Using Asterisk for Clocking Volunteers in remote locations

Asterisk Asterisk General
1

Hi,

I saw an old post at http://forums.asterisk.org/viewtopic.php?p=143571 about using Asterisk for clocking in people.

I would like something similar. I need to validate phone, volunteer id, password , clocking in/out and datetime stamp.

Has anyone been able to create a simple solution to clock in employees using Asterisk?

Thanks

2

This could be easily done using Asterisk and MYSQL, using the phpagi class could add functionalities. Describe with more details what is the simple solution you need please

1 Like
3

Thanks for replying,

I need to verify the days that volunteers show up to their sites.
I’d have maybe up to 100 volunteers at different sites logging in during the day.
The volunteers would all be in a metropolitan area ( with a couple outliers further out but still in state). This is to save calls into the office as well as not clog up our main phone lines.

It would be nice to have a couple dedicated lines just to do this.
Would the cost to set up something be prohibitive?

I’ve been looking online for solutions but they charge $.05 per call which racks up real quick.
I wonder if those solutions are built on top of Asterisk. I had read that Twilio used Asterisk.

Anyways, The following is the basic flow of the messaging:
1.welcome msg
2. volunteer keys ID
3. validate ID and phone number as matching
4. Request Password
5. Confirm Password
6. Send result to server
7. Tells User if results is accepted or not
8. One more chance to confirm

The messaging will require a little more complexity as we go along.
My concerns are around the infrastructure first , followed by coding a solution.
Please let me know if I’m not answering correctly. I’m sure I left plenty off.

Thanks!

4

What you describe above can be completed using Asterisk & MYSQL , it seems there is no need of an extra programming language. The Read() application will do most of the job, related to send result to the server can be done using curl( ) function, but in case you want to add more complexity to your system() you can give a try to the PHPAGI class or any other programming language.

5

How concerned should I be about infrastructure? Will I need to buy an appliance?
I figure I will get roughly 200 + calls for my volunteers just to clock in and out in a day.