General settings for FTE Tree

The following general settings allow you to configure how positions are displayed and calculated across your organization.

  • Job code label: The job code label is configurable for your organization. Updating the label here will be reflected throughout the application.

  • Headcount FTE amount: Positions with an FTE greater than or equal to this value count toward headcount. By default, this is set to 0.0000, meaning all active positions count as headcount regardless of FTE. For example, if you want to exclude positions with 0.0000 FTEs from headcount totals, change this value to 0.0001. This setting accepts values up to four decimal places.

For headcount threshold examples, see Position calculations and examples.

  • Padding digits for position number: New positions receive the next position number for your organization. This setting pads the displayed number with leading zeros. For example, the 132nd position with padding digits set to four and the default prefix is displayed as POS-0132. Set to 0 for no padding digits. If the number of positions exceeds your setting, this value is automatically updated unless set to 0.

  • Prefix for position label: This setting adds a prefix to the position number and defaults to "POS-". The hyphen is part of the prefix, so you can remove it by changing the prefix to "POS" or leave the prefix blank.

Calculating annual hours per FTE

FTE Tree's primary function is to calculate FTEs, so it's crucial that we calculate your FTEs correctly. The annual hours per FTE help us achieve this.

There are two typical ways you may wish to enter positions into FTE Tree, and we are well-prepared to handle both scenarios. FTE Tree reports annual totals for positions, as would be used in a typical budget cycle. To obtain those annual costs for your position control, you may enter the data as follows:

When configuring FTE Tree to calculate annual position costs based on an hourly wage rate, the system needs to know how many hours to multiply the base hourly wage by to arrive at an annual total.

Typically, this value is 2,080 hours, which represents 40 hours per week for 52 weeks in a standard year. In a leap year, you may choose to use 2,088 hours to reflect the additional day. You may enter any value you wish, with up to two decimal places, to match your organization’s compensation or budgeting methodology.

This setting controls the annualized run-rate cost calculation from hourly rates. It is separate from date-range allocation in reports. You do not need to change annual hours per FTE just to make reports handle leap years; FTE Tree already handles leap-year day weighting when reports allocate annualized costs over date ranges. Change annual hours per FTE only when your organization's annualization policy changes.

Option 2: entering annual base rates (less common)

If you prefer to enter an annual rate for the position, you may input a base wage rate for the entire year and enter an annual hours per FTE of 1. This method effectively uses the annual wage rate for your calculations.

When choosing this method, please be aware of the impact on position adjustments and how you enter them. Our flexible wage and FTE adjustments methodology can fully support this, but please note that the adjustments must also be entered accordingly, as the base values will effectively be the same as entering an annual differential amount.

Other considerations

If your organization uses a different budgeting period, such as a month or quarter, enter the annual hours that match your methodology. FTE Tree uses that value to calculate annual totals from base rates.

If you have a different number of annual hours per FTE each year, you can enter as many history records as you need. FTE Tree will use the appropriate value for the date being viewed, whether the date is today, already past, or in the future.

For example, if you want to use 2,088 hours for the 2024 calendar year (a leap year), enter 01/01/2024 with a value of 2,088. If you then switch to 2,080 hours for the 2025 calendar year, enter 01/01/2025 with a value of 2,080.

Report allocation is a separate report option. Actual calendar days is the default and uses each day as its actual share of the year, so February 2024 uses 29/366 and February 2025 uses 28/365. Even monthly smooths full months to 1/12 of the annualized cost and splits partial months by included days. Both methods allocate the annualized cost that came from the annual-hours setting.

For annualization examples using hourly wages, annual-rate setup, and effective-dated annual hours, see Position calculations and examples.

Weekly hours per FTE

Weekly hours per FTE defines what a "full-time" work week means for your organization. This value is used alongside schedules to derive each position's FTE:

FTE = schedule paid hours / weekly hours per FTE

For example, with 40.00 weekly hours per FTE:

  • A position with a 40-hour schedule = 1.00 FTE
  • A position with a 20-hour schedule = 0.50 FTE
  • A position with a 30-hour schedule = 0.75 FTE

Weekly hours per FTE is independent from the annual hours per FTE. A year is not exactly 52 weeks, so these values are configured separately. Weekly hours per FTE controls FTE derivation from schedules, while annual hours per FTE controls the cost calculation.

Like annual hours per FTE, you can enter multiple history records with different effective dates if your weekly FTE basis changes over time. Navigate to Settings > Position > Weekly hours per FTE to manage these records.

For schedule and weekly-hours examples, including alternate full-time standards, see Position calculations and examples.

Calculation precision and rounding

FTE Tree uses the following precision rules for calculations:

  • FTE and headcount: Calculated and stored to four decimal places for accuracy when aggregating across many positions. FTE adjustment amounts and FTE percentage impacts also use four decimal places. Summary views may use compact display, while calculation detail and reports expose the four-decimal values where precision matters.

  • Costs and rates: Calculated and stored to two decimal places (cents). Displayed as whole dollar amounts on summary views for readability. Detailed calculation breakdowns show full two-decimal precision. Exported at two-decimal precision in reports.

