Do you want to build an employee time tracking app for your workplace?
43% of hourly workers admit to committing time theft. Plus, over $50,000 per employee is lost as a result of employees’ inaccurate time tracking.
This is one of the big reasons behind the popularity of employee time-tracking software and apps.
In this blog, we shall be learning all about building employee time-tracking tools of your own.
Let’s get right into it:
Employee Time Tracking App Development: All You Need To Know
So, what is an employee time tracking app exactly?
The employee time tracker app is custom software that uses various parameters and analytical functions to keep a record of employees’ actions as well as inactive time periods.
In layman’s terms, this is software that helps employers keep a record of their employee’s active time as well as activity within that time.
Due to fact that more than 40% of employees commit time fraud as they leave work early, provide wrong written figures, ask co-workers to punch in, and so on. This leads to huge losses.
Moreover, studies have found that an average worker is only productive for 2 hours and 53 minutes, or around 3 hours. While in fact, an average workplace shift is around 8 hours.
Therefore, with the employee time tracking app development, business owners can create an overall productive environment as they have better insight into employee activity time periods.
Manual Vs. Automated Time Tracking Apps
Employee time tracking is not a new concept. In fact, companies and businesses have been doing it for a long time.
As such, there is two major time tracking methods or you can say two types of app for employee time tracking.
Let’s look at both of these.
Manual Employee Time Tracking App
Often also known as the Clock in out app, this is the manual method.
It is being used for a long-long time and it’s a tested method. As such, the employee or a supervisor has to manually fill in the data when they come to the office and leave it.
While this is an easy-to-maintain method, it is largely inaccurate and easy to temper as it completely depends on the person’s feeds.
But on the other hand, it is also very easy to implement and manage. Cost to develop an app for manual time tracking is also fairly low.
Automated Time Tracking App
As you might have guessed from the name, the automatic time-tracking app doesn’t rely on employee input.
Rather it uses a range of different methods to track accurate time. For instance, this tracking employee hours app is integrated into the employee system and uses the input on the PC to track time. When it comes to outdoor jobs, it uses wearable integration or phone sensors to get accurate data.
In these types of employee time-tracking apps, there is little to no possibility of tempering. And the best part is, it comes with automatic payroll calculation. This makes the work that much easier for supervisors.
Due to high accuracy and little to no human interaction requirement, it is very suitable for a larger workforce. In fact, the majority of the projects to build employee time-tracking apps are for automatic systems.
If you are wondering how these solutions work, we shall be discussing that in the next section of the blog.
How Does Employee Time Tracking App Work?
So, how does an employee time tracker work?
Well, the concept behind this application is quite simple. As we saw above, there are two types of time tracking automatic and manual. In the case of manual the employee has to put in hours manually.
Therefore, we shall be discussing the working process of the automatic one, as they are more popular these days.
Let’s look at the process:
- Add App To the System: the first thing that needs to be done is add the time-tracking software that will be tracking time off. After this, we can start with the actual work.
- Start tracking: as the employee logs into their system, the time and activity tracker starts. The software will keep track of active minutes. It is based on the input to the system.
- Stop tracking: the tracking stops whenever the system is put into sleep mode or it is shut done. If the computer is left unmanned, it will be counted as inactive hours.
- The system processes the data: the time tracking app processes the entire data into an easy-to-understand format.
- A time tracking report is made: based on all the analytics data, the software makes a report.
This is the working process of an automatic employee tie-tracking app.
Do You Need App For Employee Time Tracking?
Before you consult a on demand app development company and build employee time tracking app of your own, as yourself this: do you really need app for employee time tracking?
There are a number of free apps and software available in market that anyone can use for time tracking.
So, why not use that instead?
Well, you can use them. However, there are some situations where custom employee time tracking app development is better.
Therefore, let’s look at the instances where you should build your own custom app:
Build Employee Time Tracking App If Business Needs Are Growing
If your business needs are growing, it’s perfect time to develop time tracking app for business.
Reason being that the ready made solutions or ones available for free doesn’t cut it for larger businesses. This is a big reason why you should definitely go for custom development.
Other Apps For Employee Time Tracking Aren’t Enough
There are various working time app in market which keep record of worker’s active time. However, there are some businesses that can’t get their needs satisfied with these solutions.
In fact, white label app development aren’t enough sometimes. This is when you should opt for building a customer employee hour tracking app.
You Are In A Very Specific Industry
There are some industries which are super specific. And in these fields of work the conventional general purpose time tracking software aren’t enough.
Therefore, it’s time to opt for Custom mobile app development. A custom track employee hours app will provide much more insight and better results than readymade solutions.
This is open of the reason to build employee time tracking app today.
Examples of Apps For Employee Time Tracking
The market has some good examples of employee hour tracker application. Here, we shall be going through some popular examples.
These are, as mentioned below:
Redmine – Employee Time Tracking App Software
This is a popular example of employee time tracking web app.
In addition to time tracking, Redmine is also responsible for project management. It helps with multiple task management.
Being a flexible solution, it allows managers to supervise various projects at ones. Moreover, it can be integrated with construction management software. Accessible on different platforms it has role based access as well as multiple language support.
