User Manual

Complete guide to using the Time Off application

Table of Contents

1. Getting Started

Account Setup

  1. Register with your company email address
  2. Wait for admin approval (you'll receive an email notification)
  3. Log in with your email and temporary password
  4. Change your password immediately after first login
  5. Complete your profile information if needed

Understanding User Roles

Employee

  • • Submit vacation requests
  • • View own balances
  • • Download approval documents

Manager

  • • All employee features
  • • Approve/reject team requests
  • • View team balances

Admin

  • • All manager features
  • • Manage vacation types
  • • Import users and data

2. Dashboard Overview

Dashboard Components

New Request Form

Located in the left sidebar, allows you to quickly submit vacation requests.

Tip: The form only shows vacation types that are currently active and available to you.

My Balances

Shows your remaining vacation days for each vacation type.

  • • Blue - Available days
  • • Green - Unlimited vacation
  • • Red - No days remaining

Request Tables

Two tables show your personal requests and team requests (if you're a manager).

3. Submitting Vacation Requests

Step-by-Step Process

  1. Select Vacation Type: Choose from available vacation types (Annual Leave, Sick Leave, etc.)
  2. Choose Dates: Select start and end dates for your vacation
  3. Specify Days: Enter the number of days (supports fractional days like 0.5 for half-day)
  4. Add Explanation (Optional): Provide additional context for your request
  5. Submit: Click "Submit Request" to send for approval

Important Notes

Fractional Days

Some vacation types support fractional days (0.25, 0.5, 1.0). Check the day unit for each type.

Auto-Approval

Some vacation types (like sick leave) may be automatically approved without manager intervention.

Balance Checking

The system automatically checks if you have sufficient vacation days before allowing submission.

Group Priority

Some vacation types are grouped (e.g., "Annual Leave 2025" and "Annual Leave 2026"). You must exhaust the earlier type before requesting days from the next one. The system will block your request if a lower-priority type in the same group still has remaining days.

Overlap Detection

The system checks if your new request overlaps with already approved vacations. Depending on company settings, overlapping requests may show a warning or be blocked entirely.

Maximum Days Per Request

Some vacation types have a maximum number of days allowed in a single request. If your request exceeds this limit, submission will be blocked. Split the request into smaller periods if needed.

4. Managing Your Requests

Request Status Types

Status Indicators

  • Pending Waiting for manager approval
  • Approved Request has been approved
  • Rejected Request was denied
  • Canceled You canceled the request

Available Actions

  • • Cancel: Cancel pending requests
  • • Download Word: Get official approval documents
  • • View Details: See request history and comments

5. Manager Features

Approving Requests

Approval Process

  1. Review team requests in the "Team Requests" section
  2. Check employee's remaining vacation balance
  3. Click "Approve" or "Reject" for each request
  4. System generates Word documents for approved requests

Best Practices

  • • Review requests promptly
  • • Check for scheduling conflicts
  • • Consider team coverage
  • • Communicate decisions clearly

Team Management

Access the "View My Team" link to see comprehensive team information:

  • • Individual vacation balances for all team members
  • • Detailed vacation history for each employee
  • • Upcoming and past vacation schedules
  • • Employee profile information

Approval Delegation Professional

Delegate your approval authority to a colleague while you are away (e.g., on vacation or sick leave).

How It Works

  1. Go to Manage > Delegations from the navigation menu
  2. Select a colleague from your organization
  3. Set the start and end dates for the delegation
  4. The delegate can approve/reject requests for your team during that period

Important Notes

  • • You can remove a delegation at any time
  • • Delegations are date-bounded and expire automatically
  • • Delegates see your team's requests alongside their own
  • • You can view delegations you've received from other managers

6. Administrator Features

Some admin features are available only on certain subscription tiers. Tier badges indicate the minimum required plan.

User Management

  • • Approve Users: Review and approve new user registrations
  • • Import Users: Bulk import from CSV files Standard
  • • View All Users: Comprehensive user directory
  • • Manage Roles: Assign manager relationships
  • • Edit User Limits: Override the vacation day limit for a specific user on any vacation type — open the user's history page and click the ✎ icon next to Allocated on any balance card

Vacation Management

  • • Manage Types: Create and configure vacation types
  • • Group Priority: Group related types (e.g., Annual Leave 2025/2026) so employees must exhaust earlier types first
  • • Max Days Per Request: Optionally cap the number of days an employee can request in a single submission for a vacation type (0 = no limit)
  • • Import Types: Bulk import vacation types from CSV Standard
  • • Public Holidays: Manage public holidays per tenant Standard
  • • Import Balances: Bulk import vacation data Professional
  • • Nullify Days: Handle expired vacation days Professional
  • • Document Templates: Upload custom .docx templates Professional

Reporting & Compliance

  • • Audit Log: Complete trail of all vacation actions Professional
  • • Export CSV: Export vacation history as CSV Professional
  • • Export Excel: Export vacation history as Excel Professional

Advanced Workflows

  • • Cancellation Approval: Manager approval for canceling approved vacations Professional
  • • Approval Delegation: Delegate approval authority to a colleague Professional
  • • PDF Conversion: Auto-convert documents to PDF Professional
  • • Document Generation: Auto-generate Word docs on approval Standard

Data Import Guidelines

User Import CSV Format Standard

email,first_name,last_name,password,is_active,is_approved,gender,personal_id,address,job_position

Vacation Types CSV Format Standard

name,start_period,end_period,tenant,description,global_days_limit,approval_not_needed,day_unit,group,use_priority,max_days_per_request

Vacation Balances CSV Format Professional

Email,VacationType Name,start date period,end date period,limit,used days

7. Document Templates

Document generation is available on Standard plans and above. Custom Word templates with advanced placeholders (MF, balance, REQ_ID) and PDF conversion require the Professional plan.

