Who this guide is for: System administrators – Requires ‘Entitlement setup’ permission
Overview
This guide will give you an understanding of entitlements, their possible different types, and how to set them up.
What is an entitlement?
An entitlement is a balance provided to individuals—normally at the start of each calendar year or employment start date. Entitlements link to Absence Types so that when a request is authorised, it will deduct or increment the associated balance (e.g. 25 days Holiday, 5 days Paid Sick Leave, 2 discretionary days).
Entitlements can be granted as a full balance each year or accrued using policies (e.g. carrying over 5 days holiday).
Differences of entitlements
Within e-days you have two flexible layers:
- Pots
- Elements
Think of a recipe: you need all the ingredients (elements) to make the meal (pot).
Your system is preloaded with Holiday, Sickness, TOIL and Overtime/TOIL pots. Pots and elements can be enabled or disabled globally, via the Template tab, or on a User level.
Pot setting types
The Record Type specifies where the entitlement appears on the front end:
- Planned: Appears under Planned (e.g. Holiday)
- Unplanned: Appears under Unplanned for uncapped entitlements (e.g. paid Sickness)
- Overtime / TOIL: Appears under Overtime and TOIL
- Hidden: Not shown front-end but still enforces a cap (e.g. 60 days Sabbatical)
Pot booking periods
Determines how the balance is accrued and reset:
- Yearly: Common for entitlements; resets each calendar year
- Rolling 12 months: Useful for Sickness policies
- Ongoing: Used for Overtime/TOIL; never resets until used
Entitlement pot advanced settings
Additional options for entitlement pots:
- Visibility settings (show/hide details on front end)
- Leaver proration: Prorate balance when a user switches to a leaver licence
- Alternate calendar year: Set a different fiscal or local calendar year
The power of an element
Elements live within a pot and can be toggled globally or scoped to Templates or Users (e.g. departmental or location-based entitlements).
You can assign a Sort Index to prioritise which element’s balance is used first (0 = highest priority).
Base Entitlements
Within an element, you can define base entitlements for new users, streamlining starting balances if everyone receives the same allowance each year.
Carry over
Configure how balances move between years:
- Manually carry over: User-initiated requests under Planned tab; also allows Admin manual transfer records
- Automatically carry over: Remaining balance auto-transfers up to a maximum limit (default 0 = no limit)
- Expiry date: Set a date when carried-over days expire (e.g. enter 1 April if you want 31 March absences included)
How to create Pots and Elements
See these Knowledge Base articles for step-by-step instructions:
- Entitlement Setup – Creating a new entitlement pot
- Carryover Configuration – Overview
Video Resource:
Entitlement Setup on e-days Learning Centre