Tip 22: How to allow employees to check in and out, and then automatically calculate their total work hours
Hi everyone,
Keeping accurate track of employee hours is crucial to smoothly running business. So this week, we wanted to go over how you can automate this whole process using Zoho Creator. With this tip, you'll learn how to set up a page that will make it easy for your employees to check in and out, and help you track their work hours on a daily basis.
To do this, let's create a sample application called Attendance App, and show you how you can use it to track the total work hours of each of your employees.
Application flow
- Employees can check in and out by simply clicking on a button
- Once the employee checks out, the total working hours will be calculated and updated in the admin report
- Managers and administrators can then monitor the total work hours of each employee on a daily basis
To do this, we need to create the following components:
- Attendance form used to record the check in and check out times
- Dashboard with check in and check out buttons, and two reports
- A way for users to be given access to the application
- A report for employees to view their check-in and check-out times
- A report where the admin can view the details of all employees
Step 1: Create the attendance form
First, we need to create the attendance form to record the times. This form can be hidden, as the check-ins and check-outs are automatically recorded by clicking on the buttons on the page.
Fields on the attendance form:
- Email (Email field)
- Check-in time (Date-Time field)
- Check-out time (Date-Time field)
- Total time (Single line field)
- Status (Drop down field)
Step 2: Create functions for the check in and check out buttons
Now, let's create the two functions we need to record the check-in and check-out times. All you need to do is go to Workflows, click New Functions, and add some code snippets.
Function 1: To record the check-in time
The Check In button on the page calls a function, which adds a record to the attendance form. Use the below code to create the checkintime function:
- void login.checkintime()
- {
- fet = Attendance_form[Check_in_time == today &&Email == zoho.loginuserid];
- // This condition is to prevent an employee from checking in multiple times on the same day.
- if(fet.count() == 0)
- {
- new = insert into Attendance_form
- [
- Added_User=zoho.loginuser
- Email=zoho.loginuserid
- Check_in_time=zoho.currenttime
- Status="Checked In"
- ];
- } .
- // This adds a record in the attendance form, which captures the logged-in employee's email and the current time, and sets the status as "Checked In".
- openUrl("https://app.zohocreator.com/ownername/attendance-app/report-embed/User_report?zc_SecHeader=false&Email=" + zoho.loginuserid,"iframe","zohoview");
- // OpenURL will help you refresh the user-based report (embedded in the page) to display only the login-based entries.
- }
Function 2: To record the check-out time
Now, let's create a function that helps us record the check-out time. The Check Out button captures the check-out time, fetches the record containing the check-in time of the corresponding user, and calculates the total working time, which is the difference between the check-out and check-in times in the hours:minutes format.
- void login.checkouttime()
- {
- fet = Attendance_form[Check_in_time == today && Check_out_time == null && Email == zoho.loginuserid];
- //This condition checks the record based on the logged-in user and today's date, which has the check-out time as null. It avoids multiple check-outs and ensures the record is added by the corresponding user.
- if(fet.ID > 0)
- {
- fet.Check_out_time=zoho.currenttime;
- mil_sec = (fet.Check_out_time - fet.Check_in_time);
- actual_minutes = mil_sec / (1000 * 60);
- //1000 -> mill sec to sec, 60 -> sec to min
- mins = actual_minutes.toLong() % 60;
- // % 60 -> Exclude Hours
- hours = (actual_minutes / 60).toLong();
- // 60 -> min to hour, % 24 (optional) -> Exclude Days
- time_string = hours + " : " + mins;
- fet.Total_time=time_string;
- fet.Status="Checked Out";
- }
- else
- {
- // This part handles cases where the user checks in for a night shift, and by the time they check out, the date will have changed. In this case, we use zoho.currentdate.subDay(1) to get the previous date's record. This will be executed only if there isn't any matching record for today's date.
