When you open an All Hours account, a few basic absence types are already available. To track other absences, add a new absence type in three steps: create a category, an absence and a counter. In the example below, we add the absence Professional Development.
You can check the existing absences in Settings › Event Definitions › Absences.
1. Category
The category determines whether the absence counts as paid time and which presence status the employee has.
Open Settings › Category Definitions and click + Add.
In the Create new category window, fill in:
Name – for example Professional Development,
Paid Time Status – Paid if the absence counts as paid time,
Presence Status – the status the employee has during the absence (Present, Work from home, In the field, Break or Absent); for most absences, select Absent,
Icon – shown on calendars and timelines.
Click Save.
2. Absence
Open Settings › Event Definitions, select the Absences tab and click Add.
In the Create new absence window, fill in:
Name – for example Professional Development,
Category – the category from step 1,
Absence Calculation Type – whole day, half day (also starting at the beginning or ending at the end of the shift) or whole day absence with partial option,
Access Level – who can use this event: everyone, users with administration privileges or users with an assigned tag,
Comment options – if needed, select Require a comment.
Click Save.
The new absence is now available for entry and for absence requests.
3. Counter
To show the new absence on timelines and in reports, create a counter for it.
Open Settings › Global Time Rules, select the Counters tab and click Add.
In the Add window, fill in:
Rule Name – for example Professional Development,
Rule Value Type – Time value to count hours or Number of days with instance to count days,
Split time over midnight – how time that extends past midnight is split,
Visibility – for example Time views and reports,
Type – daily.
Click Save.
After saving, the counter page opens. The counter does not have a source yet, so you need to add one.
Click Edit and, under Sources, click Add. In the New source window, select:
Source – Absence,
Name – the new absence (in our example, Professional Development),
Method – Add.
Confirm with Save.
Save the configuration with Save. In the Period selection window, choose from when the counter should be calculated, for example From the beginning of time or Custom date, and confirm with Save. Changes do not affect periods before the lock date.
If settings are correct, counter should be visible on timelines as event is entered:
