How the NFC workflow works
Each NFC badge is linked to one employee and stores a default project, phase, task, and labor classification. When you tap the badge on your phone, FieldTime reads the tag and advances your time-tracking workflow to the next logical step for the current work day.Tap 1 — Clock In
Your first tap of the day clocks you in. FieldTime records your clock-in timestamp from your device and immediately assigns your pre-configured project and labor classification. The active-shift timer starts.What you see: A confirmation message — “Clocked in from NFC tag.”
Next step: Meal break start.
Tap 2 — Start Meal Break
Your second tap starts your meal break. The shift timer pauses while you are on break.What you see: “Meal break started from NFC tag.”
Next step: Meal break end.
Tap 3 — End Meal Break
Your third tap ends the meal break. The shift timer resumes.What you see: “Meal break ended from NFC tag.”
Next step: Clock out.
The workflow is per work day. Once all four steps are complete, additional taps on the same day return a “NFC workflow already completed” message. The workflow resets automatically for the next work day.
Exempt employees and NFC
If your account is marked EXEMPT (salaried), the NFC workflow works differently. A single tap creates or updates a manual time entry for the current work day using the default hours and notes stored in your NFC tag configuration. There is no multi-step clock-in/out flow — the entry is upserted every time you tap, so tapping again on the same day simply refreshes the entry with the same values. This is useful for salaried field staff who want to log a standard day on a fixed project without opening the app.Idempotency and offline safety
FieldTime assigns each NFC tap a unique identifier behind the scenes. If your device retries a tap (for example, due to a network timeout), FieldTime recognizes the duplicate and returns the original response without creating a second entry. This means tapping twice quickly in poor connectivity conditions is safe.NFC tag setup (admin)
An administrator or the employee themselves must register the NFC tag before it can be used. Registration links the tag to a project and pre-fills the default values applied on every tap.Navigate to NFC Settings
Go to Settings → NFC Tags (or open the NFC setup screen in the mobile PWA under your profile).
Configure tag defaults
Fill in the required fields:
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Project | Yes | The project all taps will charge to |
| Phase | No | The project phase (required if the project uses phases) |
| Task | No | The task within the selected phase |
| Labor Classification | Yes | The classification applied to every punch |
| Default Hours | Exempt only | Hours logged per tap for salaried employees |
| Default Notes | Exempt only | Notes attached to the auto-created entry |
Save and write to the badge
Select Save. FieldTime generates a unique tag identifier and returns a write URL — a deep link in the format:Use your device’s NFC writing app (or the FieldTime PWA’s built-in writer) to program this URL onto the physical NFC badge or sticker.
Each employee has exactly one NFC tag configuration at a time. Re-registering replaces the previous defaults. The physical badge does not need to be re-programmed when you update the defaults — the badge stores only a unique identifier that points to your configuration in FieldTime; the project mapping is always read from FieldTime at tap time.
Troubleshooting
'Invalid NFC tag' error
The tag was not recognized. Make sure the badge was programmed with the correct FieldTime URL and that NFC tag registration was completed in the app.
'NFC tag does not belong to you' error
You are signed in as a different employee than the one linked to this badge. Sign in with the correct account before tapping.
'Stored NFC defaults are incomplete' error
The project or labor classification saved during tag setup is no longer valid (for example, the project was archived). Re-register the NFC tag with updated defaults.
Tap has no effect
Check that NFC is enabled on your device and that the FieldTime PWA is installed and you are signed in. A network connection is required to advance the workflow.