How Pult Presence Works

Understand the detection pipeline -- from data sources through matching to insights and automations.

Pult Presence detects employee office attendance by checking whether a device is connected to a known office network. Two detection methods are available, and both can be used simultaneously.

The Detection Pipeline

Regardless of method, the flow is the same:

Data collection -- A data source reports which devices are active and on which network.
User matching -- Pult identifies which employee the device belongs to.
Location matching -- Pult checks the device's network information against configured presence locations to determine which office the user is in.
Presence recording -- If a match is found, the user is recorded as present at that location.

This data then powers the Presence Dashboard, automations, and integrations with Pult Workplace features like desk booking confirmations.

Agent-Based Detection

The Pult Agent is a lightweight desktop application that runs on employee devices (macOS, Windows, Linux).

How it works:

The agent runs in the system tray and periodically sends a presence beacon to Pult.
Each beacon includes the device's local IP addresses and originates from the device's public IP.
Pult checks the public IP against the public subnets configured on each presence location.
If multiple locations share the same public subnet, Pult uses the device's local IP addresses to disambiguate by checking them against each location's local subnets.
If a match is found, the user's presence is recorded at that location.

Key characteristics:

Works over both WiFi and wired (LAN) connections.
Requires a static public IP at each office location.
Each device must have the agent installed and linked to a Pult user account (either manually or via bootstrapping).
No additional infrastructure needed beyond the agent itself.

WiFi-Based Detection

WiFi Presence detects attendance through your existing WiFi infrastructure without requiring any software on employee devices.

How it works:

Pult periodically polls your WiFi controller (Cisco Meraki, Aruba Central, or UniFi) for a list of currently connected clients.
In parallel, Pult syncs device data from your MDM system (or manual device list), which maps WiFi MAC addresses to user email addresses.
For each connected WiFi client, Pult looks up the client's MAC address in the MDM device index to identify the user.
Pult then evaluates location mapping rules -- which match the client's IP subnet (and optionally access point labels) -- to determine the presence location.
If a match is found, the user's presence is recorded at that location.

Key characteristics:

Zero-touch for end users -- no software installation required on their devices.
Requires a cloud-managed WiFi controller with API access.
Requires at least one MDM integration (or manual device list) to map devices to users.
MAC address randomization must be disabled on managed devices for reliable matching.
Only detects devices connected via WiFi (not wired connections).

Combining Both Methods

You can run the Pult Agent and WiFi Presence simultaneously. Both detection methods feed into the same presence data, so a user detected by either source is shown as present.

This is useful when:

Some employees use managed devices (covered by WiFi + MDM) while others use personal devices (covered by the agent).
You want redundancy -- if one method misses a detection, the other can catch it.
Different offices have different infrastructure (e.g., one office has cloud-managed WiFi, another doesn't).

There is no conflict between the two methods. If both detect the same user at the same location, the presence is simply confirmed from both sources.

What Happens After Detection

Once presence is recorded, the data is available across the Pult platform:

Presence Dashboard -- View usage tables, location charts, and average attendance metrics. Export data as CSV.
Booking Confirmation -- Automatically confirm desk bookings when presence is detected at the linked office.
Missing Booking Notifications -- Notify users who are present but haven't booked a desk.
Meeting Room Check-In -- Check whether meeting attendees are present and release unused rooms.