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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.
Via the AI assistant: If your organization has the Azure AI integration enabled, you can also view pending approvals and approve or decline requests through the AI assistant. Try phrases like “Show pending approvals”, “Approve Sarah’s request”, or “Decline Tom’s vacation because of a deadline”.

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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 opens the Notifications page. Admins see two tabs at the top: Requests (approval requests) and Notifications (calendar PDF export status and downloads). Non-admin approvers are taken directly to the approval list without tabs.

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Open and Processed segments

The approval list is divided into two segments you can switch between:
  • Open — shows all pending approval requests in your department. A count badge indicates how many requests are waiting.
  • Processed — shows a history of requests that have already been approved, declined, or canceled, along with who decided and when.

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Sorting, filtering, and view controls

The Open segment includes a toolbar to help you find and organize pending requests:
  • Search by employee name or reason.
  • Filter by approver — a dropdown listing all approvers with pending requests. Your own name is pinned to the top and labeled “(me)” for quick access.
  • Filter by employee — narrow the list to requests from a specific person.
  • Sort by absence start date, created date, or employee name, in ascending or descending order.
  • View toggle — switch between Grouped by approver (requests organized under collapsible approver headers) and Flat list (a single list). Group headers can be expanded or collapsed, and each group shows a Show all button when it contains more entries than the default preview.
Urgency hints such as “Starts today”, “Starts in X days”, or “Waiting for X days” appear next to requests that need prompt attention. Section headers now read Pending my approval (for requests where you are the assigned approver) and include the count of open items. When active filters reduce the displayed results, the toolbar shows a result count and a Reset filters button.

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Processed (history) view

The Processed segment lets you review past decisions with its own set of controls:
  • Search by employee name.
  • Status filter — show All, Approved, Declined, or Canceled requests.
  • Sort by absence start, created date, or employee name.
  • 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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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. To override a request:
  1. Select the bell icon. Admins open the Requests tab; non-admin approvers land directly on 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.
Note: Overriding requests ensures that absences in your department are addressed on time, even if the designated approver has not acted.

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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 by selecting the request in the calendar or approval list.
  2. In the Representatives 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 this occurrence only 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.