In private security, two things cost you dearly: a shift the client disputes, and a lone guard who cannot raise the alarm. ChronoTrack provides time-stamped, geolocated proof of presence for every shift and puts an SOS alert at your guards' fingertips - with no app to install on their phones.
A private security company sells presence. When the client disputes a shift - “nobody came on Saturday night” - the discussion is settled by what you can produce. A paper occurrence book filled in after the fact, a self-reported timesheet or a text message exchange carry little weight against an unhappy client threatening not to pay.
This is the first thing ChronoTrack addresses: every shift start and end generates a time-stamped record, with the guard's GPS position compared with the site perimeter. It is no longer a statement, it is a record.
You display a QR code in the guard post or at the service entrance. The guard scans it with their phone's camera, enters their 6-digit PIN, and the shift starts. Same gesture at the end of the shift. Perimeter checks automatically verify that they are on site.
For large sites, you can place a QR code at each checkpoint: loading dock, basement, roof, plant room. The guard scans each point in turn during the patrol. You get the route actually followed with the time of each pass - and you immediately see if a checkpoint was skipped.
It is the digital version of the guard tour wand, with no device to buy, no reader to collect and no battery to charge.
It works exactly the same at off-peak hours, which are precisely when control is hardest and disputes most frequent. Shift scheduling lets you compare what was planned with what was actually clocked, and automatically surfaces absences and late starts.
Your guards often work alone, at night, on deserted sites. As an employer you have a duty of care towards them, and your risk assessment must provide a way to raise the alarm in case of illness or assault.
From the clock-in screen, an SOS button lets the guard instantly alert their manager, who receives their exact GPS position by email - and, on the Premium plan, by SMS too. No complicated gesture, no code to remember, no extra equipment to carry.
Important note: this is a complementary alert system, not a certified lone worker device. ChronoTrack does not automatically detect a fall or lack of movement, and does not include 24/7 human monitoring. If your risk assessment requires an approved lone worker device, ChronoTrack is used alongside it - not instead of it.
Turnover and one-off reinforcements are the norm in security, and that is exactly where app-based solutions fail: by the time a guard is set up, their assignment is over. Here, creating a guard takes less than a minute and they clock in right away with their PIN, with nothing to install. For events and last-minute reinforcements, it is the difference between tracking shifts and not tracking them at all.
A classic case in security. Two answers: move the QR code a few meters to an area with coverage - the entrance, the guard post - or set up a tablet on the site's Wi-Fi, which then acts as a shared time clock. Guards clock in on it with their PIN.
The QR code alone is not enough: the GPS position is recorded at clock-in and compared with the site perimeter. An out-of-zone clock-in is recorded but marked as abnormal, with the distance measured, and is immediately reported to the manager. The PIN identifies the guard, the QR code identifies the site, GPS confirms presence.
It remains useful for describing events. What it does not do is prove an arrival time beyond dispute, feed your invoicing without re-entry, or alert you in real time that a guard has not taken up their post. ChronoTrack does not replace an incident report: it makes hours and presence reliable, and lets you attach a time-stamped report with a photo.
Reports can be filtered by site and period and exported to Excel. You produce proof of shifts per client in a few clicks, with the hours actually worked - which is as useful for answering a dispute as for invoicing without omissions.
Two margin leaks are classic in security: shifts worked but never invoiced for lack of proof, and overtime paid to the guard without being re-invoiced to the client. Both come from the same place - an approximate count of hours.
When every shift is time-stamped, the total per site and per guard is calculated automatically, gaps with the contract surface on their own, and invoicing is based on real hours. Absence tracking and team communication rely on the same data, with no double entry.
See also our page dedicated to security and private guarding, or how clock-in without an app works in detail.
Occurrence books, shift start checks, patrol verification, client disputes… Estimate the hidden cost of manually tracking your security guards' attendance.
Indicative estimate based on your inputs (4.33 weeks/month). It only counts the administrative time spent collecting and re-entering clock-ins: savings from fewer disputes and fewer uninvoiced shifts come on top.
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