Auto approval settings

4 min read By TimeOff Support

Auto-approval used to be three separate settings in three different places. It has evolved into a single feature: the Auto-approval policy.

For how to set it up today, read: Auto-approval policy

This page is for anyone looking for one of the old settings. It says where each one went, and what to do instead.

What changed

A policy does everything the three old settings did, and treats them as one decision instead of three. In one place you choose:

who it covers — named employees, whole departments, whole locations, roles, or the entire company, minus anyone you exclude
which actions it approves the moment they happen — leave requests, leave revocations, a person’s own actions, the ones they take for the employees they manage, or any mix of the four
which leave types it applies to — selected ones, or all of them

You can run several policies side by side, each named, so different groups can have different rules. Nothing is auto-approved unless a policy says so.

Find it under the Main menu → More → Policies → Auto-approval.

Where each old setting went

Leave types with auto-approval

Each leave type used to have an Auto-Approve checkbox, so requests for that type were approved without a manager decision. That checkbox is no longer on the leave type, and if you had it switched on, those leave types are now gathered in a policy named Auto-approved leave types.

To do the same thing now: add a policy and add the leave types to its Leave types picker. Leaving that picker empty covers every leave type.

Two more things before you save. Under Scope, say whose leave the policy covers — a setting on a leave type applied to everybody, so Apply to entire company is the equivalent, though you can narrow it to employees, departments, locations or roles instead. Then set Auto-approved actions deliberately: a new policy starts with all four switches on, so it will auto-approve Leave revocations for those leave types as well as Leave requests, and for leave booked on behalf of others as well as a person’s own. Turn off whichever of the four you do not want.

Auto-approve for one employee

Employee details used to carry a toggle that auto-approved that person’s own leave requests, typically used for company owners, directors and senior staff. That toggle is no longer on the employee, and anyone who had it is now covered by a policy named Individual auto-approve.

To do the same thing now: add a policy and name the employees in its Employees picker. Under Auto-approved actions, leave Own actions → Leave requests on and turn the other three off — a new policy starts with all four on, which would also auto-approve their revocations and the leave they book or revoke for the people they manage. One policy can cover several people, so a single policy usually replaces a handful of individual toggles, and because a policy can cover a role you can auto-approve for every administrator without naming anybody.

Auto-approve leave created by admins and supervisors

Advanced settings used to hold the controls for leave created on behalf of employees: one for admins, and one for supervisors with a secondary supervisors companion. Those controls have gone from Advanced settings, and whichever of them you had switched on is now a policy named Administrators or Supervisors.

To do the same thing now: add a policy and tick the roles it should cover under Scope — Administrators, Direct supervisors or All supervisors. Under Auto-approved actions, keep the switches you want under On behalf of others and turn off the Own actions ones unless you also want those people’s own leave auto-approved: a new policy starts with all four on. Roles are checked at the moment somebody acts, so a newly appointed manager is covered without anyone editing the policy.

You do not need to redo anything

Existing companies were converted automatically, and your previous set-up carries over under the names above. A setting that was switched off simply has no policy.

It is worth opening More → Policies → Auto-approval once to read the converted policies and check they say what you expect — the Auto-approved actions grid in particular. From there they are ordinary policies: rename them, adjust who they cover, switch off any actions you do not want, or delete them.

Brand-new companies start with no auto-approval policies at all.

What a policy can do

Whatever you used before, these are the controls you now have:

cover a department or a location, so new joiners are picked up automatically
exclude particular people from a policy that otherwise matches them
auto-approve leave revocations as well as leave requests
treat a person’s own leave separately from the leave they book for others
skip two-tier approval screening, or leave that screening in place so it still takes precedence