- Staff Absence
- Leave Requests
- Approvals
- Availability
- Cover
- Cover Calendar
- TOIL Where Enabled
Staff Member
Record absence against the correct employee.
Absence
Maintain the relevant school-held absence record.
Dates
Keep the period of absence clear.
Availability
Reflect that the member of staff is not available where appropriate.
Cover
Connect absence to relevant cover requirements.
History
Maintain appropriate previous absence information.
Permissions
Keep sensitive workforce information restricted to authorised users. The operational need to know that a teacher is unavailable does not mean everyone needs access to the reason for their absence.
Request
Record the leave being requested.
Staff Member
Keep the request connected to the correct workforce record.
Dates
Make the requested period clear.
Context
Record appropriate information required by the configured workflow.
Manager
Route the request to the appropriate authorised reviewer.
Status
Keep the current request state understandable.
Decision
Preserve the authorised outcome.
History
Maintain appropriate earlier requests and decisions. The school determines its own leave policy and approval requirements. EdiWay supports the workflow around those rules.
Current Staff
Is the person actively working within the school?
Absence
Are they currently recorded as absent?
Approved Leave
Is authorised leave affecting availability?
Timetable
Are they already committed to teaching?
Existing Responsibilities
Does another scheduled responsibility affect their availability?
Cover
Have they already been assigned elsewhere?
Protected Time
Does an applicable protected-time record affect the period? Availability should be based on known information. It should not be treated as proof that a staff member is contractually available for any task the school chooses to assign.
Absence
Start from the staff member who is unavailable.
Affected Teaching
Understand the relevant timetable context.
Cover Requirement
Identify where another member of staff may be needed.
Available Staff
Use appropriate workforce and timetable information.
Cover Assignment
Record the authorised cover arrangement.
Conflicts
Avoid obvious scheduling clashes through the connected timetable context.
Calendar
Keep current cover requirements visible.
History
Preserve appropriate cover activity. Cover remains an operational management decision rather than an automatic allocation based solely on who appears free.
Current Cover
See relevant cover requirements.
Upcoming Cover
Prepare for known future absence or leave.
Staff Member
Understand who is unavailable.
Lesson or Activity
Keep the affected timetable context visible.
Assigned Cover
See where responsibility has already been allocated.
Outstanding Requirement
Identify gaps that still need management attention.
Changes
Keep updated arrangements visible. The aim is to give school leaders and cover managers one clearer operational picture.
1. Record the Absence
Maintain the staff absence information.
2. Check the Timetable
Identify relevant scheduled responsibilities.
3. Identify Cover Requirements
Understand what may need replacing.
4. Review Availability
Consider suitable staff context.
5. Assign Cover
Record the authorised arrangement.
6. Update the Calendar
Make the current position visible.
7. Preserve the History
Keep the absence and cover activity connected. This creates a clearer line between who is unavailable and what the school did in response.
Approved Request
Keep the authorised leave decision.
Availability
Reflect the relevant period.
Timetable
Identify appropriate scheduled teaching context.
Cover
Create or review the operational requirement.
Manager Oversight
Keep unresolved requirements visible.
Staff Communication
Provide appropriate information through supported workflows.
History
Keep the decision and operational response connected. The HR decision and the cover decision remain separate. Approving leave does not automatically decide who should provide cover.
Scheduled Context
Understand what the staff member is expected to be doing.
Protected Time
Keep an applicable protected allocation visible.
Cover Conflict
Avoid silently replacing protected time through ordinary cover allocation where the relevant controls are enabled.
Disruption
Record appropriate disruption through the dedicated protected-time workflow.
Recovery
Keep replacement or authorised exception activity within that separate workflow.
Management Review
Allow authorised staff to make the operational decision. This page does not replace a dedicated PPA or directed-time workflow.
Staff Member
Who is requesting or using the time?
Reason
What approved circumstance created the request?
Time
What period is being considered?
Manager Review
Who is authorised to approve it?
Leave Context
How should approved time away affect availability?
Cover
Does the approved absence create an operational requirement?
History
What decision was recorded?
Policy
Which organisation rule applies? EdiWay should not currently be presented as automatically calculating TOIL balances, overtime payments or legal entitlement.
- Calculates overtime
- Changes salary
- Creates a payroll transaction
- Determines contractual entitlement
- Calculates statutory working-time rights
- Determines whether additional hours must be paid
- Creates a legally binding leave balance
Those decisions depend on the organisation’s policies, contracts and applicable requirements. The workforce workflow should preserve the school-held decision and its operational effect.
