Tips for Choosing a Fingerprint machine and attendance Machine

Biometric Technology enables identification of person based on intrinsic physical characteristics. There are several body parts which are commonly used for biometric identification such as fingerprint, face, iris, and palm. Fingerprint is the one that most widely used for identification system. Besides showing unique pattern for each person, fingerprint also possess other attributes that make it popular biometric object such as easy to capture, consistent throughout human lifespan and enable quick verification.rnToday, Fingerprint Machine has been widely used as standard office equipment’s. Its usage encompasses variety of purposes. It is used for controlling the physical security access, authenticating privilege for particular business process, and also recording time attendance. Here are several features that you must consider when choosing fingerprint machine: • Type of Sensor is the most important part of fingerprint machine. It captures the image of fingerprint before being converted into unique identification number. There are two most common types of sensors: optical sensor and silicon sensor. • Optical Sensor It is easier to implement and relatively more stable in diverse room temperature and oldest type of sensor. However its performance will be highly dependent on the clarity of the optical surface. For this reason, when choosing fingerprint machine with optical sensor, you should consider the coated optical sensor. The coat prevents the sensor from being touched directly and maintains the clarity of optical surface. • Silicon Sensor it constructs fingerprint image by mapping pressure or capacitance differences between the skin and the silicon chip and is newer technology. This technology offers several advantages like producing a more accurate fingerprint image, occupying smaller space, and cost effective implementation. However, unprotected silicon sensor will not be durable for frequent usage. Consequently, Silicon Sensor is not commonly used for public usage such as time Attendance Machine that will be accessed hundreds of times on daily basis. • Capacity of Fingerprint Template: capacity of fingerprint template is maximum number of fingerprint image that can be stored within the Fingerprint Machine. It is advisable to choose a fingerprint machine that has fingerprint template at least twice the maximum amount of employee. By having number of fingerprint template twice the amount of employee, each employee can register a backup finger if the machine has a problem for identification or any injury in registered finger. • Capacity of Log Buffer: capacity of log buffer is the maximum number of log transactions that can be stored temporarily inside the Fingerprint Machine. Time attendance transaction log is usually stored for several days before being downloaded into database Sever connected to machine. Therefore, the capacity of log buffer must be ideally five times more than the employees registered in machine. • Identification Speed: identification speed is the average time required by fingerprint machine to identify a person based on his or her fingerprint pattern. The process comprises scanning the fingerprint, searching, and comparing the fingerprint pattern against its own fingerprint database. A good fingerprint machine should be able to identify a person in less than one second. • Standard Error: Fingerprint machine cannot work perfectly all the time. It may wrongly identify the fingerprint pattern. There are two types of identification error: FAR (False Acceptance Rate) and FRR (False Rejection Rate). False Acceptance Rate is the percentage of machine to grant access the impostors. Meanwhile, False Rejection Rate is the percentage of machine to reject access by authorized user. Fingerprint Machine should have as low as possible FRR and FAR. A Standard quality reference for FRR is below 0.1% and for FAR is below 0.001%. • Reporting Software: reporting software aggregates the transaction logs and reports in readable format. This software also helps the owner to analyze productivity of each employee. Although not all fingerprint machines come with built-in reporting software, it is very important component of time attendance system. It will eventually deliver the result to the owner. The quality of fingerprint machine is determined by its ability to deliver reports that meet the business requirements. There are many different models, features, and capabilities of fingerprint machine available in the market nowadays. The most advance and versatile fingerprint machine may be not the most suitable for particular company's environment. The best product is the one that fits the business and technical requirements. It means the machine must have appropriate technical specification that fits the physical environment and number of users. It must also deliver valuable information for managing the human resources productivity.