Taking attendance is an important activity for several group types. Teams, school organizations, scouts, and Greek groups are just a few of the groups who use this feature on a regular basis.
Administrators are able to track member participation across important events with the Attendance feature. GroupSpot ensures accurate and detailed results by assigning a check-in status (present, excused, late, absent) and an optional check-out status (left, left early, stayed late). You can also self check-in as well. Attendance is then summarized and easily exported by date range, holding members accountable while keeping administrators organized.
Adding Attendance to a Post
The first thing you need to know is that Attendance is a feature that gets added to posts similar to signups, forms, attachments, and other add-ons. They are overwhelmingly added to event or game posts (for teams), but they can also be added to standard posts as well.
The good news is that adding attendance to a post is easy to do. You can choose to have the admins take attendance or they can deputize a non-admin to do it. Check-ins are on by default, but you can turn on check-outs or even self check-ins as required.
To get started, locate the + icon on the create post screen to add Attendance. From the Attendance screen, you can Enable Check-Outs, allow for Self Check-Ins, and Lock the Attendance feature disabling further check-ins or check-outs by toggling on any of those options. You can also assign Attendance Managers to take attendance for you. Once you’ve made your selections or kept those default options off, choose DONE.
For groups that use the roster feature such as teams, scouts, and nonprofits, there is an additional field to choose whether you want to take attendance from just members who appear on the roster or all members. GroupSpot defaults to For the Roster since this is more common than For All Members for groups who use the roster feature, and you can Include Staff in the attendance roll call or keep them defaulted off.
Once you’ve made your choices, select Post, and Attendance will be added to your post.
Taking Attendance
Once posted, Admins or Attendance Managers, non-admins who have been designated permission to take attendance, should click on the blue Take Attendance button from the post detail screen.
Once selected, they arrive at a list of attendees ready to get assigned a check-in status. The four check-in status includes Present, Excused, Late, and Absent. As they get assigned, watch the numbers in the summary at the top of the screen update in real time.
If you tap on the ••• menu at the top right, you will see an option to Mark All Present. This is helpful for large groups who after they have marked their absent and late people, they can mark all remaining members present in one tap of a button. In the same drawer, you will see that you can sort your results by additional fields such as first name, last name, number, position, and class (depending on the nature of the group).
If Check-Out was turned on by the admin during post creation, there will be a second tab at the top to assign check-out. If the member was checked-in as Present or Late, they will choose from three check-out options: Left, Left Early, and Stayed Late. If the member was checked-in as Absent or Excused, they will not have a check-out status to assign. Again, use the ••• menu to Mark All Left if you need to sign off on a large group checking out.
Once Check-In and Check-out have been completed, you can tap on the Results tab to view the full list of attendees. You will also see all seven check-in and check-out status options up top to select if you want to tally totals and filter by status. For example, if you want to see all members marked absent, select Absent. Use the ••• menu to sort your results to your preference.
You can also tap on any individual member for more detail. Choose a member to clear their current status or update to a new status by tapping Reset. You can also view the name of the attendance manager who assigned the status upon check-in and check-out.
Worth noting, only organizers have full access to attendance records. Members can only see their own attendance. They’re not able to see the attendance records of other members.
Auditing Attendance
Now it’s time to audit your attendance history across multiple events and days. You may be an admin wanting to check attendance across a range of dates or you may be a member wanting to check your attendance history. Either way, it starts by going to your group menu and opening up the Attendance feature.
When you arrive at the main Attendance screen, you will see a list of members to choose from. For large groups, there is a search box to easily find members from the long list. You will also see a default range of dates which lets you know attendance can be sorted by date.
At the top right, tap on the calendar icon to set the date range you want to take attendance for. GroupSpot defaults attendance to the past three months, but you can change that to the date range you want. Once you’ve filtered the dates to your preference, tap on the arrow pointing down icon to Download Results which downloads an editable CSV file.
Taking your attendance audit one step further, tap on an individual member to check their attendance history. There is a summary at the top tallying results for both check-in and check-out (if turned on). You can also tap on each of the status buttons to filter results just for that status.
Given the sensitivities around taking attendance, only organizers have unfettered access to these records. Members can only see their own attendance. They’re not able to see the attendance records of other members.
Attendance made easy to hold members accountable and keep admins organized.
