Attendance Machine
Every punch in PeopleNest comes from a device registered on this screen. One record per physical reader: where it is, how it is contacted, and how often.
What it is for
A reader on a factory gate stores punches in its own memory. Something has to go and fetch them, or the device has to be told where to send them. This screen is the register of devices and it is what the attendance collector service reads to know what to talk to.
There are two ways a device is read and the screen supports both. Which one you pick changes what the device needs.
Pull. The collector dials the device. It needs an address and a port, and that address and port are the only thing that identifies it. Use this for the usual site install where the readers sit on the client's own network.
ADMS. The device dials in and pushes its punches to the server. There is no address to dial, so the device's serial number is the only identity the server ever sees. Use this where the readers are at a remote site, a sales office or a mill with no permanent link back, and the device can reach the server over the internet.
Those requirements are not screen flags, because marking either one mandatory would block the other kind of device. The screen checks them on save and tells you which one is missing.
One device, one record. Registering the same physical reader twice, under two different machine codes, makes both of them sync and doubles every punch. The screen refuses it: a second record with the same address and port, or the same serial number, is rejected by name.
Several fields on the screen are written by the device and the collector, not by you. Last Synced, Last Synced Date, Last Heart Beat Date, Device Status and Log Count are the device's own report of itself. You can read them, and saving the screen does not overwrite them.
Every field, in plain words
Basic Data
| Field | What it means | What to put in it | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Machine | The short code for this device. | GATE-01 | Required. One device cannot use a code another already has. |
| Machine Name | What the device is called in words. | Main Gate Entry Reader | Required. Two devices cannot share a name. |
| Manufacturer | Who made the device. | ZKT ZKTeco | Pick it from the list. ZKT is the only value supported today. |
| Model | The model written on the device. | K40 | |
| Site | Which site the device is installed at. | FACTORY | Pick it from the list. Use it when a client has more than one location and more than one collector. |
| Identification | The identifier the collector uses when it contacts the device. It is handed to the collector along with the password. | Take it from the device's own configuration | Required. If the client's IT cannot tell you what it is, do not guess, ask the device installer. |
| Password | The device's communication password, if it is set to need one. | The password set on the device, or leave it empty | |
| Master Machine | Tick marks this device as the master of a group. | Leave it unticked | Nothing in PeopleNest reads this today. |
General
| Field | What it means | What to put in it | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sync Mode | How the device and the server talk. | PULL | Required. See the two values below. Left blank it behaves as Pull. |
| IP Address | The device's address on the network. | 192.168.10.41 | Required when Sync Mode is Pull. The same address and port cannot be registered on two devices. |
| Port | The port the device listens on. | 4370 | Required when Sync Mode is Pull. |
| Serial Number | The serial number printed on the device. | AEL8231900072 | Required when Sync Mode is ADMS. The same serial number cannot be registered on two devices. |
| Read Every (Minutes) | How often the collector goes to the device. | 15 | Only used for Pull. Leave it alone and use a Schedule instead when the client wants fixed times. |
| Read Only From | The earliest time of day the collector may read this device. | 06:00 | Leave both windows empty to read around the clock. |
| Read Only Until | The latest time of day it may read. | 23:00 | |
| Schedule | A named reading schedule used instead of, or as well as, the interval above. | SCH-SHIFT | Pick it from the list. Built on the Schedule Machine screen. |
| Stop Fetching | Tick to stop the collector reading this device without deleting the record. | Tick it while a device is away for repair | The record and its history stay. Untick it when the device is back. |
| Device Status | What the device last reported. | Fills itself. Leave it. | ONL online, OFL offline, PND pending, which is a device registered but not yet heard from. |
| Last Synced | How far through the device log the collector has read. | Fills itself. Leave it. | |
| Last Synced Date | When the collector last read this device. | Fills itself. Leave it. | |
| Last Heart Beat Date | When the device last reported in. | Fills itself. Leave it. | This is what an ADMS device is judged live by, because nothing dials it. |
| Log Capacity | How many punches the device can hold. | 100000 | Read with Log Count to see how full the device is getting. |
| Log Count | How many punches it is holding now. | Fills itself. Leave it. |
The Sync Mode values:
PULL- the collector reads the device. Needs an IP Address and a Port. The normal choice for readers on the client's own network.ADMS- the device pushes to the server. Needs a Serial Number and no address. The choice for a remote site, and the only way to read a device PeopleNest cannot dial.
How to configure it
- Get from the client's IT, per device: whether it is on the same network as the collector, its address and port if it is, its serial number, its model and its communication password.
- Decide the Sync Mode. On the client network, Pull. Remote with no link back, ADMS.
- Open the screen. Type a Machine code and a Machine Name, for example
GATE-01and Main Gate Entry Reader. Pick the Manufacturer and the Site. - Fill Identification and, if the device uses one, Password.
- For Pull, type the IP Address and Port, for example 192.168.10.41 and 4370. For ADMS, type the Serial Number instead.
- Set how often it is read. Either Read Every 15 minutes with a Read Only From and Until window, or a Schedule from the Schedule Machine screen.
- Save, and watch Device Status and Last Heart Beat Date. A device that stays Pending has not been reached.
- Repeat for every reader. A factory with an in gate, an out gate and an office door is three records.
Scenarios
"Our factory readers are on our network but the Lahore sales office is not"
Two Sync Modes on one client. The factory gate readers are Pull, with addresses on the factory network and the collector running at the factory. The Lahore office reader is ADMS, registered by its serial number, pushing to the server over the internet. Nothing else about the two records differs.
"We only want the device read during working hours, it slows the line down"
Set Read Only From to 06:00 and Read Only Until to 23:00. The collector does not touch the device outside that window. If the client wants exact times rather than a window, build a Schedule Machine record with those times and name it here.
"A reader is away for repair and the collector keeps logging errors"
Tick Stop Fetching. Nothing is deleted and no history is lost. Untick it the day the device is back.
"The same punch is coming through twice"
Almost always the same physical device registered under two machine codes. The screen now refuses that on save, but a client whose records were created before will have both. Find the two records with the same address and port, or the same serial number, and remove one.
What it is connected to
- Schedule Machine supplies the named reading schedules.
- The punches the collector brings in are what Employee Attandance shows and what Payroll Attendance counts.
- A device registered here must be able to match its punches to people. That matching is on the employee's own record, not on this screen.
- Geofencing Locations are the alternative for people who have no reader to punch at, for example a field sales team.
If something looks wrong
- "It says an IP address and port are needed" - the Sync Mode is Pull. Either fill them in, or change the mode to ADMS if the device pushes to the server.
- "It says a serial number is needed" - the Sync Mode is ADMS, which has no address to dial, so the serial number is the only identity.
- "It says the IP address is already registered to another machine" - the same physical device is already on the register under a different code. Use that record, do not add a second.
- "The machine name already exists" - two devices cannot share a name. Add the location to it, for example Main Gate Entry rather than Main Gate.
- "The device shows as Pending and never comes online" - the collector has not reached it. Check that the attendance service is running at that site, and that Stop Fetching is not ticked.
- "Punches stopped on one device but the others are fine" - look at Log Count against Log Capacity. A full device stops recording.
- "The device says it is sending and nothing arrives at all" - for an ADMS device, two things outside this screen have to be right. The legal entity needs its time zone set, because a pushing device announces only its serial number and the server has to know which clock to stamp the punch against; with no time zone every batch from that device is thrown away rather than stored. And the site itself has to be forwarding the device's address to the application. Both are for whoever installed the server, not for the consultant on this screen.