# Log a Visitor

Record an arrival, who they came to see, and why.

Logging an arrival is a reception job and it is meant to take seconds. The check-in time is stamped for you.

- Select **Log Visitor**.

  ![The Log Visitor screen, with the breadcrumb Management, Visitor Management, Log Visitor. A Visitor Details section holds a required Visitor Name, a required Phone beside an Email, and a Purpose picker set to Meeting. A Visit Information section follows with Person to Visit (Host) reading Select employee, then ID Type and ID Number side by side, and a Notes box. Cancel and a blue Check In Visitor button sit at the foot.](https://www.sorviai.com/help/worklink/visitors/log-visitor.png)
- Enter the **Visitor Name** and **Phone**. Both are required, and the number is what makes a follow-up possible when nobody remembers who they were with.
- Set the **Purpose**. Meeting, interview, audit and training are the usual ones; anything else can be typed.
- Choose **Person to Visit (Host)** from the employee list. This is the field the log is really built around, and host notifications only fire when it is set from the directory rather than typed.
- Add an **ID Type** and **ID Number** if your site records them, and **Notes** for anything carried in. Then select **Check In Visitor**: the visit opens with a check-in stamp and the status **In**, and the Currently In count goes up by one.

> **Note:**
>
> **A visitor is not an employee record**
>
> Logging somebody creates a visit, not a person. A contractor who comes weekly is logged each time, with no record accumulating between visits, which is the right trade for a log that reception has to keep moving.

## Logging ahead of an arrival

Nothing stops you logging expected visitors before they arrive, and for an interview day or an audit it is worth doing. Reception then confirms rather than types, which is faster at the moment it matters.

> **Tip:**
>
> **Use the same purpose wording every time**
>
> The Purpose column is only groupable if the words are consistent. Deciding once that site audits are always "audit" is what turns the log into something you can count.

## What the log is for

| Question | Answered by |
| --- | --- |
| Who is on site right now? | The Currently In count, and the list filtered to In. |
| Who let this person in? | The Host column. |
| Has our auditor arrived? | Searching the visitor name. |
| Who did we see last quarter? | The full log with the period filter widened. |