Location-based tracking is key to understanding where work is happening—whether in the office, remotely, or in hybrid mode. This guide will walk you through who can access location settings, how to set up and manage office locations using IP or MAC addresses, and how to ensure accurate location tracking even when employees are using a VPN. With proper configuration, Insightful helps you maintain visibility, support policy compliance, and make informed decisions based on where your teams work.
Permissions Overview
Admins:
Have access to the Location Insights settings page.
Managers:
Need the "Manage Organization" permission to access the settings page.
Clients and Employees:
Do not have access to the settings page.
Creating new Office locations
In order to add new locations, go to Settings → Reports → Location Insights.
There, just add a name for the office location and define associated IPv4 address and/or MAC address.
You should enter your office network’s public IP or your router’s MAC address. If you need assistance with obtaining this information, please check out the following links:
There are 2 ways to add office locations:
Adding IP or MAC addresses directly on the dashboard
In order to properly configure the system, you will need to manually input the MAC and IP addresses, ensuring that all necessary network identifiers are correctly entered for accurate tracking and functionality.
Importing CSV template with the list of IP/MAC addresses
Once you have defined work locations in Settings, you’ll be able to see where your employees are working from.
If employees work from any of the locations saved in the list, that will be considered working from the office, while anything outside of those locations will be considered remote work.
You can edit or delete locations through the Settings page. Keep in mind, changing the values of existing locations will affect the historical data.
How to Track Employee Location When They Are Using a VPN
If your employees use a VPN, you can still track their location accurately by choosing one of the following methods based on your needs and network setup:
1. Use Office Router MAC Addresses
Define your office location in Insightful using the MAC address of your office router (default gateway).
Employees will only be recognized as working from the office if they are connected to the office network through that specific router.
This ensures that VPN usage does not affect location tracking, as only on-site connections to your router are considered.
2. Configure VPN Split Tunneling
Update your VPN configuration to exclude Insightful traffic from going through the VPN tunnel.
This allows the VPN to handle company resources while Insightful continues to track employee location based on their real (public) network.
To do this, exclude the following domains and IP address from the tunnel:
Allow IP address 34.96.85.57 through port 443
Once configured, VPN users will still have secure access to internal systems, while Insightful receives correct network data for location tracking.
3. Assign Different IPs Based on Physical Location
Set up your network so that employees in the office using VPN get a different public IP address than remote employees using the same VPN.
This allows Insightful to distinguish between VPN users in the office and those working remotely, even if they are all connected through the same VPN provider.
You can do this using network segmentation or conditional IP routing based on physical location.
In order to properly configure the system, you will need to manually input the MAC and IP addresses, ensuring that all necessary network identifiers are correctly entered for accurate tracking and functionality.