Validations

When an employee punches in or out, starts their break, or performs any punch on a clock, the clock punch is sent to the WBCS for validation. This process can involve several types of clock validations. Validations are checks the WBCS performs on clock punches to determine if the punch is valid. These are some common validations:

  • Badge validation: This validation checks that the badge number that the employee used to perform the clock is valid.
  • Schedule validation: This validation checks that the employee is scheduled to work.

During installation, you can select the validations that you want performed when clock punches are received by the WBCS. As well, you can add or remove validations after the installation by modifying the settings.conf file.

Generally, the WBCS performs several validations on each clock punch. If a punch passes all the validations, the punch is accepted. If the punch fails at least one validation, the punch is rejected. For example, using the badge and supervisor validations means the WBCS checks that the badge used for the clock punch is valid and the employee performing the punch is a supervisor. If either the badge is invalid or the employee is not a supervisor, the punch is rejected.

You can configure the WBCS to perform these validations:

Validation Description
Area Validation Checks that the employee performing the punch belongs to the same reader group as the clock's reader group. The punch is rejected if the clock does not belong to the same reader group as the employee.
Badge Validation Checks that the badge number is valid and assigned to a valid employee.
Break Length Validation Checks the length of employee breaks when they punch back in for work; long breaks are rejected. This validation uses some unique conditions, which require additional configuration. For more information, refer to Configuring the Break Length validation.
Consecutive Types Validation Validation disallows similar clock punches within a defined interval. This validation uses some unique conditions, which require additional configuration. For more information, refer to Configuring the Consecutive Types validation.
Ignore Swipe Validation Ignores any clock punch of the specified type. Regardless of whether clock punches of the specified type pass the other validations applied, the clock punches are not saved in the Journal and not exported to the system. Several clocks transmit clock types represented by two letters, which cannot be exported to the system. These swipe types should be either ignored (by using this validation) or saved as unprocessed (using the Save unprocessed swipe validation). This list contains the most common non-numeric swipe types:
  • EV represents an employee verified punch, which is a clock punch sent from RSI clocks.
  • LC represents a language change punch, which is a clock punch sent from RSI clocks, usually indicating a restart of the clock.
  • NE represents a new employee punch.
  • ED represents an employee deletion.
  • BE represents a 'blind enrollment' punch, which is a biometric enrollment using a template for matching finger scans.
  • TI represents a training-in punch.
  • TO represents a training-out punch.
  • RI represents an employee inquiry punch, when employees check their balances.
Job, Docket, Time Code, Department, and Project Validations Check that the corresponding labor metric is valid.
Job, Docket, Time Code, Department, and Project Area Validations Check that the corresponding labor metric belongs to the same reader group as the clock on which the punch was performed.
PIN Validation Checks that the PIN the employee entered is valid.
Same Minute Validation Checks that the clock punch was not performed within one minute as the last clock punch by the same employee; punches that are performed within the same minute are rejected.
Save Unprocessed Swipe Validation Saves clock punches of the specified types in the Journal, but flags the punches as having an unprocessed swipe type. This displays as U in the swipes journal. Unprocessed swipe types are not exported to the system. They are listed in the Journal tab of the Admin Console with an F in the SenttoXML column. The Ignore Swipe Validation is related to the Save Unprocessed Swipe Validation. These two validations exists because several clocks transmit clock types represented by two letters, which cannot be exported to the system. These swipe types need to be either saved as unprocessed (by using this validation) or ignored (by using the Ignore Swipe Validation). This list contains the most common non-numeric swipe types:
  • EV represents an employee verified punch, which is a clock punch sent from RSI clocks.
  • LC represents a language change punch, which is a clock punch sent from RSI clocks, usually indicating a restart of the clock.
  • NE represents a new employee punch.
  • ED represents an employee deletion.
  • BE represents a 'blind enrollment' punch, which is a biometric enrollment using a template for matching finger scans.
  • TI represents a training-in punch.
  • TO represents a training-out punch.
  • RI represents an employee inquiry punch, when employees check their balances.
Schedule Validation Checks that the employee is scheduled to work at the time of the clock punch. If an employee attempts to punch in when they are not scheduled, the punch is rejected.
Status Validation Checks that the employee is active in the system. Clock punches from employees with inactive status are rejected.
Supervisor Employee Validation Checks that the supervisor is authorized to perform clock punches on behalf of the employee.
Supervisor Reader Validation Checks that the employee's supervisor is assigned to the same reader group as the clocks the employee uses to perform punches.
Supervisor Validation Checks that the employee performing the punch is a supervisor. Whether an employee is a supervisor or not is determined by the Empbdg Sup Level field on the Employee Badge page; a value of 0 indicates the badge number belongs to an employee, a value of 1 indicates the badge number belongs to a supervisor.
Terminal IP Validation Checks that the clock communicating with the WBCS is valid. This check is only used with clocks that initiate communication with the WBCS.
Note: IP validation is bypassed for an HTML clock reader if the reader's IP address is specified as Any IP address.

See Creating a clock reader for HTML clocks.

You configure which validations are applied to clock punches by adding or commenting out lines in the settings.conf file. Validation settings are specified in this format: class.validation.ClockType.### = com.infor.wfm.clock. server.validation.ValidationType, where ClockType matches the type defined in the terminals table, ### is a unique number for the validation, and ValidationType is the specific validation name.

The order in which the validations are specified in the settings.conf file determine the order in which clock punches are validated. If a validation fails, the clock punch is rejected. The message sent to the clock is sent from the validation class that failed. If all the validations pass, the message associated with the last validation is sent.