Barcode Scanning Series — Step 1 of 5

6 May 2026

Creating Users and Employee Barcodes for Scanning

Before your employees can scan into jobs on the shop floor, they need a user record in Standard Time® and a physical barcode label they can carry with them. This is Step 1 of the barcode scanning series — and it takes less than 15 minutes per employee to complete.

The five steps covered in this article — from opening the Users view to printing laminated barcode labels your employees carry on the floor.

What You Will Have When You Are Done

By the end of this article, each employee will have:

A user record in Standard Time® with their name, department, and group assignment
Active status configured so they appear in the scanning interface
Administrator rights set appropriately (managers only)
A printed, laminated barcode label they can carry as a badge or post at their workstation

Once barcodes are in hand, employees can clock into any job or task in seconds — no login, no typing, no paperwork.

Step 1 — Open the Views tab on the Home screen and click the Users icon to see your employee list.

Step 1: Open the Users View

Launch Standard Time® and go to the Home screen. Along the top or side of the screen you will find the Views tab — this is the main navigation panel that contains icons for every section of the software.

Find the Users icon (it looks like a person silhouette) and click it. The employee list opens in the main panel. You will see all users who have been added to your system, along with their status and group assignments.

If this is a brand-new installation, the list will be empty — that is expected. You are about to add your first employee.

Step 2 — Click the + (plus) button in the toolbar to add a new employee record. Type the employee's name and save.

Step 2: Add a New Employee Record

In the Users toolbar at the top of the screen, click the + (plus) symbol. A new record opens in the right panel, ready for you to fill in.

Type the employee's name Enter the name exactly as you want it to appear on the barcode label. Shorter names scan more reliably — "J. Smith" or "JohnSmith" is easier to fit on a label than "Jonathan Alexander Smith III." You can change the display name later without affecting existing time records.
Add a username or login ID (optional) If the employee will log into Standard Time® directly (not just scan barcodes), give them a unique username. For scan-only employees, this field can be skipped — Standard Time® assigns one automatically.
Set the department or group Assign the employee to their department now. You can change this at any time, but setting it up front keeps your reports organized from day one.
Save the record Click Save. The employee now appears in the list and is ready to be configured with status, permissions, and a barcode label.

Tip: The name you type in Standard Time® is the value that gets encoded in the barcode. If you type "J. Smith" in Standard Time®, the barcode must also encode "J. Smith" — keep the names consistent between the software and your Word document.

Watch: Creating Users and Employee Barcodes

This video walks through the complete process — opening the Users view, adding a new record, building barcode labels in Microsoft Word, and setting employee permissions.

Microsoft Word showing employee barcode labels being created with a barcode font applied to employee names

Step 3 — Open Microsoft Word, type the employee name, select all, then apply a barcode font like "Free 3 of 9." Print and laminate.

Step 3: Create Barcode Labels in Microsoft Word

The fastest way to create employee barcode labels is in Microsoft Word using a free barcode font. No special barcode software is needed — Word handles the layout and printing, and the barcode font converts plain text into scannable bars automatically.

What You Need

Microsoft Word — any recent version works
A barcode font — download "Free 3 of 9" (also called Code 39) from any font repository; it's free for commercial use
A standard printer — laser or inkjet, plain paper or label stock

The Process

Install the barcode font Download "Free 3 of 9" and install it on the Windows machine you use for printing. Once installed, it appears in Word's font list like any other font.
Open a new Word document Use a blank document or set up a label template (Mailings → Labels → choose your label stock size). A two-column table works well for a sheet of employee badges.
Type the employee name Type the name exactly as it appears in Standard Time® — spelling and spacing must match for the scanner to recognize it. Type one name per label cell.
Select the text and apply the barcode font Highlight the name, then select "Free 3 of 9" from the Font dropdown. The text immediately transforms into barcode bars. Set the font size to 36–48pt so the bars are tall enough to scan reliably.
Add a readable name below the barcode (optional but recommended) Add a second line in normal font with the employee's name in plain text. This makes it easy for supervisors to verify labels without a scanner.
Print and laminate Print on label stock or plain paper. If using plain paper, laminate the sheet or slip it into a plastic badge holder. Laminated labels last years; unprotected paper labels may fade or curl in a shop environment.