Kimai – Employee Time Tracking Software Free
Kimai is a simple one.
This time tracking, clock in clock out app allows unlimited users. What makes it stand out of the rest is that it comes with an amazing browser-based interface.
The platform is also accessible by mobile app. it is very reliable and used by thousands. As an option source platform, it still tracks time after you close the browser.
eHour – Employee Hours Tracker
eHour is one of a kind employee hours tracker.
There are various companies that use this platform to keep employee time record. Plus, at the end of session or on demand it delivers analytics reports for the management to view.
It can be hosted or on-premise. But in any case, this is a top of the line apps for employee time tracking.
Feature To Include in Employee Time Tracker app
Whether it is on demand app development or custom, features remains at the centre. Reason being that, these features are what drives actual usefulness of the system.
With the right and easy to use features, a time tracking app will be accurate. On the other hand, bad features can make it harder for employees to use the time tracking app and create issues for management as well.
In any case, let’s look at some features that you should include when you build employee time tracking app.
Timesheet
The time sheet has all the data of time tracking as per employee. The data is sorted for easy insight.
Automate tracking
The automated tracking features starts tracking as soon as the employees gets at a specific location, boots up the system, or hits a specific time.
Activity insight
Activity insight features keep record of the activity of the employee and make a report on it for the employer.
Management feature
This feature is specifically for management who are supervising all the activity. It
Anti-deactivation
This is an safety features which makes it impossible to tamper with the employee hours tracker or deactivate it from employee side.
User management
The user management feature allows the employers to manage employee they tracking and specify roles.
Send notification
This features allows the supervisors and higher management to send notifications on time tracker for employees as well as other alerts.
Periodic report
This features creates an period report of the time and activity tracking within the time tracker app for employees.
These are some major features of this platform. Now, let’s look at the 12 steps to build employee time tracking app.
12 Steps To Build Employee Time Tracking App
App development is complex. So, to make it easier for you to understand, we shall be going through brilliant 12 step development process to build employee time tracking app.
Therefore, let’s get right into it:
1) Business Requirement Audit
Since we are talking about custom software development here, the first thing you need to do is specify your business needs.
In order to do that, you have to conduct a business requirement audit. After this, we can move to the next step.
2) Conceptualization
Based on the data collected from requirement audit, it’s time to create a concept for employee hour tracking app.
It can take months or a single depends on project and development team.
3) Validation
With research and cross-check, it’s time to validate the idea.
This is a very important process since you don’t want to work with a concept that won’t satisfy your services.
4) Planning
With everything done, it’s time to plan the development process.
Sit down with the development team and map everything out. Choose the software development methodologies, deadline, meetings, and so on.
5) Choose App Platform
If you want to develop an app, you have to choose a platform.
Both android as well as IOS development are popular options. Nevertheless, if you want to go with something other than the native, explore flutter and other hybrid options.
6) Build Tech Stack
Based on the platform you choose, build a tech stack.
Choose the technologies that you think are right for your project and can deliver what you are expecting.
7) Hire Dedicated Developers
With platform and tech stack specified, it’s time to hire dedicated developers.
Now, there are various ways you can find app developers in 2023. Some of these are, as mentioned below:
- Outsource
- Build in house team
- IT staff augmentation
8) Create An MVP
Minimum violable product or MVP Development is important. It gives you an idea of what your product will look like before you start development.
While it’s not an absolutely necessary step, it is highly recommended.
9) Employee Time Tracking App Design
This is time for front-end designing.
UI/UX Designers will create a design based on app function and client preferences. After all, it’s one of the most important parts of the app.
10) Build Employee Time Tracking App
It is in this step that developers build employee time-tracking applications. The source code is written here as different parts of the application are brought together to build the final version.
11) Testing
After the app is built, it is sent for testing.
Here, the mobile app development services make sure the app is up to the market standards and as per client preferences.
With all checked out, the app is sent for deployment.
12) Deployment
It’s time to deploy an app for employee time tracking and start the work.
Cost To Develop Employee Hour Tracking App
The cost to develop a mobile app can be difficult to predict.
But why?
Well, mobile app developments as we know them are very complex. There are a number of steps and cycles. To create a successful app you need to deal with each one of them.
Speaking of which, every project whether you want to build an employee time-tracking app or any other is unique in its own right. These plus factors affect the cost, creating a unique combination.
Some of these factors are, as mentioned below:
- Size of the clock in and out app
- Technologies
- Complexities
- Developer location
- Mode of hiring developers
- Feature set
- Design complexity
- And more
These are some major factors that affect the cost. In any case, if you want to learn more about the same, it is highly recommended that you consult a Mobile App Development Company.
Conclusion
This is how you build an employee time-tracking app. If you want to learn more about the same, it is highly recommended that you consult an employee time-tracking app development company that will be able to help you with the same.
Niketan Sharma is the CTO of Nimble AppGenie, a prominent website and mobile app development company in the USA that is delivering excellence with a commitment to boosting business growth & maximizing customer satisfaction. He is a highly motivated individual who helps SMEs and startups grow in this dynamic market with the latest technology and innovation.
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