Visitor Check-In/Out

  1. Workflow

    1. Diagram (It has been decided not to include the zen class check-in/out in this version of the system. So the work flow diagram is no longer valid)
    2. Check IN/OUT Form and datasheet
    3. Volunteer: uses the personal badge
      • Check in:
        1. Volunteer scans badge at the station (the ID and name information displayed in the Form)
        2. Volunteer selects “Check IN” option in the form
        3. Volunteer submits the form
      • Check out
        1. Volunteer scans badge at the station
        2. Volunteer selects “Check OUT” option in the form
        3. Volunteer submits the form
    4. Zen class student: uses the personal badge,
      • Check in:  same as Volunteer
      • Check out: same as Volunteer
    5. Visitor: uses the shared badge
      • Visitor case is the default case for all the exceptional cases from other flows
        1.  Volunteer forgets to bring his/her own badge
      • Receptionist’s role is to assist the volunteer,
        1. Instructs volunteer how to operation the scan station
        2. Instructs volunteer to fill out the form in the computer screen (or pad).
        3. Helps volunteers to perform the above steps when they cannot
      • Check in
        1. Receptionist gets one shared badge and  scans it. (the ID information is displayed in the Form)
        2. Receptionist helps the visitor to enter name in the form
        3. Receptionist helps the visitor select “Check In” option in the form
        4. Receptionist helps the visitor submit the form
        5. Receptionist asks the visitor to ware the badge
      • Check out
        1. Receptionist helps the visitor scan the badge
        2. Receptionist helps the visitor select “Check OUT” option in the form
        3. Receptionist helps the visitor submit the form
        4. Receptionist collects the badge from the visitor for recycle next day
    6. Visitor who comes frequently (for example, people who come for lunch/dinner)
      • This proposed flow assumes:
        1. The Visitor is willing to go through registration process, See below for “Registration”
        2. The Visitor has a valid email account and records it in the registration process.
        3. The Visitor has a smart phone that can store barcode image  
      • Registration: when check-in/out as regular Visitor, the receptionist could ask and offer the opportunity to registration.The benefit is faster check-in/out with personal barcode.
        1. On-site: Register with information of name and email address
        2. Off-site process:
          • After some verification/approval process, a barcode is created and mail to the person who register
          • The bar code contains ID, Name
        3. The visitor stores the barcode as a image in his cell phone
      • Check in (after registration and received the barcode in email)
        1. The Visitor scans the barcode stored in cell phone
        2. The Visitor select check in option on the form
        3. The Visitor submit the form
        4. The Receptionist gives Visitor a blank Visitor badge
      • Check out
        •  The Visitor scans the barcode stored in cell phone
        • The Visitor returns the blank Visitor badge
    7. Exceptions and cases to discuss
      1. The flow diagram indicates persons with two roles (e.g. Volunteer and Student) needs to check in/out twice, one for each role. Also the badges have different effective time periods. Does that means these people need to carry two badges with them when come to Zen center?
      2. In case of the Volunteers or Students who forget their badges, do they follow the Visitor’s check in flow?
        • Conclusion: Yes, they fall back to Visitor’s check in flow. 
        • More to discuss: Do we need to create different types of Visitor badge (ID information the same but printed with different color) for cases where the Volunteer forget the badge
      3.  Do we allow checking in with QR code in smart phone (picture taken from the badge and saved on the phone)
      4. The process of checking in a Visitor can take as long as one or two minutes (need to fill out the form and submit). A traffic jam can occur when there are a lot of Visitors line up for check in. The main concern is that a lot of people come to Zen center for lunch or dinner. Should we ask them to go through the same process? Or should we create another special case for them?
        • Register the people who come for lunch/dinner: See
      5. If we allow check in/out with barcode in the cell phone, then all the flows can be made similar to Frequent Visitor. This will reduce the workload to print badges with barcode. 

  2.  Requirements

    1. Type of badges, issuance and effectiveness
      1. Volunteers (ID, Name), personal, effective for one year
      2. Zen class (ID, Name), personal, effective for three month (semester)
      3. Visitor (ID), shared and recycled daily
        • With barcode
        • Without barcode
        • Can have different color/text to identify purpose/role of the visit
    2. The exception cases
      1. Badge expired: error displayed in check-in form, cannot submit the form
      2. Redundant scan: ignore error
      3. Select wrong answer (check in or out): ignore error
      4. Missed check-out: ignore error
      5. Data error: error displayed in check-in form, cannot submit the form
    3. The data of check-in/out
      1. Data field
        1. ID: mandatory in the form
        2. Name: not mandatory
        3. IN/OUT: mandatory
        4. Timestamp (automatically captured in spreadsheet)
        5. Role: not mandatory
      2. The data should be backup and then clean up from the spreadsheet(daily or weekly) so recycled badge won’t create confusions.
    4. Proposed configuration for scan station
      1. Hardware scanner device, used as pure input device.
        • Support 1D, 2D and QR Code
        • Support PC, Mac and pad/phone
        • Have scanning stand (stationed, don’t want to hand held all the time.
        • Exaple: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07T5KG5JC/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_1?smid=ABQHOHAR07Q3W&psc=1
      2. Computer or pad to monitor the check-in/out process, paired with the scanner
      3. QR code or barcode – contains ID, Name and other information (not pointing to a website or form)
      4. Google form to collect visitor information. Input data from keyboard or scanned QR code.
      5. Google sheet (paired with Google form for input) for storage and processing/viewing information
    5. Software and user security
      1. A running instance of Google form is public (or public to domain users) (It’s designed so that whoever gets the link can see the form and answer the questions) . We need to develop and run Google form with Zen center’s Google account. This will constrain only users in Zen center’s domain can answer the questions, and prevent internet public from filling out the Google form and contaminate our information.

  3. Development and deployment

    1. Form
      1. Encoded information in ID
        • User type: Volunteer, Student, Visitor
        • Unique pattern changed for each batch of badges to facilitate expiration.
      2. ID validation rules:
        • This rule will be updated when we expires previous batch of badges.
      3. Probably need some script to eliminate unnecessary screens/steps to speed up the process.
    2. QR Code design and generation
      1. Collect all user names into a spreadsheet
      2. Batch generate the QR Code
      3. Print QR Code and badge
      4. To expires previous batch of badge, we will need to create new ID pattern and change the validation rules in the form.
      5. Repeat the process for each semester/every year when previous batch of badge about to expire.
    3. Google sheet design
      1. Create additional columns for desired information, e.g., more user information
      2. post process of the data once collected
      3. Data need to be recycled so shared badge won’t create confusion.
    4. Testing and deployment
      1. Need hardware and software ready to test
      2. Choose a small group of people to start testing
      3. Print and issue badges