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Digital Attendance List

The Digital Attendance List is a Flow module for recording and evaluating attendance at course events. It uses the courses, groups, events, lecturers, and student registrations already available in Flow. Lecturers can record and review attendance within their courses, while administrators define the rules that apply across the institution.

The module supports on-site, hybrid, and online teaching. Attendance can be recorded by students, lecturers, or an integrated service, depending on the enabled functionality. Most behaviour is configured in Flow under Configuration → Attendance List.

Attendance recording​

QR code recording​

Lecturers can display an event-specific QR code that students scan to record their attendance. Administrators can configure how frequently the code refreshes, how long a scanned code remains valid, and how many minutes before or after an event students may check in.

An optional check-out workflow allows lecturers to display a second QR code at the end of an event. When a lecturer uses check-out for an event, students must complete both scans for their attendance to be valid. Flow can also record the request IP address and browser user agent for QR-code scans when these options are enabled. Because this information may constitute personal data, universities should enable it only for a defined purpose and apply appropriate access, retention, and transparency rules in accordance with their GDPR responsibilities.

NFC recording​

Students can record attendance by scanning an NFC tag installed in a lecture room or placed on a lecturer's desk. Flow uses the configured room and the current event to determine where the attendance belongs. NFC tags and their access rules are managed separately under NFC tags.

Microsoft Teams recording​

When the Microsoft Teams module is configured, Flow can automatically create attendance records from participation in online meetings. See Microsoft Teams synchronisation for its setup and course-level controls.

Manual recording and corrections​

Lecturers and authorised university staff can record, change, or invalidate attendance manually. Flow can allow lecturers to manage records created by other lecturers on the same course, record attendance for all course groups, and add an internal note when confirming attendance. Partial attendance can also be enabled when a full present or absent status is not sufficiently precise.

Flow can optionally record lecturer attendance as well. The lecturer displaying the QR code is then marked as present, and authorised users can record the attendance of other lecturers.

Presence rates and course structures​

Flow calculates presence rates from the attendance records associated with a student's course events. Administrators can define a global default required presence rate and select the calculation algorithm. During data import, an importer-provided course value takes precedence over the semester's default course value, which in turn takes precedence over the global default. Authorised users can then set a course-specific override in Flow. Students with the corresponding role can receive a configured reduction of the minimum rate.

Parent and child courses can be enabled for course structures that need consolidated attendance. The parent course can calculate its presence rate from its own events and those of its child courses. Administrators can also decide whether child courses display the parent attendance rate and whether lecturers inherit access from the parent course.

Attendance requests​

When the Attendance Requests module is enabled, students can request attendance for an event that does not already have a valid record. Administrators can configure:

  • how long students may submit a request after an event;
  • how many requests a student may submit per semester;
  • whether requests for future events are allowed;
  • additional instructions shown when a request is created;
  • whether supporting files are required;
  • whether eligible requests may be approved automatically; and
  • how open requests are handled when a student moves to another group.

Lecturers and authorised staff review requests according to their course and organisation permissions.

Surveys after attendance recording​

Flow can present a course survey after a student checks in or checks out. Survey completion can be optional or required before attendance is granted, and institutions can decide whether students may skip it. Flow can also send reminders to students who have not completed a survey.

Survey statistics can be made available to lecturers as an Excel download or sent to them by email after an event. These options are only available when surveys are enabled.

Reporting and exports​

Attendance information can be exported for further processing. Depending on the enabled configuration and the user's permissions, Flow supports:

  • CSV exports of student presence rates;
  • Excel exports of attendance records for a semester;
  • Excel exports of staff presence;
  • Excel statistics for open attendance requests; and
  • downloadable attendance records containing either attendance times or event information.

Partner integrations can use a configurable external-ID algorithm so that exported identifiers match the identifiers expected by connected university systems.

Record continuity after data imports​

Changes in imported course data can leave an attendance record without its original event, for example when an event identifier changes or a student moves to another group. Flow can automatically migrate these orphaned records and requests after an import by matching the original event's start and end time to the corresponding new event.