Approvals Overview

The approvals queue is where managers and administrators review and action the requests their team submits — leave, expenses, and time entries. This page explains who can approve, how scoping limits what each approver sees, and how notifications tie it together. The three sub-pages then cover each request type in detail.

What the approvals queue is

When an employee submits something that needs sign-off, it lands in an approvals queue. Approvers see the pending items relevant to them, review the detail, and either approve or reject. The queue is surfaced on the Approvals page in the app and, for leave, also on the dashboard pending widget.

Who can approve

Approval rights come from role and, for leave, an explicit isApprover flag:

Two rules apply across all approval types:

• The approver's account must be active.
• You cannot approve your own request (separation of duties).

Department scoping

Department heads are always limited to their own department. A department head can only act on requests from people in their department — and a department head who isn't assigned to any department sees an empty queue. Administrators and executives are not department-scoped.

Notifications

Approvals are notification-driven so nothing sits unseen:

• On submit — the relevant approvers (and, for expenses, admins/execs) are notified by email and in-app.
• On decision — the requester is notified of the approval or rejection, by email and in-app.
• Leave also syncs the team calendar on every change.

The sub-pages

• Leave approvals — approving/rejecting leave and reviewing cancellation requests.
• Expense approvals — approving, rejecting, and marking expense reports paid.
• Time approvals — approving and rejecting time entries.

For role definitions, see Roles and permissions.