- fet1 = Attendance_form[Check_in_time == zoho.currentdate.subDay(1) && Check_out_time == null && Email == zoho.loginuserid];
- if(fet1.ID > 0)
- {
- fet1.Check_out_time=zoho.currenttime;
- mil_sec = (fet1.Check_out_time - fet1.Check_in_time);
- actual_minutes = mil_sec / (1000 * 60);
- //1000 -> mill sec to sec, 60 -> sec to min
- mins = actual_minutes.toLong() % 60;
- // % 60 -> Exclude Hours
- hours = (actual_minutes / 60).toLong();
- // 60 -> min to hour, % 24 (optional) -> Exclude Days
- time_string = hours + " : " + mins;
- fet1.Total_time=time_string;
- fet1.Status="Checked Out";
- }
- }
- openUrl("https://app.zohocreator.com/<workspaceName>/attendance-app/report-embed/User_report?zc_SecHeader=false&Email=" + zoho.loginuserid,"iframe","zohoview");
- // And this code refreshes the user-based report on the page to display the filtered login-based record with the updated check-out time and the total time.
Step 3: Add the buttons to the dashboard and link them to the functions
Once you've created both functions, you need to create two buttons—Check In and Check Out—on your dashboard, and link the function to these buttons. When a user clicks on them the function is executed and the time is captured.
To do that follow these steps:
- Go to the page builder.
- Drag and drop a button onto the page builder, and you'll see a new window appear, where you can add other elements.
- Choose the Action type you want to perform—in this case, Execute function.
- Choose the function that needs to be executed (refer to the screenshot below).
- Create both buttons and repeat these steps.
Step 4: Add the reports to the dashboard
Admin dashboard:
To track employee working hours
This dashboard will help the admin keep track of employee work hours. Apart from the two buttons on the page, there are two reports, which are embedded using an HTML snippet.
- The list report will dynamically display records based on the logged-in user (for example: if Employee A is logged in, they can only view their own times).
- The Kanban report will list all the users who've checked in on that day, and it can only be viewed by the admins of the application.
Now let's embed these two reports on the dashboard. To do that, we need to drag and drop the HTML snippet onto the page builder and write the script below:
- <%
- {
- a = "https://app.zohocreator.com/ownername/attendance-app/report-embed/User_report?zc_SecHeader=false&Email=" + zoho.loginuserid;
- %>
- <iframe name='zohoview' height='400' width='100%' frameborder='0' scrolling='Auto' src='<%=a%>'></iframe>
- <%
- if(zoho.loginuserid == zoho.adminuserid)
- {
- %>
- <div elName='zc-component' viewLinkName='Admin' params='zc_Header=true'>
- Loading View...</div>
- <%
- }
- }
- %>
In the code above, we're embedding the user report using an iframe, so that the user report (iframe) is automatically refreshed after a user clicks on Check In or Check Out. We've also hidden the secondary header present on the user report by setting up zc_SecHeader=false to prevent users from manually adding or modifying the record from the report. The logged-in user filter can be directly applied on the report, or by using the parameter "Email=" + zoho.loginuserid" in the URL.
The admin report is added using a DIV tag, and is displayed only to the account's super admin using the if condition. if(zoho.loginuserid == zoho.adminuserid)
If required, we can add other non-admin emails using the criteria below to make the admin report available for those particular users:
The admin will also have the option to check out users, in case they forget at the end of their shift.
Admin report
The Kanban report is created using the status field, which is a dropdown field, and you can add the code in On Update of the Status Field.For example, when the admin drags the record from the Check in time column to the Check out time column, the user will be automatically checked out.
You need to choose Edited for Run when a record is while creating the workflow.
Below is the script you need to write in On Update of the Status Field, so that when the record is dragged and dropped to the Check out time column on the Kanban report, the check-out time will be captured.
- if(input.Status == "Checked Out" && input.Check_out_time == null)
- {
- input.Check_out_time = zoho.currenttime;
- mil_sec = (input.Check_out_time - input.Check_in_time);
- actual_minutes = mil_sec / (1000 * 60);
- //1000 -> mill sec to sec, 60 -> sec to min
- mins = actual_minutes.toLong() % 60;
- // % 60 -> Exclude Hours
- hours = (actual_minutes / 60).toLong();
- // 60 -> min to hour, % 24 (optional) -> Exclude Days
- time_string = hours + " : " + mins;
- input.Total_time = time_string;
- }
We've also added a filter to the admin report, that will allow the admin to view all the employees who checked in and out for the day. And, if required, you can edit it by week or month, depending on your requirements.
Note: We will soon roll out the hoursBetween function, which can be used to find the difference between the check in and check out times. This function will return the difference of hours between the given start and end date-time values.
We hope this tip was useful for you! If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments below, and we'll be happy to address them for you!
Access your files securely from anywhere
New to Zoho Recruit?
