Attendance devices and RFID cards

Register each attendance device and group it, give each employee the device user id the device knows them by, and keep the RFID card numbers. Punches then reach Penahak by the device's own software.

HR & payroll Attendance setup
3 min read
Updated October 20, 2026

For HR officer Administrator

The idea

A device is a fingerprint or card reader that records who came in and when. Penahak keeps the list of devices and the employee's device user id; the device's own software sends the punches.

Open Attendance setting (Attendance › Settings). The Device tab has two lists, Device group and Device; the RFID tab holds card numbers.

Register a device

Add a device group
Who
HR officer or administrator
Where
Device › Device group › Add
What changes
Enter a Group name and a Description. Groups let you manage devices of one site together.
Add the device
Where
Device › Device › Add
What changes
Choose the Device group and Branch; enter the Device name, IP, Port, Version, and the device's User and Password (the user needs at least 5 characters). Mark it Active.
Give each employee a device user id
Who
HR officer
Where
Employee information setup › Edit › Profile › Device user id
What changes
This is how a punch from the device is tied to the employee (The employee record).

Worked example: a new site with one device and two employees

Where	What the company enters
Device › Device group › Add	Group name "Head office", Description "Gate and reception"
Device › Device › Add	Device group Head office, Branch Head office, Device name "Main gate", the device's IP, Port and Version, its User (at least 5 characters) and Password, and Active ticked
Employee information setup › Edit › Profile	The first employee gets Device user id 17, the second gets 18

What happens next:

The first employee presses their finger or card at the main gate. The device's software sends the punch with the device and the user id 17, and Penahak ties it to that employee.
On its next processing Penahak builds the day from the punches. The day shows on Attendance detail and the attendance sheet, provided the employee is mapped to a shift for that weekday (How attendance is recorded).
The second employee has a user id but no shift for that weekday. Their punches are ignored, so they show no attendance until Employee shift maps them (Shifts: the shift, its roster, employees and overrides).

RFID cards

Open the RFID tab to keep the list of card numbers. Add enters one card; Import loads many from an Excel Template: press Template, fill it in, Upload, then import. The message "RFID card imported successfully." confirms; "Error while importing data." and "No data found while importing data" explain a failed file.