Approval rules and routing to managers

Route leave to the requester's manager with @manager:L1, or to a role, and how modes, amounts, dimensions and the HR fallback work.

Who can do thisHR Administrator

Approval rules decide who must approve a leave request. Every leave type with Requires approval on needs at least one matching rule, and a new workspace has none.

HR Management/Your CompanyK8HR AdministratorHR Administrator

My Leave

My Documents

Approvals

Team

Employees

Settings

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Settings

Configure leave types, approval rules, custom fields, departments, holidays, salary grades, and document categories for your organization.

Leave typesApproval rulesCustom fieldsDepartmentsHolidaysSalary gradesDocument categoriesIdentity generationField audit

Route to the requester's manager

In Approver role, type @manager:L1 to route a step to the requester's direct manager, @manager:L2 for their skip-level manager, and so on (@manager:L{n} = n levels up the reporting line). The actual person is resolved from your org chart when the request is submitted. A plain role name (e.g. hcm_manager) routes to everyone holding that role instead.

Add rule

RoleAmount bandModeDimensionsTierStatus

@manager:L1- - -single1EnabledEdit Archive

hcm_admin10 - -singleleaveType=VAC2EnabledEdit Archive

Approver role

hcm_admin

Mode

single

Min amount

Max amount

Dimensions (key=value per line)

leaveType=VAC

Escalate days

Tier order

Enabled

CancelSave rule

PictureTwo rules in tier order: every request goes to the direct manager first; vacation of 10 working days or more then also needs an HR administrator. An empty amount shows as a dash.

Add a rule

Open SettingsApproval rules and click Add rule.
Fill in Approver role (see below) and choose a Mode.
Optionally limit the rule with Min amount, Max amount and Dimensions (key=value per line).
Optionally set Escalate days and Tier order.
Click Save rule.

The list shows Role, Amount band, Mode, Dimensions, Tier and Status ("Enabled", "Disabled" or "Archived"). With no rules it says "No approval rules defined yet." The Enabled switch appears when you edit a saved rule.

Approver role

Type this	The step goes to
`@manager:L1`	The requester's direct manager
`@manager:L2`	The manager's manager (skip level)
`@manager:L3` and so on	That many levels up the reporting line
`hcm_manager`	Everyone with the HR Manager role
`hcm_admin`	Everyone with the HR Administrator role

HCM looks up the actual manager from the org chart when the request is sent, and fixes that person on the step. The text you typed stays as the step's name: managers see "@manager:L1" in the Step column of their inbox.

Which managers count

Only managers who can decide are counted: not terminated, and with a sign-in account. HCM walks past the others.
If nobody suitable is found at that level, or the requester has no manager, the step goes to the HR administrators. The workspace needs at least one.
Nobody can approve their own request.
A step already routed keeps its manager, even if that manager leaves later.

Mode

single: one approval is enough.
all: everyone holding the role must approve.
quorum: the number in Approvals needed must approve.

When a rule matches

A rule matches when it is enabled and not archived, and all of these hold:

Amount: the request's working days are between Min amount and Max amount. Leave both empty to match any length.
Dimensions: HCM sends leaveType= with the leave type's code and department= with the requester's department code. Write one per line, for example leaveType=VAC. Keys and values must match exactly, including case. A value of Any matches everything. Leave the box empty to match all requests.

Every rule that matches becomes a step. The steps run one after the other in Tier order, lowest first. Two rules that match give two sign-offs.

Tip

Example: rule 1 is @manager:L1 with no limits, tier 1. Rule 2 is hcm_admin with Min amount 10, tier 2. A three-day request needs only the manager. A two-week request needs the manager first, then HR.

Escalate days

If a step has waited longer than this number of days, HCM marks it "escalated" in the approval timeline. Nothing else happens: no email, and the step stays with the same approver.

If nothing matches

A request that matches no rule is refused with "No approval route configured for leave requests." Add a catch-all rule with empty amounts and dimensions to prevent it. See Set up leave approval first.