Auto Clock In/Clock Out

Since VAS and Manual activities are captured through clocking, WFM ensures that the users are clocked into each entity, FAC, WA and WAA in the right sequence. However, when users work on System activities using WMS RF Transactions, it’s possible that a user may forget to clock into facility and the respective work area before starting the activity. Although this would not impact warehouse operations, it would result in wrong productivity calculations for the user.

The auto clock feature in WFM can be used to automatically clock users into a facility and work area enabling users to focus on performing system activities rather than following SOPs for clocking appropriately. The clocking is automatically done by WFM behind the scenes without any manual intervention.

Auto clock feature can be enabled by setting the facility parameter AUTO_CICO to “Yes”. When this parameter is enabled, WFM automatically clocks the user into a facility when the user logs into RF. On selecting a transaction on RF, the user is automatically clocked into the work area that is associated with the WMS RF screen.

Note that even if the facility parameter is enabled, it is only applicable to users with group permission Track Record/Require CICO Validations. Auto clock in/clock out will not be performed for users that do not have this permission. Also, unlike other permissions, this permission is not enabled for ADMINISTRATOR ROLE by default.

Auto Facility Clock In

When a user logs into RF, depending on the current state of the user, WFM performs next steps as described in the table below:

Current User Status WFM Response
User is already clocked into the current facility No further action is taken by WFM
User is clocked into a different facility WFM clocks the user out of the other facility before clocking into the current facility. Note that, auto clock feature needs to be enabled in the other facility for WFM to perform auto clock out from the other facility

User is found to be inactive.

A user is considered inactive in the following scenarios:

  • If the last track record of the user is more than 1440 mins (24 hours) ago

OR

  • If there are no clock records (track records), no WMS activity, no UI login or RF login (framework/common logs) for the user for last X number of minutes. The value X can be configured in the facility parameter CICO_INACTIVITY_TOLERANCE_MINS which can be set between 120 minutes to 1440 mins.

Facility Parameter: CICO_INACTIVITY_TOLERANCE_MINS

  • · If the facility parameter is not configured, a default value of 240 minutes will be used.
  • · If the facility parameter configured is less than 120 mins, 120 minutes will be used.
  • If the facility parameter configured is greater than 1440 mins, 1440 minutes will be used.

User is clocked into the current facility.

However, before clocking the user into the facility, WFM checks if the user has any open clock records. If yes, WFM systematically clocks the user out of all such entities in the right sequence. For example, if the user was clocked into a break before becoming inactive, WFM will clock the user out of break and the facility before clocking user into current facility.

For all clock outs, user’s last activity time is used. This could be from track record, WMS activity or Framework/common logs whichever is latest.

Note: Auto Clock out from facility is not triggered based on any other action such as RFLog out, UI Logout, RF Idletime or UI Idle time. It is ONLY triggered when user logs into RF and is found to have been inactive.

User Inactive Scenarios

Scenario 1: Track Record entry greater than 24 hours; No activity in between

  • Login to RF: Nov 3, 7:00 am
  • Auto FAC-CI: Nov 3, 7:00 am
  • Login to RF: Nov 4, 7:05 am
  • Since Track Record has exceeded 24 hours, facility parameter CICO_INACTIVTY_TOLERANCE_MINS is ignored.
  • Auto FAC-CO: Nov 3, 7:00 am; Auto FAC-CI Nov 4, 7:05 am

Scenario 2: Track Record entry greater than 24 hours; Activity in between

  • Login to RF: Nov 3, 7:00 am
  • Auto FAC-CI: Nov 3, 7:00 am
  • Login to UI: Nov 4, 6:00 am
  • Login to RF: Nov 4, 7:05 am
  • Since Track Record has exceeded 24 hours, facility parameter CICO_INACTIVTY_TOLERANCE_MINS is ignored.
  • Auto FAC-CO: Nov 4, 6:00 am; FAC-CI Nov 4, 7:05 am

Scenario 3: Track Record entry less than 24 hours; CICO_INACTIVTY_TOLERANCE_MINS = 120 mins

  • Login to RF: Nov 3, 7:00 am
  • Auto FAC-CI: Nov 3, 7:00 am
  • WMS Activity: Nov 3, 9:30 am
  • Login to RF: Nov 3, 10:00 am
  • Since 10:00 am - 9:30 am < CICO_INACTIVTY_TOLERANCE_MINS, no track records are written, but login time of 10:00 am captured in framework logs
  • Login to RF: Nov 3, 1:00 pm
  • Since 1:00 pm - 10:00 am > CICO_INACTIVTY_TOLERANCE_MINS, user clocked out of facility and clocked into facility
  • Auto FAC-CO: Nov 3, 10:00 am; Auto FAC-CI Nov 3, 1:00 pm

Auto Work Area Clock In

Every WMS RF transaction is tied to a Work Area in WFM (Refer WMS Screens under WFM configuration). When a user selects a WMS transaction on RF, the user is automatically clocked into the work area that is associated with the WMS screen.

Before clocking a user into the work area, WFM checks if the user has any open clock records (except facility clock in). If yes, WFM systematically clocks the user out of all such entities in the right sequence. For example, if the user was clocked into a break before attempting to work on a WMS RF transaction, WFM clocks the user out of break before clocking into work area. If the user was clocked into a different work area, WFM clocks the user out of that work area before clocking into current work area.