This guide is for Admin and HR users.
Go to Rota, Time & Attendance in the left-hand menu. If you haven't set it up yet, you'll go straight to the setup.
Time & Attendance focuses on capturing time. It's ideal if you want clock-in and clock-out, geofencing, break rules and timesheets, without shift planning.
Locations
People list
Clock-in & time capture
Timesheet & breaks
Review
Bringing in your data from Core HR
When you first open the module, Breathe brings your records across automatically: locations, departments, jobs, employees, and leave & sickness.
To begin, choose Time & Attendance on the How would you like to start? screen.
💡 Good to know: started with Time & Attendance only? You can add rota planning later in Settings > Account mode without losing any of your data.
Tracking your setup progress
A blue progress bar at the top shows your current step and how far through you are (for example, Step 1 of 5 | 20% complete).
Moving between steps: click < Back at the bottom left, or click any completed step in the left-hand menu. Click Continue to move on.
Pausing setup: you can leave at any time. When you come back to Rota, Time & Attendance, click Resume setup to carry on, or Start over to begin again.
💡 Good to know: the left-hand menu groups the steps into Structure & data (Locations and People list), Time & attendance (Clock-in & time capture, and Timesheet & breaks) and Review.
Step 1: Locations
Choose which locations you'd like to use for time tracking, then add their address and location tracking (if desired) and operating hours.
Click a location from your Core HR list.
Turn on Enable for rota to include this location.
Enter the postcode, click Find address and choose your address from the list.
Set your Location tracking options (optional):
Enable geofence: set a radius (between 50 m and 5,000 m) so clock-ins only count on site. You’ll need to add an address first.
Set your Operating hours:
Daily: if your hours are the same on each open day.
Custom: if your opening and closing times change from day to day.
Repeat for each location, then click Continue.
Adding a new location
If a location isn't in Core HR yet, you can add it here:
Click + Add location.
Enter the location name and click Create location.
It appears in your list, ready to set up. It's added to Core HR too.
💡 Please note: if Continue is greyed out, check the blue banner at the top. For example, "Add operating hours for all enabled locations to continue".
Step 2: People list
Check your team, using the location, department and job filters if you need to.
Fill in any missing locations, departments or jobs using the lists in each row.
If someone doesn't have a department, choose one from the Department list in their row. If the one you need doesn't exist yet, click + Create department, enter the name and click Create department.
To give someone an extra location or job, click Add assignment, dont forget to save!
Click Continue.
💡 Good to know: if anyone's still missing a location or job when you click Continue, you'll see Continue with unfinished setup? Click Go back to fill them in now, or Continue to carry on. You can add them later in Settings > People list.
💡 Please note: extra assignments only apply in Rota, Time & Attendance, but new departments are added to Core HR.
Step 3: Clock-in & time capture
Set your clock-in rules:
Clock-in window: how early someone can clock in.
Snap-to-rota tolerance: if someone clocks in or out within this many minutes of their shift, their paid time matches the shift.
Clock-in violation threshold: flags a clock-in that's more than this many minutes outside the snap window.
Clock-out violation threshold: flags a clock-out that's more than this many minutes before or after the scheduled end time.
Enable geotagging: turn this on to store the location captured at clock-in.
The page also shows examples of what your settings mean in practice, like "Clocks in 18 min late → over threshold, flagged for review".
Click Continue.
Step 4: Timesheet & breaks
Manual timesheets: turn this on to let employees add or edit timesheets when they miss a clock-in or clock-out.
How are timesheets approved? Choose Manager sign-off or Auto-approve.
Lock timesheets after approval: Once a timesheet is approved, nobody can change its worked time if the lock is enabled. If the lock is disabled, Admin, HR and Finance users can edit and delete approved timesheets.
Enable break tracking: turn this on to take breaks off timesheet hours automatically.
How are breaks applied? Choose By shift length or Per shift. Choosing By shift length opens the Break length rules table.
Break length rules: set the break for each range of shift length, and whether it's paid or unpaid. Click + Add rule to add one.
Click the 3 dots under Actions to remove any rules.
Click Continue.
💡 Please note: in the UK, adult workers are entitled to a 20-minute break if they work more than 6 hours.
Step 5: Review
Choose a location from the list at the top to check your clock-in, timesheet and break settings.
Click Edit next to any section to make changes.
Click Finish setup.
You'll go straight to the Live attendance page, ready to start capturing your team's time.
We're here to help
Any questions? Just send us a message using the chat at the bottom right of your screen.💬