Zoho People Biometric Attendance Integration
The device is the easy part. The work is making every punch attach to the right person, on the right shift, at the right site.
Zoho People can take attendance from the biometric machines you already have, so staff keep punching the way they do today and HR stops compiling registers at month-end. It needs the Professional plan or above. We connect the devices, match device user IDs to employee records, decide how missed punches are handled, and test it against a full month of real punches before payroll relies on it.
Last reviewed — prices, plan details and other figures on this page were checked then.
Two ways to connect the devices you already have
Which route fits depends on the device model, how many sites you have, and whether each site has a computer that stays on. We check this on the first call, before anything is bought.
Zoho People's biometric integration
Zoho People has a built-in integration for biometric devices. Punch logs are collected from the device and pushed into Zoho People on a schedule, where they become check-in and check-out entries against each employee.
- No custom code to maintain
- Works best when the device model is supported directly
- Each site needs its device reachable on the network
A bridge through the attendance API
Where a device or its software is not supported directly, we export its punch logs and post them to Zoho People's attendance API. It is a small piece of code we write, test and hand over, and it lets older or less common machines stay in service.
- Keeps machines you would otherwise have to replace
- Can combine several sites into one feed
- Needs one place to run, such as a site PC or a small server
Five things that decide whether attendance is right
Every one of these is settled during setup. Skipping any of them shows up as people marked absent who were at work.
Device user IDs mapped to employee IDs in Zoho People, including for staff who were enrolled twice or under an old number.
Each device tied to a location, so a punch at the Kozhikode branch is not read as a punch at head office.
The device clock and time zone set correctly, so a 9:58 punch is not recorded as 10:58.
A clear rule for which punch is check-in and which is check-out when staff punch several times a day.
Shifts set up before attendance goes live, so lateness is judged against each person's shift rather than office hours.
Missed punches, field staff and more than one site
Missed and wrong punches
People forget to punch out. Zoho People lets staff raise a regularisation request that their manager approves, so the record is corrected with a trail instead of edited silently by HR. We set how many requests are allowed each month and who approves them.
Field and sales staff
Staff who are never at a device mark attendance from the Zoho People mobile app, with their location recorded. Restricting check-in to set locations needs the Premium plan; on Professional you can restrict web check-in to office IP addresses instead.
Several branches
Each branch's devices are tied to that location, with its own shifts and holiday calendar. HR sees attendance across every site in one place; branch managers see and approve only their own team.
From the first device to a trusted month
- 1
Device survey
We list every device, its model, its site and how it connects, and decide which route each one takes.
- 2
ID mapping
Device user IDs are matched to employees. Duplicates and leavers still enrolled on devices are cleaned up first.
- 3
Connection and test
Devices are connected one site at a time, and test punches are checked in Zoho People against the device's own log.
- 4
Parallel month
A full month is compared against your current register before Zoho Payroll takes loss-of-pay from it.
Biometric attendance across a retail chain
A published case study where store devices, mobile check-in and shifts all feed one attendance record.
- SWA DiamondsZoho People & Zoho PayrollMulti-store jewellery retailer, 215+ employees. Biometric attendance across stores, mobile check-in with GPS for field staff, department-wise shifts, loss-of-pay calculated from attendance, state-wise statutory compliance, and a custom Deluge function that expires unused compensatory leave automatically.
- Ayn Musk Furniture LLC (BOSQ)Zoho PeopleFurniture manufacturing and trading business moving HR off spreadsheets: centralised employee records, automated attendance, shift schedules and holiday calendars, leave approvals, and HR reporting that no longer has to be compiled by hand.
Zoho People Biometric Attendance Integration — common questions
Which Zoho People plan do we need for biometric attendance?
Professional or above. Attendance tracking, biometric integration, IP restrictions, timesheets and shift rosters all start at Professional, which is ₹96 per user per month billed annually in India (October 2026, excluding GST). Location-restricted mobile check-in needs Premium.
Will our existing biometric machines work with Zoho People?
Usually, yes. Many devices connect through Zoho People's biometric integration. Where a model is not supported directly, we read its punch logs and send them to Zoho People's attendance API, so the machine can stay in service. We check your models before recommending any new hardware.
How often does attendance sync from the device?
It runs on a schedule rather than instantly, and we set the interval with you. Most businesses only need attendance to be complete by the end of the day; what matters is that it is complete and correct before the monthly pay run.
What happens if an employee forgets to punch?
They raise an attendance regularisation request in Zoho People, and their manager approves or rejects it. The correction is recorded with who approved it, instead of HR editing the record directly. We set limits on how many requests are allowed each month.
Can sales staff mark attendance from their phones?
Yes, through the Zoho People mobile app, which records their location at check-in. Limiting check-in to approved locations needs the Premium plan. For office staff on Professional, web check-in can be limited to the office IP range.
Related pages
- Zoho PeopleWhat Zoho People covers, the plans, and how we implement it.
- Shift and leave managementRosters, leave rules and compensatory off — what attendance is measured against.
- Zoho People and Payroll integrationHow attendance becomes loss-of-pay in the monthly pay run.
- Zoho integrationAPI bridges for devices and systems Zoho does not connect to directly.
- Zoho People implementationThe full rollout, of which attendance is one part.
- Zoho Partner in KeralaMulti-branch attendance rollouts across all 14 Kerala districts.
Talk to us about connecting your devices
Tell us how many sites you have, which biometric machines are at each, and roughly how many staff punch in. We will tell you which connection route fits and whether any device needs replacing.
- Your existing devices checked before any hardware is suggested
- Device IDs matched and cleaned before go-live
- One site at a time, tested against the device's own log
- A full parallel month before payroll depends on it
We implement Zoho People and Zoho Payroll for businesses across India and the GCC, and for Kerala and its fourteen districts from our base in Malappuram.