Overview

When a vacation request is approved, the system can automatically generate a Word (.docx) document from a template and email it to the employee, the approving manager, and any configured recipients. Templates use {{placeholder}} syntax for text replacement.

How to set up

  1. Create a .docx file with placeholders where dynamic values should appear
  2. Go to Vacation Management and edit a vacation type
  3. Upload the .docx file in the Document Template field
  4. When requests of that type are approved, documents are generated automatically

Standard Placeholders

These are always available in every template:

Placeholder Description Example
{{user_name}}Employee full nameJohn Smith
{{user_email}}Employee emailjohn@example.com
{{tenant_name}}Company/tenant nameAcme Corp
{{vacation_type}}Vacation type nameAnnual Leave
{{start_date}}Start dateMarch 15, 2026
{{end_date}}End dateMarch 20, 2026
{{duration}}Number of days5.0
{{approval_date}}Date of approvalMarch 14, 2026
{{approver_name}}Manager who approvedJane Manager
{{REQ_ID}}Request ID / Year42/2026

Employee Detail Placeholders

Employee profile information from the user record:

Placeholder Description
{{employee_id}}Personal ID (or "N/A")
{{employee_address}}Address (or "Not provided")
{{employee_job_position}}Job position (or "Not specified")
{{employee_reference}}Employee full name
{{employee_title}}"Employee"

Company Placeholders

Company information from the tenant's company profile:

Placeholder Description Example
{{company_name}}Company nameAcme Corp
{{company_address}}Company address123 Main St, City
{{company_phone}}Phone number+1 555-0100
{{company_website}}Website URLhttps://acme.com
{{company_id}}Company registration number12345678
{{vat_id}}VAT identification numberRS12345678

Dynamic Vacation Balance Placeholders

These placeholders look up the employee's allocated or remaining vacation days for any vacation type. The type name must match exactly.

Placeholder Description Example Output
{{allocated(Annual Leave)}} Allocated days for "Annual Leave" 20.0
{{remained(Annual Leave)}} Remaining days for "Annual Leave" 15.0
Notes:
  • Replace "Annual Leave" with the exact name of any vacation type defined for your company.
  • Returns "Unlimited" if the vacation type has no day limit.
  • If the vacation type name is not found, the placeholder is left unchanged in the document.

Inline Gender Placeholder

Use the MF placeholder to insert gender-appropriate text. The system selects the correct variant based on the employee's gender setting.

Placeholder Male Result Female Result
{{MF|he|she}} he she
{{MF|Mr.|Ms.}} Mr. Ms.
{{MF|his|her}} his her
Notes:
  • If the employee's gender is not set or is "Other", the male variant is used as default.
  • You can use any two text values separated by a pipe character (|).

Template Tips

Formatting is preserved

Placeholders are replaced within the existing formatting of the .docx file. Bold, italic, font size, and other styles applied to the placeholder text will be preserved in the output.

Placeholders work everywhere

Placeholders are resolved in paragraphs, tables, headers, and footers of the .docx template.

Type the placeholder in one go

When creating templates in Word, type each placeholder without pausing or backspacing inside it. Word splits text into "runs" internally, and editing within a placeholder may split it across runs, preventing replacement.

Template file size

Template files must be under 512 KB.

8. Account Management

Changing Your Password

  1. Click on your name in the top navigation bar
  2. Select "Change Password" from the dropdown menu
  3. Enter your current password
  4. Enter your new password twice
  5. Click "Change Password" to save

Password Requirements

  • • Must be at least 8 characters long
  • • Cannot be too common or simple
  • • Cannot be too similar to your personal information
  • • Cannot be entirely numeric

9. Mobile Usage

Mobile-Optimized Features

Navigation

  • • Hamburger menu for easy navigation
  • • Touch-friendly buttons and links
  • • Responsive design for all screen sizes
  • • Quick access to common features

Mobile Features

  • • Card-based layout for easy scrolling
  • • Optimized forms for mobile input
  • • Full-width messages and notifications
  • • Accessible on all modern mobile browsers

10. Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Cannot Submit Vacation Request

  • • Check if you have sufficient vacation days remaining
  • • Ensure dates are within the vacation type's valid period
  • • Verify days requested matches the vacation type's day unit

Cannot Access Admin Features

  • • Confirm you have administrator privileges
  • • Contact your system administrator
  • • Try logging out and logging back in

Document Download Not Working

  • • Ensure your request has been approved
  • • Check if the vacation type has a document template (.docx)
  • • Try refreshing the page

Getting Help

If you encounter issues not covered in this manual:

  • • Contact your system administrator
  • • Check with your HR department
  • • Refer to your company's IT support

11. Technical Details

System Requirements

Supported Browsers

  • • Chrome 80+
  • • Firefox 75+
  • • Safari 13+
  • • Edge 80+
  • • Mobile Safari (iOS 13+)
  • • Chrome Mobile (Android 8+)

Features

  • • Multi-tenant architecture
  • • Role-based access control
  • • Word document generation
  • • CSV data import/export
  • • Mobile-responsive design
  • • HTMX for dynamic interactions

For additional support or questions not covered in this manual, please contact your system administrator.

Last updated: April 2026