Frequently asked questions

What data is collected by Sapience on each user PC?

Sapience collects the following data automatically on each user’s desktop/laptop:

  • Time on the PC and away from the PC (user is considered to be away from the PC if there is no physical mouse movement or keystroke pressed for 5 minutes).
  • Chronological log of time spent on and away from the PC is maintained.
  • Names of applications used, with total usage time.
  • Names of associated files (only if they show up on the Windows title bar).
  • Names of website links accessed by browsers.
  • Off-PC time that overlaps with Meetings booked and accepted in Outlook or Lotus Notes is marked to the concerned meeting.
It then maps the user’s time slots to specific ‘Activity’ and ‘Purpose’. This is done on the basis of applications used, and as per rules set on the Sapience Server by the organization. Activity is a high level abstraction of a group of applications, such as Development, Testing, Documentation, Communication and so on. ‘Purpose’ refers to one or more projects, non-project company work, or personal time. These mappings get increasingly automated over time using a combination of organization level rules, and usage based learning. However, the user may override any automatic mapping at any time.



How does Sapience map time to work related activities?

The organization identifies business apps and websites that are work related, through rules at the Sapience Server:

  • These rules are pushed to all user PCs, and time on those apps and URLs are marked as work.
  • All other activities on the user’s PC are marked by default to ‘Personal’ and not available to anyone else.
  • Using the native Sapience Personal Client UI on user’s PC, the user can volunteer that certain apps and websites marked as Personal are actually work related. These become user specific work mapping rules.
  • Total time spent on Work, and as distributed between activities and projects, is aggregated on the server as per the organization hierarchy to give team and higher level trends.



Will Sapience capture login user name and passwords for apps or URLs browsed? Does it capture screen snapshots?

Sapience does not capture any keystrokes or actions internal to the applications or URLs browsed. So, any data entered or viewed within the application including text, images, login data (user name, password), data on forms etc., is not available with Sapience. Sapience does not capture any screen snapshots. All the data captured by Sapience is visible to the user on his/her desktop on the My Activities screen tab.



What are the data collection and visibility options available to the user on his/her desktop?

The user can view details of exact time utilization on his/her PC using the Sapience Personal Client which has a local desktop UI. Every application and offline time slot is visible. As protection for the user, Sapience ensures the following:

  • New URLs and apps are marked as ‘Personal’ by default. This prevents any personal work being visible on server side inadvertently.
  • In fact, the user must explicitly set a rule marking some new apps and URLs to work if that is the case. Only thereafter, it becomes available for aggregation on the server side.
  • The user can override any server side rule and change the mapping for an application or website from ‘Work’ to ‘Personal’.



Do you have any questions about Sapience?