How do you prove you have been on-site?

[Skinny]

My employer is looking for a way to check whether techs have visited their school by getting the school to sign something. Can anybody recommend any digital solution for this? Obviously there is the signature on a piece of paper way of doing it but just interested to see how we can use technology to achieve this. Looking more toward a hand-held device application or similar.

 

Cheers all.

[SYNACK]

Staff at my sites no I have been in if they see a bin full of empty RedBull Bottles

 

You may be overcomplicating it, if the records are for the school only then a sign in should be fine. In fact if they are following fire regulations they should have a sign in sheet for visitors anyway which could do double duty.

 

If the records need to be accessed by both the school and the managment company at any time then possibly one of the electronic class registration systems that uses RFID or barcodes at each site could act as a sign in/out system that would be accessable to both parties. Given your admin position though if this is for proving attendance the level of trust in this system would be low as you could change the records at any time. This would be an issue with almost any technical solution that you put in place as it would be editable.

 

If you wanted to get really technical about it you could have google Latitute on all staff mobiles and keep a track of the logs with some custom software to see how long they spent within the confines of the school. This may have privacy concerns and suffer from the same suspision as the above electronic solutions but it would be cool and zero hassle for the techs.

Edited May 7, 2010 by SYNACK

[Skinny]

Haha I like your red bull comment

 

I'll look into Google latitude, sound promising. Thanks.

[glennda]

the body shape dent in my chair gets deeper!

[LosOjos]

Haha I like your red bull comment

 

I'll look into Google latitude, sound promising. Thanks.

 

Of course, if any of your techs are particularly clued up and looking to skive off for the day, they could put their phones in to debug mode and enter a mock location... Not saying that they would, just that it's possible.

[JJonas]

Isnt there a mobile phone tracking system so parents can keep track of their kids?

[tech_guy]

Tattoo a barcode on the forehead of each of your techs and have them scanned at reception?

[webman]

If the schools have static IP addresses, a web-based system could be set up where the tech accesses a "Check in" web page (perhaps with some form of PIN or ID). The resulting system should know which IP is assigned to which school in order to match check-ins for tech guys with schools.

[danrhodes]

Trust?

[fiendishlyclever]

I agree with danrhodes. What ever happened to trust? Surely it is fairly straight forward to phone and check with a school if there is sufficient reason to doubt - e.g. following a complaint etc. Someone is presumably going to have to check these records and this makes extra work for someone. The New-Labour philosophy for education lives on!!

[Jamman960]

In my previous job the company I worked for started issuing us with "job sheets", we'd basically write down what we had done while we were there along with the time we started and finished, the customer then signed this to say they were happy and we'd submit the sheets to the company as and when we returned to base along with any expense claims and petrol receipts. One customer also had me fill in a time sheet each time I visited to ensure they had their full allowance of hours out of the company.

 

you could probably setup the form as an online one and make the results availible to the customers then leave it up to them to raise any discrepancys.

 

I didn't mind doing this but I wouldn't be happy about being tracked by my employer, especially by something like lattitude - trust goes a long way.

Edited May 10, 2010 by Jamman960

[rad]

reply to an email on the schools email system.

 

I'd say trust is best

[mb2k01]

If this really is just for the reason of "checking you have been there" and not job tracking / logging etc, then I agree with the above "trust" post.

Failing that, surely you have to sign in and out at reception for each visit to adhere to visitor/fire regulations?

[Skinny]

apparently there has been an incident or two where schools are saying nobody turned up and the techs are saying they did but because of slackness with signing in there's no proof. It would seem that people should be just be made to sign in but my employer wants their own proof now as well. My main reason for wanting to use technology is to cut down on paperwork which depending on the school is normally a typed visit report. This is for primary schools having a few hours each - 2 schools per day. This isn't so bad if things tick over nicely but when something goes wrong and you need as much time as possible the last thing we want to do is having to worry about a visit report, if there's a quick easy way that does the job and satisfies the employer plus the school then jobs a good un. I can just forsee the current solution from my employer involving more paperwork is all.

