BioTime. Work time registering and ERP


Usually Russia does not promote itself too much on the world arena and limited news is available on local technical advancements.  Luckily for me I found a list of ways of application of Biometrics technologies in my homeland country.  

Nowdays presence of such technologies does not mean that any country is champion in innovation as it is not a complicated process to order and to buy. Nowdays Biometrics is already in use in many African countries which overall economic development is questionable. So let me use Russia as an example how biometrics can be used in standard city life.

Of course such an intro is not about any kind of technological leadership. Technologies are delivered by world’s leaders and their structure of ownership is not always transparent. The countries which apply modern technologies just need to reserve some amounts in their budgets. So my example of Russia serves here as a base for explanation of another application of Biometrics.

During 2012 several Russian companies reported on successful application or optimization of human resource management systems in different regions of Russia including clinics. The common idea comes from application of biometrics technologies integrated in the HR-module of the ERP system. Let’s take the example of Anturium clinic located in Altai region of Russia.

Nowdays the employees of the clinic are met by the terminals BioLink FingerPass. Touching the scanner at the terminal the system registers the time of arrival of the employee. The terminals translate the data through the time-registering module BioTime which in its turn generates 13 different reports. The clinic deals with aesthetic surgery and surrogacy which means that apart from registering working hours the system needs to signal if a surgeon stayed too long at work.  

BioTime module facilitates maintenance of the salary and personal taxes module. As an additional advantage, some businesses can back-up their choice to turn to outsourced specialists or correct schedules of employees according to their biorhythms.  By the way, in case one finger is damaged another “reserve” finger can be used for identification. The implementation projects usually have multi finger option for authorization. [The picture below shows an optical scanner for fingers]

The innovation has been supplied by the world’s expert and local leader in biometrics Biolink Technologies. The supply pack from Biolink contains the module of calendar planning to facilitate charts and policies for registering of working time in specific conditions of medical institutions. The module is fully integrated with the ERP what saves time of accountants. The technology is well ahead of the pass-card system as does not allow employees to use someone’s card and the fingerprint is always with us. Project implementation looked like one for implementation of software.

Similar systems for control of time schedules have been installed in Intersport (Sport goods multinational), Motom (Automotive dealer in lower Volga region); in a Suchi-bar in Irkutsk and a retailer.

Please have a look at the link with Biolink commercial that visually explains on how the system works.

Adopted using materials from:

http://www.cosmetologist.ru; http://www.biometrics.ru ; http://www.biolink.ru/

Biometrics and crime prevention – Security vs. Privacy

Everybody is familiar with these images…

Terrorism is a big threat for the Countries all around the world. Since 9/11 there have been continuous improvements in security systems to avoid terrorist attacks. In USA the focus has been shifted from international to domestic threats and from identifying culpable people to preventing them to commit crimes.

Here is where biometrics comes!

In the last years US Department of Homeland Security has been testing and implementing several techniques to detect ‘pre-crime’ indicators. For example the FAST (Future attribute screening technology) is a program able to spot people willing to commit a terrorist act. This system measures: hearth and respiration rates, changes in human voice, eyes movements, facial expressions and body movements.

Another example is the Terahertz Imaging Detection: a new technology to detect guns used by NYPD. It can measure the energy radiating from a body and detect objects (like guns) concealing it.

So… it seems that, thanks to these technologies, in the future we will be safer than ever: crimes will be stopped before damaging anyone and even fear of being pre-detected might block criminals from acting.

But, what about privacy? What about people nervous in the airport simply because they do not like flying? What about the right of walking down a street without being continuously “scanned”?

Does crime prevention have a limit? Are these technologies completely reliable? To combat crime and terrorism, shouldn’t we focus more on the educational side rather than on these methods based on fear and intrusiveness?

Discussion is open…

BioMetric: Usage in Organizations

Biometric Technology has become a safety lock to all frauds. If we talk of the organizations in developing countries such as India, China, Singapore, there has been great demand for installation of bio metric machines.

Do you know that in India, lot of organizations has implemented the bio metric technology, the details of which are mentioned hereunder:

1. Punjab National Bank installed its first Biometric at ATM at a village in Gautam Budh Nagar, India. This has helped lot of illiterate and semi-literate people to do banking transaction any time.
2. Union Bank of India launched Bio Metric Cards. With the help of these cards, lot of small households and traders can avail credit.

Bio Metric Technology is helping organizations not only to secure their data but also used in sophisticated IT applications. Not only in organizations but, Bio Metric technology is also being used by government to verify the authenticity of its citizens. One Such example is India.

Do you know the project named as “AADHAR” is presently in operation and using Bio Metric Technology to facilitate Unique Identification of every citizen in India and issuance of Unique Identification card. Aadhaar is a 12-digit unique number which the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) will issue for all residents in India. The number will be stored in a centralized database and linked to the basic demographics and biometric information – photograph, ten fingerprints and iris – of each individual.

More details about “AADHAR”?   http://uidai.gov.in/what-is-aadhaar-number.htm

How it works

The following photographs will also be of interest to all of you

Collecting Finger Prints for AADHAR

Source: www.uidai.gov.in, en.wikipedia.org

Biometrics and Movies

Since movies have played an important part in the popularculture for about 100 years, and they have served as premonitory tools forupcoming technologies, we couldn’t live aside this topic when discussingbiometrics. 

It is quite easy to find examples of movies that appeal tothis technology.   In action films, wefind innumerous scenes where the main character has to break in a highsurveillance facility where access is given only  through voice recognition, iris scanning,fingerprint match etc.  A good way toillustrate how films recreate the difficulties and creativity required to tricksystems that use these technologies is this short episode from the last versionof Charlie’s Angels.

There is no doubt that biometrics is perceived as one of themost secure ways of controlling access.  InMission Impossible III, when Agent Ethan Hung is assigned to a new mission, hisidentity is first validated with an eye scanner installed in a pair of sunglasses. 

However there is one movie in particular that recreates howbiometrics technology can be used for other purposes beyond security.  In Minority Report, Speilberg conceived aworld where personalized advertising is possible using this technology.   Your tastes and consumer behaviours, based onyour historical buying patterns can be saved as data and later processed tohelp companies identify you as consumer target.   In the movie there is a scene where JohnAnderton (Tom Cruise) walks into a mall, where he is recognized through irisscan by animated billboards encouraging him to buy some products.  Follow this link to watch the scene in themall. 

When we watch these futuristic movies, we cannot helpraising the same question from the previous post, are humans willing to give upon privacy for the sake of comfort and technology advances? Or is it no longer achoice, as  "the rightof privacy is a diminishing commodity" which will soon be thrown"right out the window”

 Ian Rothkerch. "Will the future really look like "Minority