How attendance works in Attendex
Understand where punches come from, how a day's status is worked out and when it becomes final.
Attendex turns every punch your employees make into one attendance record per person per day. This article explains where punches come from, how the day is calculated and what you can change afterwards.
Where punches come from
| Source | How it arrives |
|---|---|
| Biometric device | A ZKTeco device sends punches to Attendex over the internet (ADMS). See Connect a ZKTeco biometric device. |
| Web | An employee taps Punch in / Punch out in the employee portal from a computer. |
| Mobile | The same button from a phone browser. The location is recorded if the employee allows it. |
| Manual | An admin types in-and-out times, or an approved regularization request replaces them. |
Every punch is stored as it arrived. Nothing is thrown away: when an admin or a regularization changes a day, the old punches are kept for the audit trail and marked as replaced.
How a day is calculated
- Attendex finds the shift for the day: a roster entry first, then the employee's shift assignment, then your default shift.
- It takes the first punch-in and the last punch-out of that shift. Two taps within a couple of minutes count as one.
- An unpaid break is subtracted to get the effective hours.
- Late arrival and early leaving are measured against the shift's grace minutes.
- Overtime is counted after the shift's overtime threshold.
- The status is set from the effective hours, approved leave, holidays and weekly offs. See Attendance statuses explained.
An overnight shift (for example 22:00–06:00) is always recorded on the day the shift started.
When a day becomes final
- During the day the record updates live with every punch. A day with only a punch-in shows as open.
- After the day ends it is closed by the daily attendance job (or when you click Re-process day). Working days with no punch and no approved leave become Absent, and a single punch becomes Missing punch. Even before that, payroll never pays a working day that has no attendance or paid leave.
- When payroll for a month is approved, that month's attendance is locked. Edits, regularizations and leave changes for that month are refused.
If you change a shift, a holiday or a leave after the fact, past days are not recalculated on their own. Use Re-process day on the Attendance page (see View and correct daily attendance).
Who can do what
- People with view access to attendance can see the Attendance pages, registers and requests.
- People with manage access can edit days, approve requests and set up devices, rosters and workflows.
- Roles and permissions are set by your administrator — see Admin roles and permissions.