Managing the hours of outdoor staff without quarrels: why was GeotApp created

Introduction: the invisible problem of the hours ‘that don’t come back’

In many SMEs that rely on outside staff — event security, cleaning companies, installers, road services — the real effort is not only to do the work, but to reconstruct the hours at the end of the day or the end of the month.

Scattered sheets, WhatsApp messages, last-minute phone calls and times written “from memory” generate payment delays, discontent and endless discussions between owner and employees.

What have I seen working with outside teams

In security companies at concerts and events, the scene was always the same:

• shifts that started and ended at always different times
• trips between locations, trips, highways and fuel to be reimbursed
• zero unique system for collecting hours.

The result was a dangerous mix:

• Hours marked on sheets, chats, notes on the phone
• employees who sent everything late (or forgot it all together)
• owners forced to chase people to close the month.

In between, the worst possible situation: the hours never returned.
The owner had a total, the employee claimed to have worked harder.

Without objective data, only arguments, mistrust and late payments remain.

From frustrated user to ‘I create my app’

It was like this for me too: I started and finished work without writing anything down, then at the end of the month a headache was guaranteed.

I tried different apps on the web, but they all had the same problem:
I still had to enter the times manually.

Complicated, not immediate, zero help in the real life of those who are in the field.

In August, during a vacation period, I decided to sit down at the computer and write the first draft of my own solution: an app that would take away my headache instead of adding it.

At first it was just for me.

Then I started asking myself a series of questions:

• If it makes life easier for me, can it make it easier for others too?
• If it helps the employee, can it also help the owner to have clear numbers?
• if it works for a company, can it work for many SMEs with external teams?

It was the ‘Forrest Gump’ moment: start on a road, then continue to the city, the state, the continent.

This is how GeotApp was born: by chance, but from a very concrete problem.

GeoTapp: a single version of the truth, for everyone

GeoTapp is designed for one simple thing: to make sure that the owner and employees see the same data, at the same time.

How it works, in practice:

• The owner enters the job X at the X hour and assigns the employees involved.
• Employees confirm availability: the order automatically ends up in their app.
• On work day, when they arrive on site, they open GeoTapp and press Start:
  • the app records time and position at the time of stamping, with anti-spoofing control.
• At the end of the shift, press Stop:
  • the output is recorded, always with time and position.

From that moment on, the total hours are the same for everyone:

• The owner sees exactly when and where they stamped
• the employee sees the same information, without fear of “disappearing from the accounts.”

Nothing more:

• sheets to fill in at the end of the day
• Timetables written from memory
• Discussions About “Io ho Fatto Di Più”

Alone:

• transparency
• Order
• shared data.

What changes for an SME with 10 people outside

Let’s take a small cleaning company with 10 operators who go around offices and condominiums.

First GeoTapp:

• Every operator fills out timesheets (if they remember it) or sends photos and messages on WhatsApp
• At the end of the month, the administration must collect, add up, chase those who have not delivered
• The hours don’t add up, the counts are getting longer, the salaries are slipping.

With GeoTapp:

• The orders are loaded at the beginning of the month or week
• operators ring start/stop from the phone, geolocated only at the time of stamping
• the system automatically calculates the hours per person, per order, per customer
• the owner can see in real time who stamped, where and for how long he worked.

Everyone knows what to expect at the end of the month:

• no surprises, no delays ‘because there are no hours’
• less stress for those who pay, more trust for those who work.

Because for me this is not ‘just software’

Behind GeotApp there is a very simple idea: SMEs with people in the field must be able to work with the same clarity as large companies, without having to become bureaucrats.

If you find yourself in this scenario — security, cleaning, installations, logistics, assistance — and you still live among sheets, chats and schedules written from memory, it is likely that you are paying the hidden price of a system that is not made for real life.

GeotApp was created exactly for this reason: to tidy up, to remove quarrels from the hours and to give back time to those who need to run the company.