Automating Attendance Tracking with Zoho Cliq Developer Platform

Automating Attendance Tracking with Zoho Cliq Developer Platform

I wish remote work were permanently mandated so we could join work calls from a movie theatre or even while skydiving! But wait, it's time to wake up! The alarm has snoozed twice, and your team has already logged on for the day.



Keeping tabs on attendance shouldn't feel like guiding a flock of rebellious sheep. Hence, let's automate check-in and check-out notifications using the Zoho Cliq Platform Schedulers and the Zoho People API, eliminating the guesswork in attendance management and reducing the risk of errors associated with manual monitoring.

How does this solution benefit a business?

  1. Real-time reminders reduce instances of ghost check-ins and ensure accurate recording of everyone's logged hours.
  2. Essential for attendance tracking, payroll accuracy, compliance with labour laws, and audits.
  3. The entire team stays informed, fostering a cohesive workflow that eliminates the need for micromanagement.      
Pre-requisites:  

Before beginning to script the code below, we must create a connection in Cliq with Zoho People. Once a connection is created and connected, you can use it in Deluge integration tasks and invoke URL scripts to access data from the required service.

Create a Zoho People default connection with any unique name with the scopes - ZohoPeople.Attendance.ALL , ZohoPeople.forms.ALL and ZohoPeople.leave.ALL

ⓘ Document for reference : Connections in Cliq 

 

How to obtain or locate the channel unique name in Cliq?

  • Navigate to the top right corner of the channel and locate the three dots. Click it.

  • In the menu that appears, select "Channel info" and a pop-up will open, displaying detailed channel information.

Hover over the "Connectors" section and click it. Under "API Parameters," you will find the Channel ID and unique name.
We need to create two schedulers, specifically one for check-in and another for check-out.
  1. After a successful login in Cliq, hover to the top right corner and click your profile. Post clicking, navigate to Bots & Tools > Schedulers.
  2. On the right, click the "Create Scheduler" button.
  3. To learn more about schedulers and their purposes, refer to the Introduction to Schedulers.
  4. Create a scheduler using your preferred name. Specify the following details: the scheduler name and a description.  