Zoho Developer Community
New to Zoho LandingPage?
Zoho LandingPage Resources
New to Zoho Survey?
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Bigin?
Topic Participants
Sejal Dattani
Muhammad Umar Akram
Sejal Dattani
jsantander
akshay motihar
Sticky Posts
ANZ In-Person Zoho User Group Meetups: Focusing on Zoho Creator & Zoho Flow (September 2024)
Hello, Zoho Community! Calling all Zoho users in Australia! We're thrilled to announce the next series of Zoho User Group (ZUG) Meetups, continuing the success of our previous sessions. These meetups are a great opportunity to learn, network, and engage[SESSION ENDED] Ask the Experts #07| Live Q&A: Building workflows with Blueprint in Zoho Creator |
Hello, Post the release of Zoho Creator Blueprint last month, we're happy to tell you that we'll be launching a new 'Ask the Experts' session on 16th September (Thursday) this month focussing on creating blueprints in Zoho Creator. The session will beZoho Creator Community Webinars | October - November 2020 [Completed]
Hello everyone, I’m happy to announce that Zoho Creator is hosting a new Community Webinar Series starting this October. This series is a learning initiative aimed at our developer community, where every session will take spotlight use cases focused onCommunity Learning Webinar - Zoho Creator Blueprint & other release updates | July 29, 2021
Dear developers, This June, the Creator team unveiled a slew of updates including UI enhancements to the Detail View of reports, an new capabilities in Data Import and Connections, and most important of all, the release of Blueprint in Creator. CustomizeCommunity Learning Webinar: Delve deep into the core concepts of Zoho Creator | 17th June, 2021
Dear developers, Every customer has unique business needs and unique problems to solve. To be able to give solutions to these problems, to get over any stumbling blocks and to be able to build applications expeditiously that tailor to specific needs,
New to Zoho TeamInbox?
Zoho TeamInbox Resources
Zoho CRM Plus Resources
Zoho Books Resources
Zoho Subscriptions Resources
Zoho Projects Resources
Zoho Sprints Resources
Qntrl Resources
Zoho Creator Resources
Zoho CRM Resources
Design. Discuss. Deliver.
Zoho Show Resources
Get Started. Write Away!
Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.
Zoho CRM コンテンツ
-
オンラインヘルプ
-
Webセミナー
-
機能活用動画
-
よくある質問
-
Ebook
-
-
Zoho Campaigns
- Zoho サービスのWebセミナー
その他のサービス コンテンツ
Nederlandse Hulpbronnen
ご検討中の方
Recent Topics
Custom order for Current Stage (Blueprint field)
Hi! I suggest adding the option to set a custom order in reports for the Blueprint field ‘Current Stage’. Currently, these fields can only be sorted in ascending or descending order. Thanks!CRM E-mail Sync from Outlook
We are exploring Zoho as a possible new solution for our company. We are trying to understand further on how e-mail sync works. We use outlook. Our current CRM logs anytime we e-mail a customer so we can see in the CRM the message sent to the customer.Run your help desk on your schedule
In business, time is of the essence. This is especially true in a function like customer service, where KPIs such as response time and agent availability are the measures of success. Perhaps the most crucial consideration one needs to make about time is your hours of operation. These set expectations for your customer and for employees. To make communicating this information easier, we've revamped the way business hours and holiday lists work in Zoho Desk. In order to accommodate teams that workThe Customer Happiness REST API is broken
1. We are unable to extract the customerHappiness ( https://desk.zoho.com/DeskAPIDocument#CustomerHappiness#CustomerHappiness_ListallcustomerHappiness) object using the ticketNumber criteria. We keep getting HTTP 429 even when we limit to 60 calls perCan the Product Image on the Quote Template be enlarged
Hello, I am editing the Quote Template and added ${Products.Product Image} to the line item and the image comes up but it is very tiny. Is there anyway that you can resize this to be larger? Any help would be great! ThanksAutomatic Department and Employee Sync Between Zoho One and Zoho People
Dear Zoho Support, I'm writing to propose a valuable feature request that would streamline data management and improve user experience within the Zoho ecosystem: automatic synchronization between departments and employees in Zoho One and Zoho People.Zoho Expense and Chase Bank Visa credit cards - Direct Feed?
