Home
Daily Operations

Time Clock

Clock in and out from a phone, tablet kiosk, or web browser. With GPS, photo, geofencing, and breaks.

Time Clock is how members record the hours they actually work. They tap Clock in when they start, Clock out when they finish, and Tommy turns those records into a timesheet.

Two ways to clock in:

  • From a member's phone — most common. Each member clocks themselves.
  • From Kiosk Mode — a shared tablet at the workplace. Members enter a PIN to clock themselves.

Clocking in (from a phone)

The member opens Tommy and taps Clock in. Depending on your team's settings, Tommy may also:

  • Capture GPS location to verify they're at the right place
  • Take a photo to confirm identity (or PPE, or site state)
  • Ask shift task questions (e.g., "Vehicle inspection completed?")

Tommy creates an attendance record with the time, location, and photo. The shift status changes to "in progress".

Note

Screenshot needed: Mobile Time Clock screen with the big "Clock in" button.

Clocking out

When the shift ends, the member taps Clock out. Tommy captures the end time, location, and (if configured) a photo. If your team uses mileage tracking, the member is asked to confirm distance travelled.

The attendance record is closed. The hours flow into the member's timesheet.

Breaks

During a shift, members can log breaks:

  • Tap Start break — pauses the elapsed time
  • Tap End break — resumes counting

Breaks are either paid (count toward worked hours) or unpaid (subtracted). The default depends on the Shift Template and your Settings → Time Policies.

For longer shifts, Tommy can prompt for breaks automatically — useful in Solutions where break compliance matters (Hospitality, NDIS).

GPS verification

Tommy can require members to have GPS available and be at the right location to clock in. It's how teams in regulated industries (NDIS, Construction) prove their members were where they said they were.

How it works

  1. Each Location has GPS coordinates from its address
  2. When a member taps Clock in, Tommy reads their phone's GPS
  3. The location is captured against the attendance record

Configure — Go to Settings → Time Clock and toggle Require GPS verification on. Footer text: "Require team members to be at the location when clocking in and out."

NDIS and Construction Solutions ship with GPS required by default. General and Hospitality default to off.

Photo verification

You can also require a photo on clock-in and clock-out. The member sees a camera screen, takes a photo, and Tommy attaches it to the attendance record. Managers see the photos alongside the timesheet.

ConfigureSettings → Time Clock → Require photo verification. Footer text: "Require team members to take a photo when clocking in and out."

NDIS Solution ships with photo verification on by default. Hospitality and Retail default to off.

Kiosk Mode

Kiosk Mode turns a shared tablet into a dedicated time clock for your team. Workers don't need their own phones — they walk up, enter a Kiosk PIN, and clock in.

Use Kiosk Mode for:

  • Front-of-house at a hospitality venue
  • The crib room on a building site
  • Any workplace where workers don't all carry company phones

Set up Kiosk Mode

1

Get a tablet

Any tablet that runs the Tommy app. Mount it where workers arrive — front desk, crew room, kitchen entry.

2

Sign in as an admin

Sign in to the Tommy app on the tablet with an admin account.

3

Enable Kiosk Mode

Go to Settings → Enable Kiosk Mode. The app switches to PIN-only mode.

4

Members set their PIN

Each member sets their Kiosk PIN from My Account → Kiosk PIN on their own phone. They can reset it any time.

5

Members clock in

They walk up to the tablet, enter their PIN, and tap Clock in. The tablet captures any required photo from its camera.

Warning

The Kiosk PIN is independent of the member's account password. It's only valid on Kiosk Mode devices for clocking in/out — not for accessing other parts of Tommy. If a member forgets it, they can reset it from their own phone.

Exiting Kiosk Mode

Only an admin can exit Kiosk Mode — members can't tap their way out. From the tablet, an admin signs in with their full account password to disable Kiosk Mode and access the rest of the app.

Mileage tracking

For Solutions where members travel between locations (NDIS visits, trade callouts, agency placements), Tommy can track mileage:

  • On clock-out, the member is prompted to confirm distance travelled
  • Or Tommy can calculate it automatically from clock-in/clock-out GPS positions

Mileage feeds into the timesheet at your configured rate (e.g., $0.85/km). It exports to payroll alongside hours.

Configure — Settings → Mileage.

Manual adjustments

Sometimes someone forgets to clock — or the GPS fails, or they ran out of battery. Managers can manually create or adjust attendances:

  • From the member's profile → Attendances
  • From the timesheet itself (edit the line item)

Manual adjustments are flagged in the audit log so you can prove they're not falsified.

Time clock policies

From Settings → Time Clock, you can toggle:

PolicyWhat it does
Auto clock outAutomatically close stale attendances
Require GPS verificationMembers must be at the location to clock in/out
Require photo verificationMembers must take a photo when clocking in/out
Allow mobile devicesMembers can clock in/out from their phone
Allow web-browserMembers can clock in/out from a browser (not recommended — GPS and photo are less reliable)
Enable Tommy KioskLock a device into Kiosk mode
Prevent returning early from breaksBlock clock-back-on inside the scheduled break window
Confirm scheduled breaks were taken at Clock-OffPrompt member to confirm break compliance

Defaults match your Solution. Most teams adjust two or three of these and leave the rest alone.

What's next