Best practice - system variables, E.g., "Family on Vacation" exposed on a Dashboard

[ripe gale]

Hi, I would like to add some high level, system wide "configuration" data to my HA environment. These variables/fields would be utilized by automations and editable from a Dashboard. For example, if we're on vacation for 2 weeks and I have automations that should not run when we're all away, I'd like to flip a variable on a dashboard to indicate such and then my automations can check for that values as a condition.

This seems like such a common thing but I've not found clear guidance on how to implement this. To be clear, this isn't tied to a device or service; it's just a configuration value that I certain users can modify and I can reference (easily, I hope) in my automations.

Maybe there is an HA term for this I'm ignorant of and that's why I can't find anything?

[shut kraken]

A lot of people use input_boolean entities (on/off) or input_select entities (dropdown selection) to store and change modes like this. Here are some ideas:

https://community.home-assistant.io/t/what-are-your-house-modes/759975

[ripe gale]

Thanks for the reply, that was a very helpful read and I've got my first select input working!

[forest shore]

In combination with voice control and other automations (triggers) I use 2 input_select helpers to manage Home, Holiday, Alarm and Time of Day modes.
Holiday mode disables majority of automation based on label applied, ideally this would be if no label applied, but can't work that out yet unless I disable all then re-enable only those with a particular label.