Overview

Details control the organization-specific data shown on positions, employees, job codes, departments, and approval requests. They define which built-in details are available, which custom details your organization adds, where those details appear, which option values users can select, and how status values affect counts and workflows.

FTE Tree separates this setup into five areas:

  • Built-in details: Settings for details included with FTE Tree.
  • Custom details: Organization-defined details for capturing additional data.
  • Detail display: Where details appear, their order on each page or report, and whether they are searchable, importable, or reportable where the record type supports those behaviors.
  • Option sets: Selectable values used by custom details and other configurable details.
  • Status values: Status choices for positions and employees, including behavior settings such as whether a status counts as active.

Access needed

Activity Access needed
Configure position details Manage position attributes
Configure employee details Manage employee attributes
Configure department, job code, or approval request details Manage departments, Manage job codes, or Manage approval workflows
Access setup See Permissions and roles.

Built-in details and custom details

Built-in details are included with FTE Tree. They provide the standard data needed for position control, such as:

  • Position: Name, status, department, job code, FTE, base wage rate, reports to, adjustments, and funding source.
  • Employee: Name, status, FTE, job code, reports to, and base wage rate.
  • Job code: Default wage rate, adjustments, parent job code, and pay grade.
  • Approval request: Justification.
  • Department: Parent department.

Built-in details cannot be deleted. Their settings can still be adjusted where FTE Tree allows it, such as whether the detail is required, where it appears, or whether changes require approval.

Funding source is a position built-in detail because it supports multiple source and percentage rows. It is visible by default and optional by default. Its selectable values are managed through the Funding source option set. When funding source is filled in, its rows must use two-decimal percentages that total exactly 100.00%.

Custom details are details you create to extend the data captured for each area. Custom details can be created, edited, reordered, deactivated, and deleted when they are no longer needed and have no recorded values that require preservation.

Detail settings are found under Settings, organized by area. Select the row for the area you want to configure, such as Position, Employee, Job code, Approval request, or Department.

Depending on the area, you may see links for:

  • Built-in details: Configure details included with FTE Tree.
  • Custom details: Create and manage organization-defined details.
  • Detail display: Choose where built-in and custom details appear, including supported forms, lists, trees, reports, imports, search surfaces, and approval request intake pages.
  • Option sets: Manage values used by select-style details.
  • Status values: Manage status labels and behavior for record types that have a status.

Creating a custom detail

To create a custom detail, navigate to the desired area's Custom details page and click Create custom detail. The following settings are available:

  • Label: The name displayed on forms, detail pages, lists, and reports. It must be unique for that area within your organization.
  • Data type: The kind of information the detail stores. The data type cannot be changed after the detail is created. If you need a different type, create a new detail and deactivate or delete the old one.
  • Help text: Optional guidance displayed with the detail on forms.
  • Required: When enabled, users must provide a value when creating or updating a record in that area.
  • Option set: For single-select and multi-select details, select the option set that provides the available values.

Common data types include text, integer, decimal, date, time, email, yes/no, single select, and multi select.

After creating a custom detail, use Detail display to choose where it appears. A detail can appear in one area and be hidden from another; for example, a detail can remain available on an edit form while being hidden from a list or report.

Built-in and custom detail settings

Built-in details and custom details share many of the same configuration options:

  • Approval level: Controls whether changes require approval. Details set to No approval required take effect immediately when saved. Level 1 and above require the approval workflow before the change becomes approved.
  • Required: Controls whether users must provide a value.
  • Currency: Displays numeric values with your organization's currency symbol.
  • Active: Controls whether the detail is available for new entries. Deactivating a custom detail hides it from new forms while preserving existing data. Built-in details cannot be deactivated unless FTE Tree specifically allows it.
  • Detail display: Controls where the detail appears, the order in each supported area, and whether users can search, import, or report on it where those options are available. Required active details must remain available in at least one editable area unless your organization marks the detail as import-only.

Display, import, report, and search behavior

Detail display settings are scoped to the record type and surface that supports them. For example, a position custom detail can appear on position forms, position detail pages, position lists, reports, imports, and eligible search or filter areas. Employee, job-code, department, and approval request details follow the same principle: the detail can only be enabled where that record type supports the selected display area.

Importable details appear in the relevant batch import templates when the import type supports that record type and mode. Reportable details can be included in reports or exports that expose that record type's data. Searchable details can participate in the applicable search or filter surface. Hiding a detail from one surface does not delete its stored values or necessarily hide it everywhere else.

When your organization renames built-in details or labels, downloaded templates and report output use your current labels. Use the downloaded template as the source of truth for import column headers.

Reordering details

Detail order controls the default sequence for entry and detail views. Detail display order controls the sequence for a specific list, tree, form, report, or intake page. Use the move controls on the detail list to adjust detail order, and use Detail display to adjust order for each area.

When you save detail display settings, FTE Tree keeps the order for each area in a clean sequence. If two details are given the same order number, the detail you saved most recently keeps that place, and the other matching detail is placed next in the new order.

Deleting a custom detail

Custom details can be deleted from the detail page when they have no existing values recorded for that detail. If the detail has been used, deactivate it instead so historical data remains intact.

Built-in details cannot be deleted.

Effective dating and approval status

Detail values can be effective-dated where the detail supports history. Each value has an optional effective start date that determines when it takes effect. If left blank, the value is treated as always active and displayed as "Initial". Multiple values can exist for the same detail with different effective dates, allowing you to track changes over time. The current value is the value with the latest effective start date on or before the viewing date. Effective-dated position custom detail values can also split report periods, so reports use the value that applies on each calculation date.

Each detail value also has an approval status:

  • Draft: The value has been entered but has not been approved. Draft values are indicated on the relevant detail pages.
  • Approved: The value has been approved, either automatically or through the approval workflow, and is the official record as of its effective date.

When a position built-in detail or position custom detail has an approval level of 1 or higher, new values and changes must go through the approval workflow before they take effect. Details set to No approval required auto-approve immediately. Approval controls whether a value is official; the effective start date controls when the value applies. See Working with approval requests for details on the approval process.

Option sets

Option sets define selectable values for single-select and multi-select details. They are managed separately from details so a single option set can be reused where appropriate.

Manage option sets

Open the Option sets link for the relevant area to create, edit, or delete option sets. Each option set contains one or more option values. An option set cannot be deleted while it is in use.

Option values

Each option set contains one or more option values. The following settings are available for each value:

  • Name: The label displayed to users when selecting from the list. It must be unique within the option set.
  • Display order: Controls the order values appear in the selection list.
  • Default: Marks this value as the default selection when creating new entries. Only one value per option set can be the default.
  • Available: When enabled, the value appears for new selections. Deactivating a value hides it from future use while preserving it in existing records.

Status values

Status values define the choices available for status details on positions and employees. They also carry behavior settings used by FTE Tree:

  • Position statuses can be configured to count, or not count, as active positions.
  • Employee statuses can be configured to count, or not count, as active employees.

This lets your organization customize visible status labels while making each status's behavior clear. For example, a position status value with Counts as active position enabled counts toward active position totals and your paid position count.

Status value sets must keep an available default value, at least one available value that counts for the behavior, and at least one available value that does not count for the behavior.

Activity history

Changes to detail settings, option sets, option values, and status values are tracked in Activity history where available. Use the relevant settings page Activity history tab or detail-page history link to review who changed a setting and when.