Overview: To restrict where employees can punch both in the field and in office, Administrators are able to use Geofences and IP Address Locks together. So long as an employee is either within an assigned geofence, or connected to an allowed IP address, they will be able to punch without error.
Important! While IP Address Locks are available on any plan, Geofences are only available on the Pro and Enterprise plans, or when using the Real-Time GPS add-on on the Starter plan.
Instructions:
Creating a Geofence
Important! Geofences use GPS coordinates, so employees are required to use our mobile app if punching with a geofence.
1. To create a geofence or multiple geofences, start by going to Settings followed by Geofences:
2. On the Geofences page, click the +Add a New Geofence Rule button:
3. There are a few important fields to fill out/populate with data which include:
Name: The name of the geofence will be visible to the employee when they punch in/out of the geofence.
Address: This will be the location of your geofence. After you've entered your geofence address, click Search to populate the latitude and longitude. Alternatively, you can manually enter the latitude and longitude coordinates.
Radius: The radius is selected via a slider and specifies the area in meters around a geofence an employee is allowed to punch time.
Code assignments: If you're using locations or departments, they can be assigned to a geofence and employees will only be able to select the associated code when punching into the assigned geofence. If you want the employee to select their codes when they punch in, leave the option unchecked.
Note: The geofence shows radius size in meters. Should you need to reference how many feet your radius is, we recommend using a unit converter such as this one.
4. Lastly, you'll want to check the Active box, assign employees and Save once done:
Once saved, you'll be taken back to the Geofences page where you'll find your newly created geofence and can create others as needed.
Creating an IP Address Lock
1. Start by clicking Settings in the top navigation, followed by IP Address Locks:
2. On the IP Address Lock page, click the +Add a New IP Address Lock button:
3. You will then be able to enter a name and the IP Address you'd like to lock employees to. If you don't know your IP address, we'll show the IP Address you're currently using. If this is the network your employees will be punching from, simply copy and paste that number into the IP Address box, and assign your employees:
4. Save once done.
Using Geofences and IP Address Locks Together
Now that you've created a Geofence and an IP Address Lock with the steps above, the next time an assigned employee punches in, they'll be asked to share their location with Buddy Punch.
After allowing permission, your employees will be able to punch in while either physically located within the boundary of a geofence, or while using a device connected to the allowed IP Address.
If the employee has not met at least one of the conditions to punch, they will receive the following error:
