Activity history shows significant saved changes, including who made the change, when it happened, and what was affected. A position request also keeps its submitted values, approval path, decisions, notes, files, comments, and approved changes together.

Use activity history to confirm a specific saved action and reports or exports to review activity across many records. Use comments for discussion and approval notes for decisions. An activity note explains a saved change but does not create an entry by itself when no value changed.

Before you begin

Activity Permission and scope required
View activity history on a record The record’s viewing permission, such as View positions, View employees, View labor budgets, or View actual compensation
Configure activity history note settings Manage organization settings
Download a related report The report’s data access plus Export reports
Access setup See Roles and permissions.

What is tracked

FTE Tree records important position-control actions, including:

Area Tracked activity
Positions Created, updated, copied as a new draft, archived, or discarded while still an eligible unsubmitted draft.
Position drafts and submitted changes Drafted or discarded before submission, submitted with fixed values and files, approved, denied, invalidated, cancelled, or applied.
Employees Created, updated, deactivated, reactivated, assigned, or changed through dated fields.
Job codes Created, updated, made unavailable or available, or changed through dated fields.
Position assignments Created, updated, ended, cancelled, voided, or vacated.
Organization setup Department, job code, work schedule, compensation, adjustment, and custom field changes.
Approval setup Step order, field and request-type step requirements, and department approver assignments.
Approval decisions Approval, denial, direct responses, responses recorded for another approver, overrides, invalidation, and cancellation.
Imports Uploaded, checked, failed, applied, stopped, or downloaded.
Reports Generated, previewed, or downloaded.
User access and security Role, department access, invitation, session, and security setting changes.

The exact details shown depend on what changed and the user’s current position, employee, compensation, access, security, or billing access. Activity history never bypasses those boundaries.

The Actor filter follows the person responsible, including when their name changes. Entries keep the name recorded at the time of the action. People who share a name remain separate choices. Automated activity has its own choices, and support activity appears as FTE Tree support.

Contact us opens FTE Tree’s external contact form. Contact messages are separate from organization activity history.

Where to review activity

Start from the record you are investigating, then open Activity history from the clock icon at the far right of the page actions. Activity history opens in a large overlay with the full timeline, available filters, and change details. Close it or press Escape to return to the same place on your record. It does not appear in the left navigation or as a page tab or item-specific action.

The record name beneath Activity history links to the record. Use this link when you open history in another tab or follow a shared history link.