Auto punch in and out at geo location

[taka iimu]

How mobile app can do auto punch in and out using geo location when they come and leave the office?

[Bill Sheboy · Accepted solution]

Hi @taka iimu -- Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Would you please clarify a bit?  That may give the community some context to offer you ideas as you posted this question in the Jira Software area...

What do you mean by "punch in and out"?
In/out of what?  An application, such a timekeeping?
Some form of presence indication?
What would you see as the impact of being "punched in" or "punched out"?

Thanks, and best regards,
Bill

[taka iimu]

There are mobile apps to do auto clock in & out for the employees time card. (example: Tsheets, Buddypunch, OnTheClock, etc.)

I would like to know if Atlassian has an extension/app to do the task. As I review "Tempo", it doesn't have GPS geo location feature for mobile app.

Would it be possible to have that feature in your mobile app? Please advise.

Taka 

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

My guess would be that it's a human-tracking plan.  One of my employers tried to implement something like this years ago - their "clever" idea was that Jira would record a work log that starts as we used our company id badge to open the gate into the building and then stop the log when we left the building.

It's fundamentally useless as "time in building" in a lot of places is not the same as "time worked on".  The bank I was working for quickly abandoned it as it was illegal in some places they were active, and I was able to show them just how much time people were logging to "correcting the automatic timesheets because they're logging the wrong thing in the wrong place"

[taka iimu]

Thank you for your comment. I understood your point, but 1 thing I didn't quite get it "correcting the automatic timesheets because they're logging the wrong thing in the wrong place"

How does it happen logging wrong thing and place?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Good question, I didn't put that into the story, but imagine one of my days at that job as an example:

• 7:44 - get on train, code/email/document for a while on the journey
• 9:30 - work-log timer started, on issue xyz-123
• 12:30 - work-log stops as I pop out for lunch
• 13:30 - work-log timer on xyz-123 started as I get back
• 16:30 - day's work on xyz-123 logged as I leave the office
• 17:00 - get on train, code/email/document for a while on the journey

I now need to spend another 30 minutes correcting the automatic logs.  I didn't work on xyz-123 at all during that day, I was working on support issues, upgrades, report requests and and and.  My time physically in the office is not in the slightest bit representative of what I was working on.  The system has logged 6 hours on the wrong issue, when I've actually done 9 hours on several other things.

I don't think you are asking for the wrong thing here, it may well be appropriate.  But I would ask that you think it through properly - is it really that useful?  Is it going to give you the reports you are looking for with any accuracy?  (and, of course, check the legality of tracking individuals like this in your area)

[taka iimu]

The purpose of using Geo tracking time card is for clocking in and out in general use. We use Jira to manage projects, and I thought it would be nice to unify the GPS timecard feature.

However, as I checked the legality in my area, it's better to avoid any troubles against California Penal Code § 637.7

I guess, it's better to stick with the physical time card. Thank you for your explanation and things to consider on the legal issue. 

[Ben van den Berg]

I have a few customers that want the geolocation tags (GPS coordinates) recorded for their mobile contractor teams (electricians, cooling contractors, plumbers) when they create an arrival or departure at site event (sub-task level issue) for a job (story level issue).
The owners and managers want to ensure that the contractor teams record these events when they are at the specific site and not when they are at another location, to ensure the amount of effort charged and reported correlates with the actual events.

How do I get the GPS coordinate when using step in an automation rule?
Hopefully, someone has already done something like this and can provide input.