Our company uses JP Morgan Chase Visa credit cards. We can't be the first to try and use a combination of Zoho Expense + Chase Bank + Visa Credit Cards --- anyone successful with this combination? 1. The direct feed automation isn't working. When I goImpossibile inviare il messaggio;Motivo:554 5.1.8 Indirizzo del mittente bloccato
" Impossibile inviare il messaggio;Motivo:554 5.1.8 Indirizzo del mittente bloccato" Hi need to send email, how can fix this? Thanks, AliceImage inputed in Zoho Form were displayed to small in exported version
Good evening, my name is athallah, i am a trainee in government office Right now, i use Zoho form to digitalize an airfield monitoring form. my problem is, the image were to small to displayed in exported version. it really bad for formal presentationAPI. How do I get responses submitted to the form?
Hi, I'm trying to retrieve a list of form responses via the API. I've created a Self Client application in API Console. What scoup should I enter? What are the endpoints? Is there documentation on this anywhere? I've wasted a lot of time searching. GPTQuestion about Zoho CRM Professional plan users
Hello! I have a question about the Zoho CRM Professional plan. Is the pricing charged per user or per organization? Are there any free users included in this plan, or do I need to pay for each additional user separately? Thank you!Communicating with emojis
On July 17, we celebrate World Emoji Day! We're a bit late 😐 sharing insights about this day. But we just couldn't let it pass without a mention 😊 because emojis have a meaningful connection with customer service 💬 🤝. We do not want to miss out onChanging the Default Search Criteria for Finding Duplicates
Hey everyone, is it possible to adjust the default search criteria for finding and merging duplicate records? Right now, CRM uses some (in my opinion nonsensical) fields as search criteria for duplicate records which do nothing except dilute the results.Is it possible to create a word cloud chart in ZoHo Analystics?
Hi there, I have a volume of transaction text that I would like to analyse using word cloud (or other approcah to detect and present word frequency in a dataset). For example, I have 50,000 records describing menu items in restaurants. I want to be ableHelp integrating Aircall into Zoho CRM
Hi all, We are need to get better AirCall integration into Zoho. We have configured in the Aircall dashboard but we have not done the Zoho side. We cannot see Zoho CRM information on incoming calls. And we calls and text's are not being logged. SpecificallyShopify Extension no longer working in CRM
Zoho CRM and Extension are no longer working properly. We have used Shopify Basic for years. All of the sudden it stopped working, then started working again, and now no longer working again. There are several ways for Personal Information to sync fromHow to keep track of bags, cans, drums of inventory?
We buy and sell products that are packaged in bags 🛍️, cans🥫, drums🛢️, etc. with batch numbers. When we get a shipment of one of the products, how do we track we received (say) 10 cans each of 5L of a product and maybe we received 10 cans of anotherEasy third party collaboration: Zoho Flow Integration
Third-party integrations extend your project functionality with improved workflow, and data processing. With Zoho Flow integration you can include multiple third party actions into your project or task automation. Add Zoho Flow action in Workflow rulesZoho Inventory - How to pay a supplier up front then receive multiple deliveries
How do we manage situations where we pay a supplier up front, then the receive the products in increments? Example Workflow: Create Purchase Order > Receive Bill for full amount > Receive Items 2 or more deliveries. Currently, once a Bill is created againstIntroducing Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) in Zoho CRM | Public early access 2023
Greetings Customers! We're excited to announce that the CPQ feature will soon be available in Zoho CRM and accessible to all accounts using the Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions. We've opened this feature to select customers, and it'll behow to edit the converted lead records?
