A common question we receive is whether employees can be limited or prevented from clocking in/out in a specific time frame. At this time, ExakTime does not prevent or restrict an employee from clocking in or out. If an employee clocks in or out, it will be recorded through the method used (ExakTime Mobile, JobClock, or Connect Clock) and populate the employee's time card on ExakTime Connect if the time is not quarantined.

Alternative Option

While you cannot prevent an employee from clocking in or out, if you are concerned with the start or stop time of employees or a location, you can consider using "Time Range Rounding". Time range rounding is a policy that allows you to round any punches for an employee and/or location if they fall into a specific time range.

For example, if employees should not be working before 8 AM, you can create a time range rounding where any punches between 7 AM and 7:59 AM are automatically rounded to 8 AM.

Employee Rounding

Employee roundings will apply to all time punches of an employee. If you have multiple time roundings, they may affect each other as detailed here.

1. Go to Manage and click on Policies from the top menu bar. 
   
2. Select an existing or new policy group.
   
3. Enable Time Range Rounding.
   
4. Click Add Time Range to create a new time range or Edit to modify the default/existing rule.
   
5. Enter a description/name for the time range rounding, enable/disable start times, the time ranges for the rounding, and what the time should round to. Click Save when finished.
   
6. Repeat as needed for the policy group. Save any changes.
7. After saving the changes, employees with the given policy group will have applicable times automatically rounded if they fall within the time range. Monitor your employees' time cards or create a time record that would be affected by the time range rounding to confirm.

Location Rounding

Location roundings will apply to all time punches with a given location. If you have multiple time roundings, they may affect each other as detailed here.

1. Go to Manage, then click on Locations. 
   
2. Click the pencil icon to the left of any location.
   
3. Within the location details, click Policies. 
   
4. Enable Time Range Rounding.
   
5. Click Add Time Range to create a new time range or Edit to modify the default/existing rule.
   
6. Specify the time range and the time that it should be rounded to.
   
7. You can repeat this as needed for the policy group.
8. After saving the changes, time records with the given location will have applicable times automatically rounded if they fall within the time range. Monitor your employees' time cards or create a time record that would be affected by the time range rounding to confirm.

Shift Policies

Shift roundings will apply to all time punches for the given shift. If you have multiple time roundings, they may affect each other as detailed here.

1. Go to Manage and click on Policies. 
   
2. Click on the Shifts tab. 
   
3. Select an existing Shift or create a new Shift.
   
4. Click the Policies tab. 
   
5. The policies will be listed for the shift.
   
6. Enable Time Range Rounding.
   
7. Click Add Time Range to create a new time range or Edit to modify the default/existing rule.
   
8. Specify the time range and the time that it should be rounded to.
   
9. You can repeat this as needed for the policy group.
10. After saving the changes, time records with the given shift will have applicable times automatically rounded if they fall within the time range. Monitor your employees' time cards or create a time record that would be affected by the time range rounding to confirm.

Interactions between Multiple Rounding Options

If multiple In/Out Roundings and Time Range Roundings are enabled from various sources, such as Shift, Location, and Employee policies, there is an order of when and how they are applied.

• The In/Out Roundings will occur first in the order of the shift, location, and then the employee, depending on what is enabled.
• After In/Out Rounding, the Time Range Rounding will apply in the same order of the shift, location, and then the employee, depending on what is enabled.
• If a rounding has been applied to a time punch/record, the subsequent version of the same rounding will not apply. For example, if the Location In/Out Rounding is applied to a time record, the Employee In/Out Rounding will not apply as the Location is higher in the priority.

The order of policy application has been listed below with Shift In/Out rounding applying first:

1. Shift In/Out Rounding
2. Location In/Out Rounding
3. Employee In/Out Rounding
4. Shift Time Range Rounding
5. Location Time Range Rounding
6. Employee Time Range Rounding