Time Tracking

Time tracking on the AgriERP mobile app is what turns the worker’s day into the labor cost on the books, the productivity number on the dashboard, and the paycheck at the end of the week. It is the thing that, when it works, makes labor a managed cost. When it does not, labor becomes a guess based on memory and paper.

This document describes how time tracking works on the mobile app: how workers clock in, how their time is captured against the right operational context, how breaks and exceptions are handled, and how the captured data flows to payroll and to cost accounting.

1. Clock in

How clock-in works

• Single tap from home: the home screen has a clear Clock In button. One tap is the action. The clock-in time, the worker’s identity (from their login), and the device’s GPS location are captured automatically.
• Work assignment selection: if the worker has multiple possible work assignments for the day, they choose one. If they have just one assignment, the system selects it automatically.
• Visual confirmation: the worker sees a clear confirmation that they are clocked in, with the time captured and the current activity displayed. No ambiguity about whether the action landed.
• GPS verification: where the business requires it, GPS verifies that the worker is at the right location to start the work. Out-of-zone clock-ins are flagged for supervisor review.
• Photo verification: for some workforces, a selfie at clock-in confirms the right person is starting their shift. The photo is captured and stored against the time record.
• Offline clock-in: where there is no signal, clock-in still works. The time and location are captured locally and synced when connectivity returns.

Crew clock-in

Many agricultural workforces are organised in crews under a supervisor, not as independent individuals. The mobile app supports crew-based clock-in directly, so the supervisor does not have to wait for each worker to fumble through their own device.

• Crew selection: the supervisor selects their crew from their crew list. The crew membership is current; workers added or removed for the day are reflected.
• Attendance check: the supervisor ticks off each worker present. Absentees are marked, with a reason where known (sick, no-show, leave).
• Single confirmation: the supervisor confirms once. All present workers are clocked in with the same start time and the same work assignment. Each worker has their own individual time record nonetheless.
• Spot-checks: where the business requires individual verification (anti-fraud, audit, certification), supervisors can be required to capture each worker’s photo or biometric individually.

2. Activity tracking during the shift

How activity tagging works

When a worker clocks in against a work assignment, their time begins accumulating against that assignment. As they work, the time inherits all the work order’s dimensions: block, crop, activity type, equipment used. The worker does not have to know about cost accounting; they are just doing their job. The accounting follows automatically.

What time-tagging captures

Capability	What it means in practice
Worker identity	Who is doing the work. From the login session and (where used) biometric verification.
Work order linkage	The work order the time is being spent on, with its block, crop, season, and activity.
Crew context	If the worker is part of a crew, the crew identity, so crew-level productivity and supervision can be analysed.
Location	GPS coordinates at clock-in and at key points during the shift, so the actual location of work is on the record.
Activity type	What kind of work: harvest, spray, prune, inspect, drive, transport, packing. Standardised activity codes the business uses for cost analysis.
Equipment used	Where equipment is involved, the asset code is captured. The same time that pays the operator also accumulates against the equipment for utilisation.
Time type	Standard work time, overtime, night, weekend, holiday. The system applies the right type based on the time of day, day of week, and worker class.

Switching activities and assignments

• Mid-shift switch: where a worker moves from one work order to another (finishing one block and moving to the next), they switch on the app. The first work order’s time is closed; the second’s time starts. The transition time is captured.
• Multi-activity shifts: a worker who spends part of the day spraying and part loading the truck for harvest will have their time split correctly across both activities, with the right cost dimensions on each.
• Transit and travel: travel between blocks or between farms is captured as transit time, separate from active work. Paid per the business’s transit rules; visible separately for productivity analysis.
• Idle and waiting: where a worker is on the clock but waiting (for equipment, for materials, for instructions), the idle reason is captured. Useful for identifying operational friction.

3. Breaks, exceptions, and clock-out

Break handling

• Scheduled breaks: where breaks are scheduled (morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea), the app prompts at the right time. The worker confirms taking the break; the time is captured.
• Ad-hoc breaks: shorter ad-hoc breaks (water, rest, weather pause) can be captured on the app, with the reason tagged.
• Paid vs. unpaid breaks: the business’s policy on which breaks are paid is configured. The captured break is automatically classified correctly.
• Crew breaks: supervisors can put their whole crew on break with one action, and bring them off break the same way. Individual exceptions are still captured.

