Who it’s for: All users who want to understand event booking
Platform: Sense HR
Available on: Team / Professional / Elite / Enterprise
About event booking
Events are used to record time in the profile Planner and company Calendar, such as Holiday, Training or Meetings.
When you book an event, the options available depend on the event, the person the event is being booked for and how your organisation has configured the applicable Event Manager rule.
This means the same event can sometimes behave differently for different employees.
For step-by-step booking instructions, see:
👉 Calendar & Planner: Book an event.
🖊️ Note: Sickness uses the same underlying event-booking functionality but has additional options and processes, including sickness notification, open-ended sickness and Return to Work. See:
Understand Duration modes
Duration mode determines how much of the selected dates an event covers.
Depending on the event and how it is configured, the available modes can include:
Duration mode | What it records |
Full day(s) | One or more complete working days |
Part of day | A predefined portion of a working day |
Time-based | Specific Start and End times |
A booking normally uses one Duration mode throughout. Part of day and Time-based can’t be combined when the Start date and End date are booked together.
🖊️ Note: Open-ended Sickness works differently. Because there is no End date when the Sickness is first recorded, the Duration mode for the final date is selected later when the return is recorded.
Full day(s)
Use Full day(s) when the event covers one or more complete working days.
Sense HR uses the employee’s Working Hours schedule to calculate the duration covered by the selected dates. If there are no scheduled hours to use for a day, it uses the employee-specific Standard working day (Hours), where one has been set, or the organisation default.
Part of day
Part of day records a proportion of a working day without requiring specific Start and End times.
Depending on how the event is configured, the options can include:
All day
First half of shift
Second half of shift
Quarter day
Three-quarter day
The smallest portion available depends on the Minimum booking unit configured in the applicable Event Manager rule.
For information about configuring partial-day bookings, see:
👉 Calendar & Planner: Configure Event booking behaviour and approval with Event Manager (Admin)
Time-based
Time-based records the specific times the event takes place.
Enter a Start time and End time, and Sense HR calculates the duration in hours and minutes.
Time-based booking is useful when the exact time of the event matters rather than simply the proportion of the working day it covers.
Understand half-day and quarter-day bookings
Half-day and quarter-day options both allow events to be recorded for less than a full working day, but they currently record different levels of information.
First half of shift and Second half of shift record both:
the amount of the working day — 0.5 day
which half of the working day is booked
Quarter day and Three-quarter day record 0.25 or 0.75 of the working day, but they don’t specify where within the working day that time occurs.
For example, a Quarter day booking records that 25% of the working day is booked, but doesn’t identify whether that is the first, second, third or final quarter of the day.
If the exact time of day matters, use Time-based where it is available.
🖊️ Note: Quarter-day booking can be useful where accurately recording the amount of a day is important, such as an entitlement deduction. It doesn’t provide the same information about an employee’s availability as a booking with specific times.
💡 Tip: If you want to record when in the day a Quarter day or Three-quarter day event takes place, add the details to the event Notes.
Understand multi-day bookings
A single event can cover several dates.
A multi-day booking has a Start date and End date. Any working days between them are included in the booking as full days.
Multi-day Full day(s)
With Full day(s), the selected working days are booked as complete days.
Multi-day Part of day
With Part of day, the Start date and End date can each be configured separately. Any working days between them are treated as full days.
For example:
Date | Booking |
Tuesday | Second half of shift |
Wednesday | Full day |
Thursday | First half of shift |
The total duration is 2 days:
0.5 + 1 + 0.5 = 2 days
The option selected for the Start date and End date describes the part of each date that is booked. For example, Second half of shift on the Start date and First half of shift on the End date records an event that starts halfway through the first day and finishes halfway through the final day.
Multi-day Time-based
With Time-based, the Start date and End date each have their own Start and End times. Any working days between them are treated as full working days.
For example, an event that starts on Monday afternoon and finishes on Wednesday morning could be booked as:
Date | Booking |
Monday | 13:30–17:00 = 3.5 hours |
Tuesday | Full working day = 7.5 hours |
Wednesday | 09:00–12:30 = 3.5 hours |
The total duration is 14.5 hours.
🖊️ Note: The Booking Summary may not list full working days between the Start date and End date separately, but they are included in the Total duration. For each middle day, Sense HR uses the employee’s scheduled hours for that day where available. If there are no scheduled hours to use, it uses the employee-specific Standard working day (Hours), where one has been set, or the organisation default.
Why Part of day or Time-based can differ between employees
For entitlement-based Time-off events, the partial booking method depends on how the employee’s entitlement for that event is measured.
Entitlement measured in | Partial booking method |
Days | Part of day |
Hours | Time-based |
For example, if Holiday entitlement is measured in Days, a partial Holiday booking can use options such as First half of shift or Quarter day.
If Holiday entitlement is measured in Hours, a partial Holiday booking uses Start and End times instead.
In both cases, Allow partial-day bookings must be enabled in the applicable Event Manager rule.
As entitlement can be configured differently for different employees, the same Time-off event can offer Part of day for one employee and Time-based for another.
For information about employee entitlement see:
👉 People: Review and update employee entitlement and public holiday settings from their profile (Admin).
For information about configuring an entitlement-based event, see:
👉 Calendar & Planner: Configure entitlement settings for Time-off events with Event Manager.
