Face Attendance

Face Attendance lets a teacher (or students themselves) scan faces through a phone or laptop camera. Identified students are marked Present automatically. After the session ends, the teacher finalizes the token and all remaining, unscanned students receive an Absent entry. An admin then reviews and finalizes the register from the Attendance dashboard.

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How it works

Step	Who	What happens
1. Generate token	Teacher / Manager	A QR code and one-time URL are created for today’s class. The token is valid for 1 hour.
2. Scan faces	Teacher or Students	Camera matches each face against stored descriptors. A match marks the student Present.
3. Finalize token	Teacher	Unscanned students get an Absent entry. The register is saved as a Draft.
4. Finalize register	Admin / Manager	Review and lock the register from Sections → Attendance → Daily.

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Before you begin: Face enrollment

Every student must enroll their face before they can be identified by the scanner. Without an enrolled face, the system has nothing to match against and the student will never be marked Present through face attendance.

1. The student logs in to the student portal.
2. Go to Profile → Face Enrollment.
3. Click Enroll Face and allow camera access.
4. Position the face clearly in the frame (good lighting, no heavy shadows) and click Capture.
5. Review the preview and click Save. The descriptor is stored and the student is now eligible for face attendance.

Caution

Students who have not enrolled a face will be left as Absent after the token is finalized. Remind students to complete enrollment before the first face attendance session.

An admin or teacher can check which students have enrolled by opening the class roster — students without a face descriptor show a warning icon next to their name in the Face Attendance modal.

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Scan modes

Teacher mode

The teacher holds the camera (phone or laptop) and scans each student’s face. The system matches the live descriptor against every student on the class roster and marks the closest match Present.

Student self-scan mode

A QR code is displayed (on a projector or the teacher’s screen). Each student scans it on their own device, opens the link in a browser, and allows camera access. The system verifies the live face matches the student’s stored photo and marks them Present.

Tip

Student self-scan works best when students have already enrolled a face photo (via Profile → Face Enrollment). Students without a stored photo cannot use self-scan.

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Generating a token

1. Open Sections → Attendance for the class.
2. Click Face Attendance (top-right).
3. In the modal, confirm today’s date and class, then click Generate.
4. A QR code and a direct link appear. Share the link or display the QR code for student self-scan.

The token is tied to a specific class and date. If the school’s configured timezone shows a different date than UTC, the token uses the school’s local date to ensure the register is created for the correct day.

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During scanning

• Each successful face match shows a green confirmation with the student’s name.
• If no match is found (or confidence is too low), the scan is rejected — the student should re-try in better lighting.
• A student who has already been scanned cannot be scanned again in the same token.

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Finalizing the token

1. When scanning is complete, click Finalize in the face attendance modal.
2. All students on the roster who were not scanned receive an Absent entry automatically.
3. The attendance register is saved as a Draft — it is not yet locked.
4. An admin or manager reviews the draft register in Sections → Attendance → Daily and finalizes it from there.

Caution

Finalizing the token does not lock the register. Teachers can still adjust individual entries in the Daily view before an admin finalizes. If a teacher marked a student absent earlier in the day and that student scanned their face, the face scan overrides the previous entry and marks them Present.

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After finalization

The Daily attendance view shows the face-sourced entries alongside any manual changes. The admin can:

• Adjust any entry before locking.
• Click Finalize in the Daily view to lock the register permanently.
• Re-open a locked register if a correction is needed (owner / manager permission required).

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Requirements

Requirement	Details
Browser	Chrome 90+ or Safari 15+ with camera permission granted
Face enrollment	Each student must have a face photo stored in their profile
Lighting	Good frontal lighting; avoid backlighting
Token validity	1 hour from generation; expired tokens cannot accept new scans