Tracking modes — balance, spell, and unlimited#
For: Manager | Admin You’ll need: Nothing.
Every leave policy in Shiftavo runs in one of three tracking modes. The mode is the most important decision on the form — it shapes which fields you’ll fill in and what the ledger records when a request is approved.
What it means#
Balance. Shiftavo keeps a running hours balance per person. Approving a request books hours against it; revoking puts them back. Vacation is the classic case: a yearly entitlement, accruals through the year, a ceiling, and a balance the worker can see.
Spell. Shiftavo doesn’t deduct from a pool — it records each absence as its own bounded „spell“ with a start and end. Sick leave under Swiss EFZG §3 works this way: each illness spell consumes its own continued-pay entitlement, and a follow-up illness inside the linking window extends the original spell rather than starting a new one. See EFZG §3 spell linking.
Unlimited. No accrual, no ceiling, no tier ladder. Approval still creates a request and a calendar event, but no balance moves. Use this for leave types you want to log and visualise without limiting — paid bereavement, study leave, jury duty.
When to use which#
Leave type |
Mode |
Why |
|---|---|---|
Vacation / annual leave |
Balance |
Pooled entitlement that accrues and carries over. |
Sick leave (CH, EFZG §3) |
Spell |
Continued-pay entitlement is per illness, not per pool. |
Unpaid leave |
Balance or unlimited |
Use balance if you cap it; unlimited if you only need a record. |
Paid bereavement, jury duty |
Unlimited |
You log it but don’t deduct from anything. |
Time-comp time off |
Balance |
Hours come in via Time compensation; this policy spends them. |
If you’re not sure, start with Balance — you can always cap entitlement to zero and still get the calendar event and audit trail, then switch later as your needs sharpen.
How it shows in the app#
On the policy form, choosing a tracking mode reveals the fields that mode uses and hides the rest. Balance reveals accrual, entitlement, max balance, and carry-over. Spell reveals the linking window. Unlimited collapses most of the form down to identity fields.
When a request is approved, the ‚Leave transactions‘ ledger records what happened: a BOOKING for balance policies, a SPELL_OPEN for spell policies, nothing for unlimited.