Skip to content

Vacations — Workflow

Overview

The Vacations workflow manages vacation requests from submission to approval. It supports a two-step approval process (Supervisor → HR), returns for changes, and special HR-only actions such as direct assignments and day adjustments.

For the user-facing screens involved in this feature, see: Transactions.

Note

This approval flow follows SARA’s standard record lifecycle model. See: Workflows & Pipelines

Roles involved

  • Collaborator: creates, edits, resubmits, or cancels their own requests.
  • Supervisor: approves or rejects the first approval step.
  • Human Resources (HR): approves or rejects the second approval step.
  • HR/Admin setup responsibility:
    • Maintain department/position/direct-manager relationships for collaborators.
    • Maintain internal company vacation rules in Control Panel.

Status lifecycle

Requests use the following statuses (as shown in the UI):

  • PDSV — Pending supervisor approval
  • APPR — Approved
  • REJC — Rejected (rejected by supervisor or HR; collaborator can edit and resubmit, or cancel)
  • CANC — Cancelled (cancelled by the collaborator)

Info

For general guidance on statuses, see: Status

Workflow

Workflow steps

  1. Collaborator creates a request (PDSV)
  2. Supervisor approves or rejects
  3. HR approves or rejects
  4. Collaborator edits/resubmits or cancels after rejection (REJC)
  5. Editing an approved request restarts the flow (APPR → PDSV)

Create a request (Collaborator)

  • The collaborator creates a request in Vacation Request.
  • The request is created with minimum required information to be fast and effective.
  • After creation, editing provides more options and fields.
  • Status becomes PDSV.
  • An email notification is sent to the assigned supervisor(s).

Supervisor decision

Supervisors review the request in Vacation Management:

  • Approve
    • The request advances to HR review.
    • Status becomes APPR.
  • Reject
    • The request returns to the collaborator.
    • Status becomes REJC.

Multiple supervisors

A collaborator may have multiple assigned direct managers (e.g., multiple positions).
All assigned managers are notified, but only one approval is required: - As soon as one manager approves, the supervisor step is completed.

HR decision

HR reviews the request in Vacation Management after supervisor approval:

  • Approve
    • The request is finalized as approved.
    • Status remains APPR.
  • Reject
    • The request returns to the collaborator.
    • Status becomes REJC.

After rejection (REJC)

When a request is REJC, the collaborator can:

  • Edit the request and resubmit (which sends it back to supervisors).
  • Cancel the request (status becomes CANC).

Editing an approved request (APPR)

A collaborator can edit an already-approved request that is not in the past:

  • All fields can be edited.
  • The request returns to PDSV.
  • The approval pipeline restarts as if it were new, but:
    • The same record is preserved.
    • Prior notes and logs remain attached.
    • Notifications and logs show original vs. new dates.
  • Supervisors are notified that the collaborator edited an approved request.

Notifications

Every status change triggers an email notification to the appropriate person:

  • New request → supervisors
  • Supervisor decision → collaborator (and HR if approved)
  • HR decision → collaborator
  • Edit of approved request → supervisors (includes original vs new dates)

Note

For global notification behavior, see: Notifications & Alerts

Setup & dependencies

For approvals to route correctly:

  • Collaborators must have one or more direct managers assigned through department/position relationships.
  • The internal company must have vacation rules configured in Control Panel:
    • Rule table(s) based on tenure
    • Accumulation/carry-over setting

Exceptions & operational notes

Calendar visibility rules

Approved requests submitted by collaborators appear in the Logistics Calendar, used for company-wide planning (permission-based visibility).

Typical viewers include (depending on permissions):

  • Supervisors
  • HR
  • Logistics
  • Sales

HR direct assignment (special workflow)

HR can create a vacation record directly as APPR from Vacation Management → Vacation Management tab, without approvals.

Characteristics:

  • No notifications are sent.
  • It does not appear in the Logistics Calendar.
  • Purpose: allow HR flexibility to move these dates if needed (pre-coordinated with the supervisor).

Vacation day calculation (conceptual)

Vacation availability is calculated using:

  • Collaborator admission date (tenure)
  • Internal company vacation rules configured in Control Panel
  • Carry-over behavior (if enabled)
  • Days used in the current annual period
  • HR adjustments

Conceptually:

(rule-based days) + (carry-over days) + (vacation adjustment) - (days used in current period)

Carry-over and negative balances

Carry-over (positive or negative) is only allowed when the internal company setting
“can vacation days be accumulated?” is enabled.
If disabled, there is no carry-over and no negative balances.

Common pitfalls (Optional)

  • No supervisor received the request
    • Verify the collaborator has at least one assigned direct manager.
  • Multiple supervisors received the request
    • This is expected when multiple direct managers exist; only one approval is required.
  • Approved vacation is not shown in the Logistics Calendar
    • If HR used the direct assignment workflow, it will not appear by design.
  • Remaining days look unexpected
    • Check whether accumulation is enabled and whether HR adjustments exist for the current period.

Permissions

Permissions

Access and actions are permission-driven. See: Permissions