📘 TimeLink user guide

🚀 Getting started

1. Sign in with the e-mail and password you received.
2. Settings → General: choose the weekly day off and the tracking start date.
3. Settings → Branding: upload your logo and company details — they appear on every report.
4. Add branches (with their map location if you'll use mobile check-in) and departments.

👥 Employees

• Most important: the employee number in TimeLink must equal their User ID on the fingerprint device. Punches then link automatically.
• Add them from Excel, or on a device page click “Pull employees & fingerprints” to import them from the device itself.
• Punches from an unregistered ID appear under “Unmatched punches” — add an employee with that ID and they link retroactively.
• For mobile check-in: give the employee a login e-mail and password on their page.

🔵 Connect ZKTeco via ADMS

1. On the device: Menu → Comm. → Cloud Server Setting (called ADMS on some models).
2. Server Address and Port: copy them exactly from the Devices page. Turn on Enable Domain Name.
3. Get the serial number from System Info → Device Info.
4. In TimeLink: Devices → Add device → ZKTeco → ADMS, and enter the serial number.
5. Within a minute the device shows “Online” and punches arrive instantly.

The device needs internet. If the network has a proxy or firewall, allow outbound ports 80/443.

🟢 Connect Hikvision (and older ZK) through the connector

1. Download the connector from the Devices page onto an always-on Windows PC on the same network as the devices.
2. Run it and enter the server address and connection code (both on the Devices page). It runs as a service and starts with Windows.
3. It scans the network and lists the devices on the Devices page — click “Add” and enter the device's username and password.
4. On Hikvision, ISAPI must be enabled (usually on by default) and the time zone set to Cairo.

The connector only talks out to the server (outbound), so no static IP or port forwarding is needed. If the internet drops it stores punches and sends them later.

⚙️ Device management

• Send all employees: writes names, IDs and cards to the device.
• Copy fingerprints: enroll the finger on one device and it's copied to the other devices of the same brand.
• Set the clock, reboot, and pull old punch logs by date.
• Each command runs as soon as the device connects; its status shows in the command log.

📱 Mobile check-in

• Employees open TimeLink on their phone, sign in, and can add it to the home screen like an app.
• They tap Check-in or Check-out and the location is recorded. If they're farther than the allowed radius, it's refused.
• For field staff: tick “Anywhere” on the employee page — the location is recorded without a radius check.

🕘 Shifts, lateness & overtime

• All optional in settings. When off, TimeLink just records check-in, check-out and hours.
• The first punch of the day is check-in and the last is check-out. A shift that crosses midnight counts on the day it started.
• Lateness: a grace period, then deduction per minute or by tiers (quarter day / half day…).
• Overtime: after the shift ends, and work on weekends and public holidays at a different rate.
• Shift roster: give an employee a different shift or a day off on any date (rotation).

🌴 Leaves

• Types and balances live under “Leave types”. Unpaid leave is deducted.
• Employees request from their phone; the manager approves and picks the type; the employee is notified.
• Public holidays: one button adds the fixed ones; add the moving holidays yourself.

✏️ Retroactive editing

In “Edit days”: pick the employee and month, select one or more days, and record them as present (with times), absent, leave or clear. Device punches are never deleted — they're hidden and can be restored.

💰 Payroll

1. Enter each employee's basic salary and allowances.
2. Under Payroll pick the month: deductions and overtime come from attendance.
3. Add bonuses and advances, click Save, then Approve.
4. Print the payroll sheet or payslips (2 per page), or download Excel.

📊 Reports & live screen

• Daily, monthly, lateness, absence, overtime and leave — filtered by department and branch, all in PDF and Excel.
• Live screen: Settings → Alerts & screen, copy the link and open it on the reception display.

🛠️ Troubleshooting

• ZK device won't connect: Check the address and port, that the device has internet, and that the serial number matches.
• A punch shows an ID instead of a name: The employee ID in TimeLink differs from their ID on the device.
• Wrong times: The device clock is off — click “Set clock” on the device page and check the time zone in settings.
• Connector offline: The computer is off or the internet is down. Punches stay on the device and are pulled once it's back.
• Mobile check-in is refused: Allow location access in the browser, turn GPS on, and be inside the branch radius.