Approval Configuration

Set how leave is approved in Holiday Ocean 360: auto-approve, the direct manager or a multi-step chain, plus escalation when a decision stalls.

Approval Modes

Holiday Ocean 360 supports three approval modes. Each leave policy has its own approval mode — set it on the Basics tab when creating or editing a policy on the Policies page.

Auto-Approve

The system automatically checks requests against policies and approves if compliant.

Best for: Sick Leave, emergency leave, or organizations that trust policy rules to gatekeep.

How it works:

1. Employee submits a request
2. The Policy Checker runs automatically
3. If compliant → approved instantly with a system-generated explanation
4. If non-compliant → routed to HR for manual review

Direct Manager

The employee’s direct manager receives the request and makes the decision using the Decision Card.

Best for: Annual Leave, Personal Leave, or teams where manager judgment is important.

How it works:

1. Employee submits a request
2. The manager receives a notification
3. Manager opens the Decision Card with policy check and team capacity
4. Manager approves, rejects, or escalates

Multi-Step Chain

Requests walk up the org tree, one approver at a time, until the configured chain depth is reached.

Best for: Extended leave, cross-department requests, or regulated industries.

How it works:

1. Employee submits a request
2. The employee’s department manager receives it as the first approver
3. Once approved, the request moves to the manager of the parent department
4. The chain continues up the tree until the policy’s configured depth is satisfied

Maximum chain depth is plan-dependent (1 step on Free, 2 on Starter, 5 on Professional, unlimited on Business and Enterprise).

Configuring the Approval Mode

Open any leave policy on the Policies page and switch to the Basics tab:

1. Find the Approval mode field
2. Pick Auto-approve, Direct manager, or Multi-step chain
3. For multi-step, enter the chain depth (1 = direct manager only)
4. Save the policy — it applies to new requests immediately

Escalation

Managers can manually escalate requests to the next approver when needed. Combined with auto-escalation timeouts, this ensures requests never get stuck.