Time-Off Request Workflow

Overview

Several workflows for managing employees’ time-off requests are available as part of Leave Tracking in Veracross. Requests can be managed entirely within Axiom or with a combination of Axiom and the Employee Portal. Once approved, the result of a time-off request is a future attendance record being created for the employee. There are three main components to using the time-off management feature of Veracross:

1. Request Configuration
2. Request Submission
3. Request Approval

This article describes the above components and provides notes on and examples of workflows.

Request Configuration

Several components of time-off requests can be configured in Axiom. Pictured here is the Time Off Request screen accessible via a portal shortcut link in an Employee or Teacher Portal.

Instructions and Note Instructions

Two text field can be edited: “Instructions” that appear at the top of the form and instructions on the “Notes” field at the bottom. The former is useful for communicating the overall purpose or expected workflow associated with the form, and the latter can be used to clarify what the employee should enter in the notes (e.g., indicating who the substitute should be, where to find lesson plans, etc.).

To edit these two fields, navigate to the Employment homepage and click Employee Homepage Sections in the lower right. Edit the text in either field directly from the query results and click Update to confirm.

General

Reason for Request: Options in this drop-down menu can be viewed and edited as needed. To view existing reasons, navigate to the System homepage and click Time Off Request Reasons under Employment in the middle Configuration column. To add new ones, hover over the Add menu and select “Time Off Request Reasons.”

Who should review this request?Reviewers are managed using the “Managers” Profile Code, located in the :Time Off Request Managers” profile code category. Set this on the person records of those who should be designated as managers.

Time Off

Time of Leave can be measured in either days or hours and is controlled by the System Parameter “Staff Attendance Tracking.” To toggle between days and hours, navigate to the System homepage, click System Parameters in the top right, and update the “Staff Attendance Tracking” parameter to either 1 (days) or 2 (hours).

Optional

These options are displayed but do not need to be completed. Schools can choose whether they want to incorporate the fields into their time-off request workflow.

Leaving Early? and Arriving Late? are applicable if the employee will only be gone for part of either the first or last day of their leave.

Substitute Required? is optional and can be helpful in schools’ workflows for tracking whether a substitute will be needed. Read more about granting substitute teacher permissions.

Linking to the Time-Off Request Form in Portals

The Time-Off Request Form can be linked anywhere in a faculty, staff, or general employee portal by using either of these system shortcut links:

• {system:time_off_requests} displays the “Requests” tab
• {system:new_time_off_request} displays the ’’New Request” tab

See a list of all portal shortcut links.

Notification Email Templates

There are four email templates related to the time-off request process. To edit them, navigate to the System homepage and click System Email Templates.

• Time_Off_Request_Approved: sent to the requestor when the request status is “Accepted – Send Email”
• Time_Off_Request_Assigned: sent when the assigned manager is changed
• Time_Off_Request_Denied: sent to the requestor when the request status is “Denied – Send Email”
• Time_Off_Request_Submitted: sent to the request manager as specified in the “Who Should Review This Request?” field of the time-off request

Request Submission

Time-off requests can be submitted in a portal or in Axiom.

Submitting a Request in a Portal

To submit a time-off request in a portal, the faculty or staff member clicks the link as configured by the school (see “Linking to the Time-Off Request Form in Portals” above). The link goes either to the list of pending requests or a new request entry. If not already selected, click “New Request” to submit a request. View time-off balances by clicking “View My Time Off Balances” at the top of the request form.

Required Information: All fields in the “General” and Time Off” sections are required.

Optional Information: The Leaving Early, Arriving Late, and Substitute Needed fields can be checked if applicable and the school is utilizing them in their workflow.

Notes: Enter notes as applicable and as the school desires in its workflow.

Submitting a Request in Axiom

Navigate to the Employment homepage, hover over the Add menu, and select “Add Time Off Requests.” The same information that would be collected via the form in the portal is available.

Alternate Method: Entering a Future Attendance Record

To bypass the request process and enter the future attendance record outside of an approval workflow, navigate to the Employment homepage, hover over the Add menu, and click Add a Staff/Faculty Attendance Record (also available as a direct link in the General section of the homepage). Enter the appropriate information and click Update, which adds the future attendance record accounting for the time-off.

Request Approval

Once a time-off request has been submitted (whether via a portal or Axiom), the person to whom it is assigned can approve or deny the request. To do so, navigate to the Employmenthomepage and click My Time Off Request Awaiting Approval.

Tip: This query, like all others in Axiom, can be modified by clicking “Design.” To see all requests awaiting approval regardless of the assignee, modify the query to remove the “Assigned to Person” criterion.

The resulting query will show all of the requests submitted awaiting the user’s approval. Approve or deny a request directly from the query results by updating the Request Status and clicking Update.

Approving a Request on the Detail Screen

Navigate to a request detail screen by clicking the Time Off Request ID in the query results. Approvers may edit information on the request as needed.

• Approved Attendance: An option must be selected in order to approve the request. The "?????" option fills the place of "Present" an should never be selected, as they would not be present during their time off.
• Request Status: Update to approve or deny the request. The “Send Email” option sends an email to the requestor. The text of the email is set in the “___” text template.
• Review Notes: Update internal notes as needed.

Example Setup and Workflow

The following is an example setup and workflow that could be used at a school.

Setup

• Time-off request reasons:  set up on the System homepage
• Requestors: set up via the “Time Off Request Managers”
• Time of Leave: set to “days” per this example school policy
• System Email Templates: are edited to display the text as desired; the “denied” template includes information about whom to contact for an appeal
• Portal Setup: link using the portal shortcut {system:time_off_requests} added to the Teacher Portal

See “Configuration” section above for further information.

Scenario: Teacher Submits a Time-Off Request in the Teacher Portal

In this scenario, a teacher submits a time-off request in the Teacher Portal for a three-day leave. School policy dictates that only full days can be requested and that requests should indicate information about lesson plans, etc., in the notes, and whether a substitute is needed.

• Teacher Enters Request: The teacher navigates to the Teacher Portal and clicks the link to submit a time-off request. The configured link using the {system:time_off_requests} shortcut lands the teacher on the “Requests” tab, and so clicks the “New Request” tab. The teacher:
  • checks available time-off balance by expanding the “View My Time Off Balance” at the top of the page.
  • selects a reason from the drop-down
  • selects a person who should receive the request (selected based on school policy, e.g., the teacher’s supervisor or department head)
  • enters start and end date
  • checks the “Substitute Required?” field
  • enters information in the Notes field about where to find lesson plans, a note on a particular student, recommendations on a fitting substitute, and other pertinent information.
  • clicks “Submit Request”
• Administrator Approves Request: The administrator to whom the request was assigned will see the request appear in the “My Time Off Requests Awaiting Approval” query on the Employment homepage. The administrator navigates to that link and:
  • reads the request, checking calendars and other information in Veracross or other systems as needed
  • updates the approved attendance status to “Absent – Excused”
  • notifies the substitute of the dates by email, including notes copied and pasted from the requestor pertinent to the coverage (note: read more about granting substitute teacher permissions)
  • updates the Request Status to “Accepted – Send Email”
  • adds any pertinent notes in the “Review Notes” field
• After the Administrator Clicks Update: Several things happen when the administrator updates the time-off request:
  • The request drops off of the “My Time Off Requests Awaiting Approval” query on the Employment homepage. It can still be found by running a “Find Time Off Requests” query.
  • An email is sent to the requesting teacher with the approval notification using the Time_Off_Request_Approved system email template.
  • Future attendance records are generated and can be found on the Attendance tab of the request or in a general Find Attendance query.