Webest: Absent Assistant — auto-reply in chats

What this solution does

Absent Assistant is a module for automatic chat responses when employees are unavailable. Designed for the on-premise version of Bitrix24, it notifies colleagues about temporary unavailability directly within corporate chats. If a message is sent to a user marked as absent in the schedule (vacation, sick leave, business trip, or other types of absence), the sender receives an automatic notification stating that the employee is temporarily unavailable. The solution operates in both personal and group chats. When an absent employee is mentioned in a group chat, the application automatically sends an absence notification according to a predefined template. To ensure correct operation and prevent notification loops, the following restrictions are implemented: no auto-response is sent if the message originates from an employee who is themselves in an absence status; absence information is sent no more than once per day to each individual sender. Repeated messages within the same day do not trigger duplicate responses, but the notification may be sent again the following day.

When the Webest: Absent Assistant module is installed on the portal, it automatically creates a user property for employees named «Absent Information». For this field to appear in the employee card and be editable, the portal administrator must manually add it to the user fields display and editing settings just once. The solution is fully integrated into the Bitrix24 interface, operates natively, and does not require changes to existing business processes or corporate chat settings.

When needed, General iT can implement “Webest: Absent Assistant — auto-reply in chats”, configure the module and verify it against the current website setup.