✅ Tiered Approvals

Tiered Approvals let you define two levels of manager approval and choose, on a per-absence-type basis, whether a request requires both levels or only Level 1 before it becomes fully approved.

Instead of all managers acting at the same stage, managers in a Manager Group can be assigned as either Level 1 or Level 2 approvers.

Note: Tiered Approvals are configured on a Manager Group. The approval level required for an individual request is then controlled by the selected absence type.

🧭 How the Approval Flow Works

When Tiered Approvals are enabled, every request starts with Level 1. What happens after that depends on the approval requirement configured for the selected absence type.

By default, an absence type requires all approval levels. In that case:

1. The request is created with a status of Pending Approval.
2. Level 1 managers are notified that the request requires approval.
3. Once a Level 1 manager approves it, the request remains Pending Approval.
4. Level 2 managers are then notified that the request requires their approval.
5. Once a Level 2 manager approves it, the request becomes Approved.

Employee submits request
        ↓
Level 1 approval
        ↓
Level 2 approval
        ↓
Approved

If the absence type is configured to require Level 1 only, the request becomes Approved immediately after a Level 1 manager approves it:

Employee submits request
        ↓
Level 1 approval
        ↓
Approved

👥 Configuring Level 1 and Level 2 Managers

Open the relevant Manager Group and enable Tiered Approvals.

Each manager in the group can then be assigned an approval level:

• Level 1 - provides the initial approval.
• Level 2 - provides the final approval.

This lets the same Manager Group represent a full approval chain without requiring separate groups for each stage.

⚙️ Setting the Required Approval Level by Absence Type

The number of approvals required is configured separately for each absence type.

By default, the required approval level is All, which means a request must receive both Level 1 and Level 2 approval before it becomes fully approved.

You can instead configure an absence type to require Level 1 only. In that case, the request becomes approved as soon as a Level 1 manager approves it and Level 2 managers are not asked to approve the request.

This is useful when some absence types need less oversight than others. For example, you may require both approval levels for annual leave while allowing sick leave to be approved at Level 1.

✉️ Approval Notifications

Notifications follow the current stage of the approval process:

• When a request is first submitted, Level 1 managers are notified.
• If the absence type requires all approval levels, Level 2 managers are notified after Level 1 approval.
• If the absence type requires Level 1 only, no Level 2 approval notification is sent.
• Once the required approval level has been completed, the employee receives the normal approved notification.

Manager Groups can also be configured to copy managers on the employee’s approved and rejected email notifications.

In a Tiered Approval setup, the CC managers on approved/rejected notifications options apply to Level 1 managers only.

This is separate from the approval-required notifications sent to whichever approval level currently needs to act.

🧑‍💼 Managers Creating Requests on Behalf of Employees

Managers can create time-off requests on behalf of employees they manage.

If a Level 2 manager creates a request on behalf of an employee in the tiered group, they can choose between two actions:

• Submit for approval - the request is created as Pending Approval and follows the approval requirement configured for that absence type.
• Submit and approve - the Level 2 manager uses their approval authority when creating the request and the request is approved immediately.

This is an explicit choice by the Level 2 manager; simply creating a request does not automatically approve it.

🛡️ Administrator Overrides

Administrators retain the ability to override the normal manager approval workflow when necessary.

This means the Level 1 → Level 2 process controls the normal manager approval path, while administrators can still take action where their administrative permissions allow it.

🙋 Managers Cannot Approve Their Own Requests

An employee is automatically excluded from their own manager list.

This means a manager can safely belong to the same Manager Group that manages them without being able to approve their own request.

For example, if several team leads manage one another and all belong to the same Manager Group, VacationTracker removes the employee whose request is being processed from the available approvers. The remaining eligible managers can still approve the request normally.

The same rule applies at both Level 1 and Level 2.

🔄 Tiered vs Standard Approvals

When Tiered Approvals are disabled, the Manager Group continues to use the standard approval workflow and managers are not separated into Level 1 and Level 2 stages.

When Tiered Approvals are enabled, the workflow depends on the required approval level configured for the absence type:

Tiered Approvals are useful when your organisation wants stronger approval controls for some types of leave while keeping simpler approval flows for others.