Contractor Check-In for Facilities Management: A Better Way to Know Who’s On Site

At 9.10am, an electrician arrives at an office building to investigate a lighting fault.

At 10.25am, a lift engineer enters an apartment development across town.

At lunchtime, an HVAC contractor arrives at another property.

By 6pm, the daytime contractors have gone and the cleaning team has started arriving.

For the facilities manager responsible for all four buildings, there is a surprisingly difficult question:

Who is actually on site right now?

The work orders may say who was scheduled.

The contractor may have received an email.

Reception may have been told somebody was coming.

There might even be a paper contractor book inside each building.

But none of those necessarily gives the person managing the portfolio a current, central view of attendance.

That becomes a particular problem in facilities management because the person responsible for a building is often not standing in that building.

They may be responsible for ten.

Or fifty.

An electrician signing a book beside reception can create a perfectly good local record.

It does not automatically create useful portfolio-wide visibility.

That is where a modern contractor check-in system starts to earn its place.

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What Is a Contractor Check-In System?

A contractor check-in system records when an external contractor arrives at and leaves a workplace or managed property. Modern systems can use QR codes, NFC, apps, kiosks or web browsers to create timestamped attendance records and give authorised managers visibility of contractors across one or multiple locations.

Depending on the platform, a contractor check-in record might include:

• contractor name
• company
• site or building
• Check-In Point
• date
• check-in time
• check-out time
• visit purpose
• photograph
• live attendance status

More advanced contractor-management platforms may also handle:

• inductions
• insurance documents
• compliance credentials
• permits to work
• work orders
• contractor approval
• visitor passes

Those are important distinctions.

Contractor check-in is not automatically the same thing as full contractor management.

We'll come back to that.

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Why Facilities Management Makes Contractor Attendance Difficult

Facilities management is fundamentally multi-party.

The building owner may appoint a managing agent.

The managing agent may employ a facilities-management company.

That team may then coordinate dozens of specialist contractors.

On any given week, the building could receive:

electricians
plumbers
HVAC engineers
fire-alarm technicians
lift engineers
cleaners
security personnel
pest-control contractors
window cleaners
landscapers
IT contractors
access-control engineers
general maintenance teams

Some visit every day.

Some once a week.

Others may appear twice a year.

And unlike a permanent employee, many of these people do not belong to the organisation operating the building.

Irish Health and Safety Authority guidance reflects the importance of managing contractors properly. It recommends organisations put procedures in place around contractor work, including pre-planning, project-specific risk assessments and safety statements, and clear communication between the organisation and contractor.

Attendance is only one small part of that process.

But it is a foundational one.

Before asking what a contractor is doing, there is a more basic question:

Are they actually here?

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The Contractor Sign-In Book Works — Until You Need the Information Somewhere Else

There is nothing inherently ridiculous about a paper contractor book.

For one building with a permanently staffed reception, it can be simple.

The contractor walks in.

Reception asks their name.

They sign.

Perhaps they receive a visitor badge or key.

When leaving, they sign out.

The Health and Safety Authority itself lists sign-in/sign-out facilities among potential measures for controlling visitor access and egress in appropriate workplaces.

The problem is not that signing in is outdated.

The problem is where the information goes afterwards.

Consider a property manager operating:

• 12 office buildings
• 5 apartment developments
• 3 retail properties
• 2 warehouses

Each building has its own contractor book.

That means the organisation technically has contractor attendance records.

But it has them in 22 different places.

If somebody at head office wants to know which contractors entered Building 7 yesterday, they may need to:

call reception → ask security → contact the site manager → retrieve the book.

That is the difference between recording information and being able to use it.

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A Contractor Is Supposed to Be On Site. But Are They?

This is one of the most common operational gaps.

A maintenance ticket might show:

ACME Electrical
Monday
10:00–12:00
Lighting repair, Level 3

That tells you the contractor was scheduled.

It does not necessarily tell you they arrived.

Perhaps they were delayed on another call.

Perhaps access was not available.

