One punch point where the signal is
On a 300-acre site the crews may work two kilometres from the site office, but they all pass it at the start and end of the day. Put a kiosk tablet there, tied to the site's check-in spot, with the optional location check switched on. The tablet's QR code refreshes twice a minute; each worker scans it with the ZeniaHR app, or types the short code printed beneath it if the phone camera is poor. A biometric reader at the camp gate that sends its punches over ADMS feeds the same record.
- Kiosk at the site office for construction crews
- Biometric at the camp or plant gate where power and network allow
- App punch with location for rooftop teams at each customer's roof
- HR-recorded punch, with a reason, for one-off failures
When the network fails: the muster fallback
On 12 May the tower serving a site near Khavda goes down from 6 am to 2 pm. The kiosk cannot reach the server, so the site in-charge falls back to the paper muster: each worker signs in and out against the time. That evening the in-charge sends a photo of the sheet, and HR keys it into an Excel sheet and loads it through Excel attendance import, into the same punch stream as the kiosk. If the same person later punches at the kiosk within a minute of an imported time, the duplicate is dropped. Keep the signed musters on file for the month; they are your proof if a worker disputes a day.
Rooftop crews, travel days and liaison visits
Rooftop installers in Pune or Surat work on a different roof most weeks, so they punch from the app when they reach the site, and each punch stores where the phone stood when it was made; the app records nothing in between. Engineers travelling from Jaipur to a Bhadla site, or returning home on a leave break, mark the travel days as on duty, and so does the liaison officer who spends a day at the DISCOM office chasing a connectivity approval. The site in-charge approves, then HR.
Summer timings and the month close
From April to June many sites stop heavy work in the midday heat and run a split day, for example 6 am to 11 am and 3:30 pm to 6:30 pm, which is eight hours of work. Set it up as a split shift so lateness is judged against each window. Before month close, the site in-charge scans the month's absences, department by department, in attendance analytics, and any penalty caused by a sandstorm or a heat alert is waived with a written reason. After that, HR locks the month so payroll works from final figures.
How to set it up in ZeniaHR
- Add every project site and operating plant as a location, mark a check-in spot at its site office, and keep construction and O&M in separate departments.
- Install a kiosk tablet at each site office, tied to the site's check-in spot, with the optional location check on.
- Agree the muster fallback with every site in-charge, and use Excel attendance import to bring signed musters into the punch stream the same day.
- Define the summer split shift for construction crews, and switch on attendance rules with grace and a no punch-out rule after a dry run.
- Ask rooftop crews to punch from the app at each roof, and record travel and liaison days as on duty requests.
- Close the month only after each site in-charge has reviewed absences and waived weather-related penalties with reasons.
Read more about attendance in ZeniaHR.
Roles this applies to
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How do solar companies take attendance where the mobile network is weak?
Put a kiosk tablet at the site office, where the signal is usually best, and have crews punch there with the mobile app. On days the network fails, the site in-charge keeps a signed paper muster, and HR brings it into the same record through Excel attendance import, so payroll still reads one attendance source.
Can site workers punch attendance on a shared kiosk tablet?
Yes. The tablet displays a QR code that is replaced every half minute, so a photo of it is useless later. Each worker scans it with the ZeniaHR app on their own phone, or keys in the code displayed under it. The kiosk can be tied to the site's check-in spot, with an optional location check.
How are travel days to a remote site recorded?
As on duty days. For each day on the road the employee files an on duty request, with the ticket or trip details, and the site in-charge and HR approve it. Travel days then count as worked days rather than leave, which is fair to people who spend two days reaching a site in the desert.