The gate tablet: attendance by scanning

What it is for

A gate tablet is an account of its own for one school that does nothing but record attendance. It is added under “Gate tablets” and linked to the tablet with a code or a link, and opens “Scanner mode”: a pupil scans their card and is recorded present or late at once, and a lost connection does not stop it.

Step by step

1. Under Settings → “Gate tablets”, press “Add tablet”: a name (such as “Main gate”) and the school.
2. Link it to the tablet one of two ways: “Registration code” on its row — six digits that work once, for ten minutes, typed on the tablet at schoolos.pro/device; or the link and QR code shown when it is added (valid 24 hours).
3. On the tablet, “Scanner mode” opens: choose the school once (the tablet remembers it), and the list of pupils is downloaded and refreshed every ten minutes.
4. Print the pupils' cards from “Print barcodes”; the code is scanned with a USB scanner or the camera, or typed followed by Enter.
5. A member of staff can open the same mode on their phone: “Scanner mode (camera / offline)” on the “Gate check-in” page.
6. Every scan, accepted or refused, is listed in the “Scan log”.

How it works

The tablet answers every scan at once with a sound and a sign, keeps it, and sends what it kept to the server every 15 seconds; if the connection drops it keeps scanning and sends when it returns. The server decides again, its answer stands, and no scan is counted twice. The tablet even opens its page with no connection, from a copy it keeps. A pupil already recorded today is a “duplicate”, and nothing about them changes. A scan sent more than 36 hours late is refused as “old, not recorded” and stays on the tablet to be dismissed. If the tablet's clock is wrong the server's time is used, and the scan log says so. If the tablet is moved to another school, what was not yet sent from the old school is refused. A tablet registered by the six-digit code stays signed in until it is disabled, while one set up by link signs in with an ordinary session that ends after 12 hours unused, and returns with its code or a new registration code; “Disable” closes its account and all its sessions at once and cancels its links, and it can be restored from the deleted tab. The header shows “Tablet: its name” on a gate tablet, and “Staff: their name” for a member of staff scanning from their phone. After many wrong link codes, the tablet is asked to wait a quarter of an hour.

The pages in this flow

1. Gate tablets
2. Print barcodes
3. Gate check-in
4. Scan log

Questions

The tablet says “old, not recorded”. What now?

A scan stayed on the tablet more than 36 hours without being sent, so it is not recorded. Record that day's attendance in “Daily attendance” if needed, then press “Dismiss”.

The internet was down this morning. Are the scans lost?

No: the tablet keeps every scan and sends it when the connection returns; leave the page open.

The tablet was lost or stolen. What do I do?

Press “Disable” on its row under “Gate tablets”: its account and sessions close at once.

The code ran out before it was typed?

Make a new one; only the newest works, for ten minutes.