Book and approve time off

Fabrik Analytics is where your agency's leave lives. Allowances, bookings and balances are all kept here for everyone, including people paid through Xero. The Calendar page is one page for the whole team: the month, who is off, requests to decide and everyone's holiday left.

Before you start

• You need to be on the agency's team record. If you see "You are not on Team yet. The agency owner adds you.", ask the owner.
• Your manager approves your requests. Without a manager, the owner does.
• The agency's rules (days a year, leave year, notice, blocked dates, bank holidays) are set by the owner in People, Settings, under Time off.

Book time off

1. In the main menu choose Calendar.
2. Choose Book time off.
3. Choose the Kind: Holiday (counts against the yearly allowance), Unpaid leave or Other agreed time off.
4. Choose the First day and Last day. For one day, choose How much of the day: The whole day, The morning or The afternoon. For longer, choose whether the first and last days are whole or half.
5. Add a Note for your approver (optional).
6. Check the summary: This year, This booking and Left after.
7. Choose Ask for approval. You see "Asked for approval. Your approver has been told."

The agency owner's own bookings are approved at once (the button reads Book it).

Approve or decline a request

1. Open Calendar. Requests waiting for you show in Waiting for you above the month, and in the Waiting for you tile.
2. Choose Approve or Decline on the request.
3. The person is told straight away: "Approved. {Name} has been told."

You are also emailed about each new request, and can be told in Slack. See Choose who hears about time off requests.

Book for someone, or record sickness

If you approve someone's time off:

1. Choose Book time off, then choose the person, or open Book time off from their record.
2. Choose the kind, including Sickness.
3. Choose Book it, or Record sickness. What you book is approved at once and they are told. Sickness is recorded with its dates only.

What you will see

• The month shows Holiday, Waiting, Sick, First day, Last day, Probation ends and bank holidays. Switch between Month and People by day.
• Tiles: Off today, Off this week, Waiting for you and holiday booked.
• Holiday left for each person, from their own terms, pro rata for anyone who starts or leaves in the year.
• Who you see: the owner sees everyone, sickness included; whoever manages the team sees everyone's time off with sickness shown as Off; managers see their reports; everyone else sees colleagues only as Off, never why.

Carry days over at the year end

Whoever manages the team chooses Carry over on the Calendar page. It proposes, for each person, the lesser of their days left and their carry-over limit, rounded down to a half day. Adjust any figure, then choose Carry over to {next year}. Every change is kept with who made it.

Troubleshooting

• "This cannot be asked for yet": the dates break a rule, such as notice or a blocked period.
• "Over the allowance": the booking takes you past your holiday left. Your approver can still approve it.
• "Time off is for agency staff": client users cannot book time off.
• "Approved leave is saved here and waits": the owner needs to reconnect Xero payroll with permission to change employees before approved leave can be sent to Xero.