  1. For the recurring period, choose the type "Weekly." Select Monday through Friday and set the time of execution to 11 AM or any other time that aligns with your company's check-in time, or customise the recurring period based on your specific use case.
  2. Finally, click "Save & edit code" and paste the following code.
  1. currentDate = zoho.currentdate;
  2. currentDateString = currentDate.toString("dd-MMM-yyyy");
  3. fromIndex = 1;
  4. toIndex = 200;
  5. // Get all active users
  6. users = zoho.people.getRecords("employee",fromIndex,toIndex,{},"{CONNECTION_LINK_NAME}");
  7. usersList = List();
  8. usersList.addAll(users);
  9. iterations = {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25};
  10. // Get All Employees ( 4000 MAX )
  11. if(users.size() == 200)
  12. {
  13. for each  iteration in iterations
  14. {
  15. fromIndex = fromIndex + toIndex;
  16. toIndex = toIndex + 200;
  17. users = zoho.people.getRecords("employee",fromIndex,toIndex,{},"{CONNECTION_LINK_NAME}");
  18. if(users.size() > 0 && users.size() == 200)
  19. {
  20. usersList.addAll(users);
  21. }
  22. else if(users.size() > 0 && users.size() < 200)
  23. {
  24. usersList.addAll(users);
  25. break;
  26. }
  27. else
  28. {
  29. break;
  30. }
  31. }
  32. }
  33.  
  34. // Get all the employees checkedin from the morning.
  35. getAttendenceEntries = invokeurl
  36. [
  37. url :"https://people.zoho.com/api/attendance/fetchLatestAttEntries?duration=240"
  38. type :GET
  39. connection:"{CONNECTION_LINK_NAME}"
  40. ];
  41. latestAttendanceRecords = getAttendenceEntries.get("response").get("result");
  42. checkedInUsers = List();
  43. for each  userRecord in latestAttendanceRecords
  44. {
  45. checkedInEmployeeEmail = userRecord.get("emailId");
  46. checkedInUsers.add(checkedInEmployeeEmail);
  47. }
  48.  
  49. // Get all the employees who applied for leave both approved and pending ( Remove PENDING to exclude only the leave approved employees )
  50. leaveApprovedEmployees = invokeurl
  51. [
  52. url :"https://people.zoho.com/api/v2/leavetracker/leaves/records?from=" + currentDateString + "&to=" + currentDateString + "&dateFormat=dd-MMM-yyyy&approvalStatus=[APPROVED,PENDING]"
  53. type :GET
  54. connection:"{CONNECTION_LINK_NAME}"
  55. ];
  56. info  leaveApprovedEmployees;
  57. leaveApprovedEmployeesList = List();
  58. for each  member in leaveApprovedEmployees.get("records")
  59. {
  60. leaveApprovedEmployeesList.add(member.get("EmployeeId"));
  61. }
  62. info leaveApprovedEmployeesList;
  63.  
  64.  
  65. // Add the users to yet to checkin list if they are not checked from the morning and not applied for leave
  66. usersYetToCheckIn = list();
  67. for each  user in usersList
  68. {
  69. employeeEmail = user.get("EmailID");
  70. employeeId = user.get("EmployeeID");
  71.     employeeStatus = user.get("Employeestatus");
  72. if(!checkedInUsers.contains(employeeEmail) && !leaveApprovedEmployeesList.contains(employeeId) && employeeStatus.equals("Active"))
  73. {
  74. usersYetToCheckIn.add(employeeEmail);
  75. }
  76. }
  77.  
  78. // Mention the list of users in the channel.
  79. if(usersYetToCheckIn.size() == 0)
  80. {
  81. info "No users were found yet to checked-in at 11 PM today. Great to see everyone wrapping in on time! ✅";
  82. }
  83. else
  84. {
  85. usersYetToCheckInString = "";
  86. for each  user in usersYetToCheckIn
  87. {
  88. usersYetToCheckInString = usersYetToCheckInString + "[" + user + "](mail:" + user + ") \n";
  89. }
  90. usersYetToCheckInString = usersYetToCheckInString.subString(0,usersYetToCheckInString.length() - 2);
  91. response = Map();
  92. card = Map();
  93. card.put("title","Employees who haven’t checked in yet ( " + usersYetToCheckIn.size() + " )");
  94. card.put("thumbnail","https://i.pinimg.com/originals/85/e9/f3/85e9f3f5ac31fc5aab586e208297f43d.gif");
  95. card.put("theme","modern-inline");
  96. response.put("card",card);
  97. response.put("text",usersYetToCheckInString);
  98. info zoho.cliq.postToChannel("{CHANNEL_UNIQUE_NAME}",response);
  99. }

  1. Now, let's follow the same steps and create a scheduler for checkout reminders. Under the recurring period, choose the type as "Weekly." Select Monday through Friday and set the time of execution to 7 PM or any other time that aligns with your company's checkout time, or customise the recurring period based on your specific use case.
  2. Click "Save & edit code" and paste the following code.
  1. attendanceResponse = invokeurl
  2. [
  3. url :"https://people.zoho.com/api/attendance/fetchLatestAttEntries?duration=600"
  4. type :GET
  5. connection:"{CONNECTION_LINK_NAME}"
  6. ];
  7. info attendanceResponse;
  8. todayDate = zoho.currenttime.toString("YYYY-MM-dd");
  9. latestAttendanceRecords = attendanceResponse.get("response").get("result");
  10. usersWithoutCheckout = list();
  11. if(latestAttendanceRecords.size() > 0)
  12. {
  13. for each  userRecord in latestAttendanceRecords
  14. {
  15. userEmail = userRecord.get("emailId");
  16. dailyEntries = userRecord.get("entries");
  17. for each  dailyEntry in dailyEntries
  18. {
  19. if(dailyEntry.containsKey(todayDate))
  20. {
  21. todayEntryDetails = dailyEntry.get(todayDate);
  22. attendanceLogs = todayEntryDetails.get("attEntries");
  23. for each  logEntry in attendanceLogs
  24. {
  25. if(!logEntry.containsKey("checkOutTime"))
  26. {
  27. usersWithoutCheckout.add("{@" + userEmail + "}");
  28. }
  29. }
  30. }
  31. }
  32. }
  33. }
  34. usersWithoutCheckoutString = usersWithoutCheckout.toString("\n");
  35. if(usersWithoutCheckoutString.trim().length() == 0){
  36. usersWithoutCheckoutString = "No users were found checked-in after 7 PM today. Great to see everyone wrapping up on time! ✅";
  37. }
  38. response = Map();
  39. card = Map();
  40. card.put("title","List of users who remain checked in ( " + usersWithoutCheckout.size() + " )");
  41. card.put("thumbnail","https://media.tenor.com/Hd8nLZZTPRYAAAAi/alarm-clock-alarm.gif");
  42. card.put("theme","modern-inline");
  43. response.put("card",card);
  44. response.put("text",usersWithoutCheckoutString);
  45. info zoho.cliq.postToChannel("{CHANNEL_UNIQUE_NAME}",response);

