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 permissions such as viewing positions, submitting requests, managing users, or running reports. Some permissions are limited by department, 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 that department's data.

Understand Dashboard

Dashboard is your landing page after signing in. It provides quick access to:

  • Unread messages sent to you.
  • Open approvals that need your review.
  • Submitted requests and their status.
  • Staffing Strategy snapshot totals and opening attention, when you have access.
  • Recent positions and departments you have worked on.

For full details, see Dashboard.

The search box in the top application bar searches positions, employees, departments, job codes, approval requests, openings, scenarios, and users in your organization. Start typing to choose a filter such as Position, Employee, or Department, or enter plain text and submit the search. Search only returns records you have permission to view.

Positions are the core of FTE Tree. Each position represents a staffing slot with an organization-scoped 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, annualized position cost, annualized 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 access rules assigned to you by your administrator.

  • Department settings: View department settings, assigned role users, job code mappings, and GL strings.
  • Department workspace: Access point-in-time FTE and annualized run-rate cost totals for a department.

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 number, Position assignment, Status, and Base wage rate. External employee ID is optional HRIS or integration data when enabled for your organization.
  • 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 the order set by your organization and can include maximum amounts.
  • 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 become part of 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 in 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 in the Insights area to analyze your organization's staffing data.

  • Position summary: Summarizes Operating Budget FTE, cost, and headcount by department and period.
  • Opening forecast: Tracks open openings with requested FTE and approved cost for forecasting.
  • Employee roster: Lists current employees and their core attributes by department.
  • Approval workflow: Reviews approval requests by status, department, requester, FTE, and cost.
  • Reports can be exported as CSV, Excel, or Parquet, or viewed On-screen.
  • Planning comparison reports compare the Operating Budget with selected scenarios by position, GL string, portfolio total, or department variance bridge.

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 openings.
  • 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.