Why an event can be limited to part of a day
An Event Manager rule can prevent an event from being booked for a complete working day.
When this applies, Sense HR tells you:
⚠ This event can only be booked for part of a day.
The event can then be booked using the available Part of day or Time-based option.
This can apply to some employees and not others because the same event can have different Event Manager rules for different groups of people.
For administrators, this behaviour is controlled by Max days in a row. Setting it to 0 disables the Full day(s) Duration mode.
For information about configuring booking behaviour, see:
👉 Calendar & Planner: Configure Event booking behaviour and approval with Event Manager (Admin)
Understand how working hours affect duration
Sense HR normally uses the employee’s Working Hours schedule when calculating the duration of a booking.
This means the same dates can represent different amounts of working time for employees with different schedules.
Where there are no scheduled daily hours to use for a calculation, Sense HR uses the Standard working day (Hours) that applies to the employee instead.
For example, this can apply when:
the employee’s Working Hours configuration doesn’t specify a daily schedule
an event is booked on a day the employee isn’t normally scheduled to work and that event allows booking outside working hours
For more information, see:
Understand who can book an event
Being able to access Planner doesn’t automatically mean every event can be booked.
When someone books an event, Sense HR considers both:
their Access Role permissions
the Event Manager rule that applies to the person the event is being booked for
The Access Role determines which People and Planner actions the logged-in user can access. The Event Manager rule determines whether the particular event allows the requested booking action.
Both must permit the action.
📖 Example: Susan is a manager and wants to book Holiday for Fred. Her Access Role gives her access to Fred and permission to add events to his Planner. The Event Manager rule for Holiday that applies to Fred also has Allow booking by others turned ON. Susan can therefore book Holiday for Fred.
If either Susan’s Access Role or Fred’s applicable Event Manager rule doesn’t allow the action, she can’t make the booking.
🖊️ Note: Administrators can book events for other people regardless of the Allow booking by others setting in Event Manager.
For information about configuring these permissions, see:
Understand approval
An event can be configured to require approval before a booking is confirmed.
If approval is required, adding the event creates a request. The booking remains pending until the required approval process is completed.
Different Event Manager rules can have different approval settings, so the same event can require approval for one group of employees but not another.
🖊️ Note: Bookings made by an Administrator don’t require approval. They are confirmed when the Administrator adds the event, even if Approval is turned on in the applicable Event Manager rule.
For information about configuring Approval, see:
For step-by-step booking instructions, see:
FAQs
Click for answers to frequently asked questions
Click for answers to frequently asked questions
Q: Why do I see different booking options for different events in Sense HR?
A: You can see different booking options because each event can have its own Event Manager configuration. The applicable rule can control options such as partial-day booking, approval and who can make the booking.
Q: Why can the same event have different booking options for different employees?
A: The same event can have different booking options for different employees because Event Manager can use different rules for different groups of people. For entitlement-based Time-off events, the employee’s entitlement settings can also affect whether a partial booking uses Part of day or Time-based.
Q: Why does a Time-off event use Part of day for one employee and Time-based for another?
A: A partial Time-off event uses Part of day when that employee’s entitlement for the event is measured in Days. It uses Time-based when their entitlement is measured in Hours. Allow partial-day bookings must also be enabled in the applicable Event Manager rule.
Q: Can I use Part of day and Time-based in the same event booking?
A: Normally, no. When a booking has a Start date and End date, it uses one Duration mode throughout.
Open-ended Sickness is an exception. The Start Date is recorded when the Sickness begins, and the Duration mode for the final date is selected later when the employee’s return is recorded.
Q: Does Quarter day identify which quarter of the working day is booked?
A: No. Quarter day records 25% of the working day but doesn’t identify which quarter of the day is booked. Three-quarter day similarly records 75% without specifying where that time falls within the day.
If the exact timing matters, use Time-based where available. Alternatively, add the timing to the event Notes if you want to provide that information without changing how the event is recorded.
Q: Why can an event only be booked for part of a day?
A: An event can be limited to partial-day booking by the Event Manager rule that applies to the employee. For administrators, Max days in a row = 0 makes the event partial-day only. Different rules can apply to different employees, so the same event may allow full-day booking for some people but not others.
Q: Why can’t I book an event for someone else even though I can access their Planner?
A: Accessing someone’s Planner doesn’t automatically allow every event to be booked for them. Your Access Role must allow you to access the person and add to their Planner, and their applicable Event Manager rule must Allow booking by others. Both permissions must allow the booking.
Q: Why does my multi-day Time-based booking total include more hours than the Start date and End date shown in the Booking Summary?
A: A multi-day Time-based booking includes full working days between the Start date and End date, even if those middle days aren’t listed separately in the Booking Summary.
For each middle day, Sense HR uses the employee’s scheduled hours for that day where available. If there are no scheduled hours to use, it uses the employee-specific Standard working day (Hours), where one has been set, or the organisation default. These hours are included in the Total duration.
Q: Why don’t I see all three Duration modes when booking an event?
A: You won’t always see Full day(s), Part of day and Time-based together. The Duration modes available depend on the event, the Event Manager rule that applies to the person being booked for and, for entitlement-based Time-off events, whether their entitlement is measured in Days or Hours.