Approve vacation requests
Managing employee absences can be a complex task, but absentify simplifies it with its intuitive features. One essential element of streamlining this process is setting and editing approvers for various staff members. Whether you're a seasoned HR professional or a new team lead, assigning the right approvers ensures a smooth workflow and timely approvals.
In this article, we'll guide you step-by-step through setting up and modifying approvers in absentify, ensuring your team operates efficiently and seamlessly. Let’s dive in and make absence management a breeze!
As a rule, leave requests are sent to the department manager, but this can be overridden for each individual employee by setting the approver.
For example, if you have someone in a department who needs their leave approved by someone other than the department head, this can be set in the employee's settings.
Start by going to Settings > Users > and click the pencil icon for Edit.
You'll be automatically redirected to the user profile. From here, click on to Approver from the left side rail.
You can now assign an approver for the selected user. The email notification of the leave request will only be sent to the assigned approver, who must then approve or deny it.
The following options are available:
Department Manager: For managers who can approve absence requests but require higher-level approval for their own leave requests by senior managers or executives.
Sync with User’s Microsoft Profile Manager: Automatically sets the approver to match the user’s manager in their Microsoft profile. You can find more information on setting up this function in this article here: Support: Sync the approver from Microsoft.
Custom: Provides four approval processes, detailed below.
No Approver: Disables the assignment of an approver for this user. Any leave they create in their calendar (or added by an admin) will be automatically approved and added, unless they have insufficient remaining leave balance.
Approval Process: Approvers are contacted one after the other.
Action: Each approver must individually agree for the request to be approved.
Upon Rejection: If an approver rejects, the request is immediately denied and the approval process stops.
Notification upon Rejection: All previously contacted approvers as well as the requester and the creator are immediately informed of the rejection and the reason.
Upon Approval: Only when all approvers agree is the request marked as approved.
Notification upon Approval: All approvers, the requester, and the creator receive a notification that the request has been approved by all approvers.
Approval Process: Approvers are contacted one after the other.
Action: At least one approver must agree for the request to be approved.
Upon Agreement: The request is immediately marked as approved once the first approver agrees.
Notification upon Approval: As soon as the first approver agrees, all approvers, the requester, and the creator receive a notification of the approval.
Upon Rejection by All Approvers: If all contacted approvers reject, the request is denied.
Notification upon Overall Rejection: The requester and the creator are informed that the request has been rejected after all approvers have made their decision.
Approval Process: All approvers are contacted simultaneously.
Action: Each approver must agree for the request to be approved.
Upon Rejection: If an approver rejects, the request is immediately marked as denied.
Notification upon Rejection: All approvers as well as the requester and the creator are informed of the rejection.
Upon Approval: The request is only approved when all approvers have given their agreement.
Notification upon Approval: After all agreements are received, all approvers, the requester, and the creator receive a notification of the approval.
Approval Process: All approvers are contacted simultaneously.
Action: The request is approved as soon as one approver agrees.
Upon Agreement: The approval process is completed once the first approver agrees.
Notification upon Approval: All approvers, the requester, and the creator are informed as soon as the request is approved by the agreement of one approver.
Upon Rejection by All Approvers: If all approvers reject, the request is denied.
Notification upon Overall Rejection: As soon as it is clear that all approvers have rejected the request, the requester and the creator are informed of the rejection.
To do this, either click on the bell icon in the upper right corner or directly on the leave request from the overview page to see all pending leave requests. All leave requests are grouped by approver.
Upon Any Status Change: The requester is notified of every approver’s decision unless the decision results in an immediate overall status change of the request (approval or rejection). In this case, the corresponding notification for the overall status change is sent.
Substitution Rule: If an admin or manager acts on behalf of an actual approver, the actual approver receives a notification that the approval or rejection was made by person XY.
Every absentify user role has its own access rights. This is described in more detail below.
The person who submits the request. This can be the employee themselves, an admin, or a manager.
Can also be listed as an approver in the approval chain.
Is an approver within the approval process.
An employee has at least one approver.
Can have multiple approvers, acting according to the set approval rules (linear or parallel, all must agree or one must agree).
An employee can be assigned as their own approver.
Can create requests for employees in their department.
Can act as an approver for employees in their department.
