Attendance review

Attendance review is where a person decides what attendance means for pay. Every late arrival, early departure, stretch of overtime and missing punch becomes a review item, and nothing reaches payroll until an item is approved. The page is organized one workday at a time, because a day can only be judged fairly once it is over: the employee may still check out, HR may still enter a forgotten punch, and an overnight shift ends the next morning.

Use it every morning for yesterday, and at month end to clear what is left. Approved items go into the payroll of the attendance month automatically, exactly once; if that month is already finalized, they appear as a clearly labelled adjustment in the next open payroll instead.

In the sidebar this page has no entry of its own. You reach it from the attendance screen with the Pending actions button, from a roster row with Review, or from the dashboard and Approvals counts. Its on-screen title is Attendance review.

Where to find it

The Pending actions button is shown to people with Attendance → Manage, but anyone with Attendance → View can open the page address and read the list; only managers see the checkboxes and the Approve, Reject, Revoke, Review finished workdays now and Review older dates buttons. The header reads Attendance review — "Late arrivals, early leave, overtime and missing punches, one workday at a time." Under it: "Each workday can be decided once it is over — the next day, or later for a late or overnight shift. Weekends, holidays and approved leave are skipped. Approved deductions and overtime go into that month's payroll automatically." followed by "Last fully reviewed day: date."

How items are created

Missing punches are created by the automatic review. A job checks finished workdays every hour (at 50 minutes past) and creates a Missing punch item for each employee whose shift is over with no punch. It skips weekends, holidays, days before the start date and approved leave. You can also run it on demand with Review finished workdays now. The first run activates the organization from yesterday; earlier days are not reconstructed unless you use Review older dates.

The screen

Header buttons

Filters

All filters live in the address, so the page keeps them when you come back.

The two summary panels

• This workday (or This range) with the date: chips Pending, Approved, Rejected and All statuses, each with a count. Click a chip to filter. "Counts follow the filters above." A day that is not a workday says "Not a workday in the organization calendar."
• Older pending items: "n pending items from d earlier days (whole organization, all filters)." One chip per date with its count (up to 12), and a Date range chip for the rest. "n pending items on later days." appears when you are looking at an older date. "No older pending items." means the backlog is clear.

The table

The page shows 25 rows at a time, with page controls underneath.

Decide an item

Approve one

1. Click Approve. The dialog Approve action says "You can adjust the values before approving — employee".
2. Optionally change Approved minutes and Approved amount (in your currency). Add Notes (optional) (up to 500 characters).
3. Click Approve. You see "Updated successfully".

Result: the item becomes Approved, with your name and the time. A deduction becomes one Penalty deduction (see Deductions) for the approved amount; overtime becomes one approved overtime line. Both are picked up by the payroll of the attendance month (or, if that month is finalized, are added as a labelled adjustment to the next open payroll). If the same item is approved twice or by two people at once, only one line is created.

Reject one

Click Reject, then confirm "Are you sure you want to reject this action? (employee)". A rejected item has no payroll effect. For a Missing punch this is the right choice when the employee was at work or on an excused absence: the day then shows Excused after review.

Revoke an approval

On an approved item click Revoke: "Revoke this approval? The deduction is removed from the draft payroll. If its payroll is already finalized, a refund is added to the next open payroll instead." Finalized payroll is never changed.

Approve several at once

1. Tick the items (only pending items whose workday is over have a checkbox).
2. The bar shows "n selected" and Approve n selected; Clear selection removes the ticks. A note says "Approving adds the amount to the payroll of the attendance month, or to the next open payroll if that month is already finalized."
3. Click it. The dialog Approve these n items? lists them: "Only the items listed below are approved. Their amounts go to payroll. Nothing else is affected."
4. Confirm. Bulk approval uses the calculated values, handles up to 100 items at a time, and reports every item it skipped: "Not approved: name (date) — workday not over", "already decided", or "no longer exists".

A changed filter or page never carries a hidden selection along.

A day that is not over yet

A decision on a workday that is still open is refused: "This workday is not over yet. It can be reviewed from time." Until then a check-out, early leave, overtime or correction can still change the record.

Review older dates

Automatic review covers every day since it was switched on. For earlier dates:

1. Click Review older dates.
2. Choose From date and To date (at most about three months: "Choose a range of at most three months.").
3. Click Preview: a table lists, for each date, the Missing punch count and how many people were Off today. Nothing is saved.
4. Click Create n review items.

Applying only creates pending review items for missing punches. No absence or deduction is recorded until someone approves it.

Statuses

If Attendance actions need approval is switched off in Attendance Defaults, calculated items are approved automatically once the workday is over. A missing punch always needs a person.

Worked example 1: a normal morning

On Tuesday 13 October 2026, Mariam (HR) opens Pending actions. The page opens on Monday 12 October.

1. This workday shows Pending 4. Older pending items says "No older pending items."
2. The four rows: Omar Haddad, Late arrival, 0:20, AED 50.00; Layla Mansour, Overtime (weekday), 1:30, AED 93.75; Sara Khan, Early leave, 0:45, AED 50.00; a driver, Missing punch, AED 300.00.
3. The driver was on a delivery to Abu Dhabi. Mariam clicks Reject and confirms. His day reads Excused after review, and nothing is deducted.
4. Omar's lateness was a road closure: Approve, Approved amount 0, note "Excused". Layla's overtime and Sara's early leave are fine as calculated.
5. Mariam ticks Layla and Sara and clicks Approve 2 selected, then confirms. Result: "Approved 2 selected items; 0 were not approved". Both appear as Approved, with "In October 2026 payroll · Draft".

Worked example 2: month-end with a finalized month

1. On 3 November, the September payroll is finalized. An old pending Late arrival of AED 120 for 28 September is still on the list under Older pending items.
2. Mariam clicks the chip for 28 September, approves the item, and sees "Adjustment in October 2026 payroll · Draft". The deduction will be a labelled adjustment in the October run; September is not changed.
3. Later she realizes the employee had a doctor's note. She opens the item and clicks Revoke. Because the October run is still a draft, the adjustment is simply removed from it. Had October also been finalized, a refund would be booked in the next open run.
4. For employees whose shifts end at 06:00 the next morning (night guards), their workday only becomes reviewable after 06:30 (shift end plus the 30-minute grace). Until then the row says "Reviewable from 2026-11-04 06:30 (workday not over)".

Permissions

Viewing needs Attendance → View; every decision needs Attendance → Manage. Pending counts also show (read-only) on the Approvals inbox and the Dashboard.

How it connects

Tips and common problems

Related

• Attendance
• Payroll
• Settings
• Approvals
• Holidays
• Work schedules