Where to Start

Most deployments in this category start with a product demonstration. The order that works starts with a walk around the building.

The sequence

One: size the problem. How much buddy punching or off-site clocking do you actually have, and what does it cost?

Two: measure your sites. Position and accuracy at the door, inside, at the back, in the car park.

Three: decide whether geofencing is the right method for each site, or whether wifi, a beacon or a terminal fits better.

Four: consult, before procurement.

Five: write the assessment, which is where the design gets decided.

Six: trial at your worst site, not your best.

Seven: set per-site radii from the measurements.

Eight: then buy.

The measurement walk

An afternoon per site, and it replaces every vendor claim.

Two phone models, several readings at each point, at two times of day.

Record position and accuracy.

The spread is your design constraint.

Sites where no reading indoors is usable are sites for a different method, and knowing that before purchase saves the deployment.

Sizing the problem first

Because it frequently changes the decision.

Count the instances you actually know about.

Estimate the annual cost at your wage rates.

Compare against the subscription plus the administration.

Many operations find the problem smaller than the solution, which is a legitimate finding and no vendor will produce it for you.

What to avoid early

Buying from a demonstration.

Deploying at the easiest site first, which tells you nothing.

Setting one radius organisation-wide.

Announcing before the fallback is designed, because the first question will be what happens when it fails.

Treating a trial as exempt from notice and consultation where real punches determine real pay.

What sixty days should produce

A measured picture of every site.

A method chosen per site, which may not be geofencing everywhere.

Radii set from measurements.

A designed fallback and a correction route.

Consultation completed with a written response.

And possibly a recommendation not to deploy, where the measurements show it cannot work and a terminal would.

Size the problem first

The step that frequently changes the decision.

Count the instances of off-site clocking you actually know about.

Price them at your wage rates.

Compare against the subscription plus the administration plus the refusal cost.

Many operations find the problem smaller than the solution, which is a legitimate finding and one no vendor will produce for you.

A concrete product reference

When translating this principle into a buying test, the official Monitask website provides a concrete workflow reference. Verify current behaviour in a trial and judge it against the purpose and limits above.