WebApp | Version 6.14
Much requested and now available: the new absence management! You can now assign up to two substitutes for your absence and approval requests are automatically transferred to the substitute.
ℹ️ Find out here how all employees can set up their absence and what happens to requests when approvers are absent.
Set up absence
As an approver or admin, you can now also enter your absence via the user setting »absence«. To set up an absence, navigate to the »user« area in the settings and then to the profile tab. There you will find the »absence« option, which you can use to set an absence period.
Set up a substitute for my absence
It is possible to assign up to two substitutes, a primary and a secondary substitute. Please note that substitutes must have approval rights. Otherwise, they will not be able to approve requests on your behalf during your absence.
ℹ️ Important: Substitutes must be assigned by the user; admins cannot assign substitutes on behalf of users..
ℹ️ If an employee works across multiple companies, a separate substitute must be configured for each company.
Processes during absence
At the beginning of the absence, the substitute receives an email:
name of the absent employee
information about the period of substitution
associated to-do's
immediate access to all open approval requests of the absent person.
As soon as an absence with a registered substitute begins, several notifications and system-internal assignments are triggered automatically. The substitute receives an email about the registered substitute and sees a corresponding banner with all relevant information on their finway dashboard.
ℹ️ To make it easier for the substitute to process recurring invoices, we recommend mentioning the substitute by name in the comments of invoices that have already been approved.
The substitute is granted access to all open approval requests of the absent person. If activated, they will also receive reminder emails about outstanding approvals. In order to receive the reminder emails, the substitute must have activated the option »notifications about your actions« in the user settings under notifications. Approval requests that require action from a substitute are displayed on the dashboard, clearly separated from the substitute’s own requests.
In addition, the substitute is automatically added to all workflows of the absent person and therefore also receives all new approval requests that are received during the absence. If an absent person is selected as an approver for an invoice, the substitute is automatically assigned.
In the employee list, an active absence is indicated by a small icon (tooltip) next to the user's name. When hovering over the icon with the mouse, further details appear, such as the period of the absence and the assigned substitute.
When an applicant selects an approval workflow, it is also displayed if a person in the workflow is currently absent and who is deputizing for them.
⚠️ Limitations and Special Features
You can assign a maximum of two absence substitutes.
For users who are assigned to multiple companies, the substitute must be set up separately for each company (applies to multi-client capability, professional package)
Absence settings are only visible if the user has approval rights - i.e. can be selected as an approver in requests or workflows.
The selection menu only displays users with approval rights.
If a person is selected as an approver who is not part of the card program (provided the card program is activated), this person CANNOT approve any card requests. These must then still be approved by an administrator or the original approver after returning.
If Personio integration is activated in the instance and absence synchronization is activated, absences are synchronized directly via Personio.
Absence notices for admins
As an admin, you can generally define in the settings under »Feature settings« whether absences can be entered by the employees themselves or only by admins.
Absence regulations if no substitute has been entered
If no substitution has been entered for the absence, a pop-up appears when the approver is selected during the request initiation process, stating that the approver is currently unavailable, and employees can also see when the person will be back.
If it is sufficient for the request to be processed after the return of the approver, select »I can wait«. This means that the regular approver remains responsible for this request and can approve it at a later time.
For urgent requests, requesters click »It's urgent, select alternative approver«. They can select another person from a drop-down menu who will then be responsible for all approval steps for this request. All admins who are not absent for at least one week are available for selection here.
Approvers in CSVs
In finway's standard CSV export and also in the enhanced CSV export there are the columns "LastApprover", "LastApprovedBy", and "NextApprover".
This column shows the last approver as defined by the workflow. | This column shows the actual last approver. If a substitute approved the request, that person will be displayed here. | This column shows the next pending approver if the request is still in the approval process. |