Introduction
This article describes the Danish setup model for extra balance in BitaBIZ.
The model is typically used for balance types such as:
Other vacation
FF days
6th vacation week
Care days
O-days
OK-days
Other Danish extra balances
The setup is based on a usage period from September 1 to December 31 of the following year (16 months) and supports manual handling of remaining days and hours as of 12/31.
This article only describes the Danish rules and setup options where September 1 to December 31 of the following year (16 months) is selected.
For general information about extra balance, earning methods, registration methods, and standard setup, please refer to the article "Extra balance".
16-month usage period
Earning
The rule is activated by going to the policy's extra balance tab -> "Earning" ->
selecting the period: Denmark 01.09-31.12:
ℹ️ When the extra balance follows the Danish vacation principles, a 16-month planning period is used, where employees can plan absence in the period September 1 → December 31 of the following year.
💁 If the earning rule "Date of employment determines earning next year" is used, the 16-month usage period should not be used:
How it works
When the 16-month usage period is selected, the system calculates the hours/days that expire as of 12/31:
ℹ️ The hours/days that expire cannot be planned after 12/31. The principles are the same as the vacation law provisions.
Transfer / Remainder handling
When Earning is set to Denmark 1/9-31/12, the rule for days that expire can be configured.
ℹ️ The default setting is that the earning on 9/1 automatically expires 16 months later on 12/31.
Example:
If earning is set to 5 days per year:
They are earned on 9/1
They automatically expire after 16 months on 12/31.
Monthly earning:
With 5 days per year, during the transition period: 4 months * 0.42 days = 1.68 days. The default setting for monthly earning is that days over 1.68 expire on 12/31.
It is possible to allow your employees to accumulate days/hours.
Example:
If your employees earn 5 days per 9/1. They expire by default after 16 months on 12/31.
If you enter that your employees may have up to 10 days as of 12/31 before they expire, then only > 10 days are sent for remainder handling.
💁 An employee who has 12 days on their balance will have 2 days that expire on 12/31.
Monthly earning:
Enter a number above 1.68 as the maximum balance allowed if you want to permit accumulation of earning.
Remainder handling
Days or hours that cannot be transferred expire on 12/31
The balance is sent for remainder handling on 01/01
An administrator must choose how the remaining balance should be handled
Delete
Transfer
Payout
⚠️ Important – Remainder handling must be completed before the balance can be used
If the extra balance follows the Danish model with manual remainder handling, days or hours that expire on 12/31 will be sent for remainder handling on 01/01.
As long as the remainder handling is not completed:
The employee cannot use the new earned balance
New days or hours cannot be planned
Expired days or hours block planning in the new calendar year
A Payroll Admin must therefore complete the remainder handling and choose whether the expired balance should be:
Deleted
Transferred
Paid out
Once the remainder handling is completed, the new earned balance is automatically released, and the employee can again plan and register days or hours.
Planning rules
When extra balance follows the Danish model with a usage period from September 1 to December 31 of the following year, special planning rules can be activated.
The purpose is to ensure that vacation and extra balance are used in the correct order, so days or hours do not expire unused.
1. Vacation must be planned before extra balance
It is possible to activate a minimum rule for vacation.
The rule means that the employee must have planned a certain number of vacation days before the extra balance becomes available.
Example
If the minimum is set to 20 vacation days:
The employee must first plan 20 vacation days
After that, the extra balance becomes available
If the minimum is not met, the system will block planning of extra balance.
2. Expiring extra balance must be used before new vacation
Extra balance that expires on 12/31 can be prioritized before new vacation.
When the rule is activated:
Expiring days or hours must be used first
New vacation cannot be planned until the expiring days are used
Example
If an employee has:
5 days from extra balance expiring 12/31
these must be planned before the employee can plan new vacation.
If the employee tries to plan vacation first, a guidance message will appear.
Planning order
When both rules are activated, days and hours are planned in the following order:
Old vacation
Expiring extra balance
New vacation
Non-expiring extra balance
If a registration includes several types of days, the system may ask the employee to split the registration.
