How Do I Create a Department within Vacation Tracker?

New hires, reorgs, a new product line — teams grow in shapes that don't always fit one bucket. Out of the box, Vacation Tracker drops every active user into a single Default Department. Creating extra Departments lets you route different teams to different Approvers, configure approval flow independently, and keep leave requests organized by the way your company actually works.

Also known as: Add Department, New Team, Set Up Department. Related: Department, Approver, Admin

Create a New Department

The form opens on its own page, grouped into five sections. Name and at least one Approver are required — every Department needs an active Approver before it can be created. Users and the other fields can be left for later and edited in via the Edit Department flow.

1. Sign in at app.vacationtracker.io.
2. In the left-hand menu, under Team & Approval Flows, click Departments.
3. At the top of the Departments page, click Create New Department.
4. Work through the five sections of the Create Department form (covered below).
5. Click Create Department at the bottom. Use Cancel to back out without saving.

What to Fill Out

1. Department Settings

The top of the form sets the basics — Department name and the initial roster of Users.

• Name — required. Type the Department name. Users see this anywhere a Department is displayed.
• Users (optional) — searchable multi-value chip field. Type to search for a person, click to add. Leave blank if you're still figuring out the roster — you can add people later through Edit Department.

2. Approval Flow

Sets who approves leave requests and how those approvals flow.

• Approval Flow Type — Single-level Approval (default, all plans) or Multi-level Approval (Complete plan only). Single-level means one approval moves the request forward. Multi-level routes requests through each configured level in sequence.
• Approver(s) — required. Searchable chip field for the Users and/or Admins who'll approve or deny requests for this Department. You must assign at least one — the form won't let you save without an active Approver. The same person can be Approver on multiple Departments.
• Notify Watcher(s) After Final Approval (optional) — email addresses that get a notification once a request is fully approved. Separate multiple addresses with commas or spaces. Useful for looping in HR or a shared payroll inbox.

3. Leave Request Expiration

Controls how long pending requests hang around before expiring. The field asks Keep future pending requests open? with a Yes/No toggle (defaults to No).

4. Default Department

Every workspace needs exactly one default Department — the one new users land in automatically. The Make This Department Default toggle lets you flag the one you're creating as the new default.

5. Subdepartment Settings

Lets you nest the new Department under an existing one for structural grouping. The Choose Parent Department dropdown defaults to None.

• Pick a parent Department to visually nest this one under it in the Departments list.
• Nesting is purely organizational — a subdepartment keeps its own Users, Approvers, and approval flow. Nothing is inherited from the parent.
• Leave set to None if this Department stands on its own.

Save the Department

Scroll to the bottom of the form and click Create Department. The new Department appears on the Departments page immediately, and any users you assigned to it are moved in. If you clicked Cancel instead, nothing is saved.

Common Questions