Creating Time Offs Approval Flow

Managing employee time off requests is a crucial aspect of maintaining a well-organized and productive workforce. The Time Offs Approval Flow within Spark.work empowers organizations to establish a structured process for reviewing and approving time off requests. Whether it's vacation days, sick leave, or other types of time off, this approval flow ensures that employee requests are handled efficiently, fairly, and in alignment with company policies.

Here, you'll discover a step-by-step guide on how to create a time off approval flow.

To add a new approval flow:

1. Navigate to Settings ⚙ and open Approval Flows → Time Offs section.
2. Click the + Add button.
3. Start configuration of Approval Details, Approvers, Branch Offices, and Employees options.

Approval Details

• Approval Name - Enter the unique name in the Approval Name field.
• Sequential - Enable or disable the Sequential toggle to determine the type of the approval flow.
• Feedback Deadline - If the Sequential toggle is enabled, choose the working or calendar days for the response deadline.
• Response Deadline - If the Sequential toggle is disabled, specify the number of days for the response in the Feedback Deadline field, and choose the working or calendar days for the response deadline.

Note: If you've chosen Sequential approval, don't forget to specify how many days each approver has to make a decision in the Approvers section.

Approvers

• Select the corresponding approver (User Role, Reports To, Approver).
• Choose a user role or name.
• Specify the number of days allowed for each approver's response (in case of sequential workflow).
• Once done, click Save to proceed with the Branch Offices or click Cancel to discard the changes.

Tip: Use the + Add button to include additional approvers in the flow.

Important: Reports To(s) are unique to individual employees within the associated branch office. These designations are determined when a specific employee submits a request.

Once you have assigned approvers, link either branches, time off types, or specific employees to the approval flow to effectively manage future time-off requests.

Adding Employees

• Click the + Add button to open the employee selection window.
• Choose the employees you want to assign to the approval flow.
• Ensure the list is complete by adjusting the pagination if necessary
• Employees already assigned to other flows will be indicated with an info icon
• Once done, click Add.

Adding Time Off Types

• Click the + Add button in the Time Off Types widget.
• Select the time off type from the drop-down list (multi-selection).
• Once done, click Add.

Adding Branch Offices 

• Click the + Add button in the Branch Offices widget.
• Select the Branch Office from the drop-down list (multi-selection).
• Once done, click Add.

Note: A branch office that is already assigned to another approval flow cannot be added to the newly created one. It will not appear in the available options in the drop-down list.

When a Time Off request is submitted, the system automatically identifies the correct approval flow by applying the following hierarchy:

The system will first look for an Approval Flow specifically linked to the Employee. If none is found, it will then look for an Approval Flow linked to the Time Off Type selected for the request. If no specific flow is identified, it will finally apply the Approval Flow linked to the employee's Branch Office.

Please note: If no Approval Flow is linked to the branch, the employee will not be able to request time off.

Warning: Deleting the approval flow is not possible; you can only archive it. It's important to keep in mind as well that if any branches have been added to the flow, the system won't permit archiving.

Tip: Use the Filter functionality to view archived, active, or both approval templates.

Congratulations! You have successfully completed the first step of the approval process! Stay tuned to learn about creating additional approval flows.