Look who’s here
By Meg Rivera
ONE of the more recent improvements that was made at the office was the introduction of a biometric scanner for staff to clock in and out.
Previously, we had to stand outside the door for 10 minutes to write down who came in late or who was absent. For a building with a staff of about 70, this was a proper godsend. Instead of running frantically through the aisles, all we have to do now is consult a single computer screen to see if person X is at work. I’ll be the first to tell you, it’s a great way to start a morning.
This week, we explore three apps that help you track attendance. You’ll find that these are mostly based around schools and teacher’s records. That’s to be expected I suppose, they are in the business of making sure everybody is on time and where they should be. All of these apps are adaptable to the setting you have, and not limited to a classroom. Keep on top of attendance, and never let a tardiness slip by again.
App name: Attendance2
App developer: David M Reed
Available on: The demo version I tested out was available only for iOS, but there is an Android version available.
Easy to use: Attendance2 is a complete reboot of the original Attendance app, which was already pretty good in itself. You open up “classes” and fill in students or employees from either the contacts on your device or from a Dropbox file that comes with your initial download of the app.
It’s convenient, and several devices can link to the account so more than one person can take attendance. You need a Dropbox account to use this app properly, but it’s an app you probably already have.
Overall comment: There’s a reason why this app is the first paid app to ever get reviewed in this column. It takes the difficulty out of tracking individual people through a QR code that you can print out and stick onto an ID. Each unique user gets a QR code, and that is what gets scanned and recorded. A true gem, and invaluable to management. Four clicks out of five.
App name: TeacherKit
App developer: ITWorx Egypt SAE
Available on: iTunes, Google Play
Easy to use: I had flashbacks of an old high school teacher when I tested this app out. I don’t just mean she was a former teacher; she was probably already teaching when there were still two Germanies. I thought of her, and I think she can use this app with no problems at all.
Overall comment: This app has so many functions, which mostly help a teacher manage their classroom. The attendance function though, is top shelf. Because the “students” are individual icons across a screen, it’s easy to see who is here and who isn’t. Tap on the person’s icon to show if they are there or not, and it gets recorded into a report that you can export as a PDF file. Three clicks out of five.
App name: TakeLessons
App developer: TakeLessons
Available on: iTunes, Google Play
Easy to use: While this app was designed originally for music teachers, you can also use this to record who showed up to appointments or for training modules. HR could use this app to see who among the newbies has gone through our employee training or who needs to show up for disciplinary meetings.
Overall comment: You might have to disregard a few fields in this app (like the “salary” option) because they may not apply. But past that, you can adapt the other features to suit what you might need. I also like the Messenger feature, which allows people to send you messages to cancel appointments or to reschedule. Handy for the HR manager on the go! Three clicks out of five.
