Overview
While Planning Time Off continues to occur through the Assignments View/Shaper, the Time Off page is used to manage some of the other Time Off functions within Parallax, as well as Holidays. There are a few main activities you'll use the Time Off page for:
- Managing Holiday Calendars
- Connecting Timesheets for Time Off Actuals
- Mass-uploading future Time Off Plans
Read on for more info on how this page works and what it's used for!
| We’ll cover how to add a new Holiday Calendar to the Time Off page, as well as how to add Holidays individually or import the previous year. You can also find out more about Archiving old/unneeded Calendars. | |
| Find out here how to connect Timesheets to the Time Off feature, in order track completion of PTO through Timesheets! | |
| We'll talk about what PTO Uploader is and how it's used. | |
| Cancelled PTO | While not managed on this page, you can find out more here about how to think about Time Off that's not completed. |
| (Legacy) Converting Internal Projects into PTO Plans | Converting Internal Projects into Time Off Plans is a legacy feature for Customers not already using Time Off - but it may still be helpful to you. You can find out how it works in this section! |
| Exclude/Include Time Off from Utilization | While inclusion/exclusion of Time Off from your Utilization calculations does not happen on this page, it's important to think about when looking at Time Off. Check out this section for more info. |
Adding a Holiday Calendar
To add a Holiday Calendar, you'll want to start by visiting Settings > Time Off. From there, you'll see a green button in the upper-right corner called "Add Holiday Calendar". You'll be asked to add a Name to the Calendar and Click Save - once you do that, your Calendar will be added is ready for Holidays.
The Holidays for each year are separate, so make sure to pay attention to the Year Dropdown when adding new Holidays. There are two separate ways to add Holidays to a Calendar:
- You can Create Holiday to add invidual Holidays, or...
- ...Import Holidays frm the previous year using Carryover Holidays from Previous year.
Participation in Holidays can be managed directly through the Settings > People page. For People participating in these Holidays, they will automatically be factored out of their individual Schedule when calculating Capacity.
Adding Individual Holidays to a Calendar
To Create a new Holiday, click the Create Holiday.
This will open a module where you can add and set a Name for the Holiday, as well as select from a Date picker to select the Date the Holiday will occur. You can add as many days as you want to a Holiday by selecting "Add Another Day".
Once you've added the correct dates you want, click Save and they'll be added to your Calendar!
Importing Holidays to a Calendar
To import Holidays from the Previous year, first make sure to check the last year using the year dropdown. Once confirmed, just select the option entitled Carryover Holidays from Previous Year, and select Yes when prompted to confirm - this will import all of your Holidays from the last year!*
*Important Note - Watch out for business days and weekends!
Some Holidays, such as the US Memorial Day, are different each year - you'll want to make sure you're updating these if you Carryover Holidays. Additionally, the Holidays that are on a static date each year (example: Independence Day, July 4th) may fall on a weekday one year, but a weekend the following year - so you'll also want to check for Holidays being observed on a different business day.
Archiving a Holiday Calendar
If you no longer need a Holiday Calendar (or if you accidentally created it), you can Archive it by clicking the three-dot menu next to the Calendar. Just remember to remove that Calendar from any Locations on the Settings > Locations page first!
Time Off Actuals
We released the Time Off feature in October 2022 - prior to that date, Time Off was tracked within Parallax using an Internal Project. If you have been exclusively using the Time Off function to track time off for your Team, you'll only need to connect a Timesheet - but if you've been continuing to track Time Off using an Internal Project, please keep in mind there are extra steps. We've split these two groups below:
If you are currently tracking Time Off through an Internal Project
If you're currently tracking any time off through Internal Project(s), additional actions will be needed in order for you to use the connected Timesheets for Time Off Actuals - otherwise you may end up duplicating your Time Off. You'll want to follow the steps below:
- Disconnect the Timesheet Project from your Internal Project*
- If desired, convert the Internal Parallax Project into Time Off Plans through the Settings > Time Off Page using the instructions in in the section below on Converting Internal Projects.**
*Important - What happens if I forget to disconnect the Timesheet from an Internal Project?
