Approve Leave Without Being An Administrator

The features mentioned in this article have been upgraded, and the information presented may not be up to date. Please view our recent articles, and learn about the new version of Vacation Tracker.

You said, we listened; introducing the approver role, a role created by breaking the dependency between the approver and the administrator role in Vacation Tracker. 

Over time we realized the inconvenience of having to be an admin in order to approve, deny or view a team’s leave information. That is why we decided to separate the two into two roles called Administrator and Approver. In other words, before you had to be an admin to be an approver, now you don’t! 

What Can I Do as an Administrator?

As an administrator, everything remains the same as it was for you before. The administrator still has the highest level of permissions in Vacation Tracker. This means you are able to see and edit all of the company’s settings as well as individual and team information at any time. This role is generally for higher management, HR and accounting personnel.

As an admin you are able to:

• Dashboard – Review, accept and deny pending requests; view and remove upcoming leaves and review remaining leaves for all users
• Teams – Create, edit and remove company teams and approvers.
• Team Members – Review and edit all user-profiles and set leave quotas for individual users.
• Holidays – Create and import holidays for the whole company and individual teams.
• Settings – Review and edit all company settings such as information export, notifications, working days, leave types and billing.

You are also able to assign other administrator roles to users and set approvers for different teams. Please keep in mind, when it comes to leave requests, you will only be able to receive notifications if you are an approver or an admin in one or more teams. However, you will be able to access everyone’s leave requests and history through the dashboard.

What Can I do as an Approver?

The approver is a brand new role and it has the second-highest level of permissions in Vacation Tracker. The approver role, set by an administrator, allows any user to be an approver for one or more teams. This means you are able to see, approve and deny your team(s)’ requests. An approver is generally a team lead, manager or supervisor in an organization. 

As an approver you are able to:

• Dashboard – Review, accept and deny pending requests; review and remove upcoming leaves and view remaining leaves for your team members.

• Manage Requests – Review and edit leave requests and leave information for your team members.

• My Profile – View your leave history information as well as review and edit your upcoming leaves

As an approver, you will also receive Slack notifications for all requests sent to you by your team members on all the teams you are an approver of. If your team(s) have multiple approvers, you will also receive a notification letting you know which approver approved the request.

Things You May Be Wondering…

What will happen to my current approver and admin roles?

All of the users who were solely admins will stay admins and all of the users who were admins and approvers will have both roles assigned (admin and approver). However, with this new option, you are able to edit these users and assign one or both roles!

How do I make someone an approver?

_In order to make someone an approver, you must be the admin of the organization. You would go to the Dashboard and follow these steps:_1. On the left-hand side click on Team Members

2. Once the new page loads, find the user you would like to make an approver.

3. On the right-hand side, you will see 3 dots (…) click and on the new pop-up select Make Approver

4. A small pop-up will open which will allow you to choose the team or teams you would like the user to be an approver of.

5. Once you are done selecting the team(s) click Save

The settings will automatically save and the user will have approver permissions.

How do I make someone an admin?

_In order to make someone an admin, you must be the admin of the organization. You would go to the Dashboard and follow these steps:_1. On the left-hand side click on Team Members

2. Once the new page loads, find the user you would like to make an approver.
3. On the right-hand side, you will see 3 dots (…) click and on the new pop-up select Make Admin
4. A small pop-up will open which explains which permissions the user will be able to see and with a confirmation question.
5. If you are sure you want the user to become an admin, click Yes

The settings will automatically save and the user will have administrator permissions.

We created this new feature with our client’s feedback in mind and every day we are working on more new features to make your Vacation Tracker experience even better! So e-mail us, message us on chat and keep the ideas flowing.

“We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.”

– Bill Gates