By automating time collection through barcode scanning, manufacturers gain precise labor costing, improved accountability, and a clearer picture of shop floor performance.
Why Manual Time Tracking in Business Central Is Costing Your Shop Floor More Than You Think
Article from | Insight Works
Every minute on the shop floor matters. Yet, when employees track time manually, whether through spreadsheets or handwritten logs, errors and inefficiencies multiply. Supervisors spend hours fixing discrepancies, payroll teams reconcile incomplete records, and production insights remain out of reach.
The Shop Floor Insight app from Insight Works, seamlessly integrated with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, replaces guesswork with accurate, real-time labor tracking. Shop Floor Insight is a comprehensive MES solution for barcoded time capture and employee time management. By automating time collection through barcode scanning, manufacturers gain precise labor costing, improved accountability, and a clearer picture of shop floor performance.
Move Beyond Manual Time Entry
Manual time tracking often introduces delays and inaccuracies that affect payroll, costing, and reporting. Shop Floor Insight replaces manual entry with fast barcode-based scanning. Employees clock in or out instantly using a badge or touchscreen, ensuring accurate time records without the risk of forgotten entries.
Fast, Touch-Based Clock-In: Shop Floor Insight lets employees use a touchscreen terminal to quickly log their presence with a simple tap or scan, automatically recording their start time. This frictionless clock-in method reduces wait times at the terminal and ensures accurate shift tracking, improving both user adoption and timekeeping reliability.
Confirm Attendance with Real-Time Validation
Supervisors no longer need to chase down missing punches or mismatched shifts. Shop Floor Insight verifies every scan in real time, displaying clear visual feedback for each clock-in or clock-out event.
Employee Identity Confirmation After Scan: Once a badge is scanned, the system confirms the identity of the user—such as “Linda Martin”—on a clearly color-coded screen. This real-time recognition ensures users know they’ve been successfully logged and reduces clocking errors caused by misreads or missed scans.
Simplify Time Card Approvals
Supervisors review and approve employee time cards directly in Business Central. The app flags exceptions—like missing setup time or unusually long runtimes—so managers resolve issues quickly instead of reviewing every entry.
Time Card Validation for Faster Approvals: Shop Floor Insight streamlines the time card approval process by flagging issues like missing setup time or excessive runtime directly within the approval worksheet. By surfacing validation messages at both the card and line levels, supervisors can quickly resolve discrepancies without digging through individual records, improving accuracy and speeding up payroll approvals.
Compare Actual Hours to Scheduled Shifts
Accurate time capture gives supervisors a clear comparison between planned and actual hours. With visibility into each shift’s activity and utilization, managers identify shortfalls, prevent overages, and maintain consistent productivity.
Shift vs. Actual Time Analysis: Shop Floor Insight gives supervisors a clear view of how actual hours compare to scheduled shift hours, with visibility into specific activities and exceptions like underutilized time. This allows issues to be flagged early—such as short shifts or incomplete tasks—helping teams maintain accountability and prevent time leakage before payroll processing.
Streamline Payroll Reviews
Time data flows directly into Business Central for payroll validation. Daily summaries aggregate all employee activity, simplifying review and eliminating the need for manual reconciliation.
Daily Time Summary for Payroll Review: The app provides a daily time summary that aggregates all employee activity into a single, Excel-friendly view, making it easy for payroll administrators to validate daily labor entries across departments. With support for quick filtering and export, the report eliminates manual reconciliation and speeds up daily audits or time entry reviews.
The Result: Accurate Time Data, Better Decisions
Barcode-based time capture transforms how manufacturing teams manage labor. Shop Floor Insight eliminates manual entry errors, simplifies approvals, and delivers data that supports smarter scheduling and payroll accuracy. Business Central users gain the visibility needed to manage shifts efficiently and maintain complete confidence in their labor data.
For more information about the Shop Floor Insight app, visit ShopFloorForDynamics.com or reach out to your Microsoft Partner today.
The content & opinions in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily represent the views of ManufacturingTomorrow
Insight Works
Insight Works is an Independent Software Vendor (ISV) that caters to the manufacturing and distribution industry. Their product line features a breadth of end-to-end apps that integrate with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. There are apps designed for manufacturing, distribution, shipping, sales, productivity, barcoding, and more. Headquartered in Canada since 2008, Insight Works™ operates remote offices in the United States and the Netherlands. To learn more, visit www.dmsiworks.com.
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