Alerts and Automation
Automation rules send an email when something happens: a worker is late, misses a shift, leaves early, a kiosk goes offline, or a daily no-show summary is due. Without a rule, these show on screen only.
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Overview
Email alerts you choose.
Agency console: Setup > Automation. Client dashboard: Setup > Automation. The page lists your rules with the trigger, the recipients, when each last fired and how many emails it sent in the last 24 hours and 7 days.
Until a rule exists, late workers and no-shows show on screen only: on Today > Live activity, on Time & Pay > Exceptions and in the agency console notification bell. Nobody is emailed. The one exception is a silent kiosk, one that has not been heard from for 5 minutes. The alerts job checks every 15 minutes and emails agency admins by itself, hourly on the first day and then daily, at any hour at sites marked Site runs 24/7 and Monday to Friday 09:00 to 18:00 elsewhere. Once SMS is set up, it also texts the on-call mobile set on Setup > System health.
Before you start
- Agency console: a super admin. Automation is a super admin page: no preset or tick-box can grant it.
- Client dashboard: a tenant manager or tenant admin. Viewers cannot open it.
- The email addresses of the people who should hear about each problem.
Who Can Set Alerts
It depends on the console.
| Console | Who | What they cover |
|---|---|---|
| Agency console | Super admin only | Rules for any client, site or worker, and the system triggers such as an update being applied. |
| Client dashboard | Tenant manager and tenant admin | Rules for their own client only. They never see the agency's rules, and the system triggers are hidden. |
A coordinator in the agency console cannot open Automation. Ask a super admin to set up the coordinators' alerts and add them as recipients.
Create a Rule
A six-step editor.
Start a rule
Go to Setup > Automation and click New Rule. Click Continue to move through the steps and ← Back to return.
Trigger
Pick what fires the email, for example Worker is late (N min past start). Some triggers ask for a number, such as the minutes past the start.
When
For event triggers, choose Instant (one email each time) or Batched / digest (one email at a set time). For the daily and weekly summaries, set the Frequency and Time of day. Late and missed-shift checks run on their own every 15 minutes.
Filter
Leave it empty to match everyone, or tick Specific locations or Specific workers. The agency console also has Specific clients.
Recipients
Add + The worker, + Custom email, a saved contact or a contact list. The agency console also has + All admins. Each person gets one copy.
Edit the Subject and Body. Click a variable to copy it into the text. The preview on the right shows what will be sent.
Activate
Give it a Rule name, tick Activate this rule and click Save rule. Use Send test email first to see it in your inbox.
Triggers
The ones agencies use most.
| Trigger | Fires when |
|---|---|
| Worker is late (N min past start) | A booked worker has not clocked in N minutes after the start (default 15). |
| Missed shift (no clock-in at all) | A booked shift ended with no clock-in. |
| Left early (clocked out before the booked end) | A worker clocks out more than N minutes before the booked end. |
| Long shift with no break | A long shift is clocked out with no break logged. |
| Shift overrunning (> N hours, no clock-out) | Someone has been clocked in for N hours without clocking out (default 14). |
| Identity mismatch at the kiosk | The face did not match the badge entered. |
| Kiosk offline (stopped checking in) | A kiosk stops checking in. |
| Geofence violation (clocked in off-site) | A phone clock-in is outside the site's geofence. |
| Walk-in (unscheduled clock-in) | Someone clocks in with no booking. |
| Daily no-shows and Daily late workers | One summary email a day at the time you choose. |
Other triggers include clock-in and clock-out, breaks, first-ever clock-in, long and short shifts, low face-match score, a daily summary and a weekly summary.
Contacts and Templates
Tabs across the top of the page.
| Tab | Use it to |
|---|---|
| Rules | See, switch on or off, edit and delete rules. |
| Contacts | Save people who are not TempClock users, such as a site manager. |
| Contact Lists | Group contacts, then add the list as one recipient. Click Save list. |
| Templates | Keep email wording to load into a rule. Click Save template. |
| History | See every email sent, skipped or failed. |
History
Proof of what was sent.
Open History to see each firing with its rule, recipients and result. The rule list shows Sent · last 24h, Skipped · last 24h and Failed · last 24h. A skipped email is usually a duplicate of one already sent for the same event.
Troubleshooting
Common questions.
| Problem | Check |
|---|---|
| No email arrived | Is Activate this rule ticked? Is the worker or site inside the filter? Look in History for a failed or skipped row. |
| Late alerts come in up to 15 minutes after the threshold | Late and missed-shift checks run every 15 minutes, so allow for that. |
| A coordinator cannot see Automation | Expected. Only a super admin can open it in the agency console. |
| A client manager wants alerts | They create rules for their own client in the client dashboard under Setup > Automation. |
Related guides
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