Attendance@HKU

Training

v1.312 Dec 2019

Agenda

• Overview

• Preparation Work

• Attendee’s Mobile App

• As an Administrator

• Tips

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OVERVIEW

Overview• For taking attendance of attendees (HKU

Staff/Students or Guests) at HKU classrooms

– Automatically check in using mobile app• by detecting presence at the venue

– Can optionally require attendees to check out

– All centrally timetabled classrooms covered with location-based beacons since December 2018

– Now extend coverage to departmental classrooms (as requested by departments)

• Authorized department users can retrieve the attendance data for analysis

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Overall Process

Attendance@HKU app

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Lectures/tutorials- Student Information System (SIS)

HKU events- HKU Event Management System(HKUEMS)

Faculty/Dept events- Individual events directly created under Attendance@HKU

Events to take attendance

Attendee records attendance using the

Attendee’s Mobile App

Administrator manages events and attendance

data using the Administrator’s Website

PREPARATION WORK

Preparation Work

• Apply for installation of necessary hardware in the classrooms

• Apply for Department Administrator role for Attendance@HKU

• Set up events for attendance taking

– Courses in SIS

– Events in HKU Event Management System (HKUEMS)

– Individual faculty/department events

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Departments request via form CF-88• Hardware and installation at departments –

provision through central cost

Initial installation• ITS arrange on-site checking with depts• Discuss quantity of beacons and where to install

(e.g. lectern)• Agree on completion/delivery schedule• Configure the hardware & software• Installation, testing & commissioning

Can check the list of classrooms covered by Attendance@HKU at:https://ats.hku.hk/attend/admin/classrooms

Beacon Gateway Beacon

Hardware Installation

Hardware Maintenance• Regular system health check – ITS would:

– monitor the beacons via ITS’s IoT platform

– alert department when replacement of beacon is needed (e.g. low battery)

• Hardware replacement

– Departments return the beacons to ITS upon receiving alert from ITS for replacement of beacon battery & failed beacons

– ITS sends the replacements to departments

– Departments mount the replacement beacons at the original positions

Department Administrator Role

• Apply for “Department Administrator” role via form CF-125a

• Can further grant roles to other users to support the workflow

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ATTENDEE’S MOBILE APP

Attendee’s Mobile App

• Installation & Supporting Platforms

• Login/Logout

• Check in Event

• Check out Event

• Recent Check-in History

• FAQs

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• Go to https://ats.hku.hk/attend/ or scan the following QR code– available on Google Play (Android devices) and App Store (iOS

devices)

• Supporting platforms:– Android: 5.0.0 (Lollipop) or above

– iOS: 10.0.0 or above

Mobile App - Installation

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Login/Logout – HKU Staff/StudentsHKU Staff/Students:

• You will be prompted to login your HKU Portal UID/PIN the first time you use the app.

• The session will be expired upon 100 days inactive after logged in the app.

• A login session will end if you explicitly logout from the app.

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Login/Logout - GuestsGuests:

• Login using your email address under “User without HKU Portal UID and PIN”.

• If you have specified your email address during registration of an event, please use this email address.

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Login/Logout - Guests• You will receive a verification email via this address.

• Click the “CONTINUE WITH XXXX@XXXX.XXX” link in the verification email, or enter the provided verification code into the app and click LOGIN.

• If you cannot receive the verification email, you

can retry by clicking RESEND.

• Login completes and you can check in/out events in the same way as HKU staff/students. 16

Mobile App - Check in an Event• Can check in from 10 min

before the event start time.

• To check in an event, open the app at classroom where the event/class is held. You will see an “empty seat”.

• Wait for a few seconds and your attendance will be automatically recorded.

• After checked in, your attendance record will be displayed in the “Current” tab. 17

Mobile App - Check in an Event• You will also receive a notification on your mobile

device after check-in is done.

• You will see the “empty seat” again after the class/event ends.

• For an event requiring prior registration, you can check in the event only if you have registered for the event.

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Mobile App – Check Out an Event

• If the event owner requires check-out time to be recorded,

– a check-out reminder will be displayed under the current check-in record

– a check-out notification message will pop up before the event end to prompt you open the app to check out

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Mobile App – Check Out an Event

• Check-out time will be recorded after opening the app.

– a check-out time will be displayed at the right side of the check-in time under the current check-in record

• The app will start to record the check-out time at 15 mins before the event end

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Mobile App - Check-in History• Tap the “Previous”

tab to view your checked-in events in the past 120 days.

• You can also look up any checked-in events by using the search function at the top.

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Mobile App - FAQs

• Tap the menu on the top left hand corner and you can find a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on using this app.

• Attendees can also contact ITS Service Desk for assistance.

