Limit backdating

The Limit backdating constraint restricts how far back, in the employee’s working days, check-in/out and time registrations may be added or changed. Without it, employees can register on any past day that is not in a locked period.

When to use

Use this constraint when:

• Registrations must be made close to when the work happened, for example for accurate project costing
• Employees may add a forgotten check-in for a few days, but older attendance should not change
• Corrections to older days should go through a manager

Parameters

All three day settings default to 0. If you add the constraint without changing them, everything is limited to today.

This constraint can only be added under Blocking constraints . It is checked when the change is saved, so there is no warning-only version.

How it works

When a check-in/out or time registration is saved, mTime:

1. Works out which limit applies — a missing check-in/out, an edit to check-in/out, or a time registration
2. Counts that many of the employee’s working days back from today, using their work schedule. Weekends and days off are skipped
3. Refuses the change if its date is before that day

Only the past is restricted. To allow registering ahead of today, see Allow future registration.

Missing versus editing check-in/out

The two check-in/out settings let you be lenient about forgotten check-ins while protecting attendance already on record:

• Missing — the employee adds a check-in/out on a day with no check-in/out at all
• Editing — the employee changes or deletes an existing check-in/out, or adds a second one to a day that already has one

Grace period for fresh entries

A check-in/out recorded in the last two hours can still be corrected, even when the day is beyond the editing limit. An employee who adds a forgotten check-in from last week and then spots a typo can fix it straight away.

Managers and administrators

The limits apply to everyone — employees, managers and administrators — unless Manager can override is turned on. Then anyone registering on another employee’s behalf is not limited. Employees editing their own timesheet always are.

What the employee sees

A change beyond the limit is refused when they save, with a message such as Check-in/out cannot be added more than 5 working days back or Time registrations can only be edited for today.

Other limits that still apply

• Locked periods. A submitted or approved timesheet period cannot be changed, however generous this constraint is.
• Workspace start date. Nothing can be registered before the workspace’s start date, when one is set.

Examples

A week to fix forgotten check-ins, two days for registrations

1. Open the work time policy
2. Under Blocking constraints , click Add Plugin and choose Limit backdating
3. Set Check-in/out missing days back to 5
4. Set Check-in/out editing days back to 1
5. Set Registration days back to 2
6. Turn on Manager can override
7. Click Save

For an employee working Monday to Friday, on a Wednesday:

• They can add a check-in to any day back to the previous Wednesday, if that day has none yet
• They can change an existing check-in from Tuesday, but not from Monday
• They can register time back to Monday
• Their manager can still correct any of it on their behalf, as long as the period is not locked

Troubleshooting