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BioTrack Docs

What is BioTrack?

This page explains what BioTrack does, who it is for and what it deliberately leaves out. Read it before you plan an installation or decide whether BioTrack fits your site.

BioTrack, by Alcra, is an attendance system for one site with one Hikvision biometric terminal. Staff scan a face, finger or card on the terminal. BioTrack saves every scan on a Windows 11 PC at the site and turns the scans into daily attendance records, late arrivals, absences and monthly reports.

The Today dashboard with summary cards for recorded, late, awaiting a later scan and no scan yet, an arrivals chart and a list of recent scans. The Today dashboard with summary cards for recorded, late, awaiting a later scan and no scan yet, an arrivals chart and a list of recent scans.

Who it is for

Section titled “Who it is for”
  • HR staff and operators who check who is in, review late arrivals and export attendance.
  • Administrators who set work schedules, record leave and corrections, and look after backups.
  • The installer, often IT or an Alcra installer, who sets up the PC and connects the terminal.

What’s in the box

Section titled “What’s in the box”

One signed installer puts two programs on the PC. A third part is optional.

BioTrack desktop app

The window you use every day: Today, Attendance, Employees, Reports, Connection and Settings. Closing it does not stop collection.

BioTrack collector

A Windows service that receives scans from the terminal and saves them to an encrypted database on the PC. It runs even when nobody is signed in to BioTrack.

Cloud reporting (optional)

Sends attendance to your organisation’s cloud service. The PC stays the authoritative copy, so a cloud outage never loses scans.

What BioTrack does

Section titled “What BioTrack does”
  • Saves every scan the terminal sends, with the time the terminal recorded it.
  • Builds a daily record for each employee from their first and last scan, using the work schedule to decide whether they were late, left early or were absent.
  • Picks up employees from the terminal’s user list when an administrator syncs, and adds people it has not seen before when they first scan.
  • Lets administrators record holidays, leave and corrections. Saved scans are never changed; corrections change the effective result and are recorded with the administrator’s name.
  • Produces monthly Summary, Absences and Late arrivals reports and exports.
  • Shows the health of each link in the collection chain on the Connection page.
  • Makes a local backup every day, and lets an administrator create encrypted portable backups.

What BioTrack does not do

Section titled “What BioTrack does not do”

BioTrack is deliberately narrow. It does not:

  • Run payroll. It reports hours, lateness and absences; it does not calculate pay.
  • Enrol faces, fingerprints or cards. People are enrolled on the Hikvision terminal itself. BioTrack reads the terminal’s user list and receives scans; it never handles biometric templates.
  • Manage several terminals. One installation works with one terminal at one site.
  • Upload sensitive material. Biometric templates, passwords and terminal credentials are never sent to the cloud.

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”
How BioTrack works Follow a scan from the terminal to the database and, optionally, the cloud.
Requirements Check the PC, network and terminal before you install.