Example
If the employee has:
2 old vacation days
3 days from extra balance
the system may require the following registration:
2 vacation days
3 days from extra balance
3. Planning future earning
With the Danish 16-month model, the earning period and usage period overlap.
Therefore, it may be necessary to plan days that will only be earned later.
By default, employees can only plan days or hours that have already been earned.
However, it is possible to activate planning of future earning.
When the rule is activated:
Employees can register future days in the transition period
A temporary negative balance may occur
New earning is automatically offset against the negative balance
Example
An employee plans other vacation in the transition period before the new earning is granted on 9/1.
The system creates a temporary negative balance.
When the new days are earned on 9/1, the balance is automatically offset.
Limitations
Planning future earning:
requires annual earning.
is not supported with monthly earning.
is not supported together with the rule "Date of employment determines earning next year".
4. Expiring days or hours must be planned first in the transition period
If an employee has days or hours that expire on 12/31, the expiring days or hours must be planned first. For example, in the transition period.
This also applies if the employee has access to plan future earning.
The system uses this order:
First, days or hours that expire on 12/31 are planned.
Once the expiring days or hours are planned, the employee can plan future earning if allowed by the policy.
If the employee plans future earning before the new earning is credited, the balance may temporarily go into advance.
When new earning is credited, the advance is automatically deducted from the balance.
If there is still an expiring remaining balance, for example 0.01 hour, the system may block planning of future earning. This is because the system must first allocate the days or hours that belong to the old period and expire on 12/31.
Example
An employee has 0.01 hour expiring on 12/31.
The employee tries to plan 0.02 hours during the transition period. The system blocks the registration because only 0.01 expiring hour is available, and the expiring remainder must be planned first.
Once the expiring remainder is planned or handled manually, the employee can plan future earning if the policy allows it.
FAQ
Why can't an employee plan extra balance in the new year?
Why can't an employee plan extra balance in the new year?
If the extra balance follows the Danish model, days or hours expiring on 12/31 can block planning in the new calendar year.
Days or hours expiring on 12/31 are sent for manual remaining balance processing on 01/01. As long as this processing is not completed, the employee cannot use the new balance earning, and new days or hours cannot be planned.
A Payroll Admin must complete the remaining balance processing and choose whether the remaining balance should be deleted, transferred, or paid out. Once the processing is complete, the new balance earning is automatically released.
Why can't the employee plan more days or hours during the transition period, even though future earning is allowed?
Why can't the employee plan more days or hours during the transition period, even though future earning is allowed?
If the employee has days or hours expiring on 12/31, the expiring balance must be planned first.
This means that even a small expiring remainder, such as 0.01 hour, can block planning of future earning. The system only allows planning in advance in the new period once the expiring days or hours are planned or handled.
The solution is to:
Plan the expiring balance first, or
Handle the remaining balance manually, for example with a manual reduction, if the balance is not to be used
Once the expiring remaining balance no longer blocks, the employee can plan future earning if this is allowed by the policy.
Why can't the employee plan OK days during the transition period when there are still hours left on the balance?
Why can't the employee plan OK days during the transition period when there are still hours left on the balance?
If an employee has OK days, other vacation, or another extra balance expiring on 12/31, the expiring balance must be planned first.
It's important to distinguish between the employee's total balance and the part of the balance that is expiring.
Example:
Balance information | Meaning |
22.21 hours left | Hours belonging to the active period |
0.01 hour expires on 12/31 | The part of the balance that can be planned in the transition period before it expires |
Future earning | Hours or days from the new period, which can only be planned in advance if the policy allows it |
If there is only 0.01 hour expiring, the employee can only plan 0.01 hour from the expiring balance during the transition period.
The other hours, such as 22.21 hours left, still belong to the active period. They therefore cannot automatically be used for absence in the new period.
Once the expiring balance is planned or handled, the employee can access planning of future earning if allowed by the policy.
Why does 0.01 hour block?
Even a very small expiring remainder, such as 0.01 hour, can block planning of future earning.
This is because the system must first handle the days or hours expiring on 12/31. Only then can the system allow planning of future earning in the new period.
What should the administrator do?
