Approving leave without email threads
Leave by email fails in a specific way. The request is fine, the reply is fine, and six weeks later two people remember the balance differently and neither can prove it.
Somebody wants three days in November. They have some allowance left, though nobody is sure how much.
The manager approves it in a reply. That approval now exists in one mailbox, invisible to HR, to the team and to whoever plans the month.
Quota-based leave fixes the arithmetic and the audit at once. Each type has an allocation. Requests draw it down. Everyone reads the same remaining number.
Worth knowing before setup: the live instance models working from home as a leave type with its own quota, which is a regional convention rather than a universal one. Types are yours to define, each with an annual quota and paid and encashable flags. Decide that shape deliberately, because every balance and every report is read through it afterwards.
Why one record instead of two
Here is the clearest version of the whole argument. Approve three days in November and those days appear as leave on the capacity plan at once. The leave record and the resourcing record describe the same person. Nobody retypes anything. In an HRIS-plus-planner pair, that is an integration to configure and a sync to distrust.
What is switched on
- Leave
- Requests, approvals, and days used against allocated per type, for the year.
- Leave
- The admin side shows the status funnel: approved, pending and rejected with percentages.
- Holidays
- The company calendar means a public holiday does not quietly consume a leave day.
- Resource allocation
- Approved leave appears on the capacity plan as an overlay, so planners see it without asking.
- Attendance
- A day on approved leave reads as leave, not as an absence.
- Activity log
- The approval itself is a recorded change, with who and when.
What the week looks like
Request
The employee picks a type and dates and sees what they have left before submitting.
Same day
The request lands in a pending queue rather than a mailbox.
Approval
A manager approves or rejects. The balance moves in the same moment.
Immediately after
Those days show as leave on the capacity plan, so nobody plans work into them.
Any time
Today's view shows who is on leave now, who is pending and who is out in the next seven days.
Year end
Usage by type and month-over-month comparison show where the allowance actually went.
Questions people ask
Can we define our own leave types?
Yes. Types are configurable with an annual quota and paid and encashable flags. The live instance uses annual, casual, sick, unpaid and a few more, including one for working from home.
Does approved leave show up anywhere other than the leave screen?
Yes. It appears as a leave overlay on the capacity plan, and attendance reads that day as leave rather than an absence.
Can an employee see their balance before requesting?
Yes. Days used, allocated and remaining are shown overall and by leave type, with a percentage used.