  • Hours: Calculated and stored to two decimal places.

  • Rounding: FTE percentage impacts round to four decimal places. Financial values such as costs, rates, and financial adjustments use standard rounding (half-up) to cents. Cost uses the exact FTE x annual-hours intermediate and rounds the final currency amount to cents.

See Position calculations and examples for examples that show four-decimal FTE, two-decimal cost, and rounded adjustment impacts.

Position base wage rate requirement

The Position Base wage rate core field controls whether each active position must carry its own wage rate.

  • When Position Base wage rate is required, new active positions and active position changes must have a position-level wage rate effective by the active calculation date. A job code default wage rate can still be useful for reference, but it does not satisfy the required position wage field.

  • When Position Base wage rate is optional, an active position can use either a position-level wage rate or an approved job code default wage rate effective by the active calculation date. Job code defaults can be inherited from parent job codes.

This setting affects approval readiness. A new position cannot become active, and a position change cannot create an active gap, if the applicable compensation source is missing or starts after the active date.

For examples of position wage, direct job-code default wage, inherited job-code default wage, incumbent wage, and fallback behavior, see Position calculations and examples.

External position ID settings

The external position ID allows you to link each position to an identifier in your HRIS or external system. The following settings control how this field behaves across the application.

  • Enable external position ID: When enabled, the external position ID field is shown on position detail pages, the position list, position field pages, and CSV imports. When disabled, the field is hidden throughout the application and external position IDs are ignored during imports.

  • Show on position create: When enabled, the external position ID field appears on the direct position create form. Leave this disabled if positions normally receive their HRIS identifier only after approval and creation in the external system.

  • External position ID label: The display label used for the external position ID field throughout the application. Change this to match the terminology your organization uses for external identifiers (e.g., "HRIS Reference", "SAP Position ID"). Defaults to "External Position ID".

  • External position ID required: When enabled, the external position ID must be provided anywhere the field is shown for editing, including single-position edits and batch edits. On direct position creation, this requirement applies only when Show on position create is also enabled. New position approval requests do not require the external position ID, because the HRIS identifier is often assigned after approval.

  • Batch edit external position ids: When external position IDs are enabled, a batch edit link appears in the position settings section. Users with the Configure position settings permission can use this to update external position IDs across multiple Operating Budget positions at once. The batch edit view supports searching by position name, number, or external ID, sorting by any column, and filtering inactive positions. See Positions for more details.

Department filters

Department filters control which department assignments grant a user visibility to a position. When a user has department-limited permissions, these settings determine which types of department assignments are used to match positions to the user's permitted departments. All four filters are enabled by default.

  • Department filter - approved as of today: Show positions based on the approved department as of today. This is the primary filter and matches positions to departments based on the most recent approved department assignment with an effective date on or before today.

  • Department filter - future approved: Show positions assigned to a future approved department. This matches positions that have an approved department assignment with an effective date after today, making upcoming transfers visible before they take effect.

  • Department filter - draft as of today: Show positions based on the draft department as of today. This matches positions that have an unapproved (draft) department assignment with an effective date on or before today, allowing users to see pending department changes while they await approval.

  • Department filter - future draft: Show positions assigned to a future draft department. This matches positions that have an unapproved department assignment with a future effective date. This is useful when new positions are created with a future start date, ensuring users can see the position while it is still in draft.

These filters work together. If a position matches any enabled filter for a department the user has access to, the position is visible to that user. Disabling a filter removes that type of department assignment when FTE Tree determines visibility.

Example: position department transfer

When a position is transferred from one department to another, these filters determine when each department's users gain or lose visibility:

  1. A draft is created to move the position to a new department. Users in the new department can see the position if the appropriate draft filter is enabled. Users in the original department retain visibility through the approved-as-of-today filter.

  2. The draft is approved. Users in the new department can see the position through the approved-as-of-today or approved-future filter, depending on the effective date.

  3. When the effective date arrives, the position's approved department as of today updates automatically, completing the transfer.

Funding source configuration

Funding sources allow you to track how position costs are allocated across different budgets, grants, or accounts. The funding source field uses an option set to define the available sources for your organization.

Funding source is a position core field because each value can contain multiple source and percentage rows. It is visible by default and optional by default. If your organization requires every position to have a funding allocation, update the position core field settings and mark funding source as required.

Managing funding source values

Funding source values are managed through the funding source option set in Settings > position > option sets. By default, three values are provided: General fund, Grant, and Self-funded. You can add, rename, or deactivate values to match your organization's funding structure.

To add a new funding source value, navigate to the option set and create a new option value. To remove a funding source from future use, deactivate the option value rather than deleting it, so that historical records remain intact.

Approval level

Like other position fields, the funding source field can be assigned an approval level. When an approval level is set, changes to a position's funding source allocation will require approval before taking effect. See Working with approval requests for details.

Position comments

Each position detail page includes a Comments tab where your users can have conversations about the position. Comments support threaded replies and user mentions with email and in-app notifications. Commenting on positions requires the Update positions permission. For more details, see Messages and notifications.

Need help?

If you have any questions about configuring your position settings, please contact us or email us at support@ftetree.com.