What it does
Institution Benefits shows how financial and time-off benefits look across every program in your institution. You start with programs that need attention — pending requests or high utilization — then open a coverage calendar for a specific program or adjust category rules.
Who it's for
Institution administrators working in the institution portal. Learners and program directors do not use these pages.
How it works
The overview is an exception list, not a report of every program. Totals for allocated, spent, pending, and utilization sit above a Needs attention table. A program appears there when it has money waiting on a decision, at least one request still waiting, or utilization at 70% or higher. Review pending requests opens Financial Benefits sorted by pending amount. Review coverage opens the coverage calendar for that program.
Financial Benefits compares allocated, spent, and pending amounts in a chart and a table. Review coverage stays in the institution portal and filters the coverage calendar to that program. Time-Off Benefits lists balances and submitted request counts by program, plus a category mix of approved time off. Daily staffing coverage lives only on Coverage Calendar — not on the time-off page.
Coverage Calendar shows approved time-off against active program members. You can look at every program or one program, move month to month, and see days flagged as warning or critical. Inherited holidays can appear as markers; you do not create or override holidays here. Policies lets you edit category rules such as approval, receipts, and notice. The budget tab on Policies is a monitor, not a place to set allocations.
Before you start
You need the institution portal and permission to open Benefits. If the overview shows No program budgets yet, financial allocations are not set up. If it shows totals plus No programs need attention, programs have allocations and none currently qualify for the attention list. Category rules on Policies appear only after benefit categories exist for the institution.
Do this
In the institution portal, open Benefits at
/institution/benefits. You should see Total Allocated, Total Spent, Pending Requests, and Utilization. Then read Needs attention, or No programs need attention if that heading is shown.If any requests are waiting, select Review pending requests. You should see
/institution/benefits/financialwith programs sorted by pending amount and a Clear filter control.If you see No programs need attention, skip to You're done when. Otherwise, in a Needs attention row — or a Financial Benefits row after step 2 — select Review coverage. You should see
/institution/benefits/coverage-calendarwith that program chosen under Program:.Stay on
/institution/benefits/coverage-calendar. On Coverage Heatmap, match the month with Today or the Previous month / Next month chevrons. You should see the Normal, Warning, and Critical legend. Critical Days (Next 2 Weeks) lists the worst upcoming days; No critical days in the next 2 weeks means none in that window.Open Policies at
/institution/benefits/policiesonly if you need to change a category rule. You should see the category list; save from Edit Policy after you change a rule.
You're done when
You can name the programs on Needs attention, or you have confirmed No programs need attention. If a program still has pending requests or Warning / Critical days, you have opened its coverage calendar from Institution Benefits without leaving the institution portal.
Boundaries and limits
These pages do not approve or reject benefit requests. Reviewers still decide requests in the admin portal queues.
You cannot create benefit categories from Policies. Empty category copy means categories are not set up yet; it does not send you to another portal.
You cannot add, override, or exclude holidays from Coverage Calendar. Holiday management stays on the admin holiday calendar.
Utilization on the overview uses spent plus pending against allocated. The attention list uses 70% as the high-utilization cutoff.
Time-off Requests counts submitted requests waiting on a decision, not every historical request.
Coverage percentages use approved time-off only. Submitted or draft leave does not reduce coverage.
The coverage list tab is not available yet.
Totals are all-time for the institution's current programs. There is no academic-year filter or export on these pages.
Common questions
Why is the pending tile a count and a dollar amount? The large number is how many financial requests are waiting. The smaller amount under it is the money those requests would use if approved.
Why does Review coverage open a calendar instead of the program hub? Coverage questions stay in Institution Benefits. The calendar is filtered to that program so you can see staffing impact without leaving the institution portal.
Can I approve a request from Needs attention? No. Use the admin financial or time-off approval queues. This overview only shows which programs still have work waiting.
The time-off page has no calendar. Where did daily coverage go? Open Coverage Calendar. The time-off page is program balances and the approved-time-off mix by category.
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