The Text2Punch Story
Text2Punch mobile time tracking was developed to collect attendance data for mobile and remote workers using only a cell phone. Many of our payroll clients were in need of a simple-to-use mobile solution that was available to mobile workers at a low cost. Additionally, the system needed to be able to authenticate workers using their cell phone # and prevent buddy punching.
Text2Punch has been in use across many industries and is able to improve efficiency, lower administrative overhead and eliminate payroll errors for its customers. The solution functioned on all types of cellular phones and avoided user data charges. With familiar tools and equipment, implementation and training expenses were minimized or reduced to zero, increasing the return on investment for clients.
To connect with existing labor management systems we focused on a few respected labor tracking systems that only offered time capture clock devices. The generic CSV and .DAT import formats which work on many labor management systems along with working on API interface capability now offerw more product independent options. The mobile Text2Punch for IOS and Android works seamlessly with the SMS module. Our softwares capture Geo-tag GPS information and the mobile app version includes Geo-Fencing features.
Text2Punch Design
The basic platform leverages Texting or Short Message Service (SMS) and collects usable data that includes Text, Numbers, Financial Values, and Codes. This allowed Text2Punch to collate and validate input data against logic, rules and automated math functions. This allows Text2Punch to utilize triggers and rules to manage data gathering and messaging information between users and the data store.
Adding to the product is the private nature of an individual’s own cell phone and the social barriers related sharing such a personal device with another party. This helps protect the product from fraudulent, erroneous and redundant data entry. The Text2Punch Cloud is hosted in a secure environment that allows customers to easily import or export demographic and employment information to each user’s profile. This profile data can also be incorporated into the rules engine to expand the functionality of the triggers and messages.
It is designed to act as a middleware service to accurately collect attendance data and feed it automatically into other third party labor management systems. The system uses normal text messaging and posts collected data to our secure proprietary cloud database. Then on a scheduled basis the data is seamlessly connected with an employer’s in-house HR or financial systems. Time stamps and caller ID features designed into the product identified workers by their devices and reduced potential fraud.
What’s next
Filling an unmet market need,Text2Punch attracted the attention of organizations with issues related to worker mobility. Potential customers with different remote data collection issues, unrelated to time and attendance, also emerged. It was clear that applying the Text2Punch platform to broader scope of conditions would create new opportunities.
The ability to share Text2Punch data with third party software systems like fleet management, human resources, financial, production or enterprise resource planning (ERP) allows clients to generate information outside the Text2Punch infrastructure. Importing data from these third party systems into Text2punch can expand the options for creating automated triggers and potential reports by increasing the available information and denominator data for value-added analysis.
Recent Comments