Continental airlines estimates it was losing $100,000 a month due to payroll problems and the time spent fixing them. The solution - a finger image reader module that's integrated into their exisitng swipe time clocks from Control Module, Inc (CMI).

Payroll problems occured a result of the current time and attendance system's inability to configure correct pay rules. The company also wanted to eliminate unplanned overtime costs and give employees a secure way to access real-time personal information such as vacation time, other accruals, and work schedules.

To provide a secure way of accessing employee information via any time clock, Continental chose to implement CMI's Bioscan II, a finger image reader module that is integrated into the CMI time clocks. Bioscan II scans over 200 points of a person's finger image and can store up to 4,000 templates for verification. With this biometric component, the employee whose finger is scanned can only operate the time clock.

Once installation is complete, Continental will have a single system integrating all airport locations as opposed to the 20 disparate systems that were previously running independently.

Eventually the new system is planned for all 50 of Continental's nationwide locations, which support more than 20,000 personnel. The entire project will cost more than $9 million. Continental expects the combination of the biometric time clock and the new time and attendance system could provide a return on investment within five years.

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