Logistics and field operations
Logistics runs on early starts, long days and equipment that changes hands every shift. Attendance comes in two ways: a fingerprint terminal at the depot, or browser check-in that an admin switches on, open inside each person's shift window.
The shift pattern
Early starts, long days, and a pattern that is stable on paper and messy in practice. Named windows cover the paper part well enough.
The real variability is the run, not the roster. A route that overruns does not change which shift someone was assigned; it changes what the working hours on the record look like at the end of it.
Hours distribution is the report that shows this. A histogram of working hours makes a pattern of consistent overruns visible, which a monthly average flattens away.
How attendance is taken
At the depot, crews scan at the terminal on the way out and again on the way in, and the day is bracketed properly. Fingerprints stay on the terminal; PeopleMuster receives only who punched and when.
The second path needs no hardware. Once an admin switches on browser check-in, a card on the person's dashboard opens in a window around their assigned shift. By default it opens an hour before the start and closes two hours after, and an admin can move all four edges.
The attendance header shows when the terminal last synced, so a depot link that dropped is visible within minutes.
Manual punch requests absorb the exceptions: an overnight run, a vehicle swap, a missed browser window. Every one is an approval on the record rather than an untraceable edit.
The number field operations argue about
Hours nobody saw. The gap between the shift someone was assigned and the hours the record eventually shows.
Working hours per person, plus hours short against the period, plus the distribution. Partial days are counted separately from absences, which matters when the reason is a run that ended early rather than a person who did not come in.
There is a second number and it is not about hours. Devices. Scanners, handhelds and phones move between people constantly, and the asset register holds serials, condition, verification state and who has what right now, with assignment history behind it.
Anyone who has tried to find out who last had a handheld from a spreadsheet knows why that is the second number.
Which modules run here
Switched on
- Attendance
- Depot punches, working hours and the correction queue.
- Shifts
- Named early and late windows, assigned with history.
- Devices
- Handhelds and scanners tracked by serial, condition and holder.
- Leave
- Quotas and approvals for a team that plans cover in advance.
- Checklists
- Depot routines and equipment handover, run as tracked processes.
- Support desk
- A route for equipment problems that does not rely on catching someone.
Left off
- Daily recap
- Project hours suit delivery work, not routes.
- Meetings
- Nothing to import.
- Resource allocation
- Day-level hour planning suits project work more than depot runs.
Questions people ask
Can people check in without the depot terminal?
Yes, once an admin switches on browser check-in. The card opens inside a window around the person's assigned shift, and a missed window becomes a punch request for HR to review.
How are handhelds and scanners tracked?
In the device register, by serial, condition, verification state and current holder, with a history of who held each one before.
What happens when the depot network drops?
The sync runs late and the attendance header shows how long ago it last completed, so the gap is visible rather than silent.