Worker Attendance and Feedback System
Introduction
There exists no efficient complaint system for maintenance. In our project, we have tried to solve this problem by creating an Android app built using Firebase Database for the backend. We have aimed to create a complaint system for the cleaning staff via this app, which will efficiently relay the problem to the administrator. It will hold each worker accountable for the work. This app aims to bridge the gap between the users and the employees who are responsible for the upkeep of the establishment.
The existing system relies on inefficient ways of manually changing the roster system. We aim to create an attendance system, for the staff who will send the authentication by scanning from each washroom via a QR Code, before cleaning where the data will be sent to the Firebase system, geotagged, to ensure that regular upkeep is happening. The geotag will ensure that the location of worker is valid, to ensure no loopholes are found. This attendance system will allow us to rate the performance of the worker.
Working
We have created 3 applications having specific functions,
First is the Employee app which asks for credentials of the employee, Then there is a location check before the QR Scanner opens to see if the worker is in the vicinity of the bathroom by geotagging. When The worker marks his attendance, Worker id, timestamp, and bathroom id are sent to our Firebase database where they get updated in real time.
Secondly, We created a Feedback/Complaint System, covering all possible domains needed here. We provide 2 options to the user, (i) To either scan the same bathroom code the worker does or (ii) Enter the bathroom code and give his/her rating or comments. If the user is in a hurry so he can just select one of the 2 most common problems Cleanliness and Repair issue.
The User also has an option to upload a photo of the bathroom, for the admin to see later. This photo is stored along with the rating in the database.
As soon as the User gives the rating, it checks which worker cleaned that bathroom that day using the timestamp and bathroom id and then updates the avg. rating of that worker.
If the rating was given is just 1 star an immediate action is needed, therefore, a push notification is sent to the admin (The caretaker and the maintenance secretary in case of our hostels).
Third, We made an Admin App, Here we have a table where data is retrieved when the app opens and the administrator can see the names of each worker along with their attendance percentage and their average rating. The admin can also register or delete a worker as per the requirements.
Working Video -
Our Journey
After having seen so many shortcomings in the current roster based system, our team decided to tackle this problem one by one. Our aim was to create a system which will create an overall better experience for the users while saving paper at the same time.
To do that, we, first, decided to implement it in our hostel level, so that we could see the benefits instantly and get the review from people in order to create a wholesome user experience. We started with researching, on both fronts, online and offline.
We approached the maintenance secretary, caretaker, and the staff in order to understand how the working takes place. We understood the structure in order to implement this app and give the best user experience. For the technology-based research, we found out that Firebase by Google is a good real-time database system, which will relay all the queries.
We then set out to create the version of the app that will make the users, as well as, the employees happy. We did this, by asking people about the features we wanted to incorporate and whether or not were they feasible. We received valuable information from them. For instance, we wanted to implement a scanner based QR code system for the users too, in order to register complaint/reviews, but then after discussing, we were told, that since washrooms are
not the place where they prefer taking the phones with them or especially using it, so putting another alternate should be present. After that input, we decided to incorporate text-based field which the users will type in and can send after reaching their rooms.
After continuous guidance with our professor, we created the basic apps which could handle all the functionalities we intended it to. Now arrived the part, where we wanted to make it more robust, so that there was no way by which an employee could circumvent. For this, we went ahead with the idea of incorporating geolocation services to ensure that the worker was in the vicinity.
We have implemented this application in our hostel, for some weeks now, where the employees and users have been using this ap
Challenges
When we started the project, none of us had prior knowledge to any tools we had to use. Learning android studio and Firebase, and their connectivity was a challenge in the start. Other than the problems we faced on the coding side with implementing all the functionalities we thought on paper, there were other problems too that we faced.
One problem we had faced was our rating was going to the worker according to the schedule but there are changes frequently therefore what we did was sent the rating according to the time stamp to the worker who last cleaned the given bathroom.
Another problem we encountered after we took feedback from the users was that some of them did not take their phones with them when they went to the washroom, due to hastiness or hygiene issue. To solve this, We added an option to enter the bathroom codes and give the rating.
There were some more minor issues we faced during testing but all of them were resolved in time with effective solutions.
Future Prospects
Given this roster based system is used in Lecture Hall Complex, and even in corporate business buildings and others, we can use this system by making the application more dynamic. We can replace the current system, and then use its washrooms.
Second step can be, to make a complaint based mechanism for any service around the globe, and then use this application to take care of that service, hence saving paper and opting for an efficient mechanism.
Link To Github Repository
https://github.com/DhaneshSethia/Worker-Attendance-Feedback-System-COP315
Demonstration at Open House
Open House is the annual exhibit of an extensive collection of innovative research and product development projects going on at IIT Delhi. We also presented our project at the Open House ’19. Since our project was finalised and had been implemented in our hostel, we wanted to showcase our apps to people.
We had an audience of tech enthusiasts, professors, annd students from schools
. They saw our demo video and we showcased our functioning live to them. We received valuable reviews from them, which help build this app even better. The overall positive response was a huge boost, and was a thumbs up to how this can be used in other settings as well.