Month-end attendance close
Attendance numbers get quoted in the first week of the month, which means they have to be right by the last day of the one before. Closing the month is a short routine and skipping it is how a wrong on-time rate ends up in a meeting.
Last working day of the month, or the first of the next. Roughly an hour for a team of thirty. Run it before anyone exports a report or quotes an attendance figure.
The checklist
- 01Confirm the attendance device last synced today, not three days agoOwner: IT
- 02Clear the manual punch request queue down to zeroOwner: HR
- 03Review the partial-status days and decide each oneOwner: HR
- 04Check every person has a shift assigned for the whole monthOwner: HR
- 05Confirm the month's company holidays are on the calendarOwner: HR
- 06Cross-check approved leave against days marked absentOwner: HR
- 07Check the unmapped-users count on the device mapping screenOwner: IT
- 08Filter late arrivals and sample a few against the punch recordsOwner: HR
- 09Export the month to a file and store it where finance can find itOwner: HR
- 10Note anything unresolved, with a name against it, for next monthOwner: HR lead
What goes wrong
- A stale device sync. The header says when it last ran, and a day missing from the end of the month is the most common cause of a wrong monthly total.
- An unmapped user. Somebody enrolled on the terminal but not linked to their system record produces punches that belong to nobody.
- Leave that was approved after the absence was recorded. The day still reads as absent until someone reconciles the two.
- A person with no shift for part of the month, whose lateness was measured against nothing.
- Closing with punch requests still pending, which means the export is missing hours that will arrive later.
Questions people ask
What does a partial attendance day mean?
A day with an incomplete record, usually a check-in with no check-out. Each one needs a decision rather than an assumption, which is why they get reviewed before the export.
Should the month be closed before or after leave approvals?
After. Approving leave changes whether a day reads as absent, so closing first means reconciling the same days twice.
Who should own the close?
One named person in HR, with IT owning only the device and mapping steps. Shared ownership of a monthly routine is how it stops happening.