The latest version of ExakTime Mobile allows your employees to be warned and/or restricted from clocking in or out to a location if their mobile device's GPS does not put them within the Geofence of their selected location when clocking in/out for themselves.

Table of Contents

• Requirements
  • Allow Access To Location Services
  • Enable Security Role Permissions
• Other Considerations
• What ExakTime Mobile Users Experience

Requirements

For an employee to receive warnings or restriction messages when clocking in or out:

• ExakTime Mobile needs permissions to the location services of the device.
• The Geofence Warning/Restriction Permission must be enabled.

Allow Access To Location Services

For us to warn and/or restrict an employee from clocking in or out, ExakTime Mobile will need permission to access the location services of the mobile device. When first using ExakTime Mobile, it will prompt the user for permission if ExakTime Mobile can use the location services of the phone. For iOS, press Always Allow. For Android, press Allow. 

If the permission is denied, you can also enable the permission through the settings of your phone.

Enable Security Role Permissions

For an employee to receive a warning and/or restriction, you will need to enable the appropriate function on ExakTime Connect on the Security Roles page. If you need assistance regarding Security Roles, you can refer to In-Depth: ExakTime Mobile Security Role

By default, there will be no warning or restriction if the employee is not within the Geofence for their selected location.

You can enable any of the following options as needed.

• Warn employees when clocking in/out outside Geofence, or if Geofence is unknown
  • If an employee receives the warning, they will still be able to clock in/out.  
  • Require employees to add comment when clocking in/out - Warning like above, but also require the employee to add a comment if they are clocking in or out outside a Geofence. The employee's comment will appear on their time card with the associated time record for you to review.
• Restrict employees from clocking in/out outside a known Geofence
  • If an employee receives the restriction message, they will not be able to clock in/out until their device's GPS places them within the GeoFence of the location.
  • If the location does not have any GeoFence, they will not be allowed to clock in/out as they need to clock in/out within a known GeoFence.
  • It is highly advised to consider federal, state, and local labor laws when using this setting.
  • Consider where employees are when they are clocking in or out. If your employees are expected to park their vehicles in a designated area, then travel to their worksite, they may begin their day outside of the Geofence of a worksite.

Other Considerations

Location Data & Permission

If the mobile device is unable to provide ExakTime Mobile with Location Data, it will always give a warning or restrict the employee, depending on the permission enabled.

This can be due to:

• Lack of location data from the mobile device due to poor reception.
• ExakTime Mobile does not have permission to use the location services of the device.

To ensure proper warning/restrictions, you can require the device's location services to be on and/or require a GPS fix before an employee is able to clock in/out.

You can enable/disable these location data requirements via Mobile Settings. For more information, you can refer to the following article: In-Depth: Mobile Settings

Environmental Factors

It can be helpful to speak with employees/supervisors/managers that are familiar with a location when establishing your GeoFence to ensure that the GeoFence encompasses the workplace and reasonable space around it. Also, take into account the reported GPS location and the actual worksite location.

For example, the GPS location could be associated with an address that is on the street, but the actual worksite could be farther into the property. Or perhaps your employees are expected to leave their work vehicles at a designated location before going to the worksite. This can sometimes confuse employees when clocking in; does their day start when they get out of their truck or does it start when they step foot onto the worksite?

What ExakTime Mobile Users Experience

As employees are clocking in for themselves and are selecting a location, any of the following scenarios can occur for the employee:

1. Employee selects a location with a known geofence and is within the Geofence of the selected location (ExakTime Mobile will only show a green crosshair icon next to any locations that the employee is within the Geofence of)
   • The employee will proceed to the next step of clocking in.
2. Employee selects a location with a known Geofence and is not within the geofence of the selected location:
   • If Warning Enabled: The employee will receive a warning that they are outside any known Geofence and to provide a comment (if enabled). They can ignore the warning and continue the process.
   • If Restriction Enabled: The employee will see a message that they are required to be within a geofence to clock in. They will need to go back and select the correct location. If they are selecting the correct location and are still receiving the message, the geofence for the location may be incorrect and it needs to be corrected.
3. Employee selects a location without a geofence:
   • If Warning Enabled - The employee will receive a warning that they are outside any known Geofence and to provide a comment (if enabled). They can ignore the warning and continue the process.
   • If Restriction Enabled: The employee will see a message that they are required to be within a geofence to clock in. They will need to go back and select the correct location. If they are selecting the correct location and are still receiving the message, the geofence for the location may be incorrect and it needs to be corrected.

An example of the warning/restrictions has been provided below: