Attendance

What it is: Daily check-in, check-out, late and absent records.

Overview

Works out the smallest useful Attendance setup for the business in front of it, then builds it only when asked. The default output is a short recommendation, not a spreadsheet. Artifacts - CSV, SQL DDL, JSON Schema, Notion mapping - are produced on request, from one field list so they cannot drift apart.

Layer: Layer 4: Manage. Fits: Starter stage. Table code: n/a.

When to Use This Skill

• attendance tracker
• daily attendance sheet
• check in check out log
• absent and late tracker

Also use it when the user says "daily check-in, check-out, late and absent records", or describes the same process happening in a spreadsheet, a document or someone inboxes.

Do not use it for: payroll calculation, tax filing, or legal advice. This skill produces empty templates only - it never holds or processes real employee or customer data.

How It Works

Follow the shared execution contract. The module-specific rules below define only domain fields, decisions, calculations, and safety constraints.

Step 1 - Identify intent

Read the request and pick the intent before asking anything.

• "set up" or "build" or "create" -> the user wants artifacts; go to Step 2.
• "our process is ..." or "it is in a sheet" -> the user wants to move an existing process; capture it, then Step 2.
• "is this right" or "review" or "audit" -> the user wants a check, not a build; answer from what they share.
• "how do I ..." -> advice question; answer directly and offer the build only if it helps.

Ask only if this is the highest-value missing fact; otherwise proceed without an opener:

Q: What are your working hours?

Step 2 - Ask only what is missing

Skip anything the user already answered, in any earlier message. Ask the rest one at a time, and stop as soon as the remaining answers would not change the output.

• Hours - Shift timings? / Flexible or fixed? / Any night shift?
• Method - Check in, check out or both? / How recorded? / Self or auto?
• Rules - Late tolerance? / Half day rules? / Geofence needed?
• Current process - How is it done now? / Biometric, app or paper? / What gets disputed?
• Outcome - What do you need? / A record, payroll input or reports?

Never invent an answer. If the user does not know, record it as unknown and carry on.

Step 3 - Hold the internal context

Hold the answers in this shape. It stays internal - it is not shown to the user unless they ask, and it never carries a value the user did not give.

module: attendance
intent: null            # setup | advice | review | fix | build | convert | export
scale: null             # Starter | Growth | Scale, only if the answer changes it
areas:
  "Hours": null
  "Method": null
  "Rules": null
  "Current process": null
  "Outcome": null
requested_outputs: []   # csv | sql | json | notion | xlsx - requested formats only
confirmed_facts: []     # only what the user actually said
open_questions: []      # the unanswered ones, in the order worth asking

Step 4 - Recommend the smallest workflow

If an artifact was requested, build it after resolving essential missing facts. Otherwise give a short recommendation and offer the relevant artifact.

Recommended approach: Collect one row per person per day, and only build rules for the cases that actually happen. Overtime and payroll join later if needed.

Why this one: Attendance fails when corrections have no owner. Add a regularisation step and the record stays trustworthy without surveillance.

Workflow: Daily log → Late or absent flag → Correction request → Manager approval → Monthly report

Step 5 - Build only on request

Once the user asks for it, derive the fields from the confirmed context and emit the requested artifacts. For machine-readable text, keep prose outside the data; for files, provide a usable link. Report material validation failures or limitations separately.

A selected Notion output is rendered by notion-manual-import, so route the Notion step there. When the user selects Notion, hand that step to @notion-manual-import: it holds the CSV, the property mapping, the import steps and the verification checklist, and it renders the Field Reference below instead of defining a table of its own. Do not restate the mapping here and do not improvise the import steps. Manual CSV and mapping outputs need no connection. For requested workspace changes, follow the shared contract: verify actual tool access and the target before writing. A user saying "connected" is not tool evidence. Never ask for a Notion password or token.

For an Excel-compatible CSV, use UTF-8 with a byte order mark so Excel opens the text correctly. A CSV is not an .xlsx workbook; create .xlsx only when the user requests a workbook. A CSV carries no types, so after it, name the columns that need a number, date or currency format applied.

Attendance Record,Employee Name,Department,Date,Check-in Time,Check-out Time,Hours Worked,Work Mode,Attendance Status,Late (Minutes),On Approved Leave,Manager,Regularisation Requested,Notes,Attendance ID
ATT-EXAMPLE-001,Example Employee,Delivery,2026-01-15,09:58,18:30,8.5,Office,Present,12,FALSE,Example Manager,FALSE,"Late arrivals cluster on Mondays; discussed with the team rather than logged as a penalty.",

CREATE TABLE attendance (
  attendance_record VARCHAR(255),
  employee_name VARCHAR(255),
  department VARCHAR(255),
  date DATE NOT NULL,
  check_in_time VARCHAR(255),
  check_out_time VARCHAR(255),
  hours_worked NUMERIC NOT NULL,
  work_mode VARCHAR(255),
  attendance_status VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
  late_minutes NUMERIC NOT NULL,
  on_approved_leave BOOLEAN NOT NULL,
  manager VARCHAR(255),
  regularisation_requested BOOLEAN NOT NULL,
  notes TEXT,
  attendance_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
  created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT NOW(),
  updated_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT NOW()
);

{
  "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
  "title": "Attendance",
  "type": "object",
  "additionalProperties": false,
  "properties": {
      "Attendance Record": { "type": "string" },
      "Employee Name": { "type": "string" },
      "Department": { "type": "string" },
      "Date": { "type": "string", "format": "date" },
      "Check-in Time": { "type": "string" },
      "Check-out Time": { "type": "string" },
      "Hours Worked": { "type": "number" },
      "Work Mode": { "type": "string" },
      "Attendance Status": { "type": "string" },
      "Late (Minutes)": { "type": "number" },
      "On Approved Leave": { "type": "boolean" },
      "Manager": { "type": "string" },
      "Regularisation Requested": { "type": "boolean" },
      "Notes": { "type": "string" },
      "Attendance ID": { "type": "integer" }
  },
  "required": [
      "Date",
      "Hours Worked",
      "Attendance Status",
      "Late (Minutes)"
  ]
}

| CSV column | Notion property | Set after import |
|---|---|---|
| Attendance Record | Title | Use as the database title |
| Employee Name | Text | Leave as Text |
| Department | Text | Leave as Text |
| Date | Date | Convert to Date |
| Check-in Time | Text | Leave as Text |
| Check-out Time | Text | Leave as Text |
| Hours Worked | Number | Convert to Number |
| Work Mode | Text | Leave as Text |
| Attendance Status | Select (add options after import) | Convert to Select, add options: "Present", "Late", "Absent", "On Leave", "Half Day", "Holiday" |
| Late (Minutes) | Number | Convert to Number |
| On Approved Leave | Checkbox | Convert to Checkbox |
| Manager | Text | Leave as Text |
| Regularisation Requested | Checkbox | Convert to Checkbox |
| Notes | Text | Leave as Text |
| Attendance ID | Text (preserve source ID) | Keep imported IDs as Text; optionally add a separate Unique ID property |

The rows above are documentation examples only. Emit empty templates unless the user explicitly requests examples. Money stays currency, dates stay date, and anything pointing at another table stays relation.

Field Reference

#	Field	Type	SQL	JSON Schema	Notion	CSV example
1	Attendance Record	text	VARCHAR(255)	string	Text	ATT-EXAMPLE-001
2	Employee Name	text	VARCHAR(255)	string	Text	Example Employee
3	Department	text	VARCHAR(255)	string	Text	Delivery
4	Date	date	DATE	string, format: date	Date	2026-01-15
5	Check-in Time	text	VARCHAR(255)	string	Text	09:58
6	Check-out Time	text	VARCHAR(255)	string	Text	18:30
7	Hours Worked	number	NUMERIC	number	Number	8.5
8	Work Mode	text	VARCHAR(255)	string	Text	Office
9	Attendance Status	select	VARCHAR(100)	string	Select (add options after import)	Present
10	Late (Minutes)	number	NUMERIC	number	Number	12
11	On Approved Leave	checkbox	BOOLEAN	boolean	Checkbox	FALSE
12	Manager	text	VARCHAR(255)	string	Text	Example Manager
13	Regularisation Requested	checkbox	BOOLEAN	boolean	Checkbox	FALSE
14	Notes	long_text	TEXT	string	Text	Late arrivals cluster on Mondays; discussed with the team rather than logged as a penalty.
15	Attendance ID	id	SERIAL PRIMARY KEY	integer	Text (preserve source ID)	(blank)

Select Options

Attendance Status

Present | Late | Absent | On Leave | Half Day | Holiday

Relations

Link fields: none

Examples

Prompt

We need attendance for payroll and half-days are a mess.

Context first - one question per message, nothing already answered:

Q: Shift timings? A: 9 to 6.

Q: How recorded? A: Manual, in a register.

Q: What gets disputed? A: Half days mostly.

Recommended next step - offered, not built:

Collect one row per person per day, and only build rules for the cases that actually happen. Overtime and payroll join later if needed.

Workflow: Daily log → Late or absent flag → Correction request → Manager approval → Monthly report

Want the CSV, SQL, JSON Schema and Notion mapping for this?

Best Practices

• Build when requested; recommend and offer a build for advice-only requests.
• One question per message. A batched intake reads as a form and gets guessed at.
• Keep display names identical across CSV and JSON; document normalized SQL identifiers.
• Use relation for anything that points at another table, text only for free text.
• Money fields are currency, never text. Dates are date, never free text.
• If the user requests an example row, keep it obviously fake so nobody imports it as real data.

Limitations

• Empty template only. It does not compute payroll, tax, leave balances or KPIs.
• Notion relations need both databases imported before the link column resolves.
• Select options are a starting set. Rename them to match how the business talks.
• No automation, reminders or sync. Those need the integration layer.
• Does not enforce punctuality, geofence location or decide payroll.
• Legal, tax and HR review is still required before this drives real decisions.

Security & Safety Notes

• Never fill in real names, salaries, medical or banking data. Placeholders only.
• Label example rows as synthetic, and keep bank details masked.
• Local reads, generation commands, and validation are part of a requested artifact build. External writes, messages, provisioning, and publication require authorization for that action and target; existing explicit authorization does not need to be repeated.
• If sensitive data is supplied, avoid repeating unnecessary identifiers. Use only what the requested review needs; keep generated templates empty. Do not claim deletion from the conversation or service storage.
• Privacy, legal and disciplinary cases need a qualified human reviewer before anything is acted on.

Common Pitfalls

• Problem: a static mapping is described as a completed workspace build. Solution: deliver manual mappings without a connection; claim a live change only after the authorized tool operation succeeds.
• Problem: asked all six questions in one message. Solution: ask one, wait, and drop any the first answer already covered.
• Problem: built a full system when one table was asked for. Solution: build what was requested; mention the parent skill separately.
• Problem: all four artifacts drift apart. Solution: derive all four from the field list in this file, never by hand.
• Problem: Notion import shows every column as Text. Solution: that is expected. Apply the property mapping table once, after import.

Related Skills

• Module Catalog - find the relevant module, then read its skill.
• @people-directory - the employee master record most modules link to.
• @notification-reminder-hub - turns due dates in this module into reminders.

Reusable Prompt

I want to set up daily check-in, check-out, late and absent records for my company.
Ask me one short question at a time, and only about what I have not already told you.
Then recommend the smallest setup that fits, and wait for me to ask before you build it.
When I ask, output CSV, SQL DDL, JSON Schema, a Notion property mapping or an Excel workbook. Data only.