Attendance check-in

The schedule says who was meant to be there. Attendance says who actually was. In between sit the late arrivals, the last-minute drop-outs and the volunteers who stay two hours longer, and that is exactly what an organiser wants to know during the event, not after it.

The badge you already print is enough

A manager scans the QR code on the badge with their phone: the attendance screen opens on the volunteer's name and their shifts around that time, with one button per shift. One tap, and the arrival is recorded. On the way out, the same screen offers the opposite button.

Nothing to reprint and nothing to install: the QR code on badges already identifies the volunteer, and it now leads to attendance before perks. With no badge to hand, the shift page carries the same buttons, row by row.

Who is at their post, live

The shift page shows three states, and only three: at their post, left, and expected for a volunteer whose shift has started with nobody checking them in. The count of volunteers currently on duty sits at the top. That is what a team manager looks at when their position opens: who is missing, right now, and who to call.

The schedule view in live mode carries the same information across the whole grid: the entire event, position by position, as it stands.

Hours worked, beside hours planned

The volunteer list gains a sortable Hours worked column, next to the planned hours. The two figures side by side say what matters with no report to build: who gave more than expected, and who did not turn up.

The count starts at the actual arrival, not the planned time: a volunteer who arrived half an hour early gave that half hour. A departure nobody recorded stops at the end of the shift. And an assignment nobody checked in stays empty, never zero: we do not know is not the same thing as absent.

What it changes during the event

A gap shows while it can still be fixed: a position nobody turned up to is spotted on the hour, not at the debrief.
Perks follow reality: you know who was there before handing out the meals and the drinks.
The report writes itself: at the end, the hours are in the volunteer list, ready to export with the rest.
Mistakes are reversible: a wrong scan is cancelled, and attendance on that assignment starts over.

What we do not do

No valuation of hours: no hourly rate, no tax receipt for donated time, no statement ready to attach to a funding application. If your funder expects a valued-hours report, a permanent-programme product is what you need, and we would rather tell you here. No geofencing either: we do not check that the phone recording the arrival is actually on site.

Attendance is off by default and is turned on in the event settings. An event that leaves it off never sees an extra button.

Frequently asked questions

Can volunteers check themselves in?

No, and that is the point. Checking in is a manager's act: a badge scanned from home is a declaration, not a presence. The volunteer sees their own attendance on their page but does not record it, and every arrival keeps the name of whoever recorded it.

Do badges have to be reprinted?

No. The QR code already printed identifies the volunteer; it simply opens the attendance screen when the event records attendance, and the perks screen afterwards. Badges handed out for an event already under way stay valid.

What if someone forgets to record a departure?

The count stops at the planned end of the shift and never runs past it: without that limit, a volunteer from Friday's shift would still be clocking hours on Monday. You can correct it afterwards, and an arrival recorded by mistake can be cancelled.

And a volunteer nobody checked in?

Their column stays empty, it does not show zero. An assignment with no check-in does not say the volunteer was absent, only that nobody recorded them: a gap in the recording must not read as an absence.

Does it have to be turned on for the whole event?

The setting is per event and off by default: until you turn it on, no extra button appears and nothing changes. It carries over to the next edition, and you can untick it whenever you want.