Time-off requests in email: one list, one approver, one calendar

Short answer: time-off requests go wrong when they arrive by email, chat and hallway talk, and no one sees them all at once. Put every request in one list. Name one approver for each person. Show the approved dates on a team calendar so gaps in coverage are easy to see. Keep a simple record of days taken. Follow your own HR policy for the rules on time off.

Why time-off requests get lost

A request starts as a quick email: "Can I take the 14th and 15th?" Another arrives in a chat message. A third is said out loud and never written down. The lead says yes to each one, one at a time, and keeps the full picture in memory.

Then the problems show up:

Two people on the same job are both away, and nobody saw it coming.
A request sits in an inbox for a week with no answer.
Someone asks "Did you approve my days?" and the lead has to search old messages.
Nobody can say how many days a person has taken.

None of this is about bad people. It is about requests being spread over too many places.

Signs this is happening in your team

You search your inbox to learn who is away next week.
People ask in chat whether a request was seen.
You find out about a gap in coverage when the day arrives.
Answers to "how many days has she taken?" come from memory or a private sheet.

Step 1. Pick one place for requests

Choose one spot where every request must go. A SharePoint list is one way to start. Microsoft's own page on approvals lists "Approving vacation time requests" as a common use of approvals, so this is a normal job to automate.

A simple request list can have these columns:

Title (the name of the person who is asking; it is required by default and becomes the calendar label)
Start date
End date
Type (use the names from your HR policy)
Status (Requested, Approved, Declined)
Approver
Decision date
Note

If someone sends a request by email anyway, reply with the link to the list and ask them to enter it there. Do this kindly and every time. After a few weeks, the habit holds. For the same idea applied to a shared inbox, see "Requests lost in a shared inbox: add an owner and a status".

Step 2. Decide who approves, and write it down

Every person should have one named approver. Add a back-up for when that approver is away. Write both in the list, or in a short table next to it.

Questions to settle before you start:

Who approves requests for each person?
Who covers when the approver is away?
How long should a request wait before someone follows up? One way to start is two working days.
Do some requests need a second approver? Follow your HR policy on this.

Keep the rule short enough to fit on one page. If people cannot remember it, they will not use it.

Step 3. Add a team calendar view

This is the step that shows coverage gaps. Microsoft says any list or library with a date column can be viewed in calendar format. When you create the view, you pick a Start date column and an End date column. Each request then shows as a span of days on the calendar, and the label comes from the Title column by default.

One way to start:

Make sure your list has a Start date and an End date column.
Create a new view and choose the calendar option.
Set the Start date and End date to your two columns.
Set the calendar label to the Title column, which holds the person's name, so you can read it at a glance.
Filter the view to show only Approved requests, so it shows who is really away.

Now the lead can open one page and see who is away each week. Check it before you approve a new request. If two people with the same skills are away on the same days, you can talk about it before the day arrives.

Step 4. Move approval out of the inbox

You can ask for approval inside a flow instead of an email thread. Power Automate has an approvals feature for this. Microsoft says that when you submit an approval in a flow, approvers are notified and can review and act on the request. Microsoft also says approvers can respond from an Outlook email, a Microsoft Teams adaptive card, or the Power Automate action center, if they have the right license.

A basic version of the flow:

A new item is added to the request list.
The flow sends an approval to the named approver.
The approver chooses Approve or Reject.
The flow writes the answer and the decision date back to the list.
The flow tells the person the answer.

Microsoft lists several approval types, including "First to respond" and "Everyone must approve", and a sequential type that asks approvers one at a time. For a plain request, one approver is the simplest place to start. For more on approvals, see "Approvals lost in email: how to stop chasing sign-offs" and "Teams approvals vs email approvals".

Step 5. Keep a simple balance record

Add a second list with one row per person. Useful columns are:

Title (the person's name)
Days allowed this year (take this number from your HR policy)
Days taken (a total of approved requests)
Days left

Keep it simple. The goal is to answer "how many days are left?" in a few seconds, from the same place as the requests. Do not use it to make rules about pay or accrual. Those rules belong to your HR policy and to the people who run payroll. If your balance has special cases, ask HR to check the numbers.

Honest limits

A list and a calendar make requests visible. They do not decide who gets time off. Your team still needs a fair rule for busy weeks, and that rule is a people decision. Also, a tool cannot tell you what the law or your policy requires for time off. Check with your HR contact or your written policy.

Start with a small group, such as one team, for one month. Fix what is confusing, then add the next team.

When to get help

You can build all of this yourself in Microsoft 365. If you would rather have it built and tested for your team, I do that. A tracker like this is a fixed price: $5,000 for one, built in 2 weeks. See "What a SharePoint tracker costs". Bring one example of the problem to a free call.

Tell me what's still manual

I am Al Davies. I run 250 High Street LLC and build SharePoint trackers and Power Automate flows for operations teams. I work remotely. The first call is free, and I will not try to sell you anything.

See trackers I built: Tools I built

FAQ

Should I use a list or a shared Outlook calendar?

A calendar alone shows dates but not status, approver or a balance. A list with a calendar view gives you both. Use what your team already opens each day.

What if someone still emails a request?

Reply with the link to the list and ask them to enter it there. Enter it for them the first time if you like. The goal is one place, not a strict rule.

Who should see the team calendar?

One way to start is to let the whole team see approved dates, so people can plan around each other. Keep reasons and notes visible only to the lead and HR, in line with your HR policy.

Does this tell me how much time off someone is owed?

No. Take the numbers from your HR policy. The list only records what was allowed and what was taken.

What goes in the Title column?

The name of the person who is asking. Title is required by default, and the calendar uses it as the label for each request.