Perhaps reception could not find the person they were supposed to meet.

Perhaps the job was moved to Tuesday.

The work-order system and attendance record answer different questions.

Work order: What was supposed to happen?

Check-in record: Was an attendance interaction actually recorded at the site?

That distinction becomes important when somebody says:

“The engineer never turned up.”

Instead of immediately calling three people, a facilities manager with central attendance visibility can first check whether an arrival was recorded.

That doesn't settle every dispute.

But it gives the conversation a much better starting point.

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The 8.15am Contractor Question

Facilities management contains a particular kind of phone call.

It tends not to happen at 2pm when everyone has time.

It happens first thing in the morning.

“Was someone from the fire company here yesterday?”

or:

“Do we know what time the plumber left?”

or:

“The tenant says there was a contractor on Level 4 last night. Who was it?”

With paper, the answer may exist.

It is simply sitting inside the wrong building.

With a central digital attendance system, an authorised manager may instead be able to search:

Property: Riverside House
Date: 23 August
Contractor: ABC Mechanical
Checked in: 14:07
Checked out: 15:46

That is the practical value.

Not a prettier sign-in sheet.

Information that can be retrieved when somebody actually needs it.

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One Management Company. Multiple Buildings. One Attendance View.

Multi-site visibility is where contractor check-in becomes particularly useful for facilities and property-management teams.

Imagine the following portfolio:

Head Office

Check-In Point 1: Reception
Check-In Point 2: Service Entrance

Riverside Apartments

Check-In Point 3: Management Office
Check-In Point 4: Maintenance Entrance

Distribution Warehouse

Check-In Point 5: Contractor Gate

Retail Centre

Check-In Point 6: Service Corridor

These are four locations, but six Check-In Points.

That difference matters.

A building is not necessarily one attendance point.

A large property could have contractors entering through entirely different areas depending on the work they are doing.

TAPiTAG's current Check-In platform allows multiple Check-In Points to be deployed across entrances, departments, buildings and separate locations while feeding attendance information into one central dashboard.

For a property portfolio, this lets management organise attendance around the way buildings actually operate rather than forcing each property into one generic entry point.

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How Does NFC + QR Contractor Check-In Work?

The technology sounds more complicated than the interaction.

It can be as simple as:

1. Contractor arrives

An electrician, plumber, engineer or other contractor reaches the building.

2. They tap or scan

A visible Check-In Point contains both NFC and a QR code.

With NFC, the user places a compatible smartphone close to the Check-In Point.

Alternatively, they scan the QR code.

3. The Check-In page opens

The contractor accesses the browser-based workflow.

4. They check in

The required details are submitted.

5. Management sees the attendance record

The interaction appears centrally.

6. Contractor checks out when leaving

A departure record is then added to the history.

TAPiTAG's Check-In system currently uses this exact NFC + QR approach for staff, visitors and contractors. Users can access the experience through their phone browser without installing a dedicated TAPiTAG app or using a powered terminal at the entrance.

The result is deliberately straightforward at the door.

The useful complexity sits in the software behind it.

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Do Contractors Really Need Another App?

Sometimes.

But not always.

There are excellent reasons to give contractors access to an app where that software is doing significant work.

For example, a contractor-management application could handle:

• job allocation
• documents
• risk assessments
• certifications
• permits
• work instructions
• photographs
• invoicing
• completion reports

If a contractor uses that system every day, app onboarding is reasonable.

But consider the other extreme.

A lift technician visits one property twice per year.

A pest-control contractor attends quarterly.

An electrician is called for a single fault.

A plumber attends one apartment block this afternoon and may never return.

Requiring every one of those people to:

download an app → create an account → verify an email → set a password → learn the interface

just to record arrival can become unnecessary friction.

Browser-based QR and NFC systems have emerged specifically around this problem. Other contractor-attendance platforms similarly market no-app QR sign-in and portfolio-wide visibility, illustrating that low-friction occasional-contractor attendance is a distinct market need.

