Manage Time Off Requests and Approvals

ClickTime’s Time Off Requests & Approvals feature lets employees request time off in advance and routes those requests to the right Approver (Manager or Administrator). This guide explains how to set up approval-required leave types, assign approvers, and review/approve or reject requests. It also covers how Admins can enter approved time off on behalf of someone else.

Set Leave Types to Require Approval

You can convert an existing leave type or create a new one.

A. Convert an Existing Leave Type

1. Go to Company > Preferences > Leave Types.
   
    
2. Click the Edit (pencil) next to the leave type.
   
    
3. In Basic Information, choose Approval Required.
   
    
4. Select a Default Approver from your active Administrators.
5. Ensure Status: Active so employees can request it.
6. Click Update.
   

Important (Irreversible Change): Once a leave type is set to Approval Required, you cannot change it back to Approval Not Required. If selected in error, set it Inactive and create a new leave type.

What changes after conversion

• Existing time-off entries (created before conversion) can be deleted from Day View but not edited.
• Employees will no longer log time directly to this leave type on their time-entry page; they must submit requests.
• Admins can create and (optionally) auto-approve requests from Company > Time Off > Actions.

B. Create a New Approval-Required Leave Type

1. From Leave Types List View, click Add Leave Type.
2. Name the leave type; set Category: Approval Required.
3. Choose a Default Approver (Administrator).
4. (Optional) Add an Accounting Package ID and Notes.
5. Leave Status: Active and Save.

Reminder: Approval-required status is permanent. To change later, inactivate this leave type and create a new one.

Set Up Approvers & Permissions

A. Manager Permission to Approve Time Off

1. Open the Manager’s Person Details.
2. Edit Security & Permissions → Time Off.
3. Enable Approve Time Off for All People or specific Divisions.
4. Grant the View People Lists permission so the manager can see balances while reviewing.
   
    

B. Assign Each Employee’s Time Off Approver

1. Go to Company > People and open the employee’s Person Details.
2. In Timesheet Settings & Approvals, click Edit Section.
3. Set Time off is approved by to a specific Approver (any Admin or a Manager with approval permission).
4. Update.
   

Visibility Note: Managers only see requests for employees who explicitly list them as the Time Off Approver. (This differs from timesheet approvals.)

Bulk tip: Admins can bulk-change Timesheet/Time Off Approvers from Company > People > Actions.

Reviewing & Approving Requests (Admin/Approver)

Approver Notifications

Approvers are notified of new Time Off Requests in three ways:

1. Email Notification – An email is sent to the approver’s ClickTime account email address. It includes request details and a direct link to the request detail page.
   
    
2. Classic Dashboard Tile – On the Company > Dashboard, a tile displays the number of pending requests. Clicking the tile opens the Company > Time Off page, filtered to your pending requests.
   
    
3. New ClickTime Dashboard – For accounts using the new dashboard experience, pending requests are surfaced within the dashboard interface, giving approvers quick visibility and access alongside other key company information.
   
    

Review Requests

1. Go to Company > Time Off.
2. Use filters for Status (Pending/Approved/Rejected), Time Frame, Employment Type, Approver, and Person.
3. Pending requests show by default. Requests including today/past dates are highlighted (orange) in the Date column.
   
    

Approve in Bulk

1. Select one or more requests, then click Approve (or Reject).
   
    
2. (Optional) Add a comment; the requester receives it by email.
   
   
    
3. If approval fails (e.g., locked timesheet, already approved, >24 hours/day), you’ll see an error explaining why.
4. Upon approval, ClickTime creates locked time entries for the approved days.
   
    

Approve Individually

• Click the Details icon to open the Time Off Request Detail page.
• Review balance and request specifics; click Approve or Reject.

DCAA Auditing: With DCAA Compliance, the audit log records who approved the request, when, and any approval comments.

Rejecting or Cancelling Requests

Rejecting Pending Requests

• From Company > Time Off, select the request(s) and choose Reject.
  
   
• Enter a reason; the requester is notified by email.
  
   
• No time entries are created for rejected requests.

Tip: If only one day in a multi-day request is incorrect, the entire request must be rejected (or the requester cancels and resubmits the corrected days).

Cancelling or Rejecting an Approved Request

Who can act and when

• Administrators

  • Can reject or cancel approved requests at any time, regardless of whether the timesheet is open, submitted, or already approved.

  • This provides full control for correcting mistakes or addressing changes in policy/availability.

• Managers

  • Can reject only pending requests that are waiting for their approval.

  • Once a request is approved, managers cannot reject it.

  • Managers can cancel approved requests under very limited conditions:

    • The request must be for a future date.

    • The request must belong to an Open timesheet.

Process

1. In Company > Time Off, change Request Status filter to Approved (and adjust time frame as needed).
2. If you’re not the approver, set Show to All Approvers.
   
    
3. Select the request(s) → Reject; enter a reason.
4. If the request is on an Approved or Waiting for Approval timesheet, first reject the timesheet, then reject the request.

Effect on Balances: Rejecting/cancelling an approved request restores the hours to the employee’s balance (subject to your Accrual/Maximum rules).

DCAA Auditing: Cancellations/administrative rejections are logged with actor and timestamp.

Add an Approved Time Off Entry (on behalf of an employee)

Administrators only: Only ClickTime Administrators can submit a request on behalf of another employee—and (optionally) approve it immediately. Managers do not have permission to add approved time off entries for others.

1. Go to Company > Time Off and open Actions → Add Approved Time Off Entry.
   
    
2. Choose the Person.
3. Review Balance as of Today and Planned Time Off panels.
4. Select Leave Type, enter hours per day (up to 30 days per request), and (optional) Notes.
5. (Optional) Check Approve this request on submission to auto-approve.
6. Submit. Use Reset form to clear fields if needed.
   
    

Reminders

• Irreversible setting: Approval Required cannot be reverted; inactivate and recreate if needed.
• Permissions for balances: Managers need View People access to see balances during review.
• Locked entries: Approved requests create locked time entries; they’re visible on Day View/Week View and not editable by employees.  Only an Administrator can take action on an approved time off entry if it needs to be rejected/edited.