Manual attendance entry in AttendFirst - admin backfill

Manual attendance is the admin backfill flow for days an employee couldn’t or didn’t check in. You pick the employee, the date, and the status, and AttendFirst writes an attendance record identical to a real check-in. The entry appears on the daily report immediately and rolls into monthly aggregates the same way.

Phones die, office Wi-Fi drops, and someone always forgets to check out at least once. Without backfill, the monthly report shows them Absent and the admin has to chase corrections through support tickets or spreadsheets.

When to use it

• An employee’s phone was dead and they couldn’t check in.
• Your office Wi-Fi went down and nobody could reach the app.
• Someone forgot to check out, and the session ran past midnight.
• A half-day was worked but the check-in was skipped entirely.
• You want to correct a status from Late to Present after reviewing evidence.

Every manual entry is created by an admin account, so the audit trail is always clear.

How to add a manual entry

There are two ways into the same form:

• From the Attendance page (/admin/attendance): click Add attendance in the top right. Pick the employee inside the form.
• From an employee profile: open the employee, switch to the Attendance tab, and click Add attendance. The employee is pre-selected.

Fields:

Field	Required	Notes
Employee	Yes	Any active employee in your company. Pre-filled on profile.
Date	Yes	Any past date up to today.
Status	Yes	Present, Late, Half day, or Absent.
Check-in	Optional	Time in HH:MM. Stored as the date’s check-in time.
Check-out	Optional	Time in HH:MM. Stored as the date’s check-out time.
Notes	Optional	Up to 500 characters. Visible on the attendance record.

Click Save attendance. The entry appears immediately on the attendance list for that date and rolls into monthly aggregates straight away.

Opening a day’s sessions

A single attendance row is a whole day. To see what actually happened inside it - every check-in, the GPS result, the selfie - click View details on that row. The Sessions panel slides in from the right.

The same panel opens whether you click View details, the date, or the session count - they all lead here. Each session in the list shows:

• The session type - Work, Lunch Break, Site Visit - with a number and badges: Break, Active (still open), the location kind (Office, WFH, Field), Edited, and Needs review or Reviewed.
• A device row, if the check-in came from a QR device - the device name, type (Static QR or Rotating QR), its geofence, and whether it requires a selfie.
• A check-in row - the time, the method (GPS, Selfie, QR, Manual, Auto), the GPS result (Inside geofence, Outside geofence, Location denied, No geofence set), the selfie thumbnail if one was captured, and a Location link that opens the coordinates in Google Maps.
• A check-out row - the same fields for the check-out.

The footer totals the day’s working time. This panel is how an admin verifies a check-in: a selfie plus an Inside geofence result is solid proof; a Location denied flag is a prompt to follow up.

Reviewing flagged sessions

A check-in or check-out that failed its geofence carries a Needs review badge. Click the checkmark on that session once you have confirmed it is genuine - the badge changes to Reviewed and records who cleared it and when.

Editing or deleting a session

Two icons sit on the right of every session:

• Pencil - Edit session. Adjust the check-in and check-out times, override the Work from location kind, and add an optional reason. Every edit is written to the audit log and the session gets an Edited badge.
• Trash - Delete session. Asks for confirmation, then removes the session and recalculates the day’s totals.

The employee sees the updated record in their own attendance view but cannot edit it.

Rules and constraints

• Backfill is limited to past dates and today. Future dates are not allowed.
• Manual entries for a day that already has real sessions take precedence on the status and times you set - the captured session data stays in history but the displayed status reflects your override.
• You cannot create manual entries for inactive employees on dates after their deactivation.
• Holidays and weekends can be manually marked as Present if your team worked that day.

Frequently asked questions

Will manual entries show up on the monthly report?

Yes. They are counted in the aggregate alongside check-in-driven entries on both the daily and monthly views.

Can managers backfill their team’s attendance?

Not today. Manual attendance is admin-only. Managers can approve leaves but cannot add or edit attendance records.

How far back can I backfill?

Any date since the employee’s joining date. There’s no 30-day cutoff or any other limit. Keep in mind that backfilling a closed payroll month may force a payroll correction.

What statuses can I set?

Four: Present, Late, Half day, Absent. Use Absent if you want the date documented (for example with a reason in the notes) but with no work credit.

Can I add the same entry for multiple employees at once?

Not in one action. Repeat the flow for each employee. The slideover stays open after a save so you can switch employees and re-submit.

How do I see the GPS location and selfie for a check-in?

Click View details on the day’s row. The Sessions panel opens with every session, each showing its check-in method, GPS result, selfie photo, and a map link to the captured coordinates.

Related docs

• Check in and check out. The normal flow that produces these records.
• Managing employees. Open a profile to backfill for one person at a time.
• Reports and CSV export. Where manual entries roll up into month-end totals.
• Attendance status reference. Every status code you can set manually.