Quick answers to common questions about student attendance, kiosk setup, pickup PINs, and Staff time tracking for US schools.
Dashboard: us.illumine.app
1. What account should stay logged in on the lobby tablet?
You don't need to keep any account logged in on the lobby tablet. Instead, display your school's Attendance QR code on the tablet.
Follow these steps:
Go to Attendance > Student Attendance.
Click Attendance QR in the top-right corner.
Save the QR code as an image and display it on the tablet, or print it.
Parents can scan the QR code using the Parent App to check their children in or out. The app displays all children linked to a parent's account, regardless of their classroom, so one scan can cover all their children.
2. Can parents reset their own kiosk PIN?
Yes. You first need to enable the option from your school dashboard.
Go to Settings > Attendance.
Under Kiosk Mode, switch on Allow Parents, Authorized Pickups & Staff to manage individual Kiosk PINs. Make sure Kiosk Attendance is enabled.
Parents can then go to Profile > Parents & Pickup in the Parent App to manage their PIN.
Good to know: Each person can only change their own PIN and the PINs of their own authorized pickups.
3. A parent's old PIN says "already taken" after a reset. What should I do?
This can happen when an old record remains after the PIN is reset.
Please share the student's name, parent's name, and center name with the Illumine Support team so they can clear the old record.
4. Where did the Room Mode PIN go?
Room Mode now uses the same PIN as Kiosk Mode. Staff can use their Kiosk PIN or reset it if they have forgotten it.
If the app displays a "Something went wrong" message:
Update the app to the latest version.
Log out and log back in.
To hand the device over to another Staff member:
Tap More > Room Mode to exit.
Enter the next Staff member's 4-digit PIN.
5. Parents do not want to take a selfie during check-in. Can we disable it?
Yes. You can disable the photo requirement from your school dashboard.
Go to Settings > Attendance.
Under Enable/Disable Access, switch on Disable Photo for attendance.
Click Save.
This setting applies to both QR code and kiosk PIN check-ins.
6. How do I stop check-in notifications from going to parents?
You can disable student attendance notifications for parents.
Go to Settings > Attendance.
Under Student, switch on Disable Student attendance notification for parents.
Click Save.
7. Can a Staff member check a child in from the carline so their name appears under "Updated By"?
Yes, but the Staff member must complete the check-in themselves using the Staff App. They can scan the child's QR code or use Kiosk Mode.
There is no QR code option that allows one person to check a child in while recording a different person as Updated By.
8. Where can I find the geofencing settings?
You can find geofencing under Settings > Attendance.
Open the Enable Geo Fencing card in the top-right corner.
Switch on the setting.
Set the Location Threshold in meters.
Good to know: Keep the radius at 100 meters or more. A smaller radius may cause Staff standing inside the building to fall outside the allowed area.
9. Hourly Staff cannot clock in and receive a "Permission denied" message. How can I fix this?
This usually happens when Staff try to clock in directly from the Staff App without the required Staff Attendance permission.
To enable access:
Go to Settings > Access Control.
Open the relevant Staff role and select View Permissions.
Under Staff Attendance, enable the check-in permission and click Save.
Ask the Staff member to log out and log back in.
Good to know: Kiosk and QR-scan attendance do not require this permission, so Staff can still clock in using either of those methods. If the permission is already enabled and in-app clock-in still fails, share the Staff member's name with Support.
10. Can we prevent Staff from clocking in before their scheduled shift starts?
No. Illumine does not currently prevent early clock-ins.
As an alternative, set Shift Start and Shift End on each Staff profile. You can then use Payroll to compare scheduled hours against actual hours. Any early minutes will appear as additional time.
Good to know: Rounding early check-ins up to the scheduled shift start time has been shared with the product team as a feature request.
11. Where can I find Payroll?
Payroll is available under: Attendance > Staff Attendance > Time Tracking > Payroll
It is not a separate top-level menu item.
Good to know: You need the Time Tracking permission to access this tab. If you see a message saying you do not have permission to view Time Tracking, ask an admin to enable it under Settings > Access Control.
12. Can I generate one report showing each child's scheduled hours and actual check-in and check-out times?
There isn't a single report that combines all this information, but the Attendance Summary report provides most of the details.
Follow these steps:
Go to Reports > Excel Reports.
Open the Student Attendance tab.
Select Attendance Summary and click Generate.
The report includes check-in and check-out times, along with a schedule column.
Good to know: If the child's schedule is stored in custom profile fields, also export the Students Report and match the two reports by name in Excel.
13. Why does the attendance report for a room show only one child?
The report may show only one child because only one child is currently assigned to that room.
To check the room assignments:
Go to Center Management > Students.
Review the room assignments.
Add the other children to the correct room if needed.