Bulk leave approval allows managers and administrators to review and approve a group of leave requests in one place, without relying on individual notifications. You can filter requests, view employee balances, manage comments and documents, and check co-workers' calendars — all from a single screen.
Access the bulk leave approval screen
You can access the bulk leave approval screen via the WFM Admin Dashboard or the Workforce Management Dashboard.
Via WFM Admin Dashboard
Navigate to the WFM Dashboard.
Select Bulk Leave Approval from the menu on the left-hand side.
The Bulk Leave Approval screen displays.
Via Workforce Management
Navigate to the Workforce Management Dashboard.
Select Bulk Leave Approval from the menu on the left-hand side.
The Bulk Leave Approval screen displays.
📌Note: To view all reportees in the Bulk Leave Approval screen via Workforce Management, you will need a Manager Self-Service (MSS) account in BackOffice. Contact your System Administrator if reportees are not listed.
The bulk leave approval screen
Once you have accessed the Bulk Leave Approval screen, you can filter the results using the following options:
Field | Details |
Work Group* | Filter by a specific work group. |
Department* | Filter by a specific department. |
Person | Filter by a specific employee. |
Pay Code | Filter by a specific pay code. |
All Open Requests | Defaults to All Open Requests. Can be set to show a specific leave request type, for example Unprocessed or Approved. |
Sort By | Choose how to sort the results, for example by Person or Pay Code. |
Once you have made your selection, click Apply. To reset your selection, click Reset.
📌Note: Fields marked with an * — admin user access is based on System User or Org Role.
The Bulk Leave Approval screen contains the following fields:
Field | Details |
Person | Name of the employee who submitted the leave. |
Appointment | If using the Person field, appointments can be used to select the correct appointment for the person. |
Pay Code | Pay code associated with the leave type. |
Dates | Dates of the leave request period. |
Duration | Duration of the leave. |
AM/PM | In the case of a half day, whether the morning or afternoon is requested. |
Requested | The date the leave was requested. Useful when the same period is requested by multiple employees. |
Approved | Shows whether the leave has been approved. |
Reason | The reason for the leave. |
Unrostered | Shows if the leave request is for hours that have not yet been rostered. |
Docs Received | Shows if documents have been received to cover the leave, for example for a prolonged absence. |
Docs Uploaded | Shows the number of supporting documents that have been uploaded. |
Comments | Shows the number of comments added to the leave request. |
Status | Status of the leave request. |
Balances
The balances section allows you to view all current leave balances for an employee. Select an employee to populate the balances section with their data. Hover over the = icon and drag up to extend the balances section, or click to hide it.
The balances section contains the following fields:
Field | Details |
Name | Name and number of the employee. |
Code | Pay code associated with the leave request. |
Reserved | The number of reserved days, for example during a company shutdown. |
Floating | The floating entitlement — the balance excluding reserved time. |
Accrued | Shows any accrued leave on the balance. |
Carried | Indicates if leave has been carried over from a previous period. |
Taken | Indicates leave that has already been taken. |
Balance | The remaining balance available for the employee to use. |
Booked | Upcoming leave that has already been booked. |
Type | The type of leave requested. |
Click View to display details of the employee's balances, showing opening and current closing balances.
Manage bulk leave approval
The Bulk Leave Approval screen brings all your requests together in one place, allowing you to approve requests individually or in bulk. You can also add and view comments, review attached documents, and view co-workers' calendars and leave requests.
Approve or reject an individual leave request
The status column shows the current status of each leave request. Use the drop-down menu within the status column to approve or reject an individual employee's leave request.
Approve or reject leave requests in bulk
The Multi-Select toggle allows you to filter leave requests by pay code and status, which can then be approved or rejected in bulk.
To approve or reject leave requests in bulk:
Activate the Multi-Select toggle.
Populate the filter, ensuring you select a Pay Code and Absence Status.
Click Apply. This returns all employees' leave requests that match the criteria.