If the employee cannot register 0.01 hour in the calendar, a Payroll Admin administrator can handle the remaining balance manually.
This can be done by, for example:
Reducing the expiring remainder manually if it is not to be used
Checking that the policy allows planning of future earning
Asking the employee to try planning again
Once the expiring remainder no longer blocks, the employee can plan future earning if this is enabled in the policy.
We get the error “Vacation must be planned before other vacation” when we try to correct old vacation days – how do we fix this?
We get the error “Vacation must be planned before other vacation” when we try to correct old vacation days – how do we fix this?
Reason:
The error occurs because you are trying to change vacation in a closed period (after 12/31).
In closed periods, other vacation days that have expired cannot be reused via calendar correction because the rule that other vacation expiring must be planned before vacation only applies from 9/1 to 12/31.
The system therefore enforces the rule: “Vacation must be planned before other vacation”
This means
It is not possible to:
Change vacation days to other vacation days retroactively
Use other vacation days that have already expired
How to fix it
Solution 1 – Adjust balance (recommended)
Go to Payroll Admin → Employees → Vacation left → Other vacation left
Delete the expired other vacation days
Go to the employee's calendar
Increase the vacation balance accordingly
Result: Correct balance without changing the history
Solution 2 – Transfer the days
Go to Other vacation left
Transfer the days to the new period
Result: The days can be used going forward
Why can't we use expired other vacation days when correcting a previous period, when the rule says they must be planned before new vacation?
Why can't we use expired other vacation days when correcting a previous period, when the rule says they must be planned before new vacation?
Short answer
It is not possible if the correction is made after 12/31, because the other vacation year is closed.
Here, the rule “Expired other vacation…” is no longer active, and the system instead requires that vacation is planned before other vacation.
Explanation
The planning rules in the system are time-dependent and do not apply at the same time.
In the transition period (9/1–12/31), expiring other vacation can be prioritized
After 12/31, the other vacation year ends:
Other vacation is sent for remaining balance processing
The period is closed
The standard rule applies again:
👉 “Vacation must be planned before other vacation”
Therefore, you cannot later correct so that expired other vacation is used.
Matrix: Planning rules and correction
Period | Status of other vacation days | “Vacation must be planned before other vacation” | “Expired other vacation must be planned before new vacation” | Can you correct in the calendar? |
9/1 – 12/31 (transition period) | Other vacation is about to expire | 🔸 Partially active* | ✅ Active (if enabled) | ✅ Yes |
1/1 – 8/31 (new year) | Other vacation is not expiring | ✅ Active | ❌ Not active | ✅ Yes (within the rules) |
After 12/31 (closed period) | Other vacation has expired and is sent for remaining balance processing | ✅ Active | ❌ Not active | ❌ No |
Key points
The rule “Expired other vacation…” only applies from 9/1–12/31
After 12/31:
The rule is deactivated
The period is closed
The standard rule always applies
Other vacation in remaining balance processing cannot be used via calendar correction
How the system decides what is possible
Start
│
├─ Is the date of the change after 12/31?
│ │
│ ├─ Yes
│ │ → The other vacation year is closed
│ │ → Other vacation is sent for remaining balance processing
│ │ → Standard rule applies
│ │ → ❌ Correction with other vacation is not possible
│ │
│ └─ No
│ │
│ ├─ Is the date between 9/1 and 12/31?
│ │ │
│ │ ├─ Yes
│ │ │ → Transition period
│ │ │ → Expired other vacation can be prioritized
│ │ │ → ✅ Correction possible
│ │ │
│ │ └─ No (1/1 – 8/31)
│ │ → Standard rule applies
│ │ → ✅ Correction possible (within rules)
│
End
Conclusion
If the change is made after 12/31, the period is closed and other vacation days can no longer be used via correction – regardless of which rules applied before.
Possible solutions
Solution 1 – Adjust balance (recommended):
Delete the days in Other vacation left
Increase the vacation balance manually in the calendar
Gives the same end result as changing registrations in the calendar. Optionally, add a note to the correction for documentation.
Solution 2 – Transfer the days:
Transfer to the new period via Other vacation left