ClickTime's Time Off Request and Approvals features allow your employees to request time off in advance and have those requests reviewed by the appropriate ClickTime Manager or Administrator. Access to the Time Off Request and Approvals features requires using the additional Time Off Accruals Module - please contact ClickTime Support if you would like to try using the features.
This guide will cover the steps to set your organization up for reviewing Time Off Requests and the process for doing so from the Administrative side. For assistance with submitting a Time Off Request for approval, please see the Requesting Time Off guide here.
Setting Up Leave Types to Require Approval
Setting Up Time Off Approver to Review Requests
Reviewing and Approving Time Off Requests
Rejecting Time Off Requests
Add Approved Time Off Entry (for another user)
Setting Up Leave Types to Require Approval
The first step to using Time Off Request and Approvals is to note which Leave Types require Approval. This can be done both for existing Leave Types, as well as new Leave Types. Leave Types can be added/edited from the Company --> Preferences --> Leave Types page (more details on editing Leave Types can be found in the Leave Types Guide here).
Edit Existing Leave Types to Require Approval
Create a new Leave Type That Requires Approval
Edit Existing Leave Types to Require Approval
To edit an existing Leave Type from the Leave Types Details page, click the "Edit" pencil icon for the Leave Type you'd like to modify.
Then "Edit Section":
To require approval for this Leave Type, choose the radio button labeled "Approval required". Please note the text to the right which explains that "Choosing this setting will require employees to submit requests for this leave type". This means that the employees will no longer see this Leave Type option in their Time Off drop-down and must request Time Off through the new workflow.
Please note that requiring approval cannot be undone once you Update. After a Leave Type has been set to "Approval Required", you will not be able to change the status back. If you set a Leave Type to "Approval Required" in error, you will need to inactivate the Leave Type and create a new one. If you have questions or concerns about this, please contact ClickTime Support before changing this setting.
Next you will be required to select a Default Approver for the Leave Type from a list of the active Administrators of your account. This is the person who will approve time for anyone with a specific Time Off Approver (more details here). They will also be a fall-back approver for any requests not resolved if a Time Off Approver is updated to no longer have permission to approve Time Off requests.
The additional fields are optional, although you will want to make sure that the Status is set to "Active" in order for people to request Time Off for this Leave Type.
Click "Update" to save your changes. This will have the following effects:
- Time off entries created before conversion can be deleted from Day View (only), but cannot be edited
- All People will need to create requests for this leave type from the Personal> Time Off page
- Admins can create (and approve) requests from the "Action" button on the Company> Time Off page
Once you have set up your first Leave Type to Require Approval you will see the new Time Off tab in the Company section of your account (you may need to refresh the page to see the update).
You can now proceed to setting up the Time Off Approver who should review the Time Off Requests on a person-by-person basis (see below).
Create a new Leave Type That Requires Approval
You can also create a new Leave Type specifically to require approval from the Leave Types List View page by clicking "Add Leave Type":
Next, give your Leave Type a name and set the Category to "Approval Required":
Then indicate the "Default Approver" from the list of local Administrators.
The "Default Approver" is the person who will approve time for anyone with a specific Time Off Approver (more details here). They will also be a fall-back approver for any requests not resolved if a Time Off Approver is updated to no longer have permission to approve Time Off requests.
You have the option to enter an Accounting Package ID if your organization uses the field and to enter any Notes about the field. Make sure to leave the Status as "Active" in order to let your employees use the Leave Type. Then click "Save" to create the new Leave Type.
Please note: If you create a Leave Type where Approval is required you will not be able to change the Category to "Approval Not Required" at a later date. If you decide this Leave Type should not require Approval, you will need to inactivate it and create a new Leave Type.
After you create the new Leave Type, you will see it on the Leave Type List View page and will be able to see the Category is set to "Approval Required".
