Last updated on February 9, 2026
Guide: Administrator vs Approver vs User
Who can do what in Vacation Tracker, at a glance.
Vacation Tracker has three roles. Users manage their own leave, Approvers decide on leave for their team, and Admins run the whole workspace. Here is what each role can do.
Compare the roles
| What they can do | Admin | Approver | User |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manage their own leave | |||
| Request, edit & cancel their own leave | |||
| View own balance, history & logs | |||
| See team calendar & public holidays | |||
| Connect a personal calendar (Google or Outlook) | |||
| Handle the team's leave (for assigned Departments) | |||
| Approve, deny or cancel leave requests | ✗ | ✗ | |
| Add a leave on someone's behalf | ✗ | ||
| View team members' balances & history | ✗ | ||
| Set notifications for a Department | ✗ | ||
| Assign a Substitute Approver to cover time off | ✗ | ✗ | |
| Configure & run the workspace | |||
| Create Leave Types, Policies, Locations & Departments | ✗ | ✗ | |
| Import, activate & deactivate users | ✗ | ✗ | |
| Assign Admins & Approvers | ✗ | ✗ | |
| Export reports (Leave, Balance, Audit Logs) | ✗ | ✗ | |
| Manage billing, integrations & global notifications | ✗ | ✗ | |
| View company-wide audit logs | ✗ | ✗ | |
Approver permissions apply only to the Department(s) a person is assigned to. Roles stack: any User or Admin can also be made an Approver.
Common Questions
Yes, and it's common. The Role (Admin or User) and a Department's Approver(s) are independent, so someone can have full Admin access and also approve requests for a Department.
Approver is a per-Department assignment, not a workspace-wide access level. Any User or Admin can be an Approver for one or more Departments without changing their Role.
Only Admins. The tools for editing profiles, departments, and importing users all live in Admin-only areas of the dashboard.
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