[mb2k01]

I'm not sure if this helps, but what I did/do was make use of our web helpdesk. While onsite I will create a ticket wich will list all of the required jobs and update it throughout the day. At the end of the day I complete the ticket, export as a PDF and email to the Primary Head. If anyone wanted to challenge me it would be timestamped and have their IP details!

 

If you don't have that kind of facility the easiest might just be paper-based? 10 minutes in Word or Publisher and 0.5p per copy in your reporpgraphics dept to get people off your back!

[enjay]

Even a technical solution is trust based, as the school(s) would have to trust you not to edit the logs to say you'd been somewhere you hadn't. How about the regular visitors books at the schools? Cheap, already in place and completed by someone else so independently verifiable.

[witch]

Even a technical solution is trust based, as the school(s) would have to trust you not to edit the logs to say you'd been somewhere you hadn't. How about the regular visitors books at the schools? Cheap, already in place and completed by someone else so independently verifiable.

 

I think this is the obvious method - after all, the receptionist or office staff usually see you and so can confirm that you were there. Simple and effective - if it ain't broke - don't fix it!

[Ben-BSH]

Trust?

 

Got it in one!

 

almost all methods you put in place, could be abused anyway, depending on the determination of the staff, to fraud when they were and weren't on site.

[apoth0r]

If it is part of your job to write a report on the job, then it is done there and then. I'd rather make sure I have my reports done on site so it is fresh and accurate rather than "doing it later" and forgetting the details I need in order to have a successful knowledgebase for that establishment.

I always ensure I speak to the appropriate people each visit so I'm known to be there - Office Staff / Bursar > Headteacher > Staff with the problem. Common courtesy to introduce yourself each time. It's a people problem not a technological one

[K.C.Leblanc]

When BT came to change our internet connection they had to photography the equipment they'd installed.

[CESIL]

Tattoo a barcode on the forehead of each of your techs and have them scanned at reception?

 

I suggested this idea for electronic registration of pupils...apparently this would not be allowed...some old tosh about "infringing human rights"...political correctness gone mad if you ask me...

[LosOjos]

I suggested this idea for electronic registration of pupils...apparently this would not be allowed...some old tosh about "infringing human rights"...political correctness gone mad if you ask me...

 

This is where retinas are handy, they're life's little bar codes...

 

OT: I'd set up a basic help desk system if you can as mb2k01has suggested, using tickets to track jobs. When the techie completes the ticket, you could have it emailed to the schools head/office to confirm (although I'd probably go with a 'reply only if you disagree' method).

[ricki]

Hi

 

Trust is the starting place but if you really do not trust them and have to put a tech solution in have a look at data track and install it in all company vehicles and then you can see where they are. The other way I have seen done is using pda like the stone engineers or delivery men do. I think tom tom have a system that links to the satnav.

 

Richard

Edited May 11, 2010 by ricki

[Skinny]

Oooo I dream of the day we get a company vehicle. Luxury. No more regular expensive tire and cam belt changes.

 

All good replies here and totally common sense, I agree about the trust thing but I think my employers are worried about the SLA and the school possibly saying we broke the contract or something. I just don't want them to give me loads more paperwork cos they probably will. Let's just what happens first. I'll moan later

 

Thanks all.

[Pete10141748]

Every school should be having every visitor and staff member sign in and out in some fashion, for fire safety etc.

Here we use software called VeriCool Reception which runs on a touch-screen you have to sign in to before you can come through the main security door of the school http://www.vericool.co.uk/schoolreception.html It also prints out labels for visitors and is useful for fire drills (or the real thing!) too.

 

That coupled with trust and the fact that something was reported broken and now it isn't (ie you fixed it) should be enough to prove you were there!

 

Failing that, you could get the school to pull up the CCTV footage of you arriving and leaving, which is useful for showing how long you were there for as well

Edited May 13, 2010 by Pete10141748