You may need to add or end an unavailability record for an employee in a number of situations, such as recording sickness from today with no end date, or closing an existing unavailability period. The steps below cover the most common scenarios.
Add open-ended unavailability
If an employee is sick or unavailable from today and you do not yet know the end date, you can add an open-ended unavailability record. To do this, follow these steps.
Click HR, then click Employee.
Click Find, then select the relevant employee.
Click the Availability tab, then click the Unavailability tab.
Click Add new.
Select the unavailability type, for example Sickness.
Enter the start date.
Leave the end date blank to create an open-ended record.
Click Save.
📌 Note: Leaving the end date blank keeps the unavailability record open until you manually close it. You can return to the record at any time to add an end date when the employee returns.
End an existing unavailability record
To close an existing open-ended unavailability record, follow these steps.
Click HR, then click Employee.
Click Find, then select the relevant employee.
Click the Availability tab, then click the Unavailability tab.
Select the existing unavailability record.
Enter the end date.
Click Save.
If the system prevents you from adding unavailability
If the system blocks you from saving an unavailability record, this is usually because the employee has active or future visits assigned to them. You have two options.
If the unavailability type is configured with Auto Book Off enabled, the system will automatically cancel any conflicting visits when you save the record. Check with your system administrator whether this is set up for the unavailability type you are using.
If Auto Book Off is not enabled, you will need to manually cancel or reassign any visits that overlap with the unavailability period before saving the record.
📌 Note: You can only have one active unavailability record at a time per employee. If an existing unavailability record is still open, you will need to end it before adding a new one of the same type.
Raise a case
If you have followed the steps above and are still unable to add or end an unavailability record, raise a case with support via the Access Digital Assistant.
Please include the following information within the case.
Name of this article.
Name of the employee.
Start and end date of the unavailability.
A description of the error or message you see when trying to save.