How to Automate Procore Daily Log Manpower Entries (and Stop Retyping Headcounts)

It is 4:30 p.m. The superintendent is in the trailer with a stack of sign-in sheets, a few texts from foremen, and the Procore daily log open on a laptop. For each subcontractor they count names, guess at hours for the people who forgot to sign out, and type it all into the manpower section. Then they do it again tomorrow. And if the owner's rep asks next month how many electricians were on site on the 14th, someone digs out the paper.

The Procore manpower log is one of the most useful records on a project. It is also one of the most tedious to fill in by hand. This guide covers what goes into a good manpower log, why manual entry causes problems, and how to automate it so the numbers come from actual check-ins instead of memory.

The short answer: to automate Procore daily log manpower entries, capture who is on site at the gate (with a kiosk, QR code, card, or face check-in), group the check-ins by company and trade, and send the totals to the Procore daily log through an integration. The integration should import your Procore vendors and trades first so the names match, and it should show the sync status of every entry and retry failed syncs automatically.

What is the Procore manpower log for?

The Procore manpower log is the daily staffing record for a project. In Procore, the Manpower section of the Daily Log tracks the people on site who performed work that day: which company they work for, how many workers, how many hours, and fields such as location, trade, cost code and comments. Teams use it for:

• Owner and lender reporting - showing progress and staffing levels.
• Delay and claims documentation - proving who was or was not on site when an issue happened.
• Subcontractor management - spotting crews that are understaffed against the schedule.
• Time-and-material verification - comparing billed hours with recorded presence.
• Safety records - supporting incident investigations and inspections.

All of those uses depend on the numbers being right. A manpower log that is typed from memory at the end of the day is a weak record if it is ever challenged.

Why does manual manpower entry go wrong?

Manual manpower entry goes wrong because it starts from weak source data and then adds new errors at every step: retyping, late entry, and company names that do not match Procore. It also takes time from the superintendent, the person on site who can least afford to lose it.

The source data is weak

Paper sign-in sheets miss people, include people who left early, and are easy to fill in for someone else (see our article on buddy punching on construction sites). Whatever errors are on the sheet end up in Procore.

Retyping introduces new errors

Even with a perfect sheet, counting names and typing totals for ten or fifteen companies every day leads to transposed numbers, missed companies, and entries on the wrong date.

It happens late or not at all

When the day runs long, the manpower log is the first thing that gets pushed to tomorrow. "Tomorrow" becomes Friday, and Friday's entries for Monday through Thursday are reconstructed.

Vendor names do not match

If the sign-in sheet says "ABC Elec" and Procore's directory says "ABC Electrical Contractors, Inc.", someone has to match them manually every day.

It costs superintendent time

The superintendent's time is among the most valuable on the project. Minutes spent counting signatures are minutes not spent walking the site, coordinating trades, or solving problems.

What does a good automated manpower workflow look like?

A good automated manpower workflow captures each worker's check-in at the gate, ties it to a company and trade that already exist in Procore, and sends the daily totals to the daily log without retyping. The superintendent's job shifts from building the log to reviewing it. In practice it has seven steps:

1. Import the Procore directory. Projects, locations, vendors (contractors), and trades come from Procore into the time tracking system, so every worker is enrolled under the same company names Procore uses.
2. Enroll workers under their company and trade. Each worker is linked to their subcontractor and trade once, ideally at their first check-in.
3. Capture presence at the gate. Workers check in and out at a kiosk using a QR code, access card, helmet sticker, or facial recognition.
4. Group check-ins into manpower entries. The system calculates, for each company and trade, how many workers were on site and how many hours they worked.
5. Export to the Procore daily log. The manpower entries are created in Procore automatically, with no retyping.
6. Track and retry sync. Each entry shows whether it is pending, synced, or failed, and failed entries are retried automatically.
7. Let the superintendent review exceptions. Instead of building the log, the superintendent reviews it and adds notes.

Manual vs. automated: side by side

What should you check before you automate?

Before you automate, check five things: that the Procore company directory is clean, that you have a rule for missing check-outs, that everyone agrees who counts as manpower, that subcontractors know about the change, and that the integration has the right Procore permissions. Each one is covered below.

Clean up the Procore company directory

Duplicate or outdated vendors will be imported along with everything else. Merge duplicates and mark inactive companies before you connect the integration. Procore lets admins merge duplicate company records into a single primary company, so everything tied to the duplicates ends up under one name.

Decide how you handle workers without a check-out

Someone will always forget to check out. Decide your rule up front: flag the entry for review, apply a default end time, or require supervisor approval. Whatever you choose, apply it consistently and keep a record of edits.

Agree the definition of "on site"

Do delivery drivers count as manpower? Inspectors? Usually they belong in the visitor log, not the manpower log. Make the distinction clear. Our guide to jobsite visitor management with QR check-in covers how to keep visitors separate.

Tell subcontractors before day one

Explain in the pre-construction meeting that check-in at the gate is required and that it feeds the daily log. Subcontractors generally prefer an accurate, automatic record to arguments about headcounts later.

Check permissions in Procore

The integration needs the right access in your Procore company and project to read the directory and write daily log entries. Have your Procore admin approve the connection and confirm which projects it applies to. According to Procore, installing a Marketplace app requires Admin-level permissions on the company Directory tool, and data connection apps are limited to the projects you permit.

