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Approver Guide

How to work as an approver in BitaBIZ

Written by Esben Hedegaard

Welcome to your approver role

As an approver in BitaBIZ, you are responsible for reviewing and managing your employees' registrations – such as vacation, sickness, work hours, and other leave.

BitaBIZ focuses on vacation planning and makes it easy to register time and share absence status.

When you approve or reject registrations, it affects both the employee's balances (such as vacation and hour bank) and the company's data, which can be used for payroll and reporting.

Requests you process can be integrated with Outlook/Teams and handled for payroll via your payroll system.

As an approver, you can:

  • Approve and reject
    Review and approve/reject registrations from employees
    Handle all types of registrations from employees

  • Create registrations
    Create registrations on behalf of employees
    For example, register sickness after the fact or correct errors

  • Delete registrations
    Delete registrations for employees
    This applies both forward and back in time
    ​Note:

    • If a registration has been processed for payroll, it cannot be deleted
      Contact your payroll/HR administrator if this is the case

  • View calendar and statistics
    ​    See a detailed calendar for employees
    Get an overview of absence and work hours
    Monitor balances (such as vacation, other vacation, hour bank, and day bank)

You only approve for the employees you are assigned as approver for.

Approve

You can approve registrations from your mobile app, Outlook, or the web portal. The icon is red when there is something pending your approval.

Approve from mobile app

Approve from Outlook and web portal

Approval list

The approval list is your homepage as an approver, where all registrations that require your approval are listed.

On the approval list you can:

  • See all registrations that are awaiting approval

  • Filter by employee or registration type

  • Approve directly from the list

From the approval list you can approve:

  • All registrations via "Select all"

  • Selected registrations from the list by checking the boxes

  • One registration at a time

The default view of all registrations on the approval list can be adjusted using the page filters:

  • Choose to only display registrations for a selected employee

  • Choose to only display a specific type of registration on the list

Many hourly employees?

Do you have many hourly employees who register their daily work hours for payroll, and you therefore need to process many timesheets?

Use the filter to display timesheets per employee.

Registrations with balance box

When a registration affects a balance (such as vacation or hour bank), a balance box is shown.

What the colors mean:

Green balance box


Everything is OK and there is a balance left after approval.

Yellow balance box (vacation)


The employee is requesting more vacation than earned.
This may be OK if your company's rules allow advance vacation or payroll deduction.

Yellow balance box (hour bank/day bank)


The employee goes into a negative balance.
Be aware of the rules you have in your company.

As an approver, it is your responsibility to assess whether the registration is acceptable.

Requests for leave that are awaiting approval reduce the balance and statistics. This means that if a request is rejected, the balance is increased again.

If the request is approved, the balance is maintained.

If a registration is linked to a balance:

  • Vacation

  • Other vacation

  • Hour bank

  • Day bank

the new balance after approval is shown in the balance box.

If the balance box says:


​"Other registrations awaiting approval are included in the remaining balance".
​

it means that several requests are already included in the balance shown as remaining.

Create registrations for employee

Mobile app

Web portal

Open your approver role under "Approve"

1. Click "Employees"

2. Select an employee from the list

3. Click "Add registration"

4. Create the desired registration

Open your approver role under "Approve & post-register"

1. Select "Employee Calendar Access"

2. Select an employee from the list

3. Click on a date in the year calendar

4. Create the desired registration

Delete a registration for an employee

Open your approver role

1. Select an employee from the employee list.

2. Click on the registration you want to delete in the employee's calendar.

Note: If the registration has been processed for payroll, it cannot be deleted and you will need to contact your payroll/HR administration for assistance.

Approver's team calendar

In the team calendar, you can see all registrations for your employees. This is only accessible via the web portal.

You can find your approver team calendar under Approve and post-register → Team calendar.

It's important to distinguish between the approver's team calendar and the employee's team calendar, which is found under Calendar → Team calendar. The employee's team calendar is for viewing your own team and colleagues, while the team calendar under your approver role only shows the employees you are responsible for approving.

You can use your approver team calendar to:

  • Get an overview of vacation, sickness, and work hours

  • See who is at work or absent

  • Approve or reject registrations directly

The approver's team calendar shows all time and leave registrations created.

The calendar also shows if an employee has checked in on a time registration.

Registrations that are awaiting approval are clearly shown in a different color. They can be approved or rejected directly from the team calendar by clicking on the registration:

Once registrations are approved, they change color from red to their official color:

Team statistics

As an approver, you have access to statistics and calendar data for the employees you are responsible for.

Through Employee Calendar Access you can view an individual employee's calendar and get an overview of, for example, sick days, vacation, and other leave over a calendar year or vacation year.

On the Statistics page (web portal only) you can see an overview for your entire team. Here you can track the development of leave and registrations across employees for the selected period.

Note:
Statistics and calendar access for approvers only show data for your own team.

These features are for overview purposes only – not for reconciliation, follow-up, or export. If you need this, you should contact an administrator who can export data via the Report Library.

Notifications

Notifications to employees

Employees are always notified by email when events are deleted, created, rejected, or approved.

If a note is added to a request, the employee will also receive this by email.

Notifications to approver

As an approver, you can choose when to receive a message when an employee creates registrations.

Approver's message settings can be adjusted from the mobile app and web portal.

Rules for registering and deleting

Employee

  • Create registration

    • The general rule for leave is that it should be registered on the day or agreed in advance (vacation, parental leave, time off, paid day off, other leave, etc.)
      Your company may have specific rules about whether sickness must be registered on the day or if it is allowed to create a sick leave period that also goes back in time.

    • For time registrations (payroll hours, overtime, project time, daily flex time registration) and driving there are no restrictions on registering forward or back in time.

