Time Clock Devices

Pacific Timesheet supports time and attendance tracking using hardware access devices, such as models provided by ACTAtek (www.actatek.com).

The following devices are supported:

Devices have the following properties:

Adding Devices

There are two types of time clocks that Pacific Timesheet supports: 1) poll devices and 2) push devices. For poll devices (such as ACTAtek) Pacific Timesheet must periodically request attendance information by communicating with the time clock. In order to do this it must know the IP address of the time clock. Push devices (such as ZK Software) work in an opposite manner and send attendance data to Pacific Timesheet whenever someone accesses the device. This requires configuring the device with the address of the Pacific Timesheet server.

Push Devices (ZK Software, etc.)

1. The first step will be to install your time clock device and configure it with the address of your Pacific Timesheet service. Once you have done this and have the time clock running, it will automatically register itself with the Pacific Timesheet software.

2. Go to the System > Devices page and you should see an entry for the new clock. For security reasons, the device will be disabled, and you must enable it before it will start receiving attendance data from the device.

Poll Devices (ACTAtek, etc.)

1. The first step will be to install your time clock device and configure its IP address. If you are using ACTAtek devices the ACTAtek Devices topic has more information.

2. Go to the System > Devices page and click the Add button. Fill in the name, address and other settings as appropriate for the device. You can test the connection by clicking the "Test Connection" button. When finished click the OK button.

3. If Pacific Timesheet can communicate successfully with the device you will see a status of "Ready". If you see otherwise you will generally find the problem to be a network connection issue (wrong IP address, no network connection, etc.). The first step to troubleshoot the problem is to issue a "ping" command from a console on the machine running the Pacific Timesheet software, for example "ping 192.168.0.100".

Synchronization

For poll devices (such as ACTAtek) Pacific Timesheet will read the attendance information from each enabled device, usually about every 5 minutes. For push devices (such as ZK Software) attendance information is sent to Pacific Timesheet as they happen. In order for proper synchronization to work it is necessary for the employee's login ID or PIN for the device match one of the following 3 employee properties in Pacific Timesheet :

1. The employee login name.

2. The employee ID.

3. The "Time Clock ID" custom employee field. If the login ID used for the time clock is not appropriate for either the employee login or employee ID in Pacific Timesheet, then you can create a custom text field named "Time Clock ID" (via the Employees tab > Manage Custom Fields option). If this field is present then the device synchronization will try to match against this field to find the appropriate Pacific Timesheet employee.

Some devices can record a group ID with each attendance record. Each group ID should have a corresponding group in Pacific Timesheet with the same name or ID for proper synchronization.

Some devices can record a work code or ID with each attendance record. Each work code or ID should have a corresponding object in Pacific Timesheet with the same name or ID for proper synchronization. You specify which type of Pacific Timesheet object maps to work codes via the "Work Codes Are" device property, described above.