are shown once when you issue them, so print or send them straight away. Issuing a new badge doesn't cancel the old one; revoke the old one if it's lost.
- Badges on phones belong to the person and the phone: up to three phones each, and a fourth replaces the oldest. The badge's key is made on the phone and kept in its security chip, and signing out of the app removes it.
Agoo never stores PINs, card numbers or badge codes, only one-way fingerprints of them. Kiosks hold those fingerprints for the people at their site, so they can check them without a connection. For a badge on a phone, Agoo and the kiosks hold only what's needed to check its codes, which can't be used to make one.
Tell your staff
Employees install the Workspace app and sign in. The first time they clock in by phone, the app shows your notices, then asks for location permission (and the camera, to scan the kiosk's code or take a selfie).
Wi-Fi for clock-in
With the Wi-Fi check on, a phone on one of a site's networks counts as being at that site. Each site's Clock-in panel (Settings → Sites → the site) lists the Wi-Fi that counts as being here.
If you've saved your staff Wi-Fi in Settings → Wi-Fi, mark a staff network Use for Wi-Fi clock-in (or choose it under Add from this site's networks) and its name is added to the clock-in Wi-Fi of each of its sites. Renaming the network renames it there, and unmarking or archiving it removes it, so the two never drift apart. Names kept in step this way are marked with the network they come from. A name you set yourself with an access point's ID stays as it is. Each change is recorded in the audit trail as a change to the site's clock-in settings.
Switching methods off
Each organisation keeps at least one method on, and so does each site. Whatever you switch off isn't offered, with one exception, which arrives with face clock-in, that makes sure nobody is ever locked out: when face clock-in is on and a face match fails at the kiosk (an injury, poor light, glasses), the kiosk offers a fallback, even if that method is off:
- the person's PIN, badge (printed or on their phone) or card, or
- a supervisor-assisted punch, where a supervisor at the kiosk confirms who it is.
The fallback is only offered after a failed face match on that kiosk, never as a free choice, and never from a phone. Every fallback is marked face not verified and goes to the review queue; you can also require a supervisor to approve it at the kiosk (an assisted punch always has one). See Face clock-in.
Evidence on each punch
Face, selfies and location are evidence: they're off until you turn them on, and each needs a notice your employees see. See Evidence and notices for the choices and what Agoo keeps.
- Phone clock-in records the location check's result (inside, outside or unavailable) and its accuracy. You can choose to keep the coordinates too; they're cleared after 90 days by default.
- The Wi-Fi check records whether the phone was on a site network. You can choose to keep the network's name and address.
- Selfies can be off, optional or required, for badge, PIN, NFC and phone punches, for the organisation or a site. An optional selfie can be skipped.
Offline and tamper checks
Every clock-in is saved on the device first, with the time it happened, then synced when the network returns. Agoo uses trusted device time, so changing the phone's clock doesn't move a punch. It flags anything suspicious, such as a device clock that disagrees with the server, a phone whose reported location disagrees with its coordinates, or a location the phone itself reports as simulated, and whoever reviews clock-ins sees them in the Workspace app's Inbox.
In the Workspace app, an offline punch shows as Sending until it reaches Agoo. If Agoo can't accept it when it arrives (for example, the method was switched off in the meantime), the app shows it as Not recorded with the reason, and the employee tells their manager the right time.
A phone punch from outside the geofence, and not on a site Wi-Fi network, isn't accepted: the employee clocks in at the kiosk instead.
Geofences and GPS
Phone GPS can drift by tens of metres indoors. Make the geofence a little larger than the building, and add a Wi-Fi check for offices where GPS is weak.
Line managers and HR
Give each person a line manager, a start date and their employment details, so managers see their own team and HR keeps the records.
Face clock-in
Let staff clock in by face at the kiosk, on the basis your organisation chooses, with a fallback that always works. Never used for visitors.