Can create requests for any employee.
Can configure the settings of approvers for any employee.
Can act as an approver for any employee.
Special Permissions for Admin Users
Admin users generally do not receive email notifications or leave requests unless they are approvers themselves. However, they have the ability to approve leave requests, which is useful if a manager is on leave.
Does your organization offer company-wide time off during a specific period such as winter holidays?
As an admin or department manager, you can easily create group requests without needing to set up a separate leave type or public holiday. Each request for the selected department or the company as a whole can be individually reviewed and processed during the time frame selected. To get started, let's go over setting up group requests:
Navigate to the Overview Page: Click the arrow next to Create a request. From the dropdown, choose Create group request.
Select the Department: Pick the department for which you want to create the request. Then, fill in the required details like the start and end dates and the type of leave.
Note: Managers can only select the department they manage, not the entire company.
Review the Overview: You'll see a list of users included in the group request. If any users have conflicting requests or not enough allowance remaining, this will show up here.
Viewing the Group Request: Users can view the group request by filtering based on the selected group.
Depending on your company's absence policies, we recommend submitting this request before the start of your fiscal year and before your staff begins requesting leave for that year. This ensures that each team member in the group request has enough remaining allowance for the year.
If a team member doesn't have sufficient allowance left, you can either remove them from the group request or adjust their remaining allowance by editing the user's allowance.
Managing a large team’s leave requests? No worries! With absentify, managers and approvers can enable a weekly absence summary to keep track of upcoming team absences.
To activate this feature, go to My Preferences > Notification Settings and toggle Weekly absence summary on.
While you're there, you can also turn on notifications for absentify updates, so you stay informed about new features, and activate the weekly birthday overview to ensure you never miss celebrating a team member’s birthday!
For further assistance, feel free to contact absentify support. If you have suggestions for new features, please leave recommendations on the absentify roadmap. We're here to help you make the most out of absentify!
Individual user permissions
Adjusting maximum carryover
Upgrade: More than one approver
In this article, we'll guide you step-by-step through setting up and modifying approvers in absentify, ensuring your team operates efficiently and seamlessly. Let’s dive in and make absence management a breeze!
Let's get started
As a rule, leave requests are sent to the department manager, but this can be overridden for each individual employee by setting the approver.
For example, if you have someone in a department who needs their leave approved by someone other than the department head, this can be set in the employee's settings.
Start by going to Settings > Users > and click the pencil icon for Edit.
You'll be automatically redirected to the user profile. From here, click on to Approver from the left side rail.
Selecting an Approver
You can now assign an approver for the selected user. The email notification of the leave request will only be sent to the assigned approver, who must then approve or deny it.
The following options are available:
Department Manager: For managers who can approve absence requests but require higher-level approval for their own leave requests by senior managers or executives.
Sync with User’s Microsoft Profile Manager: Automatically sets the approver to match the user’s manager in their Microsoft profile. You can find more information on setting up this function in this article here: Support: Sync the approver from Microsoft.
Custom: Provides four approval processes, detailed below.
No Approver: Disables the assignment of an approver for this user. Any leave they create in their calendar (or added by an admin) will be automatically approved and added, unless they have insufficient remaining leave balance.
Approval Procedures for Custom Approvers
1. Linear - All must agree (linear-all-must-agree):
Approval Process: Approvers are contacted one after the other.
Action: Each approver must individually agree for the request to be approved.
Upon Rejection: If an approver rejects, the request is immediately denied and the approval process stops.
Notification upon Rejection: All previously contacted approvers as well as the requester and the creator are immediately informed of the rejection and the reason.
Upon Approval: Only when all approvers agree is the request marked as approved.
Notification upon Approval: All approvers, the requester, and the creator receive a notification that the request has been approved by all approvers.
2. Linear - One must agree (linear-one-must-agree):
Approval Process: Approvers are contacted one after the other.
Action: At least one approver must agree for the request to be approved.
Upon Agreement: The request is immediately marked as approved once the first approver agrees.
Notification upon Approval: As soon as the first approver agrees, all approvers, the requester, and the creator receive a notification of the approval.
Upon Rejection by All Approvers: If all contacted approvers reject, the request is denied.
Notification upon Overall Rejection: The requester and the creator are informed that the request has been rejected after all approvers have made their decision.
3. Parallel - All must agree (parallel-all-must-agree):
Approval Process: All approvers are contacted simultaneously.
Action: Each approver must agree for the request to be approved.
Upon Rejection: If an approver rejects, the request is immediately marked as denied.
Notification upon Rejection: All approvers as well as the requester and the creator are informed of the rejection.
Upon Approval: The request is only approved when all approvers have given their agreement.
Notification upon Approval: After all agreements are received, all approvers, the requester, and the creator receive a notification of the approval.
4. Parallel - One must agree (parallel-one-must-agree):
Approval Process: All approvers are contacted simultaneously.
Action: The request is approved as soon as one approver agrees.
Upon Agreement: The approval process is completed once the first approver agrees.
Notification upon Approval: All approvers, the requester, and the creator are informed as soon as the request is approved by the agreement of one approver.
Upon Rejection by All Approvers: If all approvers reject, the request is denied.
Notification upon Overall Rejection: As soon as it is clear that all approvers have rejected the request, the requester and the creator are informed of the rejection.
Approving Leave Requests
To do this, either click on the bell icon in the upper right corner or directly on the leave request from the overview page to see all pending leave requests. All leave requests are grouped by approver.
Approval Rules:
General Notification Rule:
Upon Any Status Change: The requester is notified of every approver’s decision unless the decision results in an immediate overall status change of the request (approval or rejection). In this case, the corresponding notification for the overall status change is sent.
Substitution Rule: If an admin or manager acts on behalf of an actual approver, the actual approver receives a notification that the approval or rejection was made by person XY.
Roles and Permissions:
Every absentify user role has its own access rights. This is described in more detail below.
Creator:
The person who submits the request. This can be the employee themselves, an admin, or a manager.
Can also be listed as an approver in the approval chain.
Approver:
Is an approver within the approval process.
An employee has at least one approver.
Can have multiple approvers, acting according to the set approval rules (linear or parallel, all must agree or one must agree).
An employee can be assigned as their own approver.
Manager:
Can create requests for employees in their department.
Can act as an approver for employees in their department.
Admin:
Can create requests for any employee.
Can configure the settings of approvers for any employee.
Can act as an approver for any employee.
Special Permissions for Admin Users
Admin users generally do not receive email notifications or leave requests unless they are approvers themselves. However, they have the ability to approve leave requests, which is useful if a manager is on leave.
Approving group requests
Does your organization offer company-wide time off during a specific period such as winter holidays?
As an admin or department manager, you can easily create group requests without needing to set up a separate leave type or public holiday. Each request for the selected department or the company as a whole can be individually reviewed and processed during the time frame selected. To get started, let's go over setting up group requests:
Navigate to the Overview Page: Click the arrow next to Create a request. From the dropdown, choose Create group request.
Select the Department: Pick the department for which you want to create the request. Then, fill in the required details like the start and end dates and the type of leave.
Note: Managers can only select the department they manage, not the entire company.
Review the Overview: You'll see a list of users included in the group request. If any users have conflicting requests or not enough allowance remaining, this will show up here.
Viewing the Group Request: Users can view the group request by filtering based on the selected group.
Depending on your company's absence policies, we recommend submitting this request before the start of your fiscal year and before your staff begins requesting leave for that year. This ensures that each team member in the group request has enough remaining allowance for the year.
If a team member doesn't have sufficient allowance left, you can either remove them from the group request or adjust their remaining allowance by editing the user's allowance.
Activating weekly absence reporting
Managing a large team’s leave requests? No worries! With absentify, managers and approvers can enable a weekly absence summary to keep track of upcoming team absences.
To activate this feature, go to My Preferences > Notification Settings and toggle Weekly absence summary on.
While you're there, you can also turn on notifications for absentify updates, so you stay informed about new features, and activate the weekly birthday overview to ensure you never miss celebrating a team member’s birthday!
Need help?
For further assistance, feel free to contact absentify support. If you have suggestions for new features, please leave recommendations on the absentify roadmap. We're here to help you make the most out of absentify!
Related articles
Individual user permissions
Adjusting maximum carryover
Upgrade: More than one approver
Updated on: 11/11/2024
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