A Friday of leave booked and approved, then a project day entered on that same Friday: the inconsistency looks glaring, yet it is common when absences live in one tool and time in another. It is paid for in a cascade: a day billed by mistake, someone shown as available when they are not, a payroll run to correct.

In AlibeeZ, absence management is a module in its own right, but it talks to time entry continuously. That link, more than the module itself, is what makes the difference.

What the panel shows

The panel above illustrates the leave balances of an employee attached to a French entity. For each type of entitlement (paid leave, RTT days, time off in lieu), it shows the remaining balance against the total. Below, three settings: the collective agreement applied (here Syntec), the country’s public holiday calendar (France, eleven days) and the timesheet versus absence check, set to “blocking”. The note at the bottom points to the consequence that matters most for planning: approved leave removes availability from the capacity plan.

The consistency check: no time on approved leave

At the heart of it is a consistency check between the absence module and time entry. Once leave is approved, the matching day is locked on the timesheet: project time cannot be booked on it. That is the locked Friday on the timesheet shown in our article on time entry in AlibeeZ.

The check has two practical effects:

  • For the employee, the absence is already placed on their timesheet, as approved. There is nothing to copy across by hand, and the week is completed faster.
  • For invoicing, a day of absence cannot turn into a billed day by mistake. The invoice built from approved time rests on a week that is already consistent.

The lock applies to days of approved leave, not to the period: there is no monthly close that would freeze entry on the other days.

Balances set per agreement, entity and country

A growing organisation rarely ends up with a single collective agreement and a single country. Leave entitlements differ from one entity to another, public holidays from one location to another. AlibeeZ keeps leave balances per agreement, per entity and per country:

  • One balance per entitlement: paid leave, RTT days, time off in lieu, seniority days, according to the entity’s agreement.
  • One public holiday calendar per country of operation: each employee’s working days follow their country, so a local public holiday is not counted as a day of leave.
  • Settings per entity: two subsidiaries can apply different rules in the same instance.

These settings are among the business rules that ship with the product: they are switched on and tuned through configuration, with no development, and can be tried on a test base before going live.

The capacity plan and managers follow at once

Approved leave is not only a payroll matter. It changes the team’s capacity. In AlibeeZ, the capacity plan is updated immediately: the person’s availability disappears for the period, with no import or re-keying. A manager preparing a staffing decision sees leave already booked, not a theoretical availability.

The managers concerned are notified of absences. And if the approver is on leave themselves, the approval chain can include automatic delegation, so a request does not sit waiting while they are away.

For how the capacity plan projects availability week by week, read our article on capacity planning in AlibeeZ.

Already have an absence tool? It can play that part

Many organisations already manage leave in an HR system that works for them, Lucca for instance. AlibeeZ does not ask you to change it. An external absence tool already in place can replace the AlibeeZ module and feed the same check.

With Lucca, for example, the tool remains the system of record for people: joiners, leavers and approved leave flow down into AlibeeZ, where they block the timesheet and the capacity plan exactly as the native module would. In return, the variable elements derived from timesheets flow back to feed payroll.

What it changes

  • No more days billed on leave: the inconsistency is refused at entry, not discovered by the client.
  • A capacity plan that reflects actual absences as soon as they are approved.
  • Payroll fed without spreadsheets: approved leave and the variable elements derived from timesheets go to your payroll tool, such as ADP or Silae.
  • One version of absences in your reports: they are part of the data exported to your BI tools, such as Power BI.

Absences are only one part of the timesheet: our article on time entry covers the rest. To see what approved time feeds next, read our article on consumed effort. And the list of connected HR and payroll tools is on the connectors page.

Frequently asked questions

Are absences in the same module as time?

No. Absences are a separate module, but one that talks closely to time entry: that is what makes the consistency check possible (entry is refused on approved leave) and what updates the capacity plan the moment leave is booked, with no import.

Can we keep our current leave management tool?

Yes. An external absence tool already in place, such as Lucca, can take the AlibeeZ module’s place. Its approved leave flows down into AlibeeZ and feeds the same check and the same capacity plan.

How are entities in several countries handled?

Leave balances are set per agreement, per entity and per country, with each location’s working days and public holiday calendar. Two subsidiaries can therefore apply different rules in the same instance.

Is leave passed on to payroll?

Yes. Approved leave and the variable elements derived from timesheets can go to your payroll tool, such as ADP or Silae, so nobody re-keys a spreadsheet sent by email.