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Access control answers the question “should this person be let in?”, while time and attendance answers “how long did this person work?”. Both are often handled by the same reader and the same card, which is why they get confused. But they have different purposes, so they differ in their data, the consequences of an error and the legal requirements.
How access control differs from time and attendance
| Access control | Time and attendance | |
|---|---|---|
| Question | can this person come in here | how long did they work |
| When the decision is made | immediately, at the door | when the period is settled |
| Consequence of an error | someone isn’t let in, or is | a mistake in pay |
| Data | passage events | working time, overtime, absences |
| Who uses it | security, the administrator | HR, payroll, the employee |
Not every passage through a door is the start of work. An employee pops out for a cigarette, moves between halls, goes back for their phone. Access control records each of these events, and time and attendance has to derive a sensible picture of the day from them.
Why time and attendance needs its own rules
Not all passages matter for working time, so you need to specify which points count as clocking in and out and which are internal movement. Events can also be incomplete: an entry with no exit happens every day. Access control can ignore that; working time settlement can’t.
On top of that, settlement has its own rules: rounding, tolerances, shifts that run past midnight and overtime. Access control has no such logic and doesn’t need it.
A shift running past midnight is the classic point where a simplified approach breaks. A shift from 22:00 to 06:00 doesn’t fit into one calendar day and needs an explicit rule.
Questions to ask a time and attendance supplier before buying
Ask the supplier:
- Can you specify which points count towards working time? If not, you get raw events instead of a settlement.
- How are shifts that run past midnight handled?
- What happens to an entry with no exit? The answer “nothing” means the problem lands on HR.
- Who has access to working time data? It is a different group of people from access control, and it should be possible to separate them with permissions.
Time and attendance and access control in TraxSystem
In TraxSystem access control and time and attendance are two separate modules, although they use the same cards and readers. Access control is responsible for the decision at the door, and time and attendance does the settlement according to the configured policy and schedules, including for shifts that run past midnight. Permissions are separate, so access to working time data can be limited to HR without giving it to security.
On the price list they are two items. The People access control module has a reader limit, and the Time and attendance module, which requires access control, has an employee limit. Both limits grow with the size of the base package, so a plant that takes both modules pays for two items plus the base. You can price both modules together on the pricing page.
Time and attendance and the HR and payroll system
Time and attendance in TraxSystem is not an HR and payroll system: it doesn’t manage contracts, leave or pay calculation. It provides working time records, and the rest of the settlement happens in your HR system. There are no biometrics in the system; identification is by card.
Working time data is employee data. Agree its scope, purpose and retention period with the person responsible for data protection; in many companies this also needs agreement with the employee representatives.
Questions and answers
Can we buy time and attendance on its own, without access control?
No. Time and attendance relies on events from the readers, so the access control module is required.
Can employees see their own hours?
That depends on the permissions granted, because they set the visibility scope. So what an employee sees is decided by how you organise the work.
Does the system export data to the HR software?
Yes, the data can be exported. There is no ready-made connector for any particular HR system, so an integration is a separate project.
See also: How many people are on site right now? · Vehicle entry control at a manufacturing plant: where to start