Overview

FTE Tree includes comments, messages, mentions, and email notifications so users can discuss staffing and approval work from the related position, employee, or request.

Comments are separate from approval decision comments. Use request comments for discussion and the decision comment to explain an approval, denial, decision recorded for another approver, or override.

Notifications help users return to the record that needs attention. They do not change permissions, approval review, or activity history.

Access needed

Activity Access needed
View messages Active organization membership
View comments Matching view access for the position or employee; approval-request comments also require current Position access and View sensitive workforce data for the complete request
Add comments Manage positions for position comments; Manage employees for employee comments; complete current Position access and View sensitive workforce data for an approval request; closed requests accept follow-up notes instead of standard comments
Configure notification defaults Organization user settings or collaboration settings access
Access setup See Permissions and roles.
Change your own email notification choices Active membership in the organization

Comments

Comments can appear on records such as positions, employees, and approval requests. Matching view access permits reading existing Position or Employee comments, while Manage positions or Manage employees is required to add, reply to, edit, or redact those comments. Approval-request comments are protected request information: being assigned to approve the request does not reveal its comments without current Position access and View sensitive workforce data for the complete request.

Comments support:

  • Threaded replies.
  • Mentions limited to users who can view the record.
  • Editing by the comment author, with complete saved versions available from the Edited link.
  • Follow and mute controls.
  • Email notifications based on user and organization settings.

Use comments when you need a visible discussion about the record. Use an approval note when the note explains an approval decision. Use an action note when the note explains the action being saved.

When you edit a comment, Save changes replaces the version shown in the discussion and keeps the earlier complete version in comment history. Saving without changing the text does not create another version. People who can view the related item can open the history of an active edited comment.

When an approval request closes, its earlier comments can no longer be edited or replied to. People who still have access to the protected request can add a clearly marked follow-up note. A follow-up note does not reopen the request or change its decision, and it cannot be edited or replied to after it is added. Redact comment remains available to the author or an authorized administrator when text should no longer be displayed. Redaction hides the text while retaining the earlier versions; only administrators with access can review redacted comment history.

Mentions and replies

Mention a user when you need that person to review the record or respond to a question. FTE Tree limits mentions to users who can view the record, which prevents a comment from exposing restricted information to someone without access.

Replies stay with the original comment thread. This makes it easier to keep a staffing question, attachment question, or approval clarification together instead of spreading it across separate messages.

Messages

Messages notify users about work that needs attention, such as approval tasks, request updates, mentions, account changes, or support activity. Use the message list to review unread and recent messages.

Messages can link back to the related record. Open the record before acting so you can confirm the current status, effective dates, attachments, comments, and activity history.

A sender can choose Remove from Sent for a message they sent. This changes only the sender’s Sent view. Recipient copies, delivery history, message content, and activity history remain.

Follow and mute

Follow a thread when you want updates about future replies or approval-request follow-up notes. Mute a thread when you no longer need comment email for that discussion. Follow and mute settings affect comment notifications only. Approval email has separate choices on the Notifications page.

You may be followed automatically after you comment, reply, or are mentioned. You can change your own email choices at any time.

Email notifications

Open the account menu, choose Profile, and then choose Notifications while you are in the organization. Your choices are separate for each organization.

For Requests needing my action, choose:

  • Immediately: Send one email for each new assignment or reminder.
  • Daily summary: Combine new assignments and reminders that become due into one email after your selected time.
  • In FTE Tree only: Do not send assignment or reminder email.

Every assignment appears in your approval list immediately in all three modes. A daily summary sends only when something is new or due; it does not repeat every outstanding request each day. Open FTE Tree to review the full request because the email does not include protected request details.

The Daily approval summary time uses your saved home time zone. It controls approval summaries only.

Final-status email is separate. Requests I submitted controls results for requests you submitted and starts on. Requests I acted on controls results for requests you approved or denied and starts off. If you are both the requester and a decision participant, your requester choice applies.

For comment mentions and replies, choose one email option:

  • Off: Do not send comment email.
  • After missed activity: Wait to see whether you read or archive the FTE Tree notification first.
  • In digest: Group unread comment activity into a scheduled email.
  • Immediately: Send email as soon as possible.

The Comment digest schedule combines unread eligible mentions, replies, and followed-thread activity set to In digest. It does not control approval summaries. A daily comment digest is sent after the displayed time. A weekly comment digest is sent on the displayed day after that time in your home time zone.

These choices affect email only. Your approval list and eligible FTE Tree messages remain available. Sign-in, account security, invitations, billing, and service email use their own rules.

When email is delayed or missing

Check these items before opening a support request:

  • Confirm your email address is correct and verified.
  • Review Profile > Notifications in the correct organization.
  • Check whether the thread is muted.
  • For missed-activity email, confirm that you did not already read or archive the notification.
  • For an approval summary, confirm that its daily time has passed and that a new assignment or reminder became due before it was sent.
  • For a comment digest, confirm that its separate daily or weekly delivery time has passed.
  • Confirm that you still have access to the record that generated the message.
  • Check spam or quarantine rules for your email service.

If an approval email is missing, open the approval work list directly. Approval work remains visible there when you have the needed access.

Organization defaults

Administrators with permission to manage organization settings can open Settings, filter to Organization, and choose Email notifications to configure the default comment email choice, missed-activity delay, digest frequency, weekly digest day, and digest delivery time. The default applies only when a member has not saved their own comment email choice; changing it does not replace saved choices. Each user chooses their own approval assignment, approval result, and comment email settings for each organization.

Retention and review

Comments and messages stay with the related position, employee, or request. Comment history contains the complete saved versions of an edited comment and is separate from activity history. Use Activity history when you need to review changes to the related item rather than a discussion thread.