Pro tip: Print one test label and scan it with your barcode scanner before printing the entire sheet. Verify that Standard Time® recognizes the employee name. If the scan returns an error, check that the name in Word matches the name in Standard Time® exactly — a single space or capitalization difference will cause a mismatch.

Standard Time® Users tab showing the Active Employee checkbox and Administrator rights toggle for an employee record

Step 4 — In the Users tab, mark each employee as Active so they appear in the scanning interface. Assign Administrator rights only to managers.

Step 4: Set Active Status and Administrator Rights

Back in Standard Time®, open the Users tab and click on the employee record you just created. You will see two important settings in the record details:

Active Employee

The Active Employee checkbox controls whether an employee appears in the scanning interface and in time entry dropdowns. Check this box for every employee who will be clocking time. Unchecking it hides the employee without deleting their historical records — useful for seasonal workers, contractors who have left, or employees on extended leave.

Keep the list of active employees current. The barcode scanning screen shows only active users, so employees whose records are deactivated simply cannot scan in — no errors, no confusion.

Administrator Rights

The Administrator checkbox grants full access to every setting in Standard Time® — including the ability to add and delete users, edit all time records, view all financial reports, and modify job and task structures. Assign this only to shop managers, supervisors, and system administrators.

Standard shop floor employees who scan barcodes do not need administrator rights. A scan-only employee can log time, see their own hours, and complete assigned tasks — without being able to modify anyone else's data.

Best practice: Start every new employee as Active without administrator rights. Grant admin access only when a role genuinely requires it — it is easier to expand access than to clean up accidental changes.

Standard Time® Users tab showing a group hierarchy with Manufacturing, Assembly, and Quality Control groups, each containing employee names

Step 5 — Create user groups in the Users tab and assign employees to their department. Groups make reporting, job assignment, and access control much simpler as your team grows.

Step 5: Create User Groups

User groups let you organize employees by department, shift, or skill set. Groups are created and managed inside the Users tab — look for a Groups button or panel in the toolbar or left navigation.

How to Create a Group

Click "New Group" in the Users panel A dialog or inline form prompts you for a group name. Use department names that match how your shop is actually organized — Manufacturing, Assembly, Welding, Painting, Quality Control, Shipping.
Assign employees to the group Drag employees from the main list into the group, or open each employee record and set their group from a dropdown. An employee can belong to more than one group if needed.
Set group-level permissions (optional) Some configurations let you assign which jobs and tasks are visible to each group. If your shop runs independent production lines, limiting each group's job visibility prevents employees from accidentally scanning into the wrong work order.

Why Groups Pay Off Quickly

Reports by department: Filter any time report by group to see Manufacturing vs Assembly labor hours side-by-side without manual sorting.
Bulk job assignment: Assign a new work order to an entire group with one action instead of updating each employee individually.
Supervisor view: Managers see only the employees in their group by default, keeping dashboards clean and relevant.
Scalability: Adding a new employee to an existing group automatically inherits all group job assignments and visibility rules — no configuration needed for the individual record.

Putting It All Together

With Step 1 complete, your team has user records in Standard Time®, printed barcode badges, correct active/admin settings, and group assignments that will keep your reporting clean as hours accumulate. Here is the quick summary:

Open the Views tab → click the Users icon
Press + to add each employee record with their name
Build barcode labels in Microsoft Word using a barcode font
Mark every scanning employee as Active; give Admin rights only to supervisors
Create user groups in the Users tab and assign employees to their departments

In Step 2 of this series, we will add jobs and work orders — the second type of barcode your employees will scan when they start working on a production task.

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