so I can fetch the converted leads records using API (COQL), using this endpoint https://www.zohoapis.com/crm/v5/coql and using COQL filter Converted__s=true for some reasons I need to change the value from a field in a converted lead record. When I tryZoho Bookings <> CRM integration
Hello Zoho community! We are enabling our Zoho Bookings <> CRM integration. What is the workflow if the integration detects that the contact already exists in the CRM? Does it create a duplicate record? Overwrite the record? Merge the record? (in thisCannot reject empty expense report
Hello, We are currently having issues with two empty expense reports where if we try to reject them, either manually or through the REST API, we get error 114016, which says some of the expenses have already been billed and must be removed. I'd appreciateUse of Zia within Forms
I have noticed that recently you have added Zia to help create forms from scratch. Would it be possible to add Zia functionality to free text fields for form submissions or if this is already on the roadmap an ETA for this please? We have a lot of fieldDefault in fields on Form B based on the user selection in Form A
Hi Everyone, I have added an action button to a form report to bring up a new form based on user selection, see it indicated in red below: Then when the ne form loads, I want to default in some of the fields based on the record the user was selected on.Auto-sync field of lookup value
This feature has been requested many times in the discussion Field of Lookup Announcement and this post aims to track it separately. At the moment the value of a 'field of lookup' is a snapshot but once the parent lookup field is updated the values diverge.Last activity time is acting like last modified time
When i edit the description or any field in the potential, account, contact and lead, the Last Activity Time is being updated like the Modified Time. This is messing all workflows and reports and we are unable to track real last time of activities likeEnhancements to the formula field in Zoho CRM: Auto-refresh formulas with the "Now" function, stop formula executions based on criteria, and include formulas within formulas
Dear Customers, We hope you're well! By their nature, modern businesses rely every day on computations, whether it's to calculate the price of a product, assess ROI, evaluate the lifetime value of a customer, or even determine the age of a record. WithHEX/RGB Color Input in Visual Editor
Hello Zoho Pagesense Team, We hope you're doing well. We’d like to submit a feature request to improve the color selection options in the Pagesense popup editor. Current Limitation: Currently, to set text colors, users must move the color slider manually.Add Comprehensive Accessibility Features to Zoho Writer
Hello Zoho Writer Team, We hope you are doing well. We would like to submit a feature request to enhance Zoho Writer with a full set of accessibility tools, similar to the accessibility options already available in the Zoho Desk agent interface. 🚧 CurrentCRM and Campaigns- tags not integrating?
Hi! I am setting up an automation in zoho campaigns and it says the crm is integrated...but when I want to use a trigger of a certain tag I created for people in the crm to denote those who purchased, it doesnt have that tag available as an option inMaximum limit of rows exceeded
I am trying to add a row to a spreadsheets that has fewer than 60 rows. I keep getting an error message that says I have exceeded the maximum limit of 65,536 rows. Any ideas out there?Can't change form's original name in URL
Hi all, I have been duplicating + editing forms for jobs regarding the same department to maintain formatting + styling. The issue I've not run into is because I've duplicated it from an existing form, the URL doesn't seem to want to update with the new【参加無料】今年最後のZoho ユーザー交流会｜東京・大阪・名古屋で開催！ 活用事例＆ユーザー同士の情報交換
ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの中野です。 11月に東京、大阪、名古屋の3都市でZoho ユーザー交流会を開催します！ 毎回ご好評いただいている本イベントでは、実際の Zohoユーザーによるリアルな活用事例の共有や 参加者同士でノウハウを交換し合うグループワークを予定しています。 「他社の活用を参考にしたい」「Zoho をもっと使いこなしたい」方にぴったりの場です。 初参加の方もぜひお気軽にご参加ください！ ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーIntroducing parent-child ticketing in Zoho Desk [Early access]
Hello Zoho Desk users! We have introduced the parent-child ticketing system to help customer service teams ensure efficient resolution of issues involving multiple, related tickets. You can now combine repetitive and interconnected tickets into parent-childTip #7: 5 formas de mantener tus listas de correo electrónico
Tips and Tricks #7, adaptado de Susmit Sen ¡Hola, comunidad! Esta semana volvemos con nuestros Tips and Tricks para Zoho Campaigns. En esta ocasión, voy a darte algunos consejos para mantener limpias tus listas de correo electrónico, y empezar el 2021Mail Merge related Lists
When I try to merge an associated list the fields do not have a checkbox to choose them as it does in the tutorials. Am I missing something? Any ideas would be appreciated.create-a-purchase-receive API issues
Hello all, I'm trying to use the create a purchase receive inventory API documented here (https://www.zoho.com/inventory/api/v1/purchasereceives/#create-a-purchase-receive) however when I do am getting the following error {"code":9,"message":"The purchaseZoho Pagesense really this slow??? 5s delay...
I put the pagesense on my website (hosted by webflow and fast) and it caused a 5s delay to load. do other people face similar delays?Heatmap: Missing Content Elements - Zoho Page Sense
Hi there, I'm trying out Zoho Page Sense to generate heatmaps for my Wix pages. My problem: Some parts of my Wix pages don't show on my heatmap, the heatmap is just empty there. Maybe Wix default lazy loading setting causes this error? Is there a wayNext Page