Attendance Reports and Check-In History

TimelyChurch provides detailed attendance data from every check-in session. This article covers how to view session reports, track trends, and use the data for follow-up.

Session Detail Report

After a check-in session (or while it is still active), you can view its full report.

Accessing the Report

1. Go to Planning > Check-In.
2. In the Active Sessions banner (or the Today's Sessions panel in the right sidebar), click the eye icon or the session name.
3. The session detail page opens.

The page header has Classroom Roster and Kiosk Mode (while the session is active), Export CSV (downloads this session's attendance list), End Session, and, for the Check-In Manage permission, Delete. A session that still has children checked in cannot be deleted; check them out first.

Report Contents

Summary Statistics

The top of the page displays these key metrics:

Linked Event

If the session is linked to an event, a banner at the top shows the event name and start time, with a link to the event detail page in the Events module.

By Class/Location

A grouped breakdown (shown in the sidebar when more than one class/location is in use) shows how many people checked into each class or group. This helps children's ministry leaders see how many children were in each room.

Check-In Timeline

A breakdown of check-ins grouped by the hour they occurred (e.g., "10 AM: 23 check-ins, 11 AM: 8 check-ins"), shown as a small bar chart in the sidebar. This reveals arrival patterns and peak times.

Attendance List

A complete list of every check-in for the session, ordered by most recent first. Each entry shows:

• Person's name and photo (or initials)
• A Child badge for children
• Class/group assignment
• Check-in time
• Checkout time (if checked out), or a Present badge if still checked in

For active sessions, each still-present row also has a Check Out button. For a child, it opens the Check Out Child window with the pickup picker and any custody note.

The counters on the session page and the kiosk read Here now and Check-ins, and both are counted correctly.

Classroom Roster

For teachers and room leaders, the Classroom Roster (the button at the top of an active session's page) shows the session by room, and refreshes itself every few seconds:

• A Room: filter (All Rooms or one room).
• Three tabs: Expected (people in the class who are not checked in yet, you can check them in from here), Here (checked in now, with allergy and medical alerts, Tap for code to reveal the security code, and a Check Out button), and Checked Out (with Picked up by where a pickup person was recorded).
• A red LOCKDOWN ACTIVE -- All checkouts suspended banner, with who set it and when, while lockdown is on.
• Wristband chips and Assign band when the session uses wristbands.

Closing an Old Session

Sometimes a session from an earlier day still shows people as checked in. Nobody checked them out, and ending the session does not check anyone out. To tidy it up:

1. Open the old session's page.
2. Click Close Stale Check-ins ("Marks every still-checked-in person in this session as checked out, with no pickup recorded. Use only for old sessions you know have ended.").
3. Confirm with Close check-ins. The action is written to the activity log.

The button appears only on sessions dated before today that still have people checked in, and only for the Check-In Manage permission. For today's session, check people out normally or end the session instead. (Sessions left open from a previous day are also closed automatically in the background, without sending alerts, but the people in them stay checked in until you close them here.)

Today's Sessions Overview

The Check-In Station page displays all sessions for the current day in the sidebar, including:

• Session name
• Start and end times
• Number of check-ins

This provides a quick overview of the day's activity without navigating to each session.

Attendance taken by hand, on a class's Attendance tab or with Manual Attendance, has no clock time. It is listed here as Manual attendance, with its count.

Historical Attendance via Reports

For attendance trends over time, use the Reports section of the admin panel.

1. In the left sidebar, open Reports and click All Reports.
2. In the Attendance group, select Check-ins.
3. Filter by date range.
4. Review the list of check-ins, the summary stats (total check-ins, unique people, check-ins with allergies), and the source breakdown (kiosk, manual class entry, headcount, or volunteer-recorded).

This report draws from the same check-in data and can help you spot patterns such as:

• Average Sunday attendance over a chosen range
• Which classes are growing or declining (see the By Class report)
• Seasonal attendance fluctuations

Check-in Analytics

The Check-in Analytics report ("Peak check-in times and session durations by class") shows arrival patterns and how long people stay, across any date range.