For straightforward attendance, the simpler interaction can be:

Arrive → tap or scan → check in.

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Contractor Check-In App vs NFC + QR

Neither method wins every row.

That is why the requirements should come before the product.

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Contractor Check-In Is Not the Same as a Permit to Work

This is one of the most important distinctions in this article.

A contractor signing into a building does not mean they are automatically authorised to carry out hazardous work.

Nor does it prove:

• they completed a risk assessment
• the equipment was isolated
• they received an induction
• their insurance is valid
• they hold the required qualifications
• a permit was issued

A permit-to-work system serves a much more specific safety purpose.

The Health and Safety Authority describes permit-to-work systems as formal procedures used particularly where hazardous maintenance work requires careful planning, precautions and clear communication. It explicitly warns that a permit to work should not simply be confused with giving someone permission to be on site.

For facilities managers, the distinction can be summarised like this:

A strong facilities-management process may use several of these systems together.

One should not be sold as a substitute for another.

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Why This Matters for Maintenance Contractors

Facilities work often happens precisely where risk is greater than normal office activity.

An electrician may need access to switchgear.

A mechanical contractor could work around plant.

An HVAC engineer might require roof access.

A lift engineer may be working with machinery ordinary building occupants never encounter.

HSA guidance for maintenance stresses that contractors arriving at a workplace should engage with a designated person and receive relevant information about workplace hazards; contractors likewise need to communicate hazards associated with their own work.

Again, contractor check-in can support the administrative record of presence.

It doesn't replace the safety process.

The human detail matters here.

If an engineer taps a Check-In Point at 09:03, that tells you something.

It does not tell you that isolations were correctly applied at 09:15.

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What Should a Facilities Contractor Dashboard Show?

Facilities teams do not need another dashboard for the sake of having a dashboard.

It should answer real questions.

Who is currently on site?

This should be obvious.

A manager should not need to run a report merely to see current attendance.

Which building are they in?

For a multi-property operation, attendance without location has limited value.

Where did they check in?

A large building may contain several entrances or service areas.

When did they arrive?

A timestamp gives context to the visit.

How long have they been there?

This can help identify unusually long active check-ins.

Who has already left?

Departure matters just as much as arrival.

What happened last week?

Historical records should be searchable.

Can records be filtered?

Useful filters might include:

• contractor
• company
• building
• Check-In Point
• date
• activity type

Can information be exported?

Property and facilities teams frequently need to move information beyond the attendance dashboard.

TAPiTAG's current Check-In dashboard provides live attendance, location visibility, searchable check-in/check-out history, filtering, exports and alerts for unusually long active check-ins that may need attention.

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Forgotten Check-Outs Are More Common Than Software Designers Think

Imagine the end of a contractor visit.

The engineer finishes the repair.

They take photographs.

Phone the office.

Pack the van.

Return a key.

Speak to security.

Get stuck at the car-park barrier.

Drive to the next job.

What did they forget?

Check out.

This is normal human behaviour.

A system should account for it.

If somebody remains recorded as on site significantly longer than expected, highlighting that active check-in gives facilities management an opportunity to investigate.

Maybe they are still there.

Maybe the job overran.

Maybe they simply forgot.

TAPiTAG currently surfaces unusually long active check-ins for this reason.

It should be treated as a prompt for attention, not an automatic conclusion about what happened.

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Does Contractor Check-In Prove the Work Was Completed?

No.

A contractor check-in record demonstrates that an attendance interaction was recorded.

It does not prove the repair was successful.

If:

ABC Plumbing
checked in at 13:02
checked out at 14:19

you still do not automatically know:

• which valve was replaced
• whether the leak was resolved
• what parts were fitted
• whether further work is required
• whether the contractor followed every safety procedure
• whether the invoice matches the work

That information belongs in the work order, completion report or contractor-management system.

The attendance record answers a narrower question:

Was this person recorded as attending the building during this period?

That narrower question is still extremely useful.

Credible software does not need to pretend one data point proves everything.

