More and more companies are switching to a fingerprint attendance system due to the disadvantage of classic time registration systems which are based on pincodes or badges. Too often employees lose their badge, forget their pincode or worse let colleagues use their credentials to their advantage.
Using a fingerprint attendance system avoids time registration fraud, also known as buddy punching, and reduces overhead for security staff when badges are lost or pincodes forgotten.
Commercially available fingerprint attendance systems
A number of mature commercial solutions exists to implement biometric time attendance in both small and large organizations. This is an overview of commercially available fingerprint attendance systems and software.
- NCheck Bio Attendance is software that uses fingerprint recognition or face recognition for time registration. This software can be installed in standalone mode or as a client-server infrastructure, therefore it is suitable for both small and large organizations. NCheck supports different types of fingerprint readers. More information on the supplier website.
- Easy Clocking is an international company offering a time attendance system which is cloud based, they also have a very complete line of time clocks including fingerprint recognition and iris recognition.
- WaspTime is a complete fingerprint attendance system including employee time clocks with a fingerprint reader and a web interface for managing and reporting. More information on the supplier website.
- PeopleKey is an Australian based company which offers a very scaleable fingerprint attendance system, that can even operate in between different company locations. The system from PeopleKey uses multifactor authentication in requiring employees to enter a pincode and performing a fingerprint scan. More information on the PeopleKey website.
PeopleKey fingerprint reader
Tips when buying a fingerprint attendance system
Before you decide to buy a fingerprint attendance system, make sure that this will be accepted by your employees. Some of them might have fears over their privacy, others could raise concerns on hygiene when everyone will have to physically touch the same fingerprint scanner surface. You should first mitigate these concerns and get your employees buy-in.
So you are really going to buy a fingerprint attendance system, then consider the following when you compare different suppliers:
- Pricing model, subscription model vs. one-time license fee
- Number of licenses required, and possibility to upgrade if your organization grows
- Environment requirements, will the fingerprint scanners work in your business environment? Think of dust, temperature and humidity, but also of unwashed hands
- Performance, consider time needed to enroll and time needed upon arrival / departure on each working day
- Maximum number of users supported
- Integration with existing payroll and HR systems in your organization
- Overall security of the system, is privacy of employees guaranteed? Is critical time and attendance data well secured against data loss or corruption?
- Price of extended support and on-site interventions
- Supplier track record and local support network