Clock-out

• End-of-shift clock-out: at the end of the day, the worker clocks out. The total shift time is calculated; the active work time, transit time, and break time are summarised.
• Crew clock-out: supervisors clock out their crew the same way they clocked in. Workers leaving early or staying late are handled individually.
• Day summary: the worker sees a summary of their day: total hours, where time was spent, any piece-rate counts captured. Transparency at the source.
• Supervisor review: the supervisor reviews the day’s time captures for the crew. Corrections (a worker forgot to clock out, a break was mis-categorised) are made transparently, with the original capture preserved and the correction audited.

Common exceptions

Capability	What it means in practice
Forgot to clock out	The system flags shifts that ran past a reasonable shift length without clock-out. The supervisor reviews and corrects, with the original captures preserved and a note added.
Forgot to clock in	Where a worker arrives at work but forgets to clock in, the supervisor (or the worker on the next interaction) captures the actual start time, with the reason noted.
Lost or stolen device	Where the worker’s device is unavailable, the supervisor can clock them in on their own device under exception handling. Audit trail captures the supervisor’s role.
Disputed clock-in	Where the captured time does not match what the worker remembers, the dispute is recorded; supervisor and worker discuss; the resolution is captured. The audit trail captures the dispute.
Working through a break	Where the worker chooses to work through a scheduled break (with permission), it is captured. Compensation rules per the business policy are applied.
Overtime authorisation	Where overtime is being worked, the authorisation is captured: who approved it, when. Without authorisation, overtime is flagged for review.

4. What happens with the captured data

Flow to payroll

• Hours from the captures: the hours that show on the worker’s paycheck are the hours captured on the mobile app, plus or minus any audited corrections. Not retyped from a paper sheet.
• Time type to pay rule: the time type captured (standard, overtime, night, holiday) drives the pay-rule application automatically.
• Piece-rate counts: for piece-rate workers, the count of units completed (bins, cartons, hectares) flows alongside the time and drives pay calculation.
• Minimum-wage protection: where piece-rate earnings fall below the hourly minimum for the time worked, the system tops up to minimum automatically.

Flow to operational cost

• Crop and block cost: labor cost lands on the right crop and block, because the time was tagged to the right work order at the source.
• Work-order cost: each work order accumulates its actual labor cost from the captured time. Compare to the planned labor cost; the variance is part of operational analysis.
• Equipment utilisation: the equipment used during the work order accumulates hours against the asset. Utilisation, maintenance scheduling, and lifecycle cost all draw from the same captures.
• Crew productivity: captured time plus captured output gives the productivity number per crew, per supervisor, per activity. Patterns emerge quickly.

Flow to analytics and reporting

• Labor productivity dashboards: the productivity numbers on the dashboards are built from the same captures. No separate analytics pipeline; one source of data.
• Labor cost analysis: labor cost by crop, by block, by activity, by supervisor, by season, all sliced from the same captures. The captures are the entire foundation.
• Compliance reporting: minimum-wage compliance, working-hour compliance, break compliance, all auditable from the captures.
• Forecast and planning: next year’s labor planning uses this year’s captures as the baseline. Better data in produces better plans out.

Why the at-source capture mattersThe traditional alternative is paper timesheets: workers fill out a sheet, supervisors collect them, someone in the office types them into a spreadsheet, payroll runs from the spreadsheet, cost analysis is done separately or never. Errors enter at every step. Disputes are common. The data is days or weeks old by the time anyone can use it for analysis.Mobile time tracking at the source captures the data once, at the moment of work, in the right operational context. The same record serves payroll, cost accounting, productivity analysis, and compliance, with full audit trail. The labor numbers on the books and the labor numbers on the dashboards are the same numbers, and they reflect what actually happened.

In summary

Time Tracking on the mobile app is the simple-looking feature that, behind the scenes, is the foundation of accurate labor cost, fair pay, and operational visibility. Clock in is one tap, with the work assignment, location, and time captured together. Activity tagging during the shift puts every minute on the right work order, in the right operational context. Breaks, exceptions, and clock-out are handled transparently with audit trail. The captured data flows to payroll, to operational cost, and to analytics, with no parallel timesheet stage and no retyping.

The result is that labor, the largest operating cost in most agribusinesses, becomes a managed and measurable cost rather than a guess at the end of the week.