What other daily log data can you automate?

Beyond manpower, you can automate the other field records that end up in the daily log: supervisor notes, photos and documents, visitor logs, and daily construction reports. Once check-ins are flowing to Procore, it makes sense to send that data the same way instead of retyping it:

• Notes recorded by supervisors during the day.
• Photos and documents uploaded from the field.
• Visitor logs from QR check-in at the gate.
• Daily construction reports filed by the superintendent.

Each of these is another task the superintendent no longer has to repeat in a second system.

How does automation change a superintendent's day?

Automation moves manpower data entry off the superintendent's desk and onto the gate. Instead of setting out clipboards, chasing foremen for headcounts and typing totals at 4:30 p.m., the superintendent reviews entries that are already in Procore and adds the notes only they can write. Here is a typical day, before and after.

Before

• 6:30 a.m. Put the sign-in clipboard on the table by the gate. Remind the first few crews to use it.
• 9:00 a.m. Notice that two subs did not sign in. Text their foremen to ask how many people they have on site.
• Noon. Take a call from the office asking for yesterday's manpower because the owner's rep wants it for the OAC meeting.
• 4:30 p.m. Count names on the sheet company by company, estimate hours for anyone without a sign-out, and type it all into Procore.
• Friday. Catch up on the days that were missed because of a long pour or an inspection.

After

• 6:30 a.m. Crews check in at the kiosk as they walk through the gate. Nothing to set out or chase.
• 9:00 a.m. Glance at the live list on a phone. One sub shows fewer people than planned, so call the foreman about the schedule, not about the paperwork.
• Noon. The office already has yesterday's manpower in Procore.
• 4:30 p.m. Review today's entries, add a note about the weather delay, and check that nothing is waiting to sync.
• Friday. Nothing to catch up on.

The data entry does not just get faster. It moves from the superintendent to the gate, where it happens as a side effect of people walking onto the site.

What are the common objections, and how do teams resolve them?

Typical objections are that subs will not check in, that a foreman app already covers hours, that the integration might break, and that the site has no reliable internet. Each has a practical answer, usually a site rule, a clear fallback, or visible sync status with automatic retries.

"Our subs will not check in."

Make it a site rule from the pre-construction meeting and include it in subcontract requirements where possible. Once subs see that the manpower log reflects their crews accurately, without them sending headcounts every day, most prefer it. For the first week, have someone at the gate during the morning rush.

"We already have a foreman app for hours."

Foreman-entered hours work for your own payroll, but they do not cover subcontractor workers and they are not an independent record of who walked onto the site. Gate check-ins complement foreman time entry rather than replacing every part of it.

"What if the integration breaks?"

Integrations do fail sometimes, because of an expired connection, a Procore outage, or a bad network. What matters is that failures are visible and recoverable. Insist on per-record sync status and automatic retries, so a failed entry is fixed without anyone retyping it.

"Our site has no reliable internet."

Choose a kiosk that stores check-ins locally and syncs when the connection returns. The manpower log may arrive in Procore a little later on those days, but it will be complete. Read more in offline time tracking for jobsites.

How do you measure whether it is working?

Measure four things: how often the manpower log is complete by the next morning, how many entries are pending or failed, how much time the superintendent spends on daily logs, and how often headcount disputes send someone back to paper. Track them before and after the switch.

• Daily log completion rate: what share of working days have a complete manpower log by the next morning?
• Sync health: how many entries are failed or pending at any given time? This should stay near zero.
• Superintendent time: ask how much time they spent on daily logs before and after. Even a rough estimate is useful.
• Disputes: how often do headcount or hours questions from owners or subs require digging through paper?

Frequently asked questions

Does automating the manpower log replace the superintendent's daily log?

No. It fills in the manpower numbers from real check-ins. The superintendent still owns the daily log, reviews the entries, and adds the context only they know: weather, delays, inspections, and work performed.

Can we still edit an automated entry?

Yes, with the right permissions. Edits should be recorded in an audit trail, so it is always clear what came from check-ins and what was changed by hand.

Do we need Procore admin rights to set this up?

Someone with the right Procore permissions needs to approve the connection once. After that, the sync runs on its own.

How ADRO handles this

ADRO connects gate check-ins directly to the Procore daily log:

• Procore import twice a day: projects, locations, contractors, and trades are pulled from Procore automatically so names always match.
• Verified check-ins at the gate: the gate QR code on the worker's own phone (confirmed by a 4-digit code sent by text), or an access card or face scan at a Raspberry Pi kiosk that opens the turnstile, keeps working offline and syncs when the connection returns.
• Manpower logs generated from check-ins and exported to Procore, along with construction reports, notes, daily uploads, and visitor logs.
• Sync status on every record (pending, synced, or failed) and automatic hourly retry for failed manpower logs, reports, notes and uploads, so a Procore outage or bad connection does not lose them.
• CMiC support for companies running CMiC: projects, contractors and contacts import from CMiC, and manpower logs and daily uploads export back. See CMiC field time integration.
• Audit trail and permissions so you know who changed an entry and who is allowed to.

See how it all fits together on the ADRO Procore-integrated time tracking page.

Sources

• Procore Support: Create Manpower Entries
• Procore Support: Merge Companies
• Procore Support: Install an App from the Procore Marketplace

Want to see it on your own jobsite? Book a 20-minute ADRO demo and we'll walk through it with your projects.