Using the tick boxes, select all leave requests you would like to approve or reject:
Using the top tick box will select all leave requests listed.
Click Approve Selected or Reject Selected, as required.
Your leave requests have now been processed.
To return to the Bulk Leave Approval screen, deactivate the Multi-Select toggle.
Comments
The summary screen shows the number of comments attached to each request. To view or add a comment to an employee's request:
Access the employee's 3-dot menu.
Click Comments.
From here you can see the absence detail requested, along with Employee, Manager/Admin, and Response to Employee comments.
Type your comments under the relevant section and click Add.
If you have added a comment in error or want to amend it, click Reset.
Once happy, click Save.
The summary screen will update to reflect the number of comments added.
Documents
The summary screen shows the number of documents attached to each request. If unattached documents have been received, a tick box is available to indicate that documents have been received but not uploaded or are unavailable for upload.
To view documents or mark unattached documents as received:
Access the employee's 3-dot menu.
Click Documents.
From here you can see the absence detail requested, along with a list of any documents uploaded.
Use the Supporting Documents Received tick box to indicate that unattached documents have been received. This will update the summary screen to show the Documents Received toggle as active.
From the 3-dot menu of a listed document, click View. This will download the document for review.
Co-Workers Calendar
You can view an employee's co-workers' calendar from the Bulk Leave Approval screen. This can be useful to review before approving a request.
To access the Co-Workers Calendar:
From the employee's 3-dot menu, click Co-Workers Calendar.
Use the breadcrumb to return to the Bulk Leave Approval screen.
Co-Workers Leave Absence
You can view an employee's co-workers' leave absence for the week of the requested absence. This can be useful to review before approving a request.
To access Co-Workers Leave Absence:
From the employee's 3-dot menu, click Co-Workers Leave Absence.
Use the Absence Only toggle to change the view to absence only.
Use the breadcrumb to return to the Bulk Leave Approval screen.
Configuration
You can configure the Bulk Leave Approval screen to return a defined period when opened. By default, the screen shows a year in advance of today. However, the start date offset can be configured to show leave requests for a defined period — for example, setting the offset to 365 will show all leave approvals for the last year.
To configure the start date offset:
Go to the WFM Admin Dashboard.
Select WFM Configuration.
Select General Settings.
Set the period required under Bulk Leave Approval Start Date Offset.
Click Save.
Menu options
Importing menu options in Portal
Two menu profiles have been created, depending on role, to provide users full access to configure the Bulk Leave Approval screen: WFM_BULK_LEAVE_APPROVALS_ADMIN or WFM_BULK_LEAVE_APPROVALS_MGR. You can assign these menu profiles to users or import the menu options into an existing menu profile.
To import menu options:
Go to Security.
Select Menu Profiles.
Search for the relevant menu profile, for example Coreportal_Admin.
Select Import Menu Profiles from the 3-dot menu.
Select From existing menu profile.
Click OK.
Search for WFM_BULK_LEAVE_APPROVALS_MGR.
Click OK. You will receive a confirmation message.
Repeat this process for the Admin menu profile.
Your menus are now set up and all menu options are enabled.
Available menu options
The following menu options can be used to customise the Bulk Leave Approval screens. All menu options are included in the relevant menu profiles listed above.
