How should people check in? Kiosk, QR code and geolocation
Overview
Hours have to come from somewhere. There are three tools for capturing them on site, and most organizations end up running two.
This article is for administrators deciding how attendance gets recorded, including the case where it should not be recorded on site at all.
1. What are the three tools?
- Kiosk. A device you set up at the site and leave running. Anyone can check in and out on it, including people with no Vome account.
- QR code. A one-time download you print and put up, in as many copies as you like. On the day of their shift, somebody with the app opens it and scans.
- Geolocation. The third option, and it replaces the scan rather than adding to it. With proximity validation on, the app checks the person is actually near the shift's location.
2. Which should I use?
The kiosk and the QR code are the standard pair, and running both is the normal answer rather than a sign of indecision. They solve different halves of the same problem.
- The QR code handles your regulars, who have the app and want to be in and out in five seconds.
- The kiosk handles everybody else: the first-timer, the person whose phone is dead, the corporate group who turned up without downloading anything.
Reach for geolocation where there is no single place to go: work spread across a park, a delivery route, a whole campus, or somebody's home. A QR code on a wall assumes a wall.
3. From the app, is it scan or tap?
One at a time. Either they scan the attendance QR code, or they tap to check in without scanning.
Proximity is a separate setting, not a third method. That distinction matters because of the next section.
4. Careful: tap with no proximity check records attendance on trust
If you choose tap to check in and leave proximity validation off, somebody can check in to a shift from anywhere, including from home, including from bed.
Sometimes that is exactly right, and you have decided to trust people. Often it is an accident, and the organization only notices when the hours it reported to a funder turn out to include somebody who was never there.
Scanning does not have this problem: scanning a code at the place already implies being at the place. So the rule is simple. If you use tap, decide about proximity deliberately.
5. Can the two ends be automated?
Yes, independently.
- Auto check-in. People are checked in at the shift start time, so nobody has to do anything to be counted as present.
- Auto check-out. If somebody has not checked out by the shift end time, they are checked out then and their hours are logged at that moment.
- Both together. Attendance and hours recorded with no action from the person and no intervention from you.
6. What do most organizations settle on?
People check themselves in, and auto check-out catches the ones who forget.
The asymmetry is deliberate and matches how people behave. Checking in is the part they remember, because they are arriving and paying attention. Checking out competes with going home, and loses.
7. What if there is nothing to check into?
Then do not force one. Some work is remote, self-scheduled, or somewhere you will never install a kiosk.
For those, use the log-hours-only setup:
- Turn check-out off entirely on that opportunity, so nobody is ever waiting for a shift to be closed.
- People log their hours and absences after the fact, and you approve or adjust them.
- Set it per opportunity, so the ones that do gather at a site keep their kiosk and QR code.
8. What about recording attendance myself?
Two situations, two tools.
Live, at the door. Run the kiosk on a tablet or laptop and check people in yourself. They need no app and no account.
Afterwards. Do not open reservations one at a time. The schedule has a Log hours & absences workflow built for this: pick the shift, and mark who attended, who did not, and how long they stayed, in one pass. It handles absences too, which matters because a no-show you never record looks identical to somebody who was never expected.
9. Why can I not test this today?
Because the kiosk and the QR code only work on the day of a shift, for somebody actually scheduled on it.
That is correct behaviour rather than a fault, and it surprises everybody who tries to rehearse. Plan to verify it on your first real shift, with somebody standing next to the device.
10. Anything to do now?
Generate them before you need them.
Create at least one kiosk and download at least one QR code while you are thinking about it. The QR code is a one-time download, so getting it printed and on the wall is a job for a quiet week rather than the morning of your first shift.
Summary
- Three tools: kiosk, QR code, geolocation. Geolocation replaces the scan rather than adding to it.
- Run the kiosk and the QR code together. The code serves regulars with the app, the kiosk serves everybody else, including people with no account.
- From the app it is scan or tap, one at a time. Proximity is a separate setting.
- Tap with proximity off means somebody can check in from home. Decide that deliberately.
- The common setup is self check-in plus auto check-out, because checking out is the half people forget.
- Where there is nothing to check into, turn check-out off per opportunity and let people log hours after the fact.
- Use the kiosk to record attendance live, and Log hours & absences to record it in bulk afterwards.
- Kiosk and QR only work on a shift day for somebody scheduled, so you cannot rehearse. Generate them early anyway.