Autovella has two ways to automate attendance. Office IP detection compares the IP address of each in-app check-in with your saved list and marks the day Present or Remote. Biometric integration lets a fingerprint reader or time clock send punches to Autovella using an Attendance Only API key. Both are set up by an administrator under Setup.
In this guide
What should I know before setting up attendance automation?How do I set up office IP detection (Present vs Remote)?Why is everyone marked Remote, or the wrong people marked Present?How do I create an API key for a biometric device?How do biometric punches work?What is the best way to roll this out?Frequently asked questions
What should I know before setting up attendance automation?
Day-to-day checking in and out, the attendance statuses and manual records are covered in Time Off, Holidays and Attendance. This guide goes further into the admin setup and what to do when results are not what you expect.
Keep these points in mind:
- You need access to company settings. The Attendance page under Setup → Company Settings and the API Keys page under Setup → Customization are administrator tools.
- IP detection and biometric punches are independent. Each can be used without the other.
- IP detection only judges check-ins made inside Autovella (in a browser or the app). It does not apply to punches that arrive from a biometric device.
How do I set up office IP detection (Present vs Remote)?
- From the avatar menu choose Setup, then under Company Settings open Attendance. The page is titled Office IP Addresses.
- Read the line that says Your current IP. If you are connected to the office network right now, click Add this IP to add and save it in one step.
- Or type addresses into Office IPs (one per line). Enter exact IPv4 or IPv6 addresses only. Ranges such as 203.0.113.0/24 are not supported.
- Click Save. You will see how many IPs were saved. Autovella checks the shape of each entry and tells you if one is Not a valid IP.
From then on, when someone checks in, Autovella compares their IP with your list. A match marks the day Present; anything else marks it Remote. Clear the list and save to switch detection off, and the page confirms Cleared - IP detection off.
What detection will and will not change
- It acts on the check-in punch, which is where the person was when they started or resumed work.
- It only switches between Present and Remote. Statuses chosen by hand, such as On Leave, Half Day, Late and Absent, are left alone.
- The list belongs to your organization only.
Use your public IP. Autovella sees the public address your network presents to the internet, not the 192.168.x.x style address of a laptop. The Your current IP line shows the address Autovella actually sees, so it is the safest value to copy.
Why is everyone marked Remote, or the wrong people marked Present?
- Everyone is Remote. The saved address does not match what Autovella sees. Open Setup → Attendance while on the office network and compare Your current IP with your list. Internet providers sometimes change an office address, so you may need to add the new one.
- Staff on a VPN look Remote. Their traffic leaves from the VPN's address. Add the VPN exit address if you want it treated as the office.
- A second office or branch. Add its address on its own line. Several addresses are allowed.
- Someone is Present from home. Check whether the list holds a shared or home address by mistake. Remove it and save.
- No change at all. If the list is empty, detection is off and statuses stay as entered.
If a status is simply wrong for one day, an administrator can open the record on the Attendance page and edit the status. See Time Off, Holidays and Attendance.
Automate attendance for your team
Add your office IPs or connect a biometric reader and let Autovella track who is in and who is remote.
How do I create an API key for a biometric device?
- Open Setup, then under Customization choose API Keys.
- Click Create Key.
- Enter a Name such as Office Biometric Scanner.
- Leave Scope on Attendance Only. The other scopes (Timesheets Only, Projects & Tasks Only, All) give a device far more access than it needs.
- Optionally set Expires On, then click Create.
- Copy the key immediately. A box titled API Key Created shows it once, and it cannot be shown again. Keys start with
pk_.
The list then shows each key's name, an Active or Revoked badge, its scope, the last characters of the key, when it was last used and when it expires. Use the pause button to deactivate a key and the play button to reactivate it. The bin deletes it. A deactivated, deleted or expired key stops working immediately.
Give the key to whoever configures the device, or to your device vendor. Treat it like a password. For general key handling and other scopes see Using the Autovella API.
How do biometric punches work?
The same API Keys page includes a Biometric Integration API reference for your integrator. The device or its software sends the key in an X-API-Key header and identifies each person by their email address or user ID, which must match an active Autovella user.
- punch works out in or out for you. The first punch of the day is a check-in, the next is a check-out, and later punches update the check-out time, so the latest punch wins.
- check-in and check-out are explicit. A second check-in on the same day is refused with Already checked in for this date, and a check-out with no check-in is refused with No check-in found for this date. Check in first.
- status returns today's attendance for one employee.
- bulk-punch uploads many events at once, up to 500 per request. Each can say
in,outor leave the type automatic, which suits devices that store punches and upload them in batches. The reply lists which punches were processed and which failed and why.
Each call can include a timestamp, a deviceId and notes. The device ID is added to the record's notes as [Device: ...], which helps when you run several readers. Hours worked are calculated from the first check-in to the last check-out.
Common errors. Employee not found usually means the email or ID does not match a user. Employee is inactive means the person has been deactivated. A 403 mentioning scope means the key is not an Attendance key.
What is the best way to roll this out?
- Start with IP detection alone. It needs no hardware and shows results the same day.
- Create one key per device or site, named clearly, so you can revoke one without affecting the rest.
- Make sure each person's email in the device matches their Autovella email.
- Review the Attendance list after the first day to confirm punches landed as expected.
- Pair attendance with timesheets and approvals. See Time Tracking and Timesheets.
Frequently asked questions
No. The Office IPs list accepts exact IPv4 or IPv6 addresses, one per line. Add each address you need on its own line.
No. It only switches between Present and Remote. Statuses such as On Leave, Half Day, Late and Absent are never overwritten.
Attendance Only. It lets the device send and read attendance and nothing else, which limits the damage if the key is ever exposed.
No. The full key is shown once, when you create it. Create a new key, update the device and delete the old one.
Up to 500 with bulk-punch. Larger batches must be split into several requests.
No. IP matching only runs when someone checks in from within Autovella. Punches from a device create or update the attendance record as Present.