SOURCE:    Vacation Tracker
TITLE:     Admin Training 4: Choose Who Approves Whose Leave With Departments (Email Only)
URL:       https://vacationtracker.io/knowledge-base/admin-training-email-only-choose-who-approves-whose-leave-with-departments/
LANG:      en
PUBLISHED: 2026-10-23
UPDATED:   2026-10-23
READING:   2 min
SUMMARY:   Create Departments as approval groups, add Approvers, choose the approval flow and pick your default Department.

# Admin Training 4: Choose Who Approves Whose Leave With Departments (Email Only)

# Admin Training 4: Choose Who Approves Whose Leave With Departments (Email Only)

A Department is an approval group. When someone requests leave, the request goes to the Approver(s) of their Department.

## Decide First

- Which groups? Build Departments around who approves whose leave. They don't need to match your org chart.

- Single-level or Multi-level Approval? With Single-level, one Approver signs off. With Multi-level, approvals happen in sequence, and any one Approver at each level can move the request forward. Multi-level is on the Complete plan only.

- Should pending requests expire? If not kept open, requests expire after 7 working days or on the leave end date, whichever comes first.

## Create the Department

- In the left-hand menu, under Team & Approval Flows, click Departments, then Create New Department.

- Enter a Name and, optionally, add Users.

- Under Approval Flow, choose the Approval Flow Type and add one or more Approver(s).

- Optionally, add email addresses under Notify Watcher(s) After Final Approval.

- Set Keep future pending requests open? to Yes or No.

- Choose whether to Make This Department Default. All new users are added to the default Department automatically.

- Click Create Department.

![Create Department form showing Approval Flow Type, Approver(s) and Keep future pending requests open?](https://cms.vacationtracker.io/uploads/admin_training_email_only_choose_who_approves_whose_leave_with_departments_1_390940eadf_2fe27339f2.png)

Subdepartments don't inherit

You can nest a Department under a parent, but each Department still needs its own Users, Approvers and settings.

## Check It Worked

- On the Departments page, every Department shows at least one Approver.

- Open any user's profile. The Approvers line shows who will receive their requests.

## Common Questions

Can one person approve for several Departments?Yes. An Approver can be assigned to multiple Departments.

Is Approver a Role?No. Approver is set on the Department, so the person's Role stays the same.

### What's Next?

Admin Training 5: Add Users and Assign Their Location and Department (Email Only) (https://vacationtracker.io/knowledge-base/admin-training-email-only-add-users-and-assign-their-location-and-department/)
How Do I Set an Approver within Vacation Tracker? (https://vacationtracker.io/knowledge-base/how-do-i-set-an-approver-within-vacation-tracker/)
How To Set Up Multi-level Approvals? (https://vacationtracker.io/knowledge-base/how-to-set-up-multi-level-approvals/)

Need help?

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