Time off management updates (Beta)

We are introducing two new features for the management of time off in Forecast!

This beta functionality introduces a 1:1 linking between time off created in Timesheets and time off created in the People Schedule. Currently, there is only an option to add time off created in the People Schedule to timesheets; there is no option to add time off created in Timesheets to the People Schedule. 

The feature also introduces a setting for time-off approval, similar to the existing functionality of timesheet approval.

These new features are:

• Synchronizing Time off between timesheets and allocations
• Time-off Approval (Plus only)

In this article, we will cover:

• Synchronizing time off between timesheets and allocations: How it works
• Time-off Approval (Plus only): How it works
• Permissions: Who can access/control time off allocations and time off approvals
• Integrations: How synchronizing time off between allocations and timesheets is managed

Synchronizing time-off between timesheets and allocations: How it works

When enabled, this functionality will synchronize time off between People Schedule and Timesheets. 

People Schedule

Time off entered as an allocation in the People Schedule will automatically populate in Timesheets.

Timesheets

Time off entered in Timesheets will reflect as a time off allocation in the People Schedule. It will also show in the Time Registered Report and as Time Off in the Utilization Report. Time off created this way can only be modified or removed from the allocation – it cannot be modified or removed from timesheets.

Collaborators do not have the ability to modify or remove their own time off after it’s been submitted. It can only be modified by Coordinators and above, or users with the required custom permissions (see more about Permissions below).

Time-off Approval (Plus only): How it works

Time-off Approval is available to Plus customers only.  Time-off Approval is enabled in the Admin settings under Time Management. Only users with Admin permission profiles will have the ability to enable Time-off Approval.

When Time-off Approval is enabled and a resource enters time off in their Timesheets, they will submit their time off for approval. If Timesheet Approval is also turned on, they’ll also be able to submit time off for approval when submitting their regular timesheets.

Time off hours will show up in the Time Registered Report, regardless of being approved or not. Time off will appear in People Schedule (as an allocation) and Utilization Report (as Time Off) once it has been approved.

If time off is rejected, the hours remain in the resource’s Timesheets but becomes editable so it can be easily adjusted and re-submitted. 

Permissions: Who can access/control time off allocations and time off approvals

By default, only Admins will have the permission 'Manage other person's time off' enabled. This permission is not  available to the other permission profiles however it can be enabled for Plus customers using Custom permission profiles.

To learn more about custom permission profiles, check out Creating and Managing Custom Permission Profiles (Plus only).

Plus customers using custom permission profiles will see the following levels of access based on the noted permission:

• Users with the permission ‘Manage projects’ can view the People Schedule to see allocations across resources
• Users with the permission ‘Manage other person's time registrations’ are able to modify time off allocations
• Users with the permission ‘Manage other person's time-off’ can create, edit, approve and reject time-off (only applicable if time-off approval is enabled).

Integrations

Time-off allocations created by a third-party integration such as BambooHR will show up in both People Schedule and Timesheets. The time-off must be created and managed in the third party app, as this cannot be done in Forecast when using the integration.

Time-off created in Forecast Timesheets will result in an allocation of time-off in People Schedule but will not sync back to BambooHR.

To learn more about the BambooHR integration, see Setting up the BambooHR integration for Forecast.