MBS Attendance
A complete workforce management system for small and medium businesses — clockings, payroll, leave, and staff credit, all in one place.
What MBS Attendance Does
MBS Attendance is a WordPress plugin that manages the full employment lifecycle for your staff:
- Attendance tracking — employees clock in and out via the iOS app, QR code, PIN, or manual entry.
- Automated payslip generation — supports eight different pay structures, from simple hourly to monthly fixed salary.
- Leave management — requests, approvals, accrual, cashout, and year-end processing.
- Staff credit and loans — issue loans, charge interest, and auto-deduct repayments from payslips.
- iOS app support — employees and supervisors interact with the system via the companion app using their assigned capabilities.
The Eight Pay Types
Every employee is assigned one of the following pay structures. Choosing the right one is the single most important setup decision.
| Pay Type | How pay is calculated | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly | Actual hours clocked × hourly rate | Part-time or variable-hours staff |
| Daily | Actual hours clocked × hourly rate (rate set as daily ÷ 8) | Farm workers, labourers paid per day |
| Weekly | Actual hours clocked × hourly rate, paid weekly | Regular weekly-paid staff |
| Bi-weekly | Actual hours clocked × hourly rate, two periods per month | Fortnightly pay cycles |
| Monthly | Actual hours clocked × hourly rate, monthly period | Monthly salaried but clocking-dependent staff |
| Monthly Fixed | Fixed salary regardless of hours; clockings for compliance only | Salaried managers and office staff |
| Casual | Same as hourly, generated on demand per worked period | Casual or seasonal workers |
| Piece Work | Manual daily earnings entered in the Piece Work Log | Workers paid per unit (baskets, crates, tasks) |
Daily employees are stored with an hourly rate in the background so that short-day deductions and overtime both work correctly. To convert: divide the daily rate by 8. For example, R160/day → R20.00/hr. The employee list displays the calculated daily total so it still reads naturally.
Payment in Arrears
The system supports a configurable arrears offset (default: 4 days). This means the clocking window used to calculate a payslip is shifted back by that many days from the nominal pay period. For example, a period ending on the 30th uses clockings up to the 26th. This gives administrators time to review and correct clockings before payslips are generated.
Monthly Fixed employees are exempt — their salary is fixed and does not depend on clockings.
Navigation Overview
Core
- Dashboard — at-a-glance overview of today's attendance and outstanding payslips.
- Employees — add, edit, and manage your workforce.
- Departments — group employees and set department-level defaults.
- Clockings — view and correct clock-in/out records.
- Bulk Clock — clock an entire department in or out at once.
Payroll
- Payslips — generate, view, and download payslips.
- Pay Components — configure allowances, deductions, and employer contributions.
- Piece Work Log — enter daily earnings for piece-rate employees.
- Absent Days — record absences for Monthly Fixed employees.
Leave & Absences
- Leave — manage leave requests, balances, and approvals.
- Absence Reasons — define the reasons used when recording an absence.
- Public Holidays — maintain the list of public holidays.
- Year End — process annual leave balances at year-end.
Finance & Administration
- Staff Credit — manage employee loans and store credit.
- Settings — configure company-wide defaults.
- Roles & Capabilities — control what each user role can see and do.