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What About Emergency Roll Calls?

This requires similar care.

Knowing who has checked into a workplace can contribute useful information during an emergency.

But a simple attendance dashboard should not automatically be represented as a full emergency-mustering or life-safety system unless it has specifically been designed, tested and operated for that purpose.

More comprehensive contractor platforms can integrate attendance into emergency-management workflows and digital roll calls.

If emergency mustering is a core requirement, ask vendors specifically:

• how real-time the list is
• what happens during internet failure
• how forgotten check-outs are handled
• whether visitors are included
• whether there is a dedicated muster workflow
• what contingency procedures are required

“Who's on site” data is valuable.

It should not be casually overstated as an emergency-management solution.

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Reception Isn't Always Open When Contractors Arrive

Facilities-management websites often present the perfect office scenario:

bright lobby → receptionist → visitor desk → contractor signs in.

Real buildings are messier.

Maintenance contractors may arrive:

before the tenant opens

after reception closes

through the loading bay

at a back-of-house entrance

at a management office

through a plant-room access point

A cleaning contractor may start at 6pm.

An emergency plumber may arrive at 11pm.

A security contractor may already know the alarm process but still need their visit recorded.

That is where a visible fixed Check-In Point can be particularly useful.

It does not require a receptionist to become the attendance system.

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One Building May Need Several Check-In Points

This is easy to miss when planning a contractor deployment.

Suppose you manage a large mixed-use development.

It might contain:

Main Reception
Visitors and office contractors.

Loading Bay
Deliveries and service personnel.

Facilities Office
Regular building contractors.

Car Park / Plant Access
Mechanical and technical teams.

Using one generic contractor Check-In Point at reception may not reflect how the property actually functions.

With TAPiTAG, separate Check-In Points can be associated with individual entrances, departments and locations while remaining inside the central management environment.

This can help answer not just:

Which building?

but:

Which arrival point?

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Facilities Management Across an Entire Portfolio

This is where the value moves beyond replacing paper.

Imagine Monday afternoon from the perspective of an FM team:

Riverside House

Fire-alarm engineer currently checked in.

Harbour Apartments

Plumber checked out at 12.17.

Central Offices

Cleaning contractor currently on site.

Logistics Park

Two maintenance contractors active.

Park Avenue

No active contractors.

The facilities manager does not need to be physically present at any of these properties to understand the recorded attendance picture.

This type of portfolio visibility has become a recognised contractor-management feature in the wider market: specialist contractor platforms explicitly position centralised attendance across multiple buildings as an alternative to isolated local sign-in records.

That's a useful clue about the underlying customer problem.

Building-by-building paperwork does not scale into portfolio management.

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NFC vs QR for Contractor Check-In

For most facilities teams, this does not need to be a battle.

Use both.

NFC

A compatible smartphone is brought close to the Check-In Point.

It can create a very direct:

Tap → open → check in

interaction.

QR

The contractor uses their phone camera to scan the code.

QR is widely understood and provides a useful alternative where NFC isn't used.

NFC + QR

Combining both methods means the contractor chooses the interaction they're most comfortable with.

TAPiTAG Check-In Points combine both technologies on the same physical product.

That redundancy is useful in shared environments because the system does not depend on every contractor behaving exactly the same way.

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Does a Contractor Check-In System Need GPS?

Not necessarily.

The right answer depends on what you're trying to establish.

A fixed NFC Check-In Point already provides useful context:

the user interacted with a Check-In Point assigned to this building.

A GPS-enabled platform can add more location information.

Some contractor systems request device-location permission during check-in to create additional location evidence.

But more data is not automatically better data.

If your purpose can be met by recording a contractor's interaction with a fixed Check-In Point, ask whether you actually need broader location tracking.

That question leads directly into privacy.

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Contractor Attendance and GDPR

A digital attendance system processes personal information.

A contractor's:

• name
• email
• company
• timestamp
• location
• photograph

can all potentially identify or relate to an individual.

