{"id":1088,"date":"2017-04-04T07:35:52","date_gmt":"2017-04-04T12:35:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.teamdesk.net\/blog\/?p=1088"},"modified":"2021-09-29T11:20:42","modified_gmt":"2021-09-29T16:20:42","slug":"time-tracking-mobile-app","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.teamdesk.net\/blog\/tips-tricks\/time-tracking-mobile-app\/","title":{"rendered":"Time Tracking via TeamDesk Mobile Client"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mobile devices, such as phones or tablets, became a crucial part of any business process, and work time-tracking process is not an exception. This article will help you to discover how to create a Time Tracking mobile app and link it to your online database solution. You\u2019ll see how, just in a few clicks, your employees will be able to register their working time, write their comments, add a conclusion and upload photos, if needed. Moreover, your app will define and store work duration and employee location automatically!<\/p>\n

How it works<\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s assume, your database serves a billboard advertising agency, which is placing ads on billboards. A manager needs to track the time spent by each operator on each billboard. Each operator must be a TeamDesk database user and should hold a mobile device having TeamDesk mobile client installed.<\/p>\n

When an operator approaches a billboard, he\/she launches TeamDesk mobile app and clicks on the \u201cStart Job\u201d link to start a new job record creation.<\/p>\n

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On the next screen, the app prompts to fill a description and\/or upload a photo.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSend\u201d button submits \u201cStart Job\u201d – related data to the database.<\/p>\n

When the \u201cSend\u201d button is pressed, \u201cStart Job\u201d- related parameters, such as time and location are defined and logged in automatically. If an operator doesn\u2019t even have an internet connection, the job start will still be logged and registered by the app, utilizing an internal mobile device storage. Whenever the operator reached an Internet connection, the stored record gets uploaded to the database and becomes accessible to the manager for time tracking .<\/p>\n

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The operator begins placing an ad poster on the billboard. When the job is finished, he logs the result into the database. If an Internet connection was available at any moment since the time, when the job was started, then the End Job request is already displayed in operator\u2019s TeamDesk mobile client app. It means that the job record had been added to the database, so now the operator may click on the \u201cEnd Job\u201d link to fill in the \u201cEnd Job data\u201d. For instance, the job result can be described in the [End Description] field and the photo \u2013 billboard with a new poster \u2013 can be uploaded. Pressing the \u2018Send\u2019 button at the top-right corner submits the data and updates the record if an Internet connection is available.<\/p>\n

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As a result, an existing job record gets updated in the online database. Now, the manager can see the time tracking data (when the job was finished) and can review job results.<\/p>\n

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Configuring your database<\/h2>\n

In short, you need to create two actions. The \u201cMobile Device Record Create\u201d action generates a new Job record in the database and fills in the columns keeping the Start Job data. The second action is called \u201cMobile Device Update Record action\u201d. It updates an existing Job record by filling in \u201cEnd Job\u201d-related columns\u2019 values. Both actions will be activated via a mobile device at the time when a user clicks on the \u201cSend\u201d button. This will add Job-related records, comprising start and end info, into your online database.<\/p>\n

Columns<\/h3>\n

First of all, make sure that your existing online database structure contains columns where the job data is going to be kept. If there are no such columns, you need to create them<\/a>. Time tracking table may need to contain the following columns:<\/p>\n