Manual attendance entry (admin backfill)

Phones die. Internet drops. Someone forgets to check in and only remembers at the end of the week. Manual attendance is the admin override that keeps the monthly report honest without making employees file support tickets.

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.

Manual entries are flagged as admin-created on the audit trail, so it is always clear they were not captured by the employee’s own device.

How to add a manual entry

Admin → Attendance → pick date → Add entry.

Fields:

Field	Required	Notes
Employee	Yes	Any active employee in your company
Date	Yes	Any past date
Status	Yes	Present, Late, Half day, Absent, On leave, Holiday
First check-in	Optional	Time in HH:MM
Last check-out	Optional	Time in HH:MM
Work hours	Optional	Override if status needs specific hours
Note	Optional	Reason. Visible on the attendance page and in CSV exports

Save, and the entry appears immediately on the daily report and in monthly aggregates.

Editing an existing record

Click any row on the daily attendance page and pick Edit. You can:

• Change the status
• Adjust check-in or check-out times
• Add or update the note

Edits are logged with admin name and timestamp. The employee sees the updated record in their own attendance view but cannot edit it.

Bulk operations

For a day where multiple employees need correction (for example, a power cut at the office), use the top-right Bulk action menu on the attendance page:

• Mark all Absent as Present: switches everyone’s Absent status to Present for the selected date
• Apply work hours: set the same work hours on all filtered rows

Bulk actions respect filters, so filter by department first if you only want to affect one team.

Rules and constraints

• You can only backfill past dates. Future attendance is not allowed.
• Manual entries for a day that already has real sessions merge, they don’t overwrite. The session data stays; only the status or hours get updated.
• You cannot create manual entries for exited employees past their exit date.
• 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 indistinguishable from normal entries in the aggregate. The daily report shows a small “edited by admin” indicator on affected rows.

Can managers backfill their team’s attendance?

Not today. Manual attendance is admin-only. Managers can approve leaves but cannot 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.

Can I delete a manual entry?

Yes. Edit the row and pick Delete entry. This reverts the day back to calculated status (usually Absent, or On leave if an approved leave covers it).

Related docs

• Check in and check out. The normal flow that produces these records.
• Reports and CSV export. Where manual entries roll up into month-end totals.
• Attendance status reference. Every status code you can set manually.