Back-End Requirements Document
1. Document Title & Overview
Title: Employee Attendance Management System - Back-End Requirements
Overview: This document outlines the back-end requirements for the Employee
Attendance Management System, which is designed to track employee attendance, manage
notifications, and integrate with existing HR systems. The system will capture attendance
data, provide alerts for late arrivals, and generate reports for HR.
Attendance System Database Schema and API
Definitions
Database Schema Table
Table: attendance
Colum
Type Constraints Description
n
PRIMARY KEY, Unique identifier for
id INT
AUTO_INCREMENT each record
emplo References the
INT FOREIGN KEY
yee_id employee table
check_i Timestamp of
DATETIME NOT NULL
n_time employee check-in
check_
Timestamp of
out_ti DATETIME NULL
employee check-out
me
ENUM('Present', Attendance status of
status NOT NULL
'Late', 'Absent') the employee
create Record creation
DATETIME DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
d_at timestamp
DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
update Record update
DATETIME ON UPDATE
d_at timestamp
CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
API Endpoint Definitions
POST /api/attendance/checkin
Description: Records employee check-in
Request: { "employee_id": int }
Response: { "message": "Checked in successfully" }
Status Codes: 200, 400, 404
POST /api/attendance/checkout
Description: Records employee check-out
Request: { "employee_id": int }
Response: { "message": "Checked out successfully" }
Status Codes: 200, 400, 404
GET /api/attendance/report
Description: Retrieves attendance report for a period
Request: { "employee_id": int, "start_date": "YYYY-MM-DD",
"end_date": "YYYY-MM-DD" }
Response: { "report": [...] }
Status Codes: 200, 404
GET /api/attendance/status
Description: Retrieves current attendance status
Request: { "employee_id": int }
Response: { "status": "Present/Late/Absent" }
Status Codes: 200, 404
Plain Text Format
Database Schema: The attendance table contains seven columns: id (INT, PRIMARY KEY,
AUTO_INCREMENT) serves as unique identifier for each record, employee_id (INT,
FOREIGN KEY) references the employee table, check_in_time (DATETIME, NOT NULL)
stores timestamp of employee check-in, check_out_time (DATETIME, NULL) stores
timestamp of employee check-out, status (ENUM with values Present/Late/Absent, NOT
NULL) indicates attendance status of the employee, created_at (DATETIME, DEFAULT
CURRENT_TIMESTAMP) records creation timestamp, and updated_at (DATETIME,
DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ON UPDATE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP) tracks record
update timestamp.
API Endpoints:
1. POST /api/attendance/checkin records employee check-in, accepts employee_id as
integer in request body, returns success message, with status codes 200, 400, 404
2. POST /api/attendance/checkout records employee check-out, accepts employee_id
as integer in request body, returns success message, with status codes 200, 400, 404
3. GET /api/attendance/report retrieves attendance report for a specified period,
requires employee_id, start_date and end_date in YYYY-MM-DD format, returns
report array, with status codes 200, 404
4. GET /api/attendance/status retrieves current attendance status, requires
employee_id as integer, returns status as Present/Late/Absent, with status codes
200, 404
4. Authentication & Authorization
- Authentication: JWT (JSON Web Tokens) will be used for authenticating API requests.
- Authorization: Role-based access control (RBAC) will be implemented to restrict access
to endpoints based on user roles (Admin, Employee).
5. Business Logic & Services details
- Attendance records will be created upon check-in and check-out.
- Late arrivals will trigger notifications to the employee and their manager.
- Reports will be generated based on attendance data for specified periods.
6. Error Handling & Validation rules
- Input validation will be enforced for all API requests.
- Standardized error responses will be returned for invalid requests, including error codes
and messages.
- Common error codes: 400 (Bad Request), 401 (Unauthorized), 404 (Not Found), 500
(Internal Server Error).
7. Logging & Monitoring strategy
- All API requests and responses will be logged.
- Error logs will be maintained for troubleshooting.
- Monitoring tools (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana) will be used to track system performance and
uptime.
8. Performance & Scalability guidelines
- The system should handle up to 1000 concurrent users.
- Database queries will be optimized for performance.
- Caching mechanisms (e.g., Redis) will be implemented for frequently accessed data.
9. CI/CD & Deployment Pipeline steps
1. Code is pushed to the repository.
2. Automated tests are run.
3. Code is built and containerized (Docker).
4. Deployment to staging environment.
5. Manual QA testing.
6. Deployment to production environment.
10. Infrastructure & Hosting requirements
- The application will be hosted on cloud infrastructure (e.g., AWS, Azure).
- A load balancer will be configured to distribute traffic.
- Database will be hosted on a managed service (e.g., Amazon RDS).
11. Backup & Disaster Recovery plan
- Daily backups of the database will be scheduled.
- Backup data will be stored in a separate location.
- Disaster recovery drills will be conducted quarterly.
12. Security & Compliance standards
- The application will comply with GDPR and other relevant data protection regulations.
- Data encryption will be enforced for sensitive information.
- Regular security audits will be conducted.
13. Data Migration & Integration approach
- Existing attendance data will be migrated to the new system using ETL processes.
- Integration with existing HR systems will be achieved through API endpoints.
14. User Stories & Acceptance Criteria (GIVEN-WHEN-THEN)
- User Story 1: As an employee, I want to check in and check out so that my attendance is
recorded.
- GIVEN I am an authenticated employee
- WHEN I send a check-in request
- THEN my attendance should be recorded successfully.
- User Story 2: As a manager, I want to receive notifications for late arrivals.
- GIVEN an employee checks in late
- WHEN the check-in time is past 9:30 AM
- THEN I should receive a notification.
15. Assumptions & Dependencies
- The application will assume that all employees have unique identifiers in the HR system.
- The project depends on the completion of the front-end application for full functionality.
- Third-party services (e.g., email notifications) will be available and operational.
