Hello
I come from a large Sqn and we’ve started thinking about a digital attendance recording system. Does anyone use one already? If so what are your experiences?
Many thanks
There is already attendance/registers built into SMS which your unit can/should be using. Also displays in Cadet Portal where cadets can log absences etc.
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Hahahaha…oh wait you were sir’ius about them recording their absences. We are lucky if they log into their portal once a week for many.
We have warned them, if they don’t log absences, then they get the bid red *A, which could affect thier promotions and attendance of fun activities.
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Ours use it pretty effectively.
Still get the occasional lack of notice, and a couple of serial offenders, but generally they log absences.
With the exception of a few ours regular use it - but it’s been a year of hard work! We also provide laptops for them to use it as we do have some cadets without access at home.
We are currently considering having a Sqn tablet for the register to be put directly onto Bader. Only thing stopping us at the moment is our NCOs haven’t managed to do the sheets accurately lol
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Having a physical register is also easier if there’s a fire or something. No faffing with logging in to SMS.
Sir, I can’t access the wifi. Is there a problem with the internet
umm 
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We had a laminated sheet, record attendance, upload to SMS, retain for the evening in the event of a fire.
Wipe and repeat for the next parade night < saves paper.
Would reissue following each intake.
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Thanks for your responses. I’m told that a physical list of names for cadets to tick themselves in on could potentially lead to a GDPR breach if viewed by visitors. Any thoughts on this?
As opposed as I am to paper processes, I’d think that a list of names and attendance status for a single drill night, with no further information, retained only until uploaded to Bader, would be GDPR compliant.
I would see it as a legitimate use of data, to ensuring safe-guarding (we know that little Jimmy or Josephine are present if Mum / Dad guardian calls in about them) & also for safety purposes such as fire drill (or real fire!).
Have the list covered or only available in staff area (but noting accessibility in event of fire / drill).
We keep the daily ‘fire register’ tick sheet in our office by the main entrance to our building, could you do something similar if you have concerns about who might see the tick list where you are?
As long as the list is not accessible when you are not in the building, it should be ok.
If you have visitors on a parade night presumably they would be in a room where no sensitive data is on display anyway?
A lockable desk drawer or filing cabinet should suffice.
Thanks everyone, really appreciate your responses
Sooo, on my squadron we used a tablet for recording the register - the cadet SNCOs had SMS log in for register access only. The duty NCO filled in the register nightly. We then had an ‘attendance’ board - Split, STAFF, CADETS, VISITORS. Fire drill - cadets muster and number off. If count matches, happy days. If not, while the count was being done a staff member whould be logging into the tablet to see the actual register, and if required a non-role was done.
I also know several large squadrons who use a microsoft form for cadets, staff and visitors to log in on arrival. The only caveat there is they are large squadrons, so they have a staff member who can transpose the log ins to the register - a bit of duplicated effort, but with over 150 cadets not too bad.
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The onlt GDPR breech here is the staff member who told you this - they need to re-do their training 
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We have a tablet that we’ve talked about using to input the register directly onto SMS. I can’t remember why we decided against it, probably for fire drill reasons.
Yeah,that’s the downside, but as mentioned we got round that with a fireboard. What I did was a frequent check against the register and board so I could be assured it was generally correct.
I do feel that in a building such as we generally have, basically made out of newspaper, getting outside and conducting an entire rollcall took too long and it was better to work on the numbers, then confirm if required.