Manage Attendance — User Guide

Module: HR Payroll
Audience: Payroll administrators, HR managers
Version: 1.0.0
Last updated: 2026-07-22

Overview

Manage attendance is the monthly spreadsheet where you enter time and leave data before creating pay slip runs. Each row is one employee for one month. You can record hours day by day, enter summary totals, synchronize from the Timesheets module, or use the Timesheet Leaves screen for paid/unpaid leave codes.

Complete this screen after Manage employees and before creating a pay slip run for the month.

Prerequisites

• Permission: Manage attendance → View (open the screen). Create or Edit to save or synchronize.
• Calculate buttons require Manage employees → Edit (or administrator).
• Standard working time configured under Payroll → Settings → Data integration (default monthly hours, e.g. 160).
• Optional: Enable Timesheets & Leave module integration to pull time from the Timesheets module.

Step-by-step: Open and review the attendance spreadsheet

1. Go to Payroll → Manage attendance.
2. The page opens on the current month with one row per eligible employee.
3. Scroll horizontally to see daily columns (weekday + day number) and summary columns at the right.
4. Summary columns:
   • Actual workday (probationary) — hours counted against probationary contract
   • Actual workday — hours counted against formal contract
   • Paid leave — paid leave hours for the month
   • Unpaid leave — unpaid leave hours for the month
   • Standard working time of the month — expected hours (from settings)

Expected result: Handsontable grid with employee rows. The save button reads Submit (first save) or Update (data already exists).

Step-by-step: Filter employees

1. Set Month to the payroll period you are working on.
2. Optionally filter by Department, Role, or Staff (multi-select).
3. Wait for the grid to reload.

Tip: Confirm the month picker before saving — the save action uses the filtered month.

Step-by-step: Enter attendance manually

1. Click daily cells and enter hours worked (numeric).
2. Optionally edit summary columns directly, or use Calculate to roll up daily hours into actual workday totals.
3. Click Submit or Update.

Expected result: Success message; attendance data is stored for that month and used when you create a pay slip run.

Step-by-step: Synchronize from Timesheets module

Available only when Timesheets integration is enabled.

1. Set the correct Month filter.
2. Ensure Timesheets types are mapped under Payroll → Settings → Data integration (actual workday, paid leave, unpaid leave).
3. Click Synchronized.
4. Confirm if prompted.

Expected result: Daily hours and leave data are refreshed from the Timesheets module for each employee. Paid and unpaid leave detail is also written to the Timesheet Leaves store.

Step-by-step: Calculate totals from daily hours

1. Enter or synchronize daily hour values first.
2. Click Calculate (requires Manage employees Edit permission).
3. Wait for the success message; the grid reloads.

Expected result: Actual workday and Actual workday (probationary) are recalculated from the daily columns. If an employee's probationary contract ends during the month, days on or before the expiration date count toward probationary hours; later days count toward formal contract hours.

Step-by-step: Import from Excel

1. Click Import Excel.
2. Select the target Month and download the sample file.
3. Edit only the allowed columns (actual workday, paid leave, unpaid leave, standard workday — highlighted in the template instructions). Do not add or remove rows/columns.
4. Upload the completed file.

Expected result: Attendance summary values for the month are bulk-loaded. Daily columns in the template reflect existing data; the simplified import path focuses on summary totals.

Note: Upload requires Manage employees → Create or Edit permission.

Step-by-step: Timesheet Leaves (paid / unpaid leave codes)

Use this screen when you need to record leave by day with explicit paid vs unpaid codes.

1. On Manage attendance, click Timesheet Leaves (top right). The link follows the month filter.
2. For each leave day, enter:
   • PL:8 — 8 hours paid leave
   • UPL:8 — 8 hours unpaid leave
   • Replace 8 with the actual hours on leave.
3. Multiple codes on one day can be separated with ; (e.g. PL:4;UPL:4).
4. Click Submit or Update to save codes.
5. Click Calculate to sum leave hours into the Paid leave and Unpaid leave columns and push totals to the main attendance table.

Expected result: Leave totals appear on both the Timesheet Leaves screen and Manage attendance.

Key fields (summary)

Common issues

Related features

• Payroll → Manage employees — contract dates for probationary workday split; prerequisite for runs
• Timesheets & Leave module — source for synchronize when integration is on
• Payroll → Pay slips — consumes attendance values when creating a run
• Payroll → Settings → Data integration — toggle Timesheets integration and map leave/work types