The GDPR applies whether personal data is held digitally or on paper, and EU guidance explicitly includes location information among examples of personal data.

So replacing a sign-in book does not create the need for privacy thinking.

It changes how that information is collected, stored and accessed.

Define the purpose

Why are you recording contractor attendance?

Potential purposes might include:

• site administration
• security
• contract management
• attendance history

The organisation should know why the information is being collected.

Collect only what is necessary

GDPR's data-minimisation principle requires personal data to be adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary for the stated purpose.

That should prompt practical questions.

Do you need the contractor's home address?

Probably not for ordinary site attendance.

Do you need continuous GPS tracking?

Perhaps not if you only need an arrival record.

Tell people what you are doing

EU guidance requires organisations to inform people about matters including the purposes of processing, categories of personal data, legal basis and retention period.

A digital check-in flow should therefore not be treated as a silent data-collection exercise.

Think carefully about location tracking

Ireland's Data Protection Commission confirms that location information linked to an identifiable person constitutes personal data and has cautioned employers against using tracking technologies as a general method of monitoring staff behaviour.

Contractors are not always employees, but the broader principle remains useful:

collect the level of location information the purpose genuinely requires.

This is general information rather than legal advice. Organisations should assess their own roles, legal bases, contracts and data-protection obligations.

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What Should Facilities Managers Look for Before Choosing a Contractor Check-In System?

Before comparing logos and software demos, define the workflow.

Ask:

How many properties are we managing?

A single building and a 100-property portfolio have different requirements.

Who needs to check in?

Employees? Contractors? Visitors? Suppliers? Temporary workers?

Is there a receptionist at every entrance?

If not, self-service becomes more important.

Are contractors regular or occasional?

App onboarding makes more sense for daily users than annual visitors.

Do we need compliance management as well as attendance?

If yes, look beyond basic check-in.

Do we need permit-to-work functionality?

If hazardous work is common, this may be a separate critical requirement.

Do we need access-control integration?

Check-in and door access are not automatically the same thing.

Do we need emergency-mustering functionality?

Ask explicitly rather than assuming.

How many Check-In Points will each property need?

Think in entrances, not just buildings.

Do we need live visibility?

Historical records and real-time attendance are different requirements.

Can we search and export information?

Useful data should not be trapped inside a dashboard.

What happens when somebody forgets to check out?

Every system needs an answer.

What personal data are we collecting and why?

Privacy should be part of the system design, not an afterthought.

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Where TAPiTAG Fits for Facilities and Property Management

TAPiTAG Check-In sits at the simpler end of the contractor-management spectrum.

Its job is not to become your entire facilities-management system.

Instead, it combines physical NFC + QR Check-In Points with browser-based Check-In / Check-Out and a central attendance dashboard.

Current functionality includes:

• staff, visitor and contractor check-in
• NFC + QR
• no dedicated TAPiTAG app
• no dedicated tablet or terminal
• live Who's On Site view
• check-in and check-out history
• current attendance activity
• multiple locations
• multiple Check-In Points
• search and filtering
• exports
• optional Check-In photo
• unusually long active Check-In alerts

TAPiTAG's live pages currently position the platform specifically for contractor entrances, warehouses, construction sites, offices and multi-location deployments.

A property-management deployment could therefore look like:

Property 1 → Reception + Service Entrance

Property 2 → Contractor Entrance

Property 3 → Facilities Office

Property 4 → Loading Bay

All using the same underlying attendance system.

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What TAPiTAG Check-In Does Not Replace

This is equally important.

TAPiTAG Check-In is not currently a substitute for a specialist contractor-management platform if your organisation requires extensive:

• contractor prequalification
• insurance-document validation
• certification expiry management
• online induction
• permits to work
• access-control integration
• work-order management
• purchase orders
• job completion workflows
• emergency-mustering systems

There are platforms designed specifically for these broader processes; for example, contractor-management products in the market combine sign-in with permits, inductions, compliance records and work orders.

If you need all of that, buy for that requirement.