If you do not disconnect a Timesheet Project from an Parallax Isnternal Project, and use it for your Time Off Actuals, this will lead to double-counting Time Off. If this happens, please reach out to our Support for Help.
**Parallax Tip - I don't see the option for converting an Internal Project!
Since the Time Off feature within Parallax is the intended way of tracking Time Off, the feature allowing you to convert Internal Projects into Time Plans has been hidden in instances where Time Off is already in use. If you are still tracking Time Off through an Internal Project and are not seeing this option available, please also reach out to Support for Help.
If you are only using Time Off Feature
If you are already tracking all your Time Off (or once you've disconnected and converted your Internal Project), you can connect a Timesheet for tracking Time Off by:
- Visiting the Settings > Time Off page
- In section Time Off Actuals clicking the "Connect Timesheet" Button
- Entering the Timesheet ID (typically found within the URL of the Timesheet Project)
- Clicking "Sync and Save"
And you're done! Once synced, you'll see the Actuals recorded in the Timesheet begin to be added to the Actuals section of each Cell within the Shaper and Assignments View.
PTO Upload
Currently, PTO is primarily intended to be managed from the Assignments View (with any more granular changes being made through a Project Shaper). While we currently do not have a HRIS or PTO integration, you can mass upload PTO using the PTO CSV Upload. Please keep in mind that this feature is designed for use with Bamboo HR, and any CSV from an alternate HRIS system would need to be formatted to match Bambo HR to be accepted. Find out more here.
Cancelled PTO
With our new Time Off Acutals feature (mentioned above), Parallax there's no need to worry about cancelling Time Off - as each day (when using "Current Day" setting) or week (when using "Last Week Setting") passes, Parallax transitions that day/week from calculating Availability using Time Off Plans that you enter using the Shaper/Assigments View to Time Off Actuals that have been entered into your Time Off Timesheet(s). This works in much the same way "Projected" Hours/Revenue does - gradually Actuals replace Plans.
For more info, check out this article!
If you choose not to connect Timesheets for tracking Time Off Actuals, then Parallax will continue to assume that Time Off which is added to Parallax will be fulfilled, so for Time Off and Holidays, hours added function as both Time Off Plans and Actuals. In that case, the easiest way to manage Time Off for your Organization as a whole is to use the Edit Mode of the Assignments Filter while sorting only by Time Off:
(Legacy) Converting Internal Projects into PTO
This feature exists solely as a way of converting from an older workflow within Parallax to the more recent Time Off feature - so if you don't see this option, don't be alarmed!*
If you're new to Parallax, you might not know this, but we previously used Internal Projects as a way of managing not only non-billable work, but also Time-Off. As you can imagine, this isn't the most efficient way to do things, so in 2022, we introduced new functionality and integrations for managing Time Off separately from any non-billable work you may be doing.
That's where the Time Off page comes in - this page gives you the opportunity to take existing Internal Projects within Parallax and convert them into Time Off Projects in order to track them as Time Off Projects that do not affect Capacity and Utilization.
It's as simple as typing in the Project Name and selecting from the list of Project Names that populate and clicking to Convert!
Once you do that, we'll ask you to confirm you wanted to convert the project - once you hit "Yes" you're done!
Warning: This cannot be reversed!
Once you select "Yes", the internal project converted will be archived and excluded from internal projects in Parallax. This action can not be undone.
*Parallax Tip: I've been Tracking Time Off in an Internal Project - but I don't see this feature!
As mentioned above, the Convert option for Time Off is really only needed when getting Time Off up and running, and should only matter if you've tracked Time Off using Internal Projects - so you may not see this option in Settings > Time Off. If you have been tracking Time Off through Internal Projects, but don't see this option, reach out to your CSM so we can get it turned on for you!
Exclude/Include Time Off from Utilization
Historically, Time Off/Holidays have always been excluded from Utilization, functioning as a reduction in availability, rather than consumption of non-billable time. This helps normalize data over time, basing Utilization calculations solely on time that People are actually present (rather than varying based on how much Time Off a Person is taking). However, as of our 9/21/2023 release, this has become optional - so check out this article for more info!