What Is A Biometric Attendance System And How Does It Work?

In the business world today, time translates to money.

The amount of time a person spends working for a particular business is equivalent to how much that person gets paid. It, therefore, has become extremely important to track the time every employee spends working on the tasks given to them. This is where the biometric time clock and attendance software comes into play. 

The biometric attendance system is a great upgrade over the existing online time and attendance tracking systems in the market today.

The previous systems weren’t foolproof as there were a lot of cases where the employees could log in for one another or in other words show a proxy attendance of a person who hasn’t entered the office.

To overcome these fundamental flaws the biometric attendance system came into action.

With a biometric scan, each biometric fingerprint becomes a unique entry code that can only be entered by one person. This means that a person who wants to proxy for another employee will not be able to do so as their biometric details won’t match.

How does a biometric system work?

A biometric attendance system as mentioned before makes use of an employees’ fingerprint to allow clocking in and clocking out of their workplace. Every employee’s fingerprint is first scanned and mapped out based on various coordinates defined within the system.

These coordinates are then plotted against a graph and stored in the system.Every time an employee places his or her finger, the coordinates are mapped and checked with the previous image and only if there is a match the entry is clocked.

It is almost impossible to duplicate a fingertip as several different coordinates can be mapped from a single finger and the most amazing thing is that each of these coordinates is unique and cannot be replicated from another fingerprint. This is the most significant advantage of using a biometric attendance system.

Biometric systems are secure

Because biometrics collect data from employees' retinas, fingerprints, faces, and other unique identification details, some businesses are hesitant to utilize biometrics for fear that the information will be misused or hacked, or in the worst-case scenario, the company will sell the information, as some of the social chat apps do. However, solutions like Time Dynamo are so safe that no hacker can get into them, which has inspired many businesses, large and small, to use it, and it proves that the data isn't sold. So, you can use the Biometric Attendance System without hesitation.

Things to keep in mind when using a biometric attendance system

Like any other system which is being introduced to the workplace, the biometric attendance system too has its own set of considerations that need to be taken care. There have been several questions that people have raised regarding a biometric attendance system, and it is essential that these are given its due importance. Here are some important considerations while using a biometric attendance system. 

1. Safety of data

Fingerprints are unique to people and when someone needs to keep the storage of their fingerprints within a system naturally, there will be a lot of questions about the safety of it. If this data falls in the hand of miscreants, they can take a lot of advantage of it. Hence when looking for a good biometric attendance machine, it is of paramount importance to understand how the data is protected and kept safe within its storage system.

With the age of computers, it has become straightforward to steal data from systems; it is, therefore, prudent to ensure that the latest anti-theft software are installed along with the biometric attendance system.

However, the biometric attendance system is a step ahead of the existing systems in that it does not store any immediately identifiable personal information. While fingerprint scanning requires a high level of technology dependency, the data is in most cases safe from most common forms of theft.

2. Usability of the system

Like any other system in the workplace, the people responsible for the data and the functioning of the biometric attendance system have to be able to access the software associated with it easily. User-friendliness of the system is key to ensuring that the workplace adopts this system as efficiently and as early as possible. 

The dashboards and the UX of the software have to be friendly and shouldn’t require the employees to be trained in it for a long time for it to be familiar. The software of the biometric attendance system also allows workplaces to ensure access to data whenever and wherever required. Employees and non-employees can be identified separately, and this can give you an overall sense of how many people enter the office on a regular, timely basis.

3. The technology used in the biometric attendance system

There are two types of technology that is used in a biometric attendance system. The most common one is the image-based system that captures the image of the fingerprint and stores it the same way. The coordinates are mapped from the image of the finger.

While this is less accurate, the technology is simple, and hence the cost of this type of biometric attendance system is relatively lower. The second type of technology that is used in a biometric attendance system is the capacitor technology. 

This is a much more accurate version of biometric scanning, and this type of biometric attendance systems are used in larger enterprise companies that handle much sensitive data. The capacitive technology map the pressure points of the finger and map coordinates based on that giving the mapping a lot more accuracy compared to the image that needs unique algorithms to process it. 

4. Cloud accessibility 

Biometric attendance system today come with a lot of integrations. The software also has a mobile application that allows employees to clock into work from anywhere in the world. 

This is important especially when it comes to workplaces that have a lenient remote work option. Several startups today have come up with perks like remote jobs that don’t need an employee to be present physically in the office and these systems ensure that even these people can clock in and show their employers that they start working on time.

Why Biometric Attendance System is important?

Commercial applications began using biometric attendance system to control the physical accesses of the buildings. All these implementations are conducted to prevent the risks of fraudulent activities and offer a secure environment to the clients and employees. 

The main motive to implement these technologies in companies was to physically and logically restrict the authorized access to valuable assets. There are several companies who came up with the fingerprint sensor technologies and used it in their offices to safeguard their assets and resources.

Control the Access of Employees and Non-Employee

This biometric attendance management system not only tracks employees' schedules but also offers the added benefit of controlling access to employees and non-employees. To elaborate, according to company policies, not every employee is permitted to visit every job area. As a result, such restricted employees will be denied access to the area while they provide their identification to the attendance machine, as compared to companies that use ID cards, which are prone to be stolen by outsiders or restricted employees who can take advantage of restricted work areas.

Which are the industries preferring biometric attendance system? 

Biometric attendance system can be used in any industry where data validations, assets, resources, etc. are involved. These technologies can be used in government agencies for controlling borders, voter registrations, creating national identification documents, e-Passports, etc.

Apart from government agencies, these systems can be implemented in workforce management companies, financial firms, software companies, consulting agencies, and so on.The primary focus in introducing these kinds of technologies would be to manage the time and attendance of employees, payroll management, managing human resources, customer identifications, account information controls, and employee identification.

Technologies

In terms of easing the work of companies, the online attendance system leaves no stone left. Image-based and capacitive technology is used in this biometric absence management software.

• While software takes a photo of a fingerprint with a scanner to produce a biometric template for each employee, it is referred to as image-based technology.
• Capacitive technology is when the software detects the ridges on the fingerprints using electronic pulses on a touchscreen to create a template of endpoints and merge points.