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How to Create a Notification or Alert for Missed In Punches
How to Create a Notification or Alert for Missed In Punches

Alerts send notifications when exception rules are triggered.

Jeffrey Mo avatar
Written by Jeffrey Mo
Updated over a week ago

To notify you when exceptions occur (for example, when an employee punches in late or early or when an employee takes a long break), you can set up a notification (the simpler method). Alternatively, you can set up an alert policy along with a scheduled task.


Send notifications when employees do not clock in or out

  1. Log in to Fingercheck as an Administrator or Supervisor (with scheduling permissions).

  2. Click the SCHEDULE tab.

  3. Click the Notifications icon in the upper-right of the SCHEDULE tab.

  4. In the Notifications Settings pop-up window, complete the options you want to set.

    The two Supervisor settings allow you to have notifications sent to the supervisor when an employee does not clock in or out before or after a specified time.

  5. Click Save.


How alerts are built

Alerts are related to other functions in Fingercheck, so you must strategically think about the following policies and system settings when creating alerts. When building an alert, build these items:

  • Schedule policy: Your company might have a regular schedule, such as 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Set schedules for each day of the work week as rules in your Schedule policy.

    A basic schedule policy requires only a Start Time and End Time. An example alert you might set is to see when an employee punches out early. In your Schedule policy’s rule, enter 15 in the Out Start Minute Window field. Then, when an employee punches out at 5:55 instead of 6:00, the rule is triggered. If they punch out even earlier than the 15 minutes (for example, 5:40), the rule is not triggered. For more information, see How to Create a Schedule Policy.

  • Exception policy: Exceptions are like alerts, but they simply display a flag on a timecard. For example, if you create an InLate exception, when the employee punches in late, the Code you entered for the Exception will appear on the employee’s timecard. For more information, see How to Set up an Exception Policy for Missed Punches and How to Create Long/Short Break Exceptions.

  • Alert policy: An alert notifies the appropriate people through an email, text, or Fingercheck app notification and is an extension of an Exception policy. You must configure Alert rules within the Alert policy to set when the alerts are triggered.

    Many alert rules are self-explanatory, but if you select InLate for the Alert Type, you will notice that 15 is entered the MinutesPassedSchedule field. (We recommend leaving the field set at 15.) This field is asking for the number of minutes within which you want the alert triggered. For example, if you enter 15 and the scheduled time to punch in is 9:00. You will receive alerts until 9:15 each employee punches in late. The alert will continue to send you reminders until 9:15. If you enter 120, you will receive alerts for employees who punched in late for 120 minutes (until 11:00). Even if only one employee punched in late, you will receive the same reminder for the duration of the time in the MinutesPassedSchedule field.

  • Scheduled Task: Lastly, you must create a scheduled task, which includes actions and triggers.


Create an alert for missed In punches

  1. Log in to your Fingercheck account as an Administrator.

  2. Set up a Schedule that outlines your employee’ hours.
    See How to Create a Schedule Policy.

  3. Create a Missed Punch Exception policy.
    See How to Set up an Exception Policy for Missed Punches.

  4. Set up an Alert Policy.
    See How to set up an Alert Policy below.

  5. Set up a Scheduled Task.
    See How to create a Scheduled Task below.

Set up an alert policy

  1. Log in to your Fingercheck account as an Administrator.

  2. Click the SETUP tab > Policies > Alert Policies.

  3. Click Add.

  4. Enter a Code and Description that labels the alert.

  5. From the Action Type drop-down list, select what action you would like for notifications. The options are:

    • Email

    • Text

    • Phone (not used)

    • All

    • Notification

  6. (If you selected Text or All) In the Phone field, enter the phone number to notify.

  7. In the Email field, enter the email addresses to notify. Separate multiple addresses with a comma.

  8. In the Push Notification User Selection section, enter the users you want to notify by push notifications via the mobile app in the Selected Users column.

  9. Set up an alert rule:

    1. Scroll down to the Alert Rules section, click Add.

      The Edit Alert Rule pop-up window appears.

    2. From the Alert Type drop-down list, select NoPunch - Notify if Employee Didn't Punch.

    3. Select the Enabled checkbox.

    4. In the MinutesPassedSchedule field, leave 15 in the field to designate 15 minutes as the time frame during which you want the alert to trigger after the actual infraction has occurred.
      For example, if your employee is supposed to punch in at 2:00 PM, 15 limits the alert to trigger only until 2:15 p.m.

    5. (Optional) Select any of the following options to notify your employees of a missed punch:

      • NotifyEmployeeByEmail

      • NotifyEmployeeByText

      • NotifyEmployeeByPush

    6. (Optional) In the NotifyEmployeeMessage field, enter the message that should appear if you selected a NotifyEmployeeBy option.
      For example, you might write, “Notify your supervisor/HR for any missed punches.”

  10. Click Save at the bottom of the Alert Policy window.

Create a scheduled task

  1. Click the SETUP tab > System > Scheduled Tasks.

  2. Click Add.

  3. Enter a Code and Description that labels the scheduled task.
    You can leave the remaining fields as is.

  4. Add a task action:

    1. In the Task Actions section, click Add.

    2. From the Job Actions drop-down list, select AUMP - Automatic Missed Punch.

    3. Leave the Sequence field as is.

    4. Click Apply.

  5. Add a task trigger:

    1. Scroll down to the Task Triggers section, and click Add.
      The Job Trigger pop-up window appears.

    2. In the Start Date field, enter today's date.

    3. In the End Date field, enter 12/31/2099 (or a date that is far into the future to ensure that the trigger keeps running).

    4. In the Time field, enter the time when the alert should trigger.
      For example, if the punch is set to 4:30 p.m. with a 30-minute window, enter 5:00 p.m.

    5. From the Trigger Type drop-down list, select Daily.

    6. In the Days field, enter 1 to designate every day.

    7. Click Apply.

  6. Click Save at the bottom of the Scheduled Task window.


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