Menu option | Menu ID | System |
Bulk Leave Approval* | WFM_ADMIN_MENU.BULK_LEAVE_APPROVAL | CorePortal |
CorePortal – Admin leave approval override* | MAIN_MENU.ADMIN_LEAVE_REQUEST_APPROVAL | CorePortal |
CorePortal – Workforce Management Admin* | MAIN_MENU.WRKMGMTADMIN | CorePortal |
CorePortal – Workforce Management Manager | MAIN_MENU.WRKMGMT | CorePortal |
WFM Manager | MAIN_MENU.WFM_MANAGER | CorePortal |
Bulk Leave Approval | WFM_MANAGER_MENU.BULK_LEAVE_APPROVAL | CorePortal |
Get approval | WS_LEAVE_MENU.GET_APPROVAL | Web Services |
Get approval status | WS_LEAVE_MENU.GET_APPROVAL_STATUS | Web Services |
Get approval stages | WS_LEAVE_MENU.GET_APPROVAL_STAGES | Web Services |
Get Leave Approval | WS_DOCUMENTS_MENU.GET_LEAVE_APPROVAL | Web Services |
Update leave approval supporting | WS_DOCUMENTS_MENU.PATCH_LEAVE_APPROVAL_SUPPORTING | Web Services |
Get approval comments | WS_LEAVE_MENU.GET_APPROVAL_COMMENTS | Web Services |
Update approval comments | WS_LEAVE_MENU.PATCH_APPROVAL_COMMENTS | Web Services |
Get balances | WS_ROSTER_MENU.GET_BALANCES | Web Services |
Get balances proxy | WS_ROSTER_MENU.GET_BALANCES_PROXY | Web Services |
Get balances detail | WS_ROSTER_MENU.GET_BALANCES_DETAIL | Web Services |
Get balances detail proxy | WS_ROSTER_MENU.GET_BALANCES_DETAIL_PROXY | Web Services |
Advanced options
These approval parameters can be enabled via: WFM Admin Dashboard > WFM Configuration > Company and Calendar Config > Select Company > Advanced Options.
Parameter | Details |
ALLOW APPROVAL OF HISTORICAL LEAVE REQUESTS | Dictates if a user can approve historical leave requests. Passed into ct_historical_data_entry_proc, which returns earliest_date_of_entry. |
IGNORE MISC HOLIDAY VALUES ON PATTERN FOR CALCULATION | Dictates what hours are returned for a part day. |
ESS MESSAGES DISALLOWED | Dictates whether a row is inserted into hr_person_message. |
RESTRICT DATA ENTRY ACCORDING TO FLEXITIME CALENDAR | Dictates if a user can approve historical leave requests. Passed into ct_historical_data_entry_proc, which returns earliest_date_of_entry. |
Advanced options and CorePortal parameters
If you are using the Advanced Option Leave Request Processes, you need to set the CorePortal parameter cp_lv_req_process_role to Y. If this is not done, you may receive the error: 'An error occurred retrieving the leave request'.
To set this parameter:
From the Administrator Dashboard, select Site Manager.
Open Admin Settings.
Search for cp_lv_req_process_role.
Set the value to Y.
Click OK.
📌Note: Use the Org role attached to the process when checking for access, rather than the role in portal params.
Frequently asked questions
I am getting the error 'An error occurred retrieving leave request' when using bulk leave approval
There are three possible causes and solutions for this error:
If you have the advanced option Leave Request Processes set to Y, the parameter cp_lv_req_process_role must also be set to Y. See the Advanced options and CorePortal parameters section above for steps.
If you are the manager or administrator and do not have direct access to the leave request via org role and area, and instead use the admin leave approval toggle, the permission is dependent on CP_HIDE_LVRQ_ADMIN_BTN. This value must be set to N, otherwise you will be prevented from using the admin override approval.
The pay code does not have a leave request process code assigned to it. The Bulk Leave Approval screen will not allow you to approve leave requests for pay codes with no process code assigned. To resolve this:
Navigate to the WFM Admin Dashboard and select WFM Configuration.
Search for and select the Pay Codes tile.
Expand the 3-dot menu of the relevant pay code and select View/Edit Pay Code.
Navigate to the Leave Request Settings screen.
Enter the relevant process code under the Leave Request Process Code and the Leave Request Cancellations options. See our Pay Codes guide for further details.
Click Save.
📌Note: Once a process code has been added, any newly created requests will go to the manager for approval in My Approvals and can also be approved via Bulk Leave Approval. For requests already submitted, employees will need to either cancel and re-submit them (once the process codes are assigned), or managers and administrators can cancel the requests and record them directly as absences.