Tracking Staff Attendance in Odoo: Check-In, Kiosk Mode, PINs and Badges

A lot of the Hong Kong SMEs we onboard at APAA still track attendance the hard way — a paper sign-in sheet at reception, or a manager mentally noting who walked in late. That works until the team grows past a handful of people, at which point the gaps start costing money: unexplained absences slip through, lateness goes unrecorded, and appraisals end up running on memory rather than data.

Odoo's Attendance app closes that gap with almost no setup. It gives you several ways to clock in and out, real-time records, and a clean management view — and it scales from a single office to a warehouse floor without changing how it works. This guide walks through getting it running, including kiosk mode for staff who never log into Odoo themselves.

Checking In and Out From the Backend

For staff who already work inside Odoo every day, attendance is a single click. When you open the Attendance app, Odoo recognises the logged-in user automatically.

1. Open the Attendance app.
2. Click Check In — Odoo stamps the exact time.
3. On the way out, click Check Out.

That is the entire flow for anyone working in the Odoo backend. No badge, no PIN, no extra hardware.

Setting Up Kiosk Mode for Floor Staff

The reality for most Hong Kong businesses is that not everyone sits at a computer. Warehouse pickers, retail staff, and factory teams rarely log into Odoo. For them, kiosk mode turns a single shared device — a tablet at the entrance, for instance — into a check-in station the whole team uses.

Enable Employee PIN

Before kiosk mode will work, turn on PIN authentication:

1. Go to Attendance > Configuration.
2. Activate Employee PIN.
3. Save.

Assign PINs and Badges to Each Employee

Every employee needs a PIN or a badge set up on their profile:

1. Open the employee's record.
2. Go to the HR Settings tab.
3. Enter a PIN code (e.g. 1111).
4. Click Generate next to Badge ID to create a scannable barcode.
5. Save the record.
6. Optionally, click Print Badge to produce a physical badge carrying the barcode.

Using Kiosk Mode Day to Day

Open kiosk mode from Attendance > Manage Attendances > Kiosk Mode. From there, staff have two ways to clock in:

• Scan their badge with a barcode scanner for an instant check-in.
• Select their name from the employee list and enter their PIN.

If someone forgets their badge, the PIN works as a backup — both methods record exactly the same attendance data, so nobody is locked out at the door.

Reviewing Attendance Records

Managers see everything under Attendance > Manage Attendances > Attendances. The list shows:

• Employee name
• Check-in time
• Check-out time
• Total hours worked

If someone has checked in but not yet out, Odoo shows the check-in time and leaves the check-out field blank. They can complete the check-out later from either the kiosk or the backend — no awkward manual correction needed.

Practical Advice From the Field

A few habits make attendance tracking pay off rather than just exist:

• Lean on badge scanning in high-traffic spots like a warehouse entrance, where speed at peak times matters.
• Keep PINs as the fallback so a forgotten badge never blocks a check-in.
• Review the records regularly so you catch a pattern — chronic lateness, say — while it is still a conversation, not a crisis.
• Feed the data into appraisals. Attendance figures give Odoo's Appraisals app something objective to work from, instead of leaving reviews to recollection.

Getting Started

The Attendance app works out of the box with minimal configuration. To stand it up:

1. Enable the Employee PIN option in settings.
2. Generate badges for your team.
3. Set up a kiosk device at your office or warehouse entrance.
4. Walk staff through both check-in methods so nobody is caught out on day one.

If you also track leave, the Attendance app connects to Odoo's Time Off module, giving you a single, complete picture of who is present, who is off, and why.

If you would like help configuring attendance the right way for your team size and floor layout — or tying it into payroll and appraisals — get in touch with APAA.