If the immediate problem is:

“We manage several buildings and need a simple way to know which contractors have recorded themselves as on site.”

then a lighter attendance platform may be much more appropriate.

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See Contractor Check-In in Action

TAPiTAG's demonstration video shows a member of staff arriving at a workplace, tapping a Check-In Point, completing Check-In on their phone and entering.

The same physical interaction works naturally for a contractor.

Arrive → tap or scan → check in → complete the visit → check out.

Watch the TAPiTAG Check-In demonstration

The software behind that simple interaction gives management the useful part: a central record of arrival, departure and current attendance.

Explore TAPiTAG Check-In & Check-Out

View TAPiTAG Check-In Points and plans

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The Clipboard Isn't the Real Problem

A clipboard is cheap.

Reliable.

Requires no software update.

And in one building, with one receptionist and a handful of contractors, it may remain perfectly adequate.

The problem begins when the organisation running the estate needs to answer questions the clipboard was never designed to answer centrally.

Who's in the building now?

Which contractor attended yesterday?

When did they arrive?

Did they leave?

Which entrance did they use?

Can I check another property without calling anyone?

Can I retrieve six months of attendance records in seconds?

For facilities and property managers, digital contractor check-in is therefore less about making reception look modern.

It is about taking information that has traditionally lived inside each individual building and making it useful across the entire portfolio.

The tap or scan is the easy part.

Knowing what's happening afterwards is where the value is.

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Contractor Check-In FAQs

What is a contractor check-in system?

A contractor check-in system records when external contractors arrive at and leave a workplace. Systems may use apps, kiosks, QR codes, NFC or browser-based forms and can provide central attendance records across one or multiple sites.

Why should contractors sign in and out?

Sign-in and check-out create an attendance record showing who has recorded themselves as present at a workplace and when. Organisations may use this information for site administration, contractor management and other defined operational purposes.

Can contractors check in using their phones?

Yes. Depending on the system, contractors can use a mobile app, QR code, NFC interaction or browser-based check-in flow.

Do contractors need to download an app?

Not always. TAPiTAG Check-In allows contractors to tap an NFC Check-In Point or scan its QR code and access the check-in experience through their phone browser, without installing a dedicated TAPiTAG application.

Can NFC be used for contractor check-in?

Yes. A fixed NFC Check-In Point can be positioned at a reception area, service entrance or contractor access point. A compatible smartphone can tap the point to open the attendance workflow.

Can QR codes be used for contractor sign-in?

Yes. QR codes are widely used for contractor and visitor attendance. TAPiTAG combines QR and NFC on the same physical Check-In Point.

Can I see which contractors are currently on site?

Yes, where the contractor attendance platform provides a live view. TAPiTAG's dashboard shows people currently recorded as checked in, their location and how long they have been on site.

Can contractor check-in work across multiple buildings?

Yes. Multi-location systems can associate attendance records with different properties. TAPiTAG supports multiple Check-In Points across separate buildings, entrances and locations from one management environment.

Is contractor check-in the same as contractor management?

No. Check-in primarily records attendance. Full contractor-management platforms can additionally handle inductions, compliance documents, credentials, permits, work orders and other contractor processes.

Does signing in mean a contractor has a permit to work?

No. A permit-to-work system is a separate formal safety process used for certain hazardous work. The HSA specifically distinguishes permits from simple permission to be on site.

Does a contractor check-in prove the job was completed?

No. It provides evidence of a recorded attendance interaction. Job completion should be documented through the appropriate work-order, inspection, contractor or maintenance process.

Is contractor attendance data subject to GDPR?

Personal attendance information can fall within GDPR. Organisations need to consider their purpose, legal basis, transparency, data minimisation, retention, security and other obligations.

What is the best contractor check-in system for facilities management?

It depends on the requirement. Organisations needing full compliance, permits, credentials and work orders may need specialist contractor-management software. Facilities teams primarily seeking simple multi-site attendance may prefer a lighter NFC, QR or browser-based check-in system.