  • Delete registration

    • The general rule for all registration types is that if the registration is approved, it cannot be deleted back in time.

    • An approved registration in the future (e.g. vacation) can be deleted.

Approver

  • Create registration

    • Approvers can create all registrations for their employees both forward and back in time

  • Delete registration

    • Approvers can delete registrations for their employees both forward and back in time

    • If a registration has been processed for payroll, it is locked for deletion by the approver and an administrator must be contacted.

FAQ

What can and can't I do as an approver?

As an approver, you can:

  • Approve and reject registrations

  • View registrations and leave for your team

  • See balances such as vacation, extra balance, and hour bank

  • Create registrations on behalf of employees

  • Edit or delete registrations (if they are not locked)

  • Get an overview via the team calendar and statistics

As an approver, you cannot:

  • Change settings or policies

  • Export payroll or reports

  • View data outside the team you approve for

  • Delete or change registrations that have been processed for payroll

If you need this, you should contact an administrator in your company.

How do I create a registration for an employee?

Go to your approver page, select the employee, and create the registration on the desired date in the calendar.

You can create registrations both forward and back in time.

How do I delete a registration for an employee?

Go to the employee's calendar under your approver role and "Employee calendar access", click on the registration you want to delete, and select delete.

Note: Registrations that have been processed for payroll cannot be deleted by the approver. Contact an administrator for this.

Can I restore deleted registrations?

No, deleted registrations cannot be automatically restored in BitaBIZ.

However, you can manually create the registrations again.

If you as an approver need precise information on deleted registrations, you should contact a payroll admin, who can find the deleted registrations in the activity log, after which you can manually create them again.

Why can I only edit, but not approve, hours?

If you can view and edit time registrations, but don't have the option to approve them, it's usually due to the setup of the policy for the employee you are an approver for.

Time registrations must be set up to require approval before they appear as “awaiting approval.”

If this is not enabled:

  • Registrations are created directly

  • They do not appear as “awaiting approval”

  • You can therefore only view and edit – not approve

As an approver, you cannot change this setting yourself.
Contact your administrator, who can ensure that the approval flow is enabled on the employee's policy.

I'm going on vacation. Can I delegate approvals to one of my employees while I'm away?

Yes. You can contact your BitaBIZ Setup Admin and ask for an employee from your team to be marked as an approver while you are on vacation. Unfortunately, you cannot select a temporary approver yourself. Approver rights are managed by your BitaBIZ administrator who has the Setup Admin role.

Where do I approve an employee's vacation request?

As an approver, you can approve vacation requests from the Approval list in BitaBIZ.

You can open the Approval list from:

  • the mobile app

  • the web portal

  • the Outlook and Teams app, if your company uses BitaBIZ in Outlook/Teams

When there is a registration waiting for your approval, the approval icon will appear red.

On the Approval list, you can see registrations that are awaiting your approval. Here, you can approve or reject the vacation request directly from the list. You can also click the "More info" icon to approve from the employee's calendar.

You can only approve vacation for the employees you are assigned as an approver for.

If you can't see the vacation request, or if you don't have the option to approve it, you should contact your HR, payroll, or BitaBIZ administrator. They can check if you are set up as the approver for the employee.

How do I delete an employee's future work hours registrations?

If an employee has accidentally created work hours registrations in the future, they are usually created as a recurring registration. This means they can be deleted all at once for the future period.

Here's how you do it as an approver:

  1. Click on Approve & post-register in the main menu.

  2. Open the employee's calendar.

  3. Click on one of the work hours registrations you want to delete.

  4. Choose to delete the recurring registration -> Click delete the entire series.

Important to know

When future work hours registrations are created via a recurring registration, you don't need to delete each day individually. You can delete the recurring registration as a whole.

Be aware that deleting work hours registrations can affect the employee's work hours overview and reporting.

Can a manager get an overview of employees' hours and absences through the approver role?

Yes. A manager can get an overview of their employees' hours, absences, and balances through the approver role, if the manager is assigned as an approver for the employees.

As an approver (e.g. manager, supervisor, team manager), the manager can:

  • open each employee's calendar

  • view the employee's registrations

  • see relevant balances, such as vacation, other vacation, hour bank, and day bank

  • view time registrations and absence registrations

  • use the Team calendar for an overall overview

  • approve or reject registrations directly from the Team calendar

The Team calendar under the approver role is especially useful if the manager needs a quick overview of work hours and absences across their employees.

The approver role only shows data for the employees the manager is an approver for. If the manager needs to see other employees, your administrator must add the manager as an approver for the relevant employees.

Does a manager need HR Statistics to see employees' hours?

No. If the need is to keep track of employees' hours, absences, and registrations on a daily basis, the approver role is the right access.

HR Statistics and the Report Library are typically used for reports, statistics, exports, and more administrative follow-up for the entire company.

The approver role, on the other hand, gives the manager a practical overview in the calendar and Team calendar.

Where can the manager find the best overall overview?

The best overall overview is found in Approve & post-register → Team calendar.

Here, the approver can see registrations for the employees they are responsible for. The Team calendar shows both time registrations and absence registrations, and registrations that are awaiting approval can be approved or rejected directly from the calendar.

What role does a manager need to see employees' hours, absences, and balances?

A manager needs the approver role for the employees they need to follow up on.

The approver role is always the recommended solution when a manager needs an overview of their employees' registrations. The role gives the manager access to the relevant employees' calendars, registrations, and balances.

As an approver, the manager can:

  • open each employee's calendar

  • see all registrations for the employee

  • see balances, such as vacation, other vacation, hour bank, and day bank

  • view time registrations and absence registrations

  • use the Team calendar for an overall overview

  • approve or reject registrations directly from the calendar

The approver role only shows data for the employees the manager is an approver for.

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