Time Clock & GPS Tracking

The Time Clock in NexusRMS provides GPS-verified clock-in and clock-out for every crew member. It captures locations, tracks breaks, calculates hours automatically, and enforces geofencing rules to ensure crew are on-site when they report for work.

Accessing the Time Clock

Navigate to Crew > Time Clock in the left-hand sidebar. The page displays a real-time clock that updates every second, along with the current date. Below the clock, the main interface shows the crew member’s current status and available actions.

Clock status display

The Time Clock page shows one of two states depending on whether the crew member is currently clocked in:

• Clocked Out — A grey status card with a “Ready to clock in” message. The Clock In button is prominent and available.
• Clocked In — A green status card displaying a “CLOCKED IN” chip, the running duration of time worked, accumulated break time, a project chip (if linked to a project), and the timestamp of when the crew member clocked in.

Clock-in flow

To clock in, the crew member follows these steps:

1. Click the Clock In button — A large green button displayed prominently on the Time Clock page.
2. Project selection dialog — A dialog appears asking the crew member to select a project to associate with this time entry. This is optional — the crew member can skip this step if they are performing general work not tied to a specific project.
3. Capture photo checkbox — An optional checkbox to take a photo at clock-in. When enabled, the device camera opens for a quick snapshot that is stored with the time entry.
4. GPS location capture — The system automatically requests the device’s current GPS location. Latitude and longitude are recorded to six decimal places along with accuracy in metres.
5. Geofence validation — If the crew member selected a project, the system checks whether the captured location falls within the configured radius of the project’s site location. NexusRMS uses the Haversine formula to calculate the distance between the two coordinates. The default geofence radius is 100 metres but can be adjusted per project.
6. Confirmation — The clock-in is confirmed with a timestamp and the captured location. The status card updates to the green “Clocked In” state.

Break tracking

While clocked in, the crew member can take breaks using the Take Break button. This pauses the work timer and starts recording break duration. When the break ends, the crew member clicks End Break to resume the work timer. Multiple breaks can be taken during a single clock-in session, and each break period is recorded individually with its own start time, end time, and duration.

Clock-out flow

To clock out, the crew member follows these steps:

1. Click the Clock Out button — A large red button that replaces the Clock In button while the crew member is clocked in. This button is disabled during an active break — the crew member must end their break before clocking out.
2. GPS location capture — The system captures the current GPS location at clock-out, just as it does at clock-in.
3. Optional photo capture — If configured, the crew member can take a clock-out photo.
4. Automatic hours calculation — Total hours are calculated as clock-out time minus clock-in time minus total break duration. For example, clocking in at 08:00, taking a 30-minute break, and clocking out at 17:00 yields 8.5 total hours.
5. Overtime detection — If total hours exceed 8 (the default threshold), the entry is automatically flagged as overtime. The overtime threshold is configurable in Configuration > Crew Settings.

GPS Location card

When a crew member is clocked in, the GPS Location card shows the captured coordinates: latitude and longitude to six decimal places, accuracy in metres, and a View on Google Maps button that opens the location in a new browser tab. This allows managers to verify the reported location at any time.

Today’s Summary card

Below the status display, the Today’s Summary card shows three running totals for the current day:

• Total Time — The total duration from clock-in to the current time (or clock-out time if already clocked out).
• Break Time — The total duration of all breaks taken today.
• Net Time — Total Time minus Break Time, representing actual working hours.

Geofencing details

Geofencing validates that crew members are physically present at the project location when they clock in or out. The system records one of four geofence statuses for each clock event:

• not_required — No project was selected, or the project has no location configured. Geofencing is skipped.
• valid — The crew member’s GPS location is within the configured radius of the project site.
• violated_in — The crew member was outside the geofence radius at clock-in. The violation is logged.
• violated_out — The crew member was outside the geofence radius at clock-out. The violation is logged.

Depending on your settings, geofence violations may still allow clock-in to proceed while logging the violation for manager review, or they may block the clock-in entirely. Configure this behaviour in Configuration > Crew Settings > Time Clock.

Photo capture

Clock-in and clock-out photos are stored in S3 and linked to the time entry record. Photos are viewable from the timesheet and from the Recent Entries table on the Time Clock page. Photo capture is useful for verifying on-site presence, especially for remote or unmanned locations.

Recent Entries table

Below the summary cards, a table lists recent time entries for the current crew member. Each row displays:

• Clock-in and clock-out times
• Associated project (if any)
• Total hours worked
• Break duration
• Location with a View button to see the GPS coordinates on a map
• An actions menu with View Details, View Photos, Edit (available only if the entry has not been approved), and Delete (available only if the entry has not been approved)

Admin crew selection

Managers and CoreAdmins see an autocomplete field at the top of the Time Clock page that allows them to select a different crew member. This is useful for viewing another person’s time clock status, reviewing their recent entries, or clocking in on behalf of a crew member who cannot access the system (for example, if their device has no battery).

Tips

• Always select a project when clocking in — Linking time entries to projects ensures accurate cost tracking and simplifies timesheet approval.
• End breaks before clocking out — The system requires breaks to be ended before clock-out to ensure accurate duration calculations.
• Review geofence violations promptly — Repeated violations may indicate GPS accuracy issues or crew members clocking in from the wrong location.
• Enable photo capture for high-security sites — Photo evidence at clock-in provides an additional layer of attendance verification beyond GPS.

Next steps

Continue to the next article to learn about Time Clock Approval and Payroll, where managers review and approve time entries, calculate pay with overtime and rate multipliers, and export timesheets for payroll processing.