1. Open Reports > All Reports.
2. In the Attendance group, select Check-in Analytics.
3. Choose a date range.

At the top are three tiles: Total Check-ins, Avg Duration, and Total Checkouts. Below them:

• Peak Check-in Times. Check-ins by hour of day.
• Duration by Class. The average session length per group, with Min, Max, and Checkouts for each class.

If nothing was recorded in the range, the page says "No check-in data for this period." The same arrival pattern for a single session is shown in the Check-In Timeline on that session's page.

What Peak Times Tell You

• Arrival pattern. Most check-ins cluster around the start of your service. The hourly breakdown shows how tight that window is.
• Staffing gaps. If most check-ins land in a single hour, you may need extra volunteers at the door during that window.
• Late arrivals. See how many families arrive after the service starts. This can shape policies around late drop-offs.

What Durations Tell You

• Service length validation. If your worship service is supposed to run 75 minutes but average check-in duration is 110 minutes, families are sticking around. Knowing this helps with fellowship hall scheduling.
• Late pickup detection. A class with an unusually high max duration may indicate parents are forgetting to pick up children, or simply that they are lingering after the service. Combine with the Unclaimed Children alert (article 11) for a fuller picture.
• Operational planning. Useful for setting realistic event end times, which the unclaimed-children staff alerts rely on.

Note: Only check-ins with both a check-in time AND a checkout time count toward duration averages. People still checked in (or who left without scanning out) are excluded.

Attendance Records and Classes

The check-in itself is the attendance record. There is no separate second record to keep in sync. When a person is checked into a class, that check-in counts as their attendance for that class on that date. This means:

• Sunday school teachers do not need to enter check-ins again. Each check-in is already recorded for the class.
• Class attendance in Reports counts these check-ins (see Attendance Reports).
• On a class's own page (People > Groups, Classes filter), the Attendance tab shows a Checked In badge beside each student who has checked in. The Attendance Report on that tab is built from the marks teachers take there (see Taking Class Attendance).
• To record attendance for a past class or event without a kiosk, use Manual Attendance in the Check-In Station header.
• The check-in record includes the check-in time and who performed the check-in.

Note: A check-in is treated as "present." Teachers can still take attendance by hand on the class's Attendance tab (marking each student Present, Late, Excused, or Absent), useful for classes that meet without running a kiosk check-in.

Headcount

A headcount lets you record a bulk count for a session without checking people in individually. You enter and adjust the headcount in Kiosk Mode (tap the Headcount control), and Kiosk Mode shows the combined live total:

Total = Individual Check-ins + Headcount

This is useful for services where only children are individually checked in while adults in the auditorium are counted via headcount.

A headcount over 100,000 shows a friendly message instead of an error page.

First-Timer Tracking

The session report automatically identifies first-time visitors, people who had never been checked in before this session. This count appears in the summary statistics.

Use this data to:

• Prepare welcome packets or follow-up communications for first-timers.
• Track visitor-to-regular conversion rates over time.

Exporting Data

Session and attendance data can be reviewed on screen. To export:

• One session. Click Export CSV on the session page. The file lists each person with their type, class, check-in and check-out times, who checked them in and out, and who picked them up.
• A date range. Open Reports > All Reports > Check-ins, set your date range, and click Export CSV. Security codes are not included in exports.
• The Overview, By Class, and Absentees attendance reports each offer a CSV export as well.

The session CSV shows each person's real check-in time in your church's time zone, not the time the row was saved.

Tips for Effective Attendance Tracking

1. Link sessions to events. This ensures attendance data is associated with the correct service or program and appears in event reports.
2. Use classes and rooms. Assigning children to classes during check-in generates per-class attendance automatically and powers the room view.
3. End sessions when done. Ending a session records the end time and prevents stale data from accumulating. It does not force-checkout anyone still present. Check everyone out, or use Close Stale Check-ins on an old session.
4. Review first-timer counts weekly. This is one of the most valuable metrics for church growth tracking.
5. Combine headcount with individual check-ins. Use headcount for adult worship attendance and individual check-in for children's ministry to get a complete picture.

Tip: The session detail page works well for a post-service debrief. Review who attended, check the first-timer count, and note any children still not checked out before locking up.

Last updated: 2026-10-21 (8.205.306).