IP-based Clock In Restrictions

Overview

HourDoc, by default, restricts employee clock-in access by IP address (the public IP address of your company).  Public IP addresses come in two varieties: static and dynamic.  Most home and small business internet lines have dymanic IP addresses.  This means your IP address can change as often as everyday, but usually every few weeks or months.  With a static IP, your address never changes, unless you request a new one from your ISP.  

How it Works

The HourDoc IP restriction works as follows:

When an employee clocks in, HourDoc safely and securely records the IP address of the current user.  It checks this IP address against the IP table found in Preferences > General Account Info:

If the employee's IP address doesn't match one found in the table, he/she is not allowed to clock in, but can use the other functions of HourDoc (such as requesting days off, sending messages, etc.).  If necessary any particular user can be given off-site access to clock in.  This is common for off-site employees.  To enable this, go to Preferences > Personnel/Employees, click on the employees name and select the corresponding permission and submit the form:

IP restriction can also be extended to the manager level, whereby the manager is restricted from access HourDoc manager functions off-site.  To enable this go to Preferences > Managers, click "edit permissions" next to the manager's name, and select the corresponding permission and submit the form:

Frequently-Changing IP Addresses

Some companies find that their IP address changes more often than desired, and subsequently they have to add new IPs to the allowed IPs table quite frequently.  In this case they can contact their ISP and ask for a static IP address for a nominal fee (between $5 and $15 per month, but sometimes free or included with your internet line).  Alternatively, you can enable off-site clock in for all employees, although this is not recommended in most cases.

To view your current global IP go to this website - www.whatismybrowser.com. This website will display your current global IP which you then can enter into the system.