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AS AN ADMINISTRATOR

As an Administrator• “Administrator” support attendance taking for attendees at your dept

• Setting up Attendance Taking for your courses/events

– for courses from SIS

– for events from HKUEMS

– For faculty/department events (“ad hoc events”)

• Administrator’s Website

– Overview

– How to Access

– Maintain Events

• Create/Update/Delete Events

– Retrieve Attendance Data

– Maintain Access Control

• Compliance to Privacy Policies

• Getting Support24

Setting up SIS CoursesBy SIS Course Administrator

– Input the new course attribute in Course Catalog

• Attribute name: ATTN (Taking Attendance)

• Attribute values:

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DEF Default (Apply to all classes) LEC Lectures (Check-in only)

LOUT Lectures (Check-in and Check-out) TUT Tutorials (Check-in only)

TOUT Tutorials (Check-in and check-out)

Setting up SIS Courses• Class events will be synchronized from SIS to Attendance@HKU and

acknowledgement emails will be sent to Department Administrators– Before 21 days of the start date of the course

– Acknowledgement email will be re-sent if venue changed in CPRB

– Better for SIS Course Administrators to be Dept Administrators of Attendance@HKU

• Class instructors and registered students (“whitelists”) will be synchronized from SIS to Attendance@HKU– at 07:00 and 13:00 everyday

• Tutorial data based on Tutorial Signup

• Class instructors can access their attendance data by default

• Only students on whitelist can record their attendance to that class

• Can refer to the “User Guide on Course Attributes for Attendance System” for more details:

https://intraweb.hku.hk/reserved_2/sis_staff/sis/SIS-reference-materials.html26

• By HKUEMS Event Organiser:– For ENABLING attendance taking, when creating/updating, under Enrolment

Method Section on the second page

– For “Require Attendance Taking”, please select radio button “Yes” (default “No”)

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Setting up HKUEMS Events

• If you would like to collect participants’ names, please use the fields “Full Name”, “Surname” and/or “First Name” in HKUEMS. Otherwise, Attendance@HKU cannot recognize the participants’ names.

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Setting up HKUEMS events

• HKUEMS creates a event in HKUEMS database

• Go to Attendance@HKU to choose the venue by clicking “Attendance@HKU”:

• List of registered attendees (“whitelist”) will be synchronized to Attendance@HKUonce per hour 29

Setting up HKUEMS Events

Setting up HKUEMS Events

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Check-out option can be changed

Event Owner

Update venue under Attendance@HKU, as venue under HKUEMS is free text only

Remember to save the update

• For DISABLING attendance taking, when updating an event:– Under Enrolment Method Section on the second page

– For “Require Attendance Taking”, select the radio button “No” and click “Commit”

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Setting up HKUEMS Events

• HKUEMS updates the event in HKUEMS database

• The event will be removed from Attendance@HKU

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Setting up HKUEMS Events

Setting Up Faculty/Dept Events

By “Department Manager”

– Create / Update Faculty/Dept event• Events NOT from SIS nor HKUEMS

• Can assign other Event Manager/Coordinator for the event

– Update SIS/HKUEMS events for emergency change of event venue• E.g. due to unplanned power outage etc

– These events do NOT support registered attendee lists (whitelists)

– To be done via the Administrator’s Website

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Administrator’s Website

• The Administrator’s website is used by department/event administrators to perform the following functions:

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Features When to use

Create/update events • Create/update a faculty/department event for attendance taking

• Update the venue of an event/a class imported from HKUEMS/SIS

Retrieve attendance data • Retrieve attendance data for further analysis

Maintain access control • Control the list of department users (e.g. class instructor) who can access the events/classes and related data

• Run on Chrome or Firefox

• Login HKU Portal– go to \Campus

Information Services\Central IT Services, OR

– type “attendance” in the search field

– click the link Attendance@HKU(for Admin)

How to Access (HKU Staff)

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• Run on Chrome or Firefox

• Login HKU Student Portal– go to \Useful Links

OR

type “attendance” in the search field

– click the link Attendance@HKU(for Tutors)

How to Access (HKU Student Tutors)

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Administrator’s Web Site

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Maintain Event

Attendance Data

Access Control

Maintain Events• Events/Classes requiring attendance taking can be automatically

retrieved from Student Information System (SIS) and HKU Event Management System (HKUEMS).– Only event venue could be updated for these events/classes under

Attendance@HKU

– If you would like to update other event/class information (e.g. start/end time), please do so via SIS/HKUEMS

• Administrators can also do the followings:– To create a faculty/department event (not initiated from SIS or HKUEMS)

for attendance taking

– To confirm the venue of an event retrieved from HKUEMS

– In case of emergency, e.g. unplanned power outage, Administrators can:• Change the venue under Attendance@HKU (should be aware of 07:00/13:00 updates)

• Create another fac/dept event for that event (attendance data downloaded separately)

• changes made under Attendance@HKU will NOT be updated back to SIS/HKUEMS 38

Maintain Events - Create

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Press the “+” button to create a faculty/department event

Maintain Events - Update

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Press the “UPDATE” button to update an existing event (Venue)

Venue changed indication(Not applicable to HKUEMS)

Maintain Events - Update (class from SIS)

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Read only

Class Instructors

Maintain Events - Update (Event from HKUEMS)

