Plan around absence and holidays
- Who
- Managers see and add it for their people. Owners and Admins for everyone
- Where
- My Circle, Team Builder and Reports
- From HR systems
- Dates and percentages only, never reasons
- Part-time absence
- Set as a percentage of time
Absence changes who can take on work. MuchSkills shows holidays, leave and other time away next to people's skills, so you can plan teams and projects around it. Absence comes from your HR system, or managers and admins add it in MuchSkills.
How it works
Absence reaches MuchSkills in one of three ways:
| Source | What arrives | Who maintains it |
|---|---|---|
| Your HR system | Dates and the percentage of time away. Reasons are never imported | HR, in the HR system. Changes arrive at the next sync, every 5 hours |
| Added in MuchSkills | Dates, a percentage and a short reason. For organisations without an HR system sync | The person's manager, or an Owner or Admin |
| The MuchSkills API | Dates and percentages from another system | Your organisation's integration |
Wherever it comes from, absence shows up where you plan work:
- My Circle. On a person's Updates tab, Unavailable between lists their time away under Currently away, Upcoming and Past.
- Team Builder. When you staff a team, each candidate's timeline shows their time away next to their projects.
- Reports. The utilisation reports show each person's projects, availability and time away.
- Discover. The Availability filter finds people who are free from a given date and for how long.
Steps
See who is away
- Check one person. Open My Circle, click the person under Reporting to you and look at Unavailable between on Updates.
- Check your team's availability. Open Team/Org › Reports, then utilisation, and choose by users or by availability to see who is busy, free or away over the coming weeks.
- Plan a team around it. In Team Builder, look at each candidate's timeline before you add them, and set their percentage and start date to fit around their time away. The Team Builder guide covers staffing in detail.
- Find someone who is free. In Team/Org › Discover, use the Availability filter to find people with the right skills who are free when you need them. The Discover guide explains the search.
Add absence for someone in your team
If your HR system syncs absence, record it there instead. It reaches MuchSkills at the next sync, every 5 hours.
- Open the person. In My Circle, click the person under Reporting to you.
- Open the edit panel. Edit their details, for example from Certs & Validations. The panel that opens has tabs: skills, certificates, goals and utilisation & availability. Move between them to update what you need.
- Go to utilisation & availability and click + Add unavailability.
- Fill in the details. Enter the Reason for unavailability, the Percentage unavailable (100 means away completely), the Start date and the End date.
- Click Save. The absence shows in My Circle, Team Builder and the reports straight away.
To change an entry, click it in the list, edit it and click Save. To remove it, click the bin icon.
For Owners and Admins: anyone in the organisation
- Open Manage Members. Click Team/Org, then Settings, then Manage Members.
- Open the person and go to the utilisation & availability tab. From there the steps are the same as for managers.
Check it worked
- The absence shows under Upcoming or Currently away on the person's Updates tab in My Circle.
- In Team Builder, the person's timeline shows the time away.
Important to know
Keep reasons short and general. Write Holiday, Parental leave or Training. Do not write medical or other private details. Absence from HR systems never includes reasons at all.
One source only. If your HR system syncs absence, record absence there and not by hand in MuchSkills, or the same time away can appear twice.
Partial absence counts too. A course one day a week, or part-time parental leave, is best entered as a percentage. It keeps the rest of the person's time visible for planning.
Troubleshooting
| What you see | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Absence you expect is missing | It is not in the HR system yet, or the last sync was before it was added | Check the HR system. It arrives at the next sync, every 5 hours |
| The same absence shows twice | It was added in MuchSkills and also comes from the HR system | Remove the one added by hand |
| + Add unavailability is greyed out with You cannot assign time for yourself | Nobody can add time away for themselves | Record it in your HR system, or ask your manager or an admin |
| Please enter a valid utilisation from 0 to 100 | The percentage is outside 0 to 100 | Enter a number from 0 to 100 |
| No utilisation & availability tab | The person does not report to you. Managers can add absence for their own direct reports | Ask the person's manager or a MuchSkills admin |
Frequently asked questions
Where does absence in MuchSkills come from?
From your HR system, if your organisation syncs absence from it, or from a manager or admin who adds it by hand in MuchSkills. Organisations can also send it through the MuchSkills API. Each organisation picks one source, so absence does not appear twice.
Can I see why someone is away?
Absence from an HR system arrives as dates and a percentage only, never the reason. Absence added by hand in MuchSkills, in organisations without an HR system sync, has a short reason, such as Holiday or Training.
How do I add absence for someone in my team?
If your organisation syncs absence from its HR system, record it there. It reaches MuchSkills at the next sync, every 5 hours. Otherwise, add it yourself: open the person in My Circle, open the edit panel, go to the utilisation & availability tab and click + Add unavailability.
Can someone be partly unavailable?
Yes. Absence has a percentage. 100% means away completely; 20% could be one day a week on a course, leaving the rest of the week for project work.
Can I add my own absence?
No. Nobody can add time away for themselves in MuchSkills. Record it in your HR system, or ask your manager or MuchSkills admin.
A holiday is missing or wrong. How do I fix it?
If it comes from your HR system, correct it there and it updates at the next sync. If it was added in MuchSkills, the person's manager or an admin can change or remove it.
Who can see someone's absence?
Their manager in My Circle, and Owners and Admins. When people are planned into teams and projects, their availability shows in Team Builder and the utilisation reports.