What you need to know about HRMS leave service interruptions – March and April
March 10, 2026 – Defence Stories
Estimated read time – 1:53
Due to Leave Year-End processing and the upcoming Human Resources Management System (HRMS) upgrade, HRMS users will experience several service interruptions between March and April.
These interruptions are required to ensure the accuracy of leave data during system conversion and migration from HRMS 8.9 to HRMS 9.2. Please review the service impacts below.
1. HRMS upgrade system blackout affecting HR services
To complete the transition from HRMS 8.9 to 9.2, a full system blackout will occur from 5:00 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 15 until 7:00 a.m. EDT on Monday, April 27. Further communication on deadlines and impacts to HR services will be provided shortly.
2. Temporary suspension of leave entry (employees and managers)
To prevent discrepancies during the HRMS upgrade and data migration process, employees and managers will not be able to enter or approve leave transactions in HRMS 8.9 after March 20.
From 5:00 p.m. EDT on Friday, March 20, until 7:00 a.m. EDT on Monday, April 27, the following HRMS 8.9 modules will be temporarily unavailable:
- Leave self-service
- Manager self-service
These modules will reopen when HRMS 9.2 launches on April 27.
Important deadlines
- All known leave up to and including March 31, must be entered before March 20. This includes any leave scheduled from March 21-31.
- Do not enter future-dated leave for April 1 and onward in HRMS 8.9. Any leave entered for April 1 or later will not migrate and must be re-entered in HRMS 9.2 after April 27.
Submitting leave during the interruption
- For leave from March 20-31: complete Form GC 178 – Leave Application and Absence Report and submit it to Human Resource Services and Support (HRSS).
- For leave after March 31: complete Form GC 178 – Leave Application and Absence Report and submit it in HRMS 9.2 after April 27.
3. HRMS system blackout for Leave Year-End processing
HRMS will be completely unavailable: 9:00 p.m. EDT on Thursday, April 2 to 6:00 a.m. EDT on Monday, April 6.
This outage is required to support the annual Leave Year-End processing, which generates leave reports for employees.
Leave Year-End Statements
- Statements will be emailed to all employees on the Defence Wide Area Network (DWAN) on Friday, April 3.
- They can also be accessed in HRMS:
- Self-Service > Employee Leave > Print My Leave Report, select the Fiscal Year, then click Print My Leave Report.
Reminder
All employees are strongly encouraged to screenshot current leave balances prior to the upgrade. This should be kept for your personal records and may be useful if discrepancies arise following system conversion.