Fingerprint Devices

A fingerprint device is a small terminal mounted at your gate or entrance. A learner or staff member places a finger on it, it recognises them in under a second, and the record reaches DRAIS. From there attendance, guardian SMS and reports all follow automatically.

This guide covers connecting a device, getting fingerprints onto it, and reading the health information DRAIS shows you.

How a device talks to DRAIS

The device holds two things: a list of people (a PIN and a name for each) and their fingerprint templates. When someone scans, the device works out which PIN matched and sends that to DRAIS. DRAIS then looks up which learner or staff member that PIN belongs to.

That means two separate things have to be right:

The fingerprint	Stored on the device. Good enrolment — a clean, well-positioned finger, captured more than once — is what makes recognition fast and reliable.
The identity link	Stored in DRAIS. It says "PIN 41 on this device is Nakato Sarah". If this is wrong, the device will recognise the finger perfectly and credit the wrong learner.

This is the mistake to watch for

Almost every attendance problem schools report turns out to be an identity link problem, not a fingerprint problem. The device is working; it is simply pointing at the wrong person. DRAIS gives you tools to find and fix these — see Identity & Reconciliation below.

Adding a device

1
Mount and power the device
Fit it where learners pass on arrival, at a comfortable height for the youngest learner who will use it. Avoid direct sunlight on the sensor — it interferes with reading.
2
Connect it to your network
The device needs to reach the internet to send records to DRAIS. Either your school Wi-Fi or a network cable is fine. Note the device serial number; you will need it.
3
Register it in DRAIS
Go to Devices → Add Device and enter the serial number and a name you will recognise ("Main Gate", "Boarding Wing"). The device is now claimed by your school.
4
Confirm it is reporting
The device list shows a status and a last-seen time. Once it has checked in, the status turns active. If it does not appear within a few minutes, check the network connection first.

[ Screenshot: Devices list showing status and last-seen ]

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Devices belong to one school at a time

A device is owned by exactly one school. Moving a physical device to a different school is a deliberate two-step handover — the current school releases it, then the new school claims it. This prevents a device from quietly reporting one school's learners into another school's records. Contact DRAIS support to arrange a transfer.

Enrolling fingerprints

There are two ways to get a learner's fingerprint onto a device.

From DRAIS (recommended)

Open the learner's profile, choose Enrol Fingerprint, and follow the prompts. DRAIS assigns the PIN itself and creates the identity link at the same moment the fingerprint is captured — so the link is correct by construction.

On the device keypad

You can also enrol directly on the device. This works, but DRAIS then only knows there is a new PIN with whatever name was typed on the keypad. It will try to match that name to a learner, and:

if the name matches exactly one learner and nothing else is plausible, DRAIS links it automatically;
if the name is ambiguous, misspelt, or matches two learners, DRAIS puts it in a queue for you to resolve rather than guessing.

Tip

DRAIS deliberately refuses to guess. A near-match that silently links a fingerprint to the wrong child is far more damaging than an item sitting in a queue waiting for thirty seconds of your attention.

Enrolment tips that actually matter

Capture more than one finger where the device allows it — a cut or a plaster should not stop a learner getting in.
Clean, dry hands. Wipe the sensor between learners during a bulk enrolment session.
Enrol the whole class in one sitting; it is far faster than one at a time across a week.
Check the first few scans the next morning rather than assuming the session worked.

Identity & Reconciliation

Over time a device and DRAIS can drift apart — a learner leaves and their fingerprint stays on the device, someone is enrolled twice, a PIN is reused. DRAIS gives you a reconciliation view that compares what the device actually holds against what DRAIS believes.

Go to Devices → Reconciliation. You will see specific, actionable categories rather than a vague warning:

Unlinked PINs — the device knows someone DRAIS cannot identify.
Ambiguous matches — a device name that could be two different learners.
Stale entries — fingerprints for learners who have left.
Missing on device — learners DRAIS expects to be enrolled but the device does not hold.

Each item can be resolved, ignored, or quarantined, and the outcome is recorded.

[ Screenshot: Reconciliation view with mismatch categories ]

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Correcting a wrong identity link

If a fingerprint has been credited to the wrong learner, use Correct Identity on the learner profile or from the reconciliation view. DRAIS will:

show you exactly what will change before you confirm;
move the PIN to the correct learner;
re-attribute the historical attendance records that were affected;
record who made the correction, when, and why.

The original scan records are never deleted. The time, the device and the finger stay exactly as they were — only the name attached to them changes.

Device health

DRAIS watches your devices and surfaces problems rather than waiting for you to notice them. The device list and dashboard show:

Online / offline	Whether the device has checked in recently.
Clock health	Whether the device clock agrees with real time. A drifting device clock is a common and genuinely confusing fault — it makes arrivals appear at the wrong hour. DRAIS detects and corrects for it, and flags the device so you can fix it properly.
Enrolment count	How many people the device is holding, compared with what DRAIS expects.
Last successful scan	A device that is online but has recorded nothing all morning is worth checking.

If a device goes offline

Scans are not lost. Most devices store records locally and send them when the connection returns. Take attendance manually for the affected period if you need same-day accuracy, and DRAIS will reconcile when the device reconnects.

Common problems

A learner scans but nothing appears in DRAIS

Check the device is online and its last-seen time is recent. If it is, look in Reconciliation for an unlinked PIN — the scan probably arrived but could not be matched to a learner.

The device does not recognise a learner

Re-enrol the finger. Recognition quality degrades with worn or damaged fingertips, and a fresh capture usually resolves it. Enrol a second finger while you are there.

Arrival times are all wrong by several hours

The device clock has drifted. DRAIS detects this and records the true arrival instant, but you should still correct the device clock. Contact support if it recurs.

Two learners with the same name

Enrol both from DRAIS rather than the device keypad, so the link is made against the specific learner record rather than a name. If they were enrolled on the keypad, resolve the ambiguous entries in Reconciliation.