Setting Up Time Off Approver to Review Requests
Once you have set at least one Leave Type to "Require Approval" you will now be able to set the Time Off Approver for each employee. By default, everyone with Administrative access will be able to review / approve Time Off Requests. People with Manager access can also be given permission to review / approve Time Off Requests (more details on Managerial Permissions can be found in this guide).
- Manager Permission to Review / Approve Time Off Requests
- Setting the Time Off Approver for an Employee
Manager Permission to Review / Approve Time Off Requests
To give a Manager the ability to review / approve Time Off requests, you will want to go to their Person Details page and then Edit the "Security and Permissions" section of the page. The "Time Off" section is where you can give them permission to "Approve Time Off" for either "all people" or "people in specific Divisions" (if your organization is using Divisions).
Doing so will allow the Manager to view the Company --> Time Off page, as well as appear as an option as an employee's Time Off Approver. We'll cover setting Time Off Approvers for each employee in the next section of this guide.
If you are giving a Manager the ability to approve Time Off Requests, they will need to have the permission to "View" your People Lists in order to see the available Time Off when reviewing requests.
We also recommend they have permission to "Add / Edit" your People Lists so they can view the Time Off Balances section of the Person Details page.
They must have "View" permissions in order to see the balance of an employee when approving time (this is also discussed below).
Setting the Time Off Approver for an Employee
The Time Off Approver can be set for each employee on a person-by-person basis. To do so, go to the Company --> People page and click the "edit" pencil icon to open up their Person Details page.
Scroll to the "Timesheet Settings and Approvals" section. You will see that Time Off is "approved by the Default Leave Type Approver". To set a specific Time Off Approver, click "Edit Section":
Next, choose the appropriate person from the "Time off is approved by" section. This list will include all Administrators for the account, as well as those Managers with permission to "Approve Time Off" (discussed above). You can then click "Update" to save your changes.
If you do not set up someone with a specific Time Off Approver, their requests will go to the Default Approver, which is set by the Leave Type (details above).
Please be aware that Managers will only see Time Off Requests from the employees they are set to approve.
In other words: If the Manager is not listed as the Time Off Approver for an employee on their Person Details page, they will not see any requests for that employee (even if the Manager's permissions are set to approve for "All People"). This is different from Timesheet Approvals, where Managers with the appropriate permission can approve timesheets for everyone (or everyone in a Division, depending on their settings), even if they are not set as the Default Approver.
As of June 2020, Administrators will also be able to use the "Actions" option on the Company --> People page to change Timesheet Approvers for multiple employees at the same time.
This is covered in more detail here.
Reviewing and Approving Time Off Requests
Next we will cover the Review and Approval process for Time Off requests. For assistance with requesting Time Off, please see the Requesting Time Off Guide here.
Notifications to Time Off Approvers
Reviewing Time Off Requests
Approving Time Off Requests
Notifications to Time Off Approvers
There are two different notifications a Time Off Approver will see when there are requests they need to respond to:
- An Email Notification will be sent to the email address associated with their Clicktime account. This will include a summary of the request, as well as a link directly to the Time Off Request Detail page where they can respond to the request:
- They will also see a Dashboard Notification on the Company --> Dashboard page letting them know how many total Time Off Requests are waiting for their action. They can use this link to go to the Company --> Time Off page which will be filtered by default to their Pending Requests.
The Company --> Time Off page is the main page that Managers and Administrators can use to review and take action on Time Off Requests:
There are two parts of the page, the Time Off Request Table, and the Filter options. By default, the page will Filter to Pending Time Off Requests.
Managers will only see the Time Off Requests that they are set to approve, while Administrators will see Pending Time Off requests for any employees whose request they approve, as well as any requests where they are the Default Leave Type Approver (meaning the employee has not been set up with a specific Time Off Approver from their Person Details page, explained above).
The Filters can be updated to change the Status of the request, as well as the Time Frame of the Request. They can also be used to look for people in a specific Employment Type, specific People, and Requests that require the same Approver.
To return all filters to the default after changing them, click the "Reset to Default Filters" text at the bottom of the panel:
Bulk Time Off Request Approval
Time Off Approvers (and admins) can use the Company --> Time Off page to Approve (or Reject) more than one request at a time. This is very similar to the features available on the Company --> Timesheets page.
After using the Filter to find all requests to Approve (or Reject), check the boxes next to the Time Off Request, or use the option at the top to select all:
Then use the options at the top right of the table to either Approve or Reject.
If you choose to "Approve", you will have the option to enter a comment. This will also send an email to the person who requested the Time Off with that comment. The comment will be visible from the Time Off Request Detail page.
After you choose to approve the pop-up will show you the results of your Approval.
If for some reason the Approval cannot be processed, the Request pop-up will update with more information regarding why the Request was not successful. ClickTime will not allow you to approve requests that are part of a locked timesheet, have already been approved, or would result in more than 24 hours being logged for the day.
Approved Time Off Requests will also create the time entry on the appropriate days. These time entries will be locked and cannot be edited:
Organizations using our DCAA Compliance features will be able to confirm when the Time Off Request was approved, and by whom, using our Audit Log. Specifically, the creation of the time entry will be associated with the Time Off Approver, and any comments that were added will be noted in the "Action Comments" field. For example, here we see that the "Approving Manager" approved a Time Off request for Alice Beeblebrox to take half of Monday off on the 10th, and that the request was approved on August 10th:
Approving Individual Time Off Requests
In addition to Approving from the Company --> Time Off page, you can also click the "Details" pencil icon for any requests to go to the Time Off Request Detail page, which will display more information about the request.
From here you can choose to Approve, or Reject, each request one at a time.
After taking action you will be returned to the Company --> Time Off page.
Please Note: Employees with Manager permissions must have "View" or "Add/Edit" People List permissions in order to see the Time Off Balance.
Organizations using our DCAA Compliance features will be able to confirm when the Time Off Request was approved, and by whom, using our Audit Log. Specifically, the creation of the time entry will be associated with the Time Off Approver, and any comments that were added will be noted in the "Action Comments" field. For example, here we see that the "Approving Manager" approved a Time Off request for Alice Beeblebrox to take half of Monday off on the 10th, and that the request was approved on August 10th:
Both Administrators and Managers who are set as the Time Off Approver will be able to "Reject" a Time Off Request once it has been submitted. At this time only Administrators have the ability to "Reject" a Time Off Request that has already been approved. Read on for more details on Pending Time Off Requests.
Please be aware that only the full request can be "rejected". If the request covers multiple days, and one of the days is incorrect, the entire request must be "rejected" by the Approver (or "canceled" by the requester).
The employee can then re-submit the correct days as needed. They can always submit multiple requests if there are concerns that the intended time they are taking off will change in the future.
Rejecting "Pending" Time Off Requests
As discussed above, the Company --> Time Off page will show all requests that have been submitted for your approval. You can change the filters to meet your specific needs. Managers will only be able to view the requests they are set to approve, while Administrators will have the option to see Pending requests for all staff regardless of the employee's Time Off Approver.
Just like approving, you can choose to "Reject" in bulk from the Company --> Time Off page by checking the box next to the request and using the "Reject" option at the top. No time entries will be created if you "Reject" the request.
You will then need to enter a comment explaining why the request was rejected, which will send an email to the person who requested. The comments will be visible from the Time Off Request page.
If for some reason the Request cannot be rejected, the pop-up will update to display the reasons why.
ClickTime will not allow you to Reject requests that are part of a locked timesheet, have been canceled by the requester, or that have already been rejected.
You can also click the "Details" option to see more information about the request:
This will include the available hours the employee has for the Leave Type they requested. Managers must have "View People" permissions in order to see the available balance.
Reject the request using the "Reject" option at the bottom of the page. Rejecting from this page will also require a comment.
An email will be sent to the requester indicating the request was "Rejected" and will display the comments entered. No time entries will be created for a Rejected Time Off Request.
Please Note: If you "Reject" a Time Off Request for a timesheet that has already been submitted, that will change the timesheet status to "rejected" as well. You can either approve the Rejected timesheet, or request that the employees re-submit the Time Off request, or the timesheet as needed.
Rejecting an already "Approved" Time Off Request (aka "Cancelling)
Rules for Rejecting/Cancelling an "Approved" Time Off Request
Process for Rejecting an "Approved" Time Off Request
Rules for Rejecting/Cancelling an "Approved Time Off Request"
If a Time Off Request is approved but something changes and the employee will no longer be taking Time Off, this is also known as "Cancelling" a Time Off Request. There are a few different methods to address this.
- If the Time Off Request is for today, or in the past, only an Administrator can "reject" the approved request (regardless of the status of the timesheet). This is done from the Company --> Time Off page by looking for "Approved" requests in the appropriate time period
- If the Time Off Request belongs to a timesheet that is "Waiting for Approval" OR has already been "Approved", the timesheet must first be rejected before the Time Off Request can be rejected/cancelled
In general, only an Administrator can "reject" an approved Time Off Request.
However, a user will be able to "cancel" an approved Time Off Request they've made, providing that:
- The request is for a date in the future, and
- The approved Time Off Request is part of an "open" timesheet
In this situation, the end-user will still be able to "Cancel" their approved request.
Since rejecting (or cancelling) an approved request means that any hours associated with the request will be added back to the balance, ClickTime will prevent most employees from rejecting approved requests in an attempt to change their balance. Only Managers with approval permissions will be able to "cancel" a request, and only for future dates.
Process for Rejecting an "Approved" Time Off Request
By default, the Company --> Time Off page will load all "pending" Time Off Requests for the employees you are set to approve, so you will want to first change the "Request Status" to "Approved".
You can limit your results to a certain time period if you do not want to see "All Time".
If you are not the employee's Time Off Approver, you will also need to change the "Show" option to "All Approvers" to see the specific request.
ClickTime will show any approved Time Off Requests where the date has passed in red text:
You should now be able to select the specific Request and use the option at the top to "Reject", or to click into the specific Request and Reject from there.
You will then need to enter a comment explaining why the Request was rejected. An email will be sent with this comment to the requester.
If the Request cannot be rejected, you will see a pop-up explaining why the changes could not be made. In the below example, Bart's request was successfully rejected, but Jack's was not because his timesheet was already approved.
In order to reject Jack's Time Off Request, the entire timesheet must first be rejected.
Organizations using our DCAA Compliance features will be able to see when a request was cancelled, and by whom, in the Audit Log. The required notes they add when they do so will also be visible. In this example, we see that the "Account Administrator" cancelled an approved request for Chani Atreides on August 12th:
Add Approved Time Off Entry (for another user)
Administrators will see an "Actions" drop-down button on the Company> Time Off page. This can be used to submit a request on behalf of another person. They will have the option to let the request go to the appropriate Time Off Approver, or to approve it automatically if they choose to do so.
This page is exactly like the Time Off Request page from the Personal --> Time Off page, except that there is an additional "Person" field required.
This is where the Administrator can choose which employee to create the request on behalf of. Once they do so, the page will then display the "Balance as of Today" panel, which has details information about all of the employee's available Approval-required leave types. Below this is the "Planned Time Off" panel, which displays information about all of the employee's pending and approved Time Off Requests in the future. This panel will scroll after 5 entries (if necessary)
In addition to the "Person" field, the Administrator will need to choose the Leave Type and fill in the number of hours for each day. ClickTime will allow up to 30 days of Time Off in each request. The Notes field is optional.
Before submitting, Administrators also have the option to check the "Approve this request on submission" box. If they do so, the request will automatically be approved. If this box is left un-checked, the request will go to the employee's designated Time Off Approver as usual.
When a request is submitted, the form will clear and another request can be made immediately.
If they decide not to submit the request, they can click "Reset form" (next to the "Submit" option) to empty out every field they have entered. This returns the form to its starting (empty) state.
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