Welcome

This guide helps new users get oriented after joining an organization in FTE Tree. Your organization administrator has already set up the structure, access roles, and workflows. This guide walks you through setting up your account and using the key features available to you.

If you are an administrator setting up a new organization, see Getting started: organization setup instead.

Set up your account

After accepting your organization invitation, take a few minutes to configure your account.

  • Profile: Update your name and manage your email addresses under your account settings.
  • Password: Set a strong, unique password. If your organization uses Single sign-on (SSO), you can connect your Microsoft, Google, or configured enterprise identity account.
  • Multi-factor authentication (MFA): If your organization requires MFA, you will be prompted to set it up using an authenticator app. Save your recovery codes in a secure location.
  • Preferences: Set your default organization, time zone, theme, and the number of table rows displayed per page.
  • Email notifications: Configure which events trigger email notifications from your profile settings.

For full details, see User accounts and Authentication and security.

Understand access

Your access is based on access roles assigned by your organization administrator. Access roles grant capabilities such as viewing positions, submitting requests, managing users, or running reports. Some capabilities are limited to specific department scope sets, so you may see only the departments relevant to your role.

Approval roles are separate from access roles. If you are assigned as an approver through a workflow or approval role, approval requests may appear for your review even if you do not manage the underlying department data.

Understand your dashboard

The dashboard is your home screen after signing in. It provides quick access to:

  • Open approvals that need your review.
  • Submitted requests and their status.
  • Messages sent to you by other users or the system.
  • Task status showing items that need your attention.
  • Recent activity you have worked on.

For full details, see Dashboard.

The search box in the left sidebar runs a fast, organization-scoped search across positions, employees, departments, job codes, approval requests, requisitions, and users. Start typing and a dropdown of grouped results appears. Press Enter or click See all results to open the full results page. Search only returns records you have permission to view.

Positions are the core of FTE Tree. Each position represents a staffing slot with a unique position number, linked to a department and job code.

  • Positions: A searchable table of all positions you have access to, accessible from Positions in the main navigation.
  • Position summary: An aggregated view showing totals for FTE, position cost, incumbent cost, and headcount.
  • Org chart: A visual hierarchy of positions based on parent-child relationships.
  • Position details: Click any position to view its full detail, including fields, adjustments, schedule, funding sources, and comments.

For full details, see Positions.

Work with departments

Departments form the organizational hierarchy. Your access to departments depends on the access roles and department scope sets assigned to you by your administrator.

  • Department settings: View department settings, assigned role users, job code mappings, and GL strings.
  • Department workspace: Access summary metrics for a department, including FTE and cost totals across time periods.

For full details, see Department tree.

Manage employees

Employees are the individuals assigned to positions. If you have employee access, you can view and manage employee records.

  • Each employee has a Name, Employee ID, Position assignment, Status, and Base wage rate.
  • Employee fields support historical effective dating.
  • Comments on employee records allow collaboration with other users.

For full details, see Employees.

Understand adjustments

Adjustments modify FTE, wage rate, or annual wage amounts on positions.

  • View a position's active adjustments on its detail page.
  • Adjustments are applied in calculation order and can include caps.
  • Some adjustments may be available only in Organization Scenarios.

For full details, see Position adjustments.

Use forecast scenarios

Scenarios let you model staffing changes without affecting the Operating Budget.

  • The Operating Budget represents the committed position plan and cannot be edited directly from scenario pages.
  • Organization scenarios are shared across users and support adjustment assumptions.
  • User scenarios are personal workspaces for drafting changes.
  • Changes made in a scenario must be submitted for approval before they are promoted to the Operating Budget.

For full details, see Forecast scenarios.

Submit and review approval requests

When you make changes to position fields that have an approval level of 1 or higher, those changes enter a draft state and must be submitted for approval.

  • Submit approval request: Select the positions with draft changes and submit an approval request.
  • Request status: Track your requests through Pending, In process, Approved, Denied, and Cancelled statuses.
  • Review requests: If you are an approver, pending requests appear on your dashboard.
  • Delegation: If you will be unavailable, your administrator can delegate your approval responsibilities to another user. Self-service delegation may also be available.

For full details, see Working with approval requests.

Run reports

FTE Tree provides several report types to analyze your organization's staffing data.

  • Position summary: Detailed position data with configurable columns and filters.
  • Vacancy/requisition: Tracks open positions and requisition status.
  • Employee roster: Lists employee assignments and fields.
  • Approval workflow: Shows approval request activity and status.
  • Reports can be exported as CSV, Excel, or viewed On-screen as HTML.
  • Summary reports provide pre-configured aggregated views by department, job code, and time period.

For full details, see Reports.

Messages and notifications

Stay informed through comments, messages, and email notifications.

  • Comments: Threaded discussions available on positions, employees, approval workflows, and requisitions.
  • Messages: Organization-wide or targeted announcements.
  • Email notifications: Configure which events send you email from your profile preferences.

For full details, see Messages and notifications.