Client: Proer
Website: proer.io
Project Overview
Proer is a comprehensive employee productivity tool designed to help businesses monitor and improve the productivity of their remote employees. The solution was developed in response to the productivity challenges faced by businesses when the COVID-19 pandemic forced employees to work from home. Our client had previously tried a few available tools in 2019 but was unable to find a solution that met their specific needs. Thus, Proer was developed to solve the problem with a customized approach.
Proer is available as a desktop application with two distinct modes:
- Transparent Mode: Employees are aware that their productivity is being monitored.
- Background Mode: Employee activities are tracked silently in the background, without their knowledge.
The application provides detailed insights into employee activity, including:
- Productive vs. Unproductive Time
- Login and Logout Times
- Applications Used During Work Hours
- Specific Time Periods of Productivity and Non-Productivity
- Screenshot Capture (configurable by the admin)
With these features, businesses can accurately assess their employees’ performance, ensuring that remote work doesn’t affect productivity negatively.
Challenges
- Effective Monitoring in Remote Work: During the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses found it difficult to track employee productivity remotely, leading to inefficiencies.
- Lack of Comprehensive Tools: Although some tools existed in the market, they were either too generic or didn’t provide enough granular insights on employee activity.
- Balancing Privacy and Productivity: Proer needed to offer both a transparent mode, where employees are aware of being tracked, and a background mode for more discreet monitoring.
Our Solution: Proer’s Customized Employee Productivity Tool
To address the specific needs of our client, we developed a powerful employee monitoring tool using a combination of modern technologies:
- ElectronJS: Used to develop the desktop application, ensuring it works seamlessly across multiple operating systems like Windows, macOS, and Linux.
- ReactJS: Utilized for the admin dashboard, providing a smooth, interactive user interface for managing employees and monitoring their productivity.
- Laravel: Powered the backend with robust APIs and authentication mechanisms, ensuring security and scalability.
- SQL & MongoDB: Used for the database, combining the structured data of SQL with the flexibility of NoSQL (MongoDB) for efficient data storage and management.
Key Features
- Two Modes of Monitoring:
- Transparent Mode: Employees are shown a real-time view of their productivity, including productive and unproductive time, application usage, and time spent on different tasks.
- Background Mode: In this mode, employees are not notified about monitoring, enabling discreet tracking of activities such as application usage, login/logout times, and screenshots.
- Detailed Productivity Insights:
- Proer records productive and unproductive times, allowing businesses to understand the working patterns of their employees.
- It tracks the applications and websites employees use during work hours, giving administrators a complete picture of employee activity.
- Screenshots and Monitoring:
- Proer’s screenshot feature can be customized by the admin, with options to capture screenshots at specific intervals to monitor tasks visually.
- Customizable Admin Dashboard:
- The admin panel, built using ReactJS, provides administrators with detailed reports on individual employee productivity.
- Admins can set tracking intervals, generate productivity reports, and view activity logs for individual employees.
- Comprehensive Reporting:
- Proer generates real-time reports that allow administrators to see when employees are most productive, and when they tend to be unproductive. This feature helps businesses optimize work schedules and identify areas for improvement.
Development Process
1. Requirement Analysis
We collaborated with the client to deeply understand the challenges businesses faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. This led to the design of a tailored productivity solution that addressed the shortcomings of existing tools.
2. UI/UX Design
Our design team developed an intuitive user interface for both the desktop application and the admin panel:
- User-Friendly Dashboard: The admin panel’s layout was designed to ensure that administrators can easily navigate through productivity reports, employee data, and monitoring settings.
- Employee View: The employee-facing interface (in Transparent Mode) was designed to provide them with clear feedback on their productivity without being intrusive.
3. Development
- ElectronJS for Cross-Platform Support: We chose ElectronJS to develop a desktop app that functions across multiple operating systems. This ensured that businesses could deploy the app regardless of the operating system their employees used.
- ReactJS for Admin Dashboard: We leveraged ReactJS to create a fast, dynamic interface that allows administrators to monitor employees, view reports, and configure settings in real-time.
- Laravel Backend: Laravel was used to build a secure, scalable backend, offering RESTful APIs, user authentication, and data processing.
- SQL & MongoDB Databases: The hybrid use of SQL for relational data and MongoDB for unstructured data allowed for efficient handling of employee activity logs and productivity metrics.
4. Testing
We conducted extensive testing to ensure Proer’s smooth operation across all platforms:
- Functional Testing: To ensure each feature worked as intended, from productivity tracking to screenshot capturing.
- Security Testing: To ensure that sensitive employee data was kept secure.
- Performance Testing: To make sure the tool could handle multiple users and large amounts of activity data without slowing down.
5. Delivery and Ongoing Support
The application was delivered on time and within budget, with our team providing ongoing support to resolve any issues and ensure that the app continues to meet the client’s needs.
Why This Matters to UK Clients
Proer demonstrates our ability to develop complex productivity tools that cater to remote work environments, which have become the norm for many companies in the UK. By outsourcing to our team, UK businesses can benefit from:
- Cost-Effective Solutions: Offshore development reduces costs significantly, without compromising on quality.
- Advanced Technology Stack: Our use of ElectronJS, ReactJS, Laravel, and a combination of SQL and MongoDB ensures that the solution is scalable, secure, and future-proof.
- Tailored to the Remote Workforce: With more businesses moving towards remote work, the need for productivity tools like Proer has grown. Our experience in building such tools positions us as the ideal partner for UK businesses looking to enhance employee monitoring and productivity.
Conclusion
Proer successfully addresses the challenges businesses face with managing remote employees by providing a comprehensive productivity tracking tool. This case study highlights our expertise in desktop and web development, as well as our ability to develop bespoke solutions for niche needs.
For UK clients, our offshore development services offer cost efficiency, cutting-edge technology, and seamless collaboration. Whether you are looking to build a productivity tool, employee monitoring system, or other business solutions, we can deliver reliable results tailored to your needs.