An empty post is your worst day
A security company sells one thing: someone's there. If a guard doesn't show up at 11 p.m. at a site across town, you might not find out until the client calls. Most of what you need from a workforce app comes down to knowing about a problem before your client does.
Know right away if someone's not there
Add each client site as a location with a circle on the map, and require guards to be inside it to clock in. That gives you a record, by site, of when each guard arrived and left.
If a guard hasn't clocked in for a scheduled shift, they get a "You're late" reminder, and your Overview shows who's running late. Keep it open on the supervisor's phone during shift changes. The point is to catch a problem early enough to send someone else.
To keep overnight guards from clocking in at home, add a rule per person. Someone working one fixed post can only clock in there. A roving supervisor can clock in anywhere.
Filling posts
When someone calls out, post the shift as open. Guards can claim it, and you approve from your phone. Swaps go through the same way, with your OK, so nobody ends up on a post they aren't cleared for.
Long shifts need attention too. A list called "Heading into overtime" shows who'll cross the line this week, so you can decide about it before payroll day. Set a minimum rest between shifts, and the schedule flags anyone with a dangerously short turnaround.
Incident reports that hold up
A good incident report is written soon after the fact, with specifics. Build a form that asks for:
- Date, time and exact location
- What happened, in the guard's own words
- Who was involved and who saw it
- Whether police, fire or medical were called
- Photos
- A signature
The guard fills it in on the phone, and each report's saved with its author and time. You can export them when a client or insurer asks. Daily activity logs and patrol checklists work the same way.
Post orders where guards can find them
Every site has its own rules: who gets in, who to call, what to do when an alarm goes off. Put each site's post orders in the knowledge base, limited to the guards who work there. When the client changes something, update it once, and everyone has the new version.
When a change has to be acknowledged, post it as an important update. Guards get a pop-up until they confirm, and you've got a dated record that they saw it. Send a reminder to anyone who hasn't.
Licenses that don't lapse
Many states require guards to hold a license, and some posts need extra certificates. Add those as documents with an expiry date. The grid shows who's up to date, who's missing something and how many days are left. It's much better to know that a license runs out next month than to find out on a client audit.
Training with a record
Use short courses for your use-of-force policy, report writing, or a specific client's procedures. Add a quiz with a pass mark, and you've got a record of who passed and when. Check whether your state requires specific training hours from an approved provider, because those need their own proof.
What we don't do
We don't have guard tour hardware, like NFC tags or checkpoints scanned along a route. Patrol checklists on a phone are a lighter version of that, but if a contract requires tag-scan proof, you'll need a dedicated tool for it. We also don't produce client invoices from hours. You can export the hours and bill from your own system.
What it costs
A team of 45 using schedules, the clock and forms pays $20.50 a month on Basic, billed yearly, for up to 3 sites. Advanced covers up to 10 sites for $43.25, and Expert has no limit, which suits most guard companies with lots of client sites at $81.00.