Introduction: More comfort, fewer worries
With the geo-fencing function in the CrewBrain app, employees receive automatic reminders to clock in or out when entering or leaving a location (e.g. an event venue or the company premises). In this way, employees are reminded to clock in and, if they have forgotten, they can also clock out retroactively to the time they entered or left the geo-fencing area.
This function is not only practical, but also consistently respects applicable data protection regulations by processing data entirely locally on the smartphone. We would like to take a closer look at how this works below.
The technology behind it
In CrewBrain, the dispatchers record relevant information for each event. This also includes the respective location including its address – the app then uses this information for geo-fencing:
- Download the data: Each time the app is started, it downloads the geo-coordinates of the next locations where the person in question is scheduled or booked. Depending on the smartphone operating system, the next 5-10 locations are saved locally.
- Location monitoring: The smartphone monitors its location independently and locally and reports to our app when one of the previously saved coordinates is reached or left.
No transmission of location data
The great thing about the aforementioned process is that, apart from the coordinates of the locations, no location data needs to be transmitted between your smartphone and the CrewBrain servers. Even the notification when reaching and leaving the location is processed locally on the smartphone and therefore cannot be read or monitored by CrewBrain or your employer.
Why am I asked for my GPS position when clocking in?
In addition to geo-fencing, CrewBrain also has another function for recording the GPS position when clocking in and out, which can be activated by the employer. In contrast to geo-fencing, in this case the coordinates are saved in the respective working time when clocking in and out and are therefore also transmitted to the server.
The exclusive local processing of geodata therefore only applies to geo-fencing, which can also be activated independently of the recording of the GPS position. If a GPS position is saved in CrewBrain during time recording, this will be displayed to you transparently and you will have the opportunity to check any positioning errors before the data is saved. Your employer must inform you about this function in any case and provide you with the underlying data protection information.
Conclusion
Geo-fencing reminds you to clock in and out. This is a convenience function that you can deactivate at any time, but which is absolutely harmless in terms of data protection and whose data is only processed locally on your smartphone.
By activating geo-fencing, your employee cannot monitor you and does not receive any information about your location. If activated, the employer only receives your location at the time you clock in or out – and we show you this process transparently so that you can refuse consent or correct your position at any time.
Not yet familiar with our time clock and want to test it for your company?
As a thank you to our readers, we are giving you a 50 % longer trial period. This means you can test CrewBrain extensively with all its features for a full 45 days free of charge. Sounds good? Then simply click on the link and register – no payment details needed!
Offer valid until revoked. Not valid for existing accounts. Please make sure that you only register your demo version via this link. If the longer trial period is not automatically assigned to your account within 3 days, simply contact us by e-mail or telephone.
