Record a planned absence and arrange support coverage

Updated Wednesday, October 28, 2026 · Marcel Gravelle

A planned absence is easier to cover when colleagues can see the dates and understand who will take the next action. Record the time away in Calendar, then hand over relevant customer commitments. The event makes the plan visible; case ownership and workflow configuration determine how work is handled.

At a glance

For: agents and team leads arranging support coverage. Applies to: Supportbench Core.

Start here: Calendar → select the absence date or time range

Record the absence · Understand the three different concepts · Arrange coverage before leaving · Verify the intended effect · Plan a two-day absence and verify coverage · Change the plan when dates or coverage change

Record the absence

Open Calendar and select the relevant date or time range.
Enter a clear Subject, set Start, End, and Time zone, and use All day when appropriate.
Set Owner to Me or the intended Agent. Editing another agent requires the relevant calendar permission.
Choose the category your administrator designates for absence. Category names are configurable; there is no universal required “Sick Day” category.
Use the Summary for the coverage contact or handoff plan without unnecessary personal details. Review attendees and reply-address options; customer attendees may receive invitations.
Select Save event and verify the owner, dates, and time zone in the calendar.

Understand the three different concepts

Concept	What it does
Absence event	Records planned time away in a calendar. A category can be configured as unavailable.
Owner-away view condition	Can select cases whose owner has an unavailable-category event spanning the current date in the view’s time zone. This uses event dates, not precise hour-by-hour overlap.
User Availability report	Reports recorded agent status time such as Online, Away, Offline, and Unknown. Online time is not a measurement of active work.

None of these alone guarantees that every new or existing case will be reassigned. Workflow behavior depends on the relevant configured rules. Do not use the availability report as an absence-entry form.

Arrange coverage before leaving

Review active cases and customer commitments that fall during the absence.
Agree the covering agent or queue and use the permitted assignment or escalation workflow.
Leave a concise internal handoff: customer impact, work completed, outstanding questions, next action, and promised update time.
Check that the covering team can see the cases and knows which view to use.
Notify customers through the normal case reply process when an update or contact change is needed. A calendar event is not a substitute for that communication.
On return, review the case history before resuming ownership.

Verify the intended effect

Confirm the calendar event appears for the full absence. If your team relies on an owner-away view, have the administrator verify the category’s unavailable setting and test the view with an appropriate case. Review the actual case owner or queue after a handoff; do not infer assignment from the calendar.

Problem	Checks and correction
Owner-away cases do not appear	Check the event owner, category’s unavailable setting, date span, view time zone, case filters, and access.
The absence appears on the wrong day	Review the event time zone and All day dates.
Work still arrives during the absence	Check assignment and routing rules, and arrange the agreed coverage process.
The report shows Online during an absence	Calendar plans and recorded status history are different data. Review status behavior separately.

Plan a two-day absence and verify coverage

For a Monday–Tuesday absence, create an event with Owner set to Me, All day selected, Start on Monday and End on Tuesday. These are inclusive dates. Choose the category your administrator has configured as unavailable; simply naming an ordinary category “Vacation” does not give it unavailable behavior.

Enter a neutral subject and a coverage summary, for example “Planned absence; integration queue coverage agreed with shift lead.” Do not put unnecessary personal details in a shared calendar.
Review attendees before Save event. An absence entry usually does not need customer recipients; adding them can queue invitations when saved.
Save and reopen the event to confirm the dates, time zone, owner and category.
Review open cases whose next action or customer update falls during the absence. Agree the covering agent/queue and use the appropriate case handoff.
Have the covering colleague open the relevant cases or view. Confirm that access and responsibilities are clear; a calendar entry does not establish either.
If your team uses an owner-away view, check its criteria and verify the result when the absence date is current in the view’s time zone. The owner-away condition tests the current date, not a preview of every future absence or minute-by-minute availability.

If no suitable absence category is offered, ask the calendar administrator which category to use or have them configure the intended unavailable behavior. Do not compensate by changing unrelated case policies.

Change the plan when dates or coverage change

Reopen the absence event and correct the date range or details through the permitted editor, then save and verify the calendar result. Editing/deleting requires the appropriate calendar permission. If the absence is cancelled, use the permitted event deletion workflow and confirm it no longer appears. An event with attendees can queue cancellation invitations; check the returned result. Check any owner-away view that relies on the event as well.

Changing the event does not retract a case handoff or notify every affected customer of a revised plan. Review the actual owners, tasks and promises separately. On return, read the covering team’s activity before taking over so the customer does not receive conflicting updates.

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