Leave Channels are independent records of absence allowance. By default, Focus begins with a single Leave Channel, called ‘Personal’, which is used to track employees’ holiday entitlement. The ‘Public’ Leave Channel, which tracks Public Holiday allowances separately, must be activated in System Setup.

This guide will look at:

• Activating the Public Leave Channel
• Setting an employee’s Public allowance 
• Enabling the Public Leave Channel in a Self Service Profile
• Viewing Public Holiday balance in the Availability screen
• Viewing Public Holiday balance in the Holiday Report

Activating the Public Leave Channel

1. Select ‘System’ from the Menu Bar.
2. Select the ‘System’ folder from the System Tree.
3. Select ‘System Setup’.
4. Select the ‘Employees’ tab.
5. In the General section, tick ‘Manage Public Holiday Allowance’.
6. Save.

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Setting an employee’s Public allowance

1. Select ‘Employees’ from the Menu Bar.
2. Select the required employee from the Employees Tree.
3. Select the ‘Absence’ tab.
4. In the Public section, set the ‘Default Yearly Allowance’.
5. Save.

This is the amount of allowance that will be allocated should a total not be manually configured. If you do wish to manually configure the allowance, go to Absence>Configure>Public and make the necessary adjustments.

Enabling the Public Leave Channel in a Self Service Profile

This step will allow employees, who have the Self Service Profile, to see the Public Leave Channel alongside the Personal Leave Channel in their Calendar.

1. Select ‘System’ from the Menu Bar.
2. Select ‘Self Service Profiles’ from the System Tree.
3. Select the required Self Service Profile.
4. Select the ‘Objects’ tab.
5. In the ‘Leave Channels’ section, tick ‘Public’.
6. Save.

The result is that an employee’s Public allowance and balance is now visible in their Calendar.

Viewing Public Holiday balance in the Availability screen

This provides a quick ‘snapshot’ of all employees’ remaining balances. It won’t show you their starting balances or what absence they have booked or taken.

The ‘Hol’ and ‘Pub’ columns in the screenshot refer to Personal and Public Holidays.

1. Select ‘Availability’ from the Menu Bar.
2. Select the required Group from the Menu at the top of the screen.
3. Ensure that you are viewing the correct year. It doesn’t matter which month you have selected as long as it is in the same year as the one you wish to view.
4. Select ‘Options’ and tick ‘Show Holiday’.

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Viewing Public Holiday balance in the Holiday Report

This method provides a detailed breakdown of the entire team and their individual allowances. You can see holiday that has been booked or taken and any remaining balances. 

Personal and Public Leave Channels are separated in the Report.

1. Select ‘Reports’ from the Menu Bar.
2. Select ‘Holidays’ from the Reports Tree.
3. Select ‘Groups’ and choose the one that is required.
4. Select ‘Holiday Periods’ and choose the one that is required.
5. Select ‘Options’ and tick ‘Show Blanks’. Unticked, only employees who have taken holiday will be visible.
6. Select ‘Report’ - you can now see the full report.
7. If required, export the report as a PDF by selecting ‘Export’. Other export options are available.

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