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• Same as “Setting up HKUEMS Events”

• Recommended to make changes via HKUEMS as direct changes under Attendance@HKU side will NOT be propagated back to HKUEMS

Check-out option can be

changed

Event Owner

Update venue under Attendance@HKU, as venue under HKUEMS is free text only

Remember to save the update

Maintain Events - Delete• To delete an event

– Click the menu on the top left hand corner and then “Maintain Event”

– Click the “Update” button of the event and then click the “Delete”

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Retrieve Attendance Data• To retrieve attendance data

– Click the menu on the top left hand corner and then “Attendance Data”

– Click the “Download” button of the event

– Data can be downloaded as an Excel file

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Retrieve Attendance Data

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• Attendance data will be kept for 2 complete academic years on server and available for downloading

• You can download attendance data of one class or an entire course

• 2 versions of attendance data Excel files available for download:

DetailsNormal Version Full Version

Event Details

Staff/Student No.

Staff/Student Name Masked

Check-in Time

Check-out Time Optional Optional

Email Address

Retrieve Attendance Data

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Download entire course

Download one class

Normal Version

FullVersion

Retrieve Attendance Data

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• Need to enter password to encrypt the data file if downloading the Full Version– The password should comply to HKU's password policy: with at least one letter (a-z, A-Z)

and one digit (0-9) and must be of 10-18 characters long

Retrieve Attendance Data

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Event Details

Attendees’ Check-in Time

• Sample attendance data files:– Normal version of a single class:

Retrieve Attendance Data

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Event Details

Attendees’ Check-in Time

• Sample attendance data files:– Full version of an entire course

Maintain Access Control

• Actions in Attendance@HKU are controlled by access roles.

• 2 types of roles:– Roles granted on department basis

• all events under that department and the associated attendance data can be accessed

• “Department Administrator” has the right to grant/revoke other department based roles

– Roles granted on event basis

• only that particular event and the associated attendance data can be accessed

• “Event Manger” has the right to grant/revoke the “Event Coordinator” role

• SIS class instructors and HKUEMS event organisers will have the “Event Manger” role by default (no need to explicitly grant the role)

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Maintain Access Control

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User rolesRetrieve

attendance dataMaintain

eventMaintain

access control

Department based

Dept Admin(applied via CF-125a)

√ √ √

Dept Manager(granted by Dept. Admin.)

√ √

Dept Coordinator(granted by Dept. Admin.)

√

Event based

Event Manager(e.g. Event organiser)

√ √

Event Coordinator(e.g. Class Instructor)

√

Maintain Access Control

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Access Control

Maintain Access Control• To maintain access control

– Click the menu on the top left hand corner and then “Access Control”

– To add a new role, click the “+” button at the bottom right corner

– To update existing role, click the “Update” button, enter the access rights details and click “Save”

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* You will be asked to choose one department if you are the Administrator of multiple departments

Maintain Access Control

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Department Manageror

Department Coordinator

Option for faculty

Compliance to Privacy Policies

• Departments, event owners and authorized users of Attendance@HKU should comply with the ITS’s Personal Information Collection Statement and Data Privacy Policy

• In particular:– It is prohibited to transfer the downloaded data to unauthorized

parties.

– Data downloaded should be for attendance related purposes only.

– Data downloaded should be deleted from your storage immediately after use.

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Getting Support

• Tap the menu on the top left hand corner and you can find a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on using the Administrator’s Website.

• Administrators can contact ITS Service Desk for assistance.

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TIPS

Tips• Submit CF88 early if you would like to cover your dept’s rooms

• Maintain up-to-date and complete data:– Course and student data in SIS

– Venues of courses in CPRB

– Tutorial related data in Tutorial Signup

• Do apply for Department Administrator role via CF-125a

• Dept Admin should check if the attendance is set up properly– By checking in Attendance@HKU or SIS acknowledgement email

• Remember to specify the venue under Attendance@HKU after creation/update of an HKUEMS event

• Should communicate with attendees in advance– Attendees can install the mobile app in advance and know how to

record attendance smoother operation during event58

Tips• Class instructors should:

– Better remind the attendees to open the app during event start when they are not yet familiar with it

– Prepare for (rare) cases where attendees cannot use mobile devices (e.g. out of battery), by using spare mobile devices for attendees to login for recording attendance, paper forms, etc.

• Department Administrators should also remind the class instructors accordingly beforehand

• For recording attendance using the mobile app– The app should be opened in the foreground

– The app will try to record attendance when opened and then once every 5 min

– Drag down in the “Current” tab can force the app to try again

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Tips• Privacy issues

– Do comply with ITS’s privacy policies and handle personal data with care

– Attendance@HKU will only check the attendee’s presence at the venue during the event; it will NOT track the attendee at other locations/times don’t worry

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DEMONSTRATION

Demonstration

• Create faculty/department event in Attendance@HKU

• Check in/out in mobile app

• Download attendance data

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Q & A

THE END