What is Workman 7

Workman 7 is the latest release of Runtime Workman mobile application built for employee self-service. 7 represents the version number of the application. The actual version number as displayed in application would be something like 7.0.1 or so, depending upon the current version at the time of download.

Why Workman 7

Runtime Workman was originally built using a cross-platform framework for mobile application called Xamarin. Xamarin is a product of Microsoft and has been discontinued in 2023. .NET MAUI is the successor of Xamarin. Due to discontinuation of Xamarin, we had to redesign the application using another framework. We took this opportunity to go with a more robust framework with better support on Android, iOS and Web. For this purpose, we decided to go with Flutter. Flutter is a cross-platform mobile development framework supported and maintained by Google. Flutter offers a much better user experience in terms of performance and pixel-perfect control over the user interface. Thus, we have redesigned Runtime Workman in Flutter.

Workman 7 Rollout

We are starting rollout of Workman 7 from Dec 10, 2023. The rollout will be in a phased manner, meaning not all users will get the update on their mobile. Initially, we will select a small percentage of users (randomly) to rollout the update. This will help us identify any potential issues early on and give us the time to fix the same in time. Every week after Dec 10, 2023, we will increase the rollout percentage and hope to achieve 100% rollout by Dec 31, 2023.

Logging In

As described earlier in this post, Workman 7 is rebuilt on a newer framework. This means that we cannot migrate user session information from older installations. When a 6.x user upgrades to 7.x, they will have to login again using Company Code, Employee Code and Login PIN. Don't panic. We've made additional arrangements to address this issue.

Once a user upgrades to Workman 7, they will get an option to select from New User or Existing User. The current users of Workman 6.x should select Existing User option. They will then be prompted to enter their Company Code and Employee Code only. The system will check if the user has been active on Workman 6.x in the past 30 days. If yes, the user will receive login credentials with a new PIN on their registered mobile and email address.

This way, there will be no additional burden on HR Managers to send login credentials to employees when they upgrade to Workman 7.

In following cases however, HR Manager's intervention may be needed:

1. Employee's mobile number and email address is not updated
2. Employee has not used Workman 6.x in the last 30 days
3. Employee's mobile number is registered under DND and unable to receive SMS communications

What's New in Workman 7

Runtime Workman 7 features a clean and refreshed UI which is highly responsive and has much faster response times. We've added some new features which are briefly pointed out below. We'll share more details about these features shortly in further blog posts and Workman documentation.

1. Selfie Punch: Now employees can submit a Selfie punch using their photo. You can enable or disable this type of punch using Employee Options.
2. Shift Roster: Employees can now submit shift roster request using Workman 7 and Managers can also approve using Workman 7. Shift roster is a request for a different shift selection for a date or range of dates. For e.g., if an employee normally works in 9AM to 6PM shift, but on a particular date, he/she is required to work in 12 PM to 9 PM shift, he/she can submit a shift roster request using Workman 7. Once approved, the attendance calculation for selected date(s) will be according to the new shift.
3. Week Off Roster: Week Off roster requests can also be submitted using Workman 7 in the same way as Shift Roster. Week Off Roster allows employees to request an alternate Week Off as a replacement of their existing Weekly Off.
4. Notification Center: We introduced Employee Notification Center recently where all employee related notifications are posted. Employees can now view notifications related to requests, approvals, HR alerts, warnings and other at one place. Using Notification Preferences, employees can also turn ON/OFF how they want to receive the alerts. Available options are Push Notifications on Workman and E-Mail alerts.
5. Mobile Verification: Employees can now verify their mobile numbers using OTP based verification.
6. WhatsApp Integration (Coming Soon): We are soon going to rollout full WhatsApp integration where employees can chat with our AI Chatbot Celia. They can ask questions like 'how many leaves i took this month' or 'what was my attendance on Nov 26' etc. We're working hard to bring this to life as soon as possible.

Roadmap for Workman 7

We've many more features and improvements lined up for Workman 7. Here's a list of some top priority items we are working on currently:

1. Project Management: Project management on Workman 7 is currently under view-only mode. We'll soon release updates where users can add tasks, send updates and run reports for projects.
2. Performance Management: Performance management is currently not available on Workman 7 and we will soon start releasing updates for performance management in incremental manner.
3. Profile Updates: We're working on a more robust method to request profile updates on Workman. Currently user has to submit a Workflow request to submit changes in profile. This includes entering all details within a particular workflow. Under the new method, users will be able to request updates to specific profile fields also.

Summary

Runtime Workman 7 sets a new benchmark in the HRMS industry by offering an amazing experience to all our users. It has many innovations under its belt and we will never stop to surprise you with our efforts and creativity. 

We would like to thank all our clients and employees who helped us in the field test of Workman 7 before rollout. We got some really great suggestions and ideas to make it even more productive and fun to use.

As always, feel free to share your feedback at connect@runtime.one. We're eager to hear from you.