The time log and biometric files

The Time log shows every clock-in and clock-out, from the employee portal and from your biometric devices. This guide shows how to read a day's punches and import your time clock's file.

Before you start

• Owner / Management users and payroll officers can import files. HR admins and payroll approvers can see the log.
• Each employee's number in the device must match their employee number in Sahora.

See a day's punches

1. Open Time log. The card Punches on shows today.
2. Use Previous day and Next day, or pick a date and click Show.
3. Each employee's punches are listed in Manila time, with In or Out and where the punch came from: portal, device or correction.

Badges show what needs a look, such as away from branch or no location. Portal punches marked for review show their status (for example Flagged) and are decided on Clock-in review; see Reviewing clock-ins.

Punches can't be edited. A missed or wrong punch is fixed through a correction request; see Missing punches and corrections.

Import a file from your biometric device

1. Export the attendance records (the raw logs, not a summary or daily report) from the device or its program.
2. On Time log, go to Import from a biometric device.
3. Under Program or device, keep Auto-detect (recommended) or choose your program. The text under the list says how to export from it.
4. Click Choose the device's file and pick the file (.xlsx, .xls, .csv, .txt or .dat).
5. Click Check file. Nothing is saved yet.
6. Read the result. Each row shows New, Already on file, Duplicate (kept, not counted) or Error. Use All rows, Errors and Warnings to filter the list.
7. If all is well, click the import button (for example Import 245 punches).

Sahora reads files from these programs: ZKTeco (the USB attlog.dat file, ZKTime 5.0 and ZKBio Time), Hikvision, Anviz CrossChex, FingerTec TCMS, Suprema BioStar 2 and eSSL eTimeTrackLite. Any other program works too if its file has a header row with the employee number and the date and time: choose Generic CSV or Excel (header row).

If Sahora doesn't find the columns

1. Click Choose the columns myself and pick the employee number, date and time columns.
2. Click Check file again.
3. To use the same columns next time, type a name under "Save these columns and settings for files like this one" and click Save mapping. A file with the same column names then uses it by itself.

Find the columns automatically goes back to Sahora's own reading.

What can go wrong

• "Fix the … errors first; nothing is imported while any remain." Click Download the problems (CSV), fix the rows in the device's file, then check it again.
• "Every punch in the file is already on file." The file was imported before. Uploading a file again is safe: punches already on file are skipped.
• The dates look wrong. Choose the Date order (month first or day first). If the file doesn't show it, Sahora asks you to confirm an example date; tick the box and check again.
• In and out look swapped. For a ZKTeco attlog.dat file, choose which field holds the punch state on the check screen. For other files, Sahora may ask what each punch state means.
• Employee numbers don't match because the device drops leading zeros. Tick Match numbers without leading zeros (42 = 0042).
• You imported the wrong file. Open that day and click Remove this day's imported punches. Punches made in the employee portal stay.

Good to know

• If two devices record the same punch within a few minutes, the second is kept but not counted. Owners set those minutes, and the default date order for files, under Company setup → Timekeeping.
• No device? Use the Sahora timesheet template from the same card (see Importing your data).
• Imported punches become attendance when you use the time log's totals for a pay period. See Attendance for a pay period.