Wrapping up and checking out for the day, hopefully

Whether you're from HR, tired of chasing attendance logs, or an enthusiastic team lead trying to increase your team's visibility and adjust workload accordingly, Cliq Platform's schedulers are essential and ensure that accurate tracking is consistent and compliance is maintained. Additionally, this would be scalable to handle organizations of any size.

If attendance tracking is a binge-watchable series, what plot twist would these reminders add to your team's script? Let us know in the comments below!

    • Sticky Posts

    • Add Claude in Zoho Cliq

      Let’s add a real AI assistant powered by Claude to your workspace this week, that your team can chat with, ask questions, and act on conversations to run AI actions on. This guide walks you through exactly how to do it, step by step, with all the code

    • Automating Employee Birthday Notifications in Zoho Cliq

      Have you ever missed a birthday and felt like the office Grinch? Fear not, the Cliq Developer Platform has got your back! With Zoho Cliq's Schedulers, you can be the office party-cipant who never forgets a single cake, balloon, or awkward rendition of

    • Zoho Cliq REST APIs v3 : A complete guide to what's changed and why 

      APIs are not just consumed by a developer with numerous automations and a series of open browser tabs. They are parsed by LLMs, fed into agent pipelines, and auto-completed by AI coding assistants that have zero tolerance for inconsistency. A verb tucked

    • Cliq Bots - Post message to a bot using the command line!

      If you had read our post on how to post a message to a channel in a simple one-line command, then this sure is a piece of cake for you guys! For those of you, who are reading this for the first time, don't worry! Just read on. This post is all about how

    • Automating Real-Time Zoho Bookings Alerts in Zoho Cliq

      Enable your teams to respond in seconds by bridging the gap between booking confirmation and team notification. No sticky notes, no calendar nudges and no follow-up frenzies. For businesses that rely on scheduled appointments, real-time visibility is

    Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


      • Recent Topics

      • Cliq iOS can't see shared screen

        Hello, I had this morning a video call with a colleague. She is using Cliq Desktop MacOS and wanted to share her screen with me. I'm on iPad. I noticed, while she shared her screen, I could only see her video, but not the shared screen... Does Cliq iOS is able to display shared screen, or is it somewhere else to be found ? Regards

      • Displaying only unread tickets in ticket view

        Hello, I was wondering if someone might be able to help me with this one. We use filters to display our ticket list, typically using a saved filter which displays the tickets which are overdue or due today. What I'd really like is another filter that

      • How can I filter inactive/disable agent tickets?

        Hello, We have an user-agent that left the company and we inactive/disabled his agent. So, now I can no longer filter or search tickets that he is the current owner, or even create a rule to reassign tickets to another person when the ticket is reopen.

      • How do i move multiple tickets to a different department?

        Hello, i have several tickets that have been assigned to the wrong department.  I am talking about hundreds of automatically generated ones that come from a separate system. How can i select them all at once to move them to another department in one go? I can select them in "unsassigned open tickets view" but i can't find a "move to another department" option. I also can't seem to assign multiple tickets to the same agent in that same view. Could somebody advice?

      • Remove Due Date from Statements

        Is it possible to remove the Due Date on the Invoice transation line on statements? I have figured work arounds to get the Invoice detail on the Statement but cannot work out haw to simplify the stament by removing the "- due on xx/xx/2026" - it really

      • Add Reauthentication Option for Zoho Bug Tracker Integration in Zoho Desk

        Hello Zoho Desk Team, We hope you're doing well. We would like to request an enhancement to the Zoho Bug Tracker integration within Zoho Desk. Current Limitation: At the moment, there is no option to reauthenticate the Zoho Bug Tracker integration in

      • Dashboards for Customers

        Is it possible to build dashboards for each customers in the community for their tickets?

      • Create Package From A Picklist

        Dear Zoho, Can it be made possible to create a package from a picklist? The reason our company makes a picklist is for that to become a package Our sales orders have 600-1000 items I hope that makes it clear that it's hard to delete 990 items when we

      • Migrating from Zoho Checkout to Zoho Billing

        I have an active Zoho Checkout account where I'm charging customers for subscriptions. Now I'm looking to upgrade and only use Zoho BIlling, in which my account in on read only mode at the moment. I can see is also tracking the customers and its payments.

      • API - Bank Accounts | Reconciliation Discrepancy

        Unless I'm reading it wrong, the documentation for the Bank Reconciliations API is inconsistent with itself. https://www.zoho.com/books/api/v3/bank-accounts/#create-a-bank-reconciliation The text definition says that the transaction_id should be a string,

      • another little issue

        So to get over showing prices with VAT we used the price lists and made the prices inclusive. The problem is now on the items it wants to show the orginal retail value which makes no sense. Ideas please

      • Handle Leading Zeros in a Number Field

        Hi, If I use a Number Field, set with Min 7 Digits and Max 7 Digits, and enter 0000001, it will result in 1 and an error as it removes the leading zeros, the same with entering 0012340 will result in 12340 and error. So I have to use a Text Field and

      • can't access zoho account

        I can't log in to my zoho account, can you help me

      • HTML PDF Templates / Build From Scratch option not visible for Custom Modules

        Hi everyone, I am working with Zoho Books Custom Modules and trying to create a custom 4x4 package label PDF template using HTML/CSS. According to the official Zoho Books documentation for HTML PDF Templates, there should be an option like: Settings →

      • Virtual Option for Fields

        Hi, I would like to be able to choose another option other than Read-Only or Disabled, such as Virtual. And with Virtual, the field is shown on the form and avilable in rules, but NOT saved to the Database. A use case is having multiple Large Lists of

      • Prefix & Suffix on Single Line, Number, etc.

        Hi, I would like to have the same Prefix and Suffix that was added to the Unique ID on Text and Number Fields. Use case could be as basic as temperature, as per another Idea I have to use Single Line (Text) for a number that might have leading zeros today,

      • Customer User Fields for use in Rules

        Hi, I would like to be able to add custom fields to the users, such as Department or Role, which can then be used in Rules, Reports, etc. as a condition. A use case is limiting Global lists or Choices based on the users Custom Field, so one form can be

      • Locked out of MFA due to changing phones

        I have been locked out of my Zoho Books account since i changed my mobile phone over. I can get the OTP through the ZOHO Books software but i cant confirm using my phone app as nothing appears to authorise. I need to know how to register/set up my new

      • 👍 Zoho CRM's Notes now gets Reactions and a new look

        Available in SA and JP DCs. Rolling out to other DCs in phases. Hello everyone, Notes help users capture important updates, collaborate with teammates, and maintain context for records. Now with Note Reactions, users can quickly acknowledge updates, express

      • All new Address Field in Zoho CRM: maintain structured and accurate address inputs

        Availability Update: 29 September 2025: It's currently available for all new sign-ups and for existing Zoho CRM orgs which are in the Professional edition exclusively for IN DC users. 2 March 2026: Available to users in all DCs except US and EU DC. 24

      • Zoho books and venmo

        Hi, Is there a way to hook Venmo into zoho books? I have a Venmo business account and want to be able to sync that. I know you can do it with the paypal integration but I dont want to use paypal for the fees and that doesnt allow me use/integrate my current

      • Updating Unit Code for New Item Creation, Quote and Invoicing is so inconvenient

        The Zoho Team has implemented many updates, but these updates should be optional. Before rolling out any new feature, they should already have a solution in place that allows users to remove or disable it if they choose not to use it. Just yesterday,

      • Payroll needs to automatically remit taxes, not just give me the calculations

        Wagepoint, PayEvo, Waveapps, etc... All your competitors deposit employee payroll, but they ALSO remit taxes automatically. Get with the program, your Payroll app is extremely sparse.

      • Creating new Teams meeting from CRM doesn't enable Team functions in the meeting

        Hi I'm trying to set up the meeting integration and I've seen that when I create a Meeting in the CRM and set the location to Online and the Provider to Teams, and complete the boxes, add a participant etc, whilst the meeting is created in Teams, the

      • Approval Process configuration is now more flexible and fully customizable

        The Approval Process is back with an improved user experience designed to make it easier to build structured, flexible, and intuitive approval workflows. Here’s a look at some of the key enhancements: Name Your Rules & Stages You can now give each approval

      • Admin Logging in as another User

        How can a Super Admin login as another user. For example, I have a sales rep that is having issues with their Accounts and I want to view their Zoho Account with out having to do a GTM and sharing screens. Latest Update (27th April 2026): With the early

      • Introducing Approval SLA for Approval Processes

        Approvals can sometimes be delayed when approvers do not respond within the expected timeframe, which can slow down your recruitment processes. With the new Approval SLA in Zoho Recruit, you can set deadlines for approval requests and define automated

      • Introducing Microsoft Word Integration in Zoho Contracts

        We are excited to announce a new feature that brings contract authoring and negotiation in your familiar environment — the Microsoft Word Integration. What This Integration Brings The Microsoft Word Integration connects Zoho Contracts with the Microsoft

      • Map My Client Locations for Zoho CRM Extension: Turn CRM Addresses Into Action

        Hello everyone, Your CRM knows who your customers are. Now, see where they are on the interactive map directly from Zoho CRM. Introducing Map My Client Locations for Zoho CRM, an extension built for businesses that rely on sales visits, field service,

      • Scheduled and Automated Report Delivery from Zoho Projects

        Zoho Projects has useful reports including task reports, timesheet summaries, and workload charts. However, there is currently no way to schedule these reports to be automatically delivered to stakeholders on a recurring basis. This means: Project managers

      • Collaborate Visually with Whiteboard in Zoho Projects

        Whiteboard in Zoho Projects allows you to collaborate visually by creating diagrams, annotating designs, and sketching project workflows using shapes, text, and images within project modules. Team members can work simultaneously, improving productivity

      • Fields in MS-Word Template

        With the new MS-Word integration, how does one create fields in an imported MS-Word document which can then automatically be populated with an Intake Form?

      • Zoho Bookings Flow Step not Triggering on Appointment booked

        I noticed yesterday that my appointment booked flows were not triggering when we had booked appointments in Zoho Bookings. I checked the trigger and noticed the trigger values updated to be defined to a workspace and service event rather than our whole

      • UCP: Why We Killed the Multi-Portal Mess and Simplified Customer Self-Service

        Let's talk about the multi-portal mess nobody wants to admit that it exists. Your customer needs an invoice from one app, wants a ticket update from another, and has a project waiting in a third, each behind its own login, its own UI, its own "was it

      • Zoho Tables is now available in Zoho One!

        Hello Zoho One users, We’re excited to announce that Zoho Tables is now included as a part of Zoho One suite! As teams grow, managing projects, approvals, inventories, campaign trackers, and operational workflows across multiple spreadsheets become difficult.

      • Zoho Publish is now available in Zoho One!

        Hello Zoho One users, We’re excited to announce that Zoho Publish is now included as part of the Zoho One suite! As businesses grow, managing Google Business Profiles across many locations becomes challenging. Business information needs to stay accurate,

      • 📣 Ask the team behind Zoho SalesIQ: Summer '26 Q&A

        Hi everyone! Following our recent webinars, Summer '26 Release: What's New in Zoho SalesIQ—where we walked you through all the new features, what they do, and how they work—and Driving the AI Evolution: Building Smarter Customer Experiences with Zoho

      • Upcoming update to field values in Zoho Books - Zoho Analytics integration

        Hello Users, We'd like to inform you of an upcoming update to the tax_category values in the Zoho Books integration for Zoho Analytics from October 20, 2026. What's Changing? tax_category field values are being renamed to align with the conventions already

      • Announcing the new SKILL.md for Zoho CRM and the updated OAS repository!

        We are introducing a new zoho-crm skill to make working with Zoho CRM Developer tools (like APIs, functions, widgets, client scripts, queries etc) easier and faster, with the help of AI in your preferred AI harness like Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, VSCode

      • Kaizen #259 - Working with Zoho CRM APIs using zoho-crm skill

        In the previous Kaizen, we introduced the zoho-crm skill and discussed how it can work with different CRM developer capabilities. The zoho-crm skill makes it easier to work with Zoho CRM without having to remember every API endpoint, request structure,

      • Next Page