Refinar

Attendance management system
your own, with clock in from any phone

Staff clock in and out from their phone, managers see who is in, late or on leave, corrections keep the original punch, and the month's hours export to CSV and PDF. Start from a working app and describe your own rules.

Start your attendance app

What it starts from

This page starts the Time clock starting point: a complete app for clocking in, leave and the weekly rota. Attendance is its core, so most of what you need runs on day one. The pre-filled request adds the rules that differ from company to company.

Already in the starting point

  • Clock in and out from a phone in one tap, with an optional typed location note.
  • Who is in now, who has clocked out and who is on leave today.
  • Corrections added by a manager with a required reason; the original punch is never edited or deleted.
  • A monthly timesheet per person: worked hours against contracted weekly hours, and overtime.
  • Leave requests with approve and reject, and a weekly rota.
  • Roles for admin, manager, employee and viewer, and staff imported from Excel or CSV.

What the first request asks Refinar to add

  • A late mark after a grace period you choose, and a half day below a number of hours.
  • Departments, each with its own manager who sees only their people.
  • A monthly attendance sheet with present, absent, late and leave days per person.
  • Change any of it in the request box before you start: shifts, a second office, a different grace period.

What attendance looks like in the app

Clock in from the phone in your pocket

No device to buy. Each person signs in with their own account and taps once to clock in or out; the app shows how long they have been in today.

Who is in, late or on leave

One screen for the manager: who is working now, who has left, who has not clocked in yet and who is on approved leave.

Corrections that keep the record honest

A forgotten clock out is added by a manager with a reason, and a double punch is removed by a new row that points at it. The original stays in the history.

The month in one sheet

Hours per day, totals against each person's contracted week and overtime, as CSV for a spreadsheet or a PDF timesheet with signature lines.

Leave and the rota in the same place

Approved leave shows on the attendance screens and the rota, so an absence on leave is never counted as a missed day.

Access by role

Employees see their own punches and timesheet. Managers see everyone. A viewer role lets an accountant read and export without changing anything.

The tables behind it

Real Postgres tables you own. The solid ones come with the starting point; the dashed ones are what the pre-filled request adds.

employees

In the starting point
  • id
  • name, email, position
  • weekly_hours
  • annual_leave_days
  • active
  • user_id → user
  • department_id → departments (added)

punches

In the starting point
  • id
  • employee_id → employees
  • seq
  • kind: in | out
  • at (timestamp)
  • source: clock | correction
  • voids → punches
  • reason, location_note

Append only: the database refuses updates, so a correction is always a new row.

workplace_settings

In the starting point
  • time_zone
  • work_days
  • weekly_hours
  • annual_leave_days
  • ask_location

leave_requests

In the starting point
  • id
  • employee_id → employees
  • type
  • start_date, end_date, days
  • status
  • decided_by, decided_at

departments

Added by your first request
  • id
  • name
  • manager_id → employees

attendance_rules

Added by your first request
  • grace_minutes
  • half_day_under_hours
  • applies_to → departments

How it works in 3 steps

  1. 01

    Start from this page

    Press Start your attendance app. The Time clock starting point is picked and your first request is written for you, ready to edit.

  2. 02

    Your app runs in about a minute

    Refinar creates the app with sign-in, the screens above and a real database, then adds what your request asks for, in a live preview you can click through.

  3. 03

    Change it by describing it, then launch

    Ask for more in plain sentences: night shifts, a second office, a weekly report. When it is ready, press Go live: the code and the database are yours and the app is hosted on Refinar.

What it does not do

There is no fingerprint reader, face check, GPS or geofencing, and no shared kiosk with PIN codes. Each person clocks in on their own phone or computer, and the location is a note they type when you turn it on.

It is an internal attendance register, not a certified time recording system, and it does not run payroll. The monthly CSV is what you hand to whoever does. Public holidays and break rules are not built in; ask for them if your company needs them.

Questions

What is an attendance management system?

Software that records when each person starts and stops work, shows who is in, late or absent, and adds it up per month for payroll and reports. Most also handle leave, so an approved day off is not counted as an absence.

Can staff mark attendance from their phone?

Yes. The app works in the phone's browser: each person signs in with their own account and taps to clock in or out. Nothing to install, and no device to buy.

Does it work with a biometric machine?

Not out of the box. Many machines export a CSV of punches; you can ask Refinar to add an import for that file. Face recognition and GPS check-in are not part of the app.

Does it calculate overtime?

It compares hours worked with each person's contracted weekly hours and shows the difference per month. Overtime pay rates and payroll are not in it; export the hours for your payroll.

Is this for student attendance too?

This page is for staff. For a class register with parents, start from the School starting point instead. Building an attendance app as a college project? See the final-year project ideas.

How much does it cost?

Building the app and changing it use credits from your Refinar plan, and hosting is part of going live. There is no fee per employee. The details are on the pricing page.

More starting points

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