HR
Maintain appropriate absence and leave detail.
Line Manager
Access information required for management responsibility.
Cover Manager
See operational availability and cover context.
School Leaders
Receive appropriate workforce oversight.Who is authorised to approve it?
Teachers
See relevant cover responsibilities without accessing colleagues’ HR records.
Other Staff
Do not automatically see confidential absence information.
The platform should separate operational availability from sensitive HR detail wherever possible.
Which organisation rule applies? EdiWay should not currently be presented as automatically calculating TOIL balances, overtime payments or legal entitlement.
Personal and Employment Information
From Staff Records and Onboarding.
Absence
Current and appropriate historical absence activity.
Leave
Requests and decisions.
Availability
Current operational context.
Cover
Relevant cover assignments.
Training and Compliance
Separate workforce records.
Performance
Separate appraisal and development workflows.
Permissions
Current system responsibility.
- Produce a performance rating
- Infer commitment
- Determine capability
- Trigger disciplinary action
- Generate a wellbeing diagnosis
- Decide an appraisal outcome
Where information needs to be considered within a performance process, the authorised manager remains responsible for that judgement.
Absence Summaries
Prepare factual working summaries from authorised information.
Cover Preparation
Help organise known operational context.
Manager Communication
Draft administrative wording for review.
Outstanding Actions
Help summarise unresolved workforce tasks.
Leave Communication
Prepare draft responses around a human-made decision.
Workload Context
Help organise permitted information for human consideration. Every output remains a draft.
EdiWay AI does not:
- Approve or refuse leave
- Determine sickness validity
- Decide whether a staff member should return to work
- Calculate legal leave entitlement
- Calculate TOIL entitlement
- Allocate cover autonomously
- Make disciplinary decisions
- Make performance judgements
- Replace HR or leadership decision-making
1. Record the Workforce Change
Create the appropriate absence or leave request.
2. Review the Request
Route leave through the authorised management process.
3. Record the Decision
Preserve approval or decline.
4. Update Availability
Reflect the relevant operational period.
5. Review Scheduled Responsibilities
Understand the timetable or other commitments affected.
6. Identify Cover
Make outstanding requirements visible.
7. Assign the Response
Record authorised cover arrangements.
8. Protect Restricted Time
Respect relevant protected-time context where enabled.
9. Preserve History
Keep appropriate workforce and decision records connected.
10. Review Exceptions
Resolve outstanding cover, leave or controlled-rollout TOIL activity.
Yes.
Staff absence is explicitly represented within the workforce capability set.
Leave-request workflows are represented within the current HR and workforce scope.
A manager approval workflow is represented.
The actual decision remains with the authorised manager.
Yes.
Cover management is represented within both workforce and timetable capabilities.
A cover calendar is represented within the workforce capability set.
Yes.
Staff availability is represented as part of workforce management.
It should not.
Leave approval and cover allocation are separate management decisions.
Yes.
Cover management is also represented within EdiWay’s timetable capability set, allowing staffing requirements to remain connected to scheduled teaching.
This page should not claim autonomous cover allocation.
Authorised staff remain responsible for cover decisions.
The wider protected-time capability includes controls intended to prevent ordinary cover from silently replacing protected PPA where those controls are enabled.
Runtime assurance remains important for that advanced workflow.
Dedicated TOIL accrual and balance management is not separately established in the current capability matrix.
TOIL should therefore only be presented as a policy-led workflow where specifically enabled and assured.
No current product evidence supports that claim.
No dedicated overtime calculation capability is established by the current source.
A dedicated holiday-entitlement engine is not established by the current capability matrix.
This page should not position EdiWay as a payroll calculation engine.
Workforce records may connect operationally with finance or payroll processes, but pay calculation requires separately implemented and assured functionality.
Not automatically.
Operational users may need to know that somebody is unavailable without receiving the underlying confidential HR information.
No.
Performance judgements remain within the separate human-led performance-management process.
No.
AI may assist with administrative drafts or organisation where enabled, but final leave and cover decisions remain human.
Staff Records, Onboarding and SCR
Keep absence and leave attached to the same staff identity and employment record.
HR and Workforce
Return to the wider workforce hub.
Classes, Timetable and Attendance
Connect cover requirements to scheduled teaching responsibilities.
Performance, CPD and Induction
Keep performance and professional-development decisions separate from routine absence management.
School Compliance, Risk and Evidence
Use appropriate workforce evidence within authorised school-level assurance.
Permissions, Consent and Information Sharing
Protect sensitive staff information while making operational availability usable.