Managing approval requests as a manager

As a manager in absentify, you are responsible for overseeing approval requests for absences within your department. The notification bell in the top-right corner of the navigation bar informs you of requests where you are the designated approver. You can also view requests that other approvers in your department have not yet addressed.

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Notifications for pending approval requests

If there are pending approval requests where you are the designated approver, the bell icon in the top-right corner of the screen will display a badge with the number of items requiring your attention. Selecting the bell icon takes you straight to the approval list. Admins and all other approvers see the same list. Details opens the requester’s calendar with the request in context. Select Back to requests at the top to return to the list. This is especially useful in the Microsoft Teams client, where there is no browser back button.

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Open and History segments

The approval list has two segments.

• Open shows pending requests you can act on. The number next to Open matches the list below. When search or filters are on, that number is how many requests match, not the unfiltered total.
• History shows requests that have already been approved, declined, or canceled, along with who decided and when.

The page always opens on Open.

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Sorting, filtering, and view controls

Open and History share a toolbar for finding and organizing requests.

• Search by employee name or reason on Open. The field says Search employee or reason…. On History, the field says Search employee….
• Select Filter to add a Leave type, Employee, Department, or Approver filter. On History, you can also add Status. Each filter appears below the toolbar. If you have pending requests assigned to you, your name is at the top of the Approver list, with me in parentheses.
• Select Display to sort by Start, Created, or Name. The arrow sets Ascending or Descending order.
• On Open, Display also has Group by: Approver, Leave type, or None. Group headers expand and collapse. A group with more than 10 requests shows a button with the full count so you can expand it.

A Department filter shows requests whose requester belongs to any department you select. On Open, Department lists departments that appear on a pending request you can see. On History, it lists the departments you can access. Urgency hints such as Starts today, Starts in 2 days, Already started, or Already over appear on requests that need prompt attention. Each request also shows when it was submitted, as Requested plus how long ago. Requests assigned to you appear under My approvals and include the open count. When Group by is Approver and you have representative requests, those items appear under As representative. If you also have approval requests, those appear under Directly to me. With no representative requests, the items stay in one list under My approvals. When search or filters are on, the toolbar shows how many of the total requests match and a Reset filters button. If nothing matches, you see No requests match your filters. absentify keeps your filters, grouping, and sort with your account. They follow you when you sign in on another device. Search stays in this browser and does not follow you to another device. On Open, each request has a checkbox. Select one request. Select the checkbox on a group header to take every request in that group that you can approve, including those not yet shown. When Group by is None and a section has more than one request, a row at the top of that section selects every request in it that you can approve. After you select at least one, a bar at the bottom can select every remaining request on Open that you can approve. Select Clear selection or press Escape to clear the selection. Changing search or filters clears the selection. A disabled checkbox cannot be selected. Point at it to see why.

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History view

• Add a Status filter and pick Approved, Declined, or Canceled. On the filter, choose is or is not to include or exclude those statuses. If you pick more than one status, the filter shows is any of or is none of.
• Each entry displays a status badge and a line indicating who decided and on what date.
• Use the Show more button to load additional results.

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Approve several requests at once

On Open, you can approve several requests at once. Select the requests as described in Sorting, filtering, and view controls. Then select the button that shows how many requests you will approve. absentify asks you to confirm. Each selected request is approved the same way as a single Approve. If a selected request is assigned to another approver, you are recorded as the person who approved it. If a selected request is recurring, all open dates in that series are approved too. The users involved are notified, as they are for a single approval. If a request needs another approver, it stays open for them. You can select Stop while absentify approves them. If some requests cannot be approved, select Show details to read why.

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Overriding requests in your department

As a manager, you have the ability to override pending requests assigned to other approvers in your department. This ensures that absences are handled promptly, even if the designated approver has not taken action. Those requests appear under Requests of my employees. Admins see them under Requests of other approvers. The section shows a badge, As manager or As administrator. To override a request:

1. Select the bell icon to open the approval list.
2. Locate the request assigned to another approver.
3. Review the request details.
4. Approve or decline the request. If declining, provide a reason in the prompt before confirming.

You can also select several of these requests on Open and approve them together. See Approve several requests at once.

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Notifications for overriding requests

When you override a request, all relevant parties are notified:

• The employee will receive a notification that the manager has taken action.
• The original approver will also be notified that their responsibility was overridden and that they can no longer take action on the request.

Additionally, override actions are logged for transparency:

• Excel exports include details of who performed the override.
• The request details view clearly indicates who overrode the approval process.

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Replacing a representative

When a representative on a pending request has not yet responded (status: Pending) or has declined, you can assign a different person in their place, for a single occurrence or for an entire recurring series. Who can replace a representative:

• Admins can replace any representative on any pending request.
• Department managers can replace representatives of employees they directly manage, but cannot assign themselves as the replacement.

How to replace a representative:

1. Open the request details from the calendar, or select Details on the request in the approval list.
2. In the Representative status section, find the representative you want to replace.
3. Select the Replace representative button (swap icon) next to their name.
4. In the dialog, you will see the currently assigned representative.
5. For recurring requests, choose whether to replace the representative for Only this occurrence or for the Entire series (all remaining pending occurrences that still have the same representative).
6. Search for and select the new representative. Only available members are shown — anyone who already has an approved or pending absence overlapping the request period is excluded.
7. Select Replace representative to confirm.

What happens next:

• The replaced representative is notified that they have been removed and no longer need to take action.
• The new representative receives a standard representative approval request (via Teams notification and/or email).
• The replaced entry stays visible in the approver list with the status Replaced. Hover the status to see who performed the replacement, who the new representative is, and when the change was made.

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Key considerations

• Visibility: Managers can see and act on requests for all employees in their department, including those assigned to other approvers. If a manager is marked as invisible, their name is still shown as the approver when they approve or decline a request.
• Notifications: Approval, decline, override, and representative replacement actions trigger notifications to all relevant parties.
• Audit trail: All actions taken by managers, including overrides and representative replacements, are logged and visible in the system for future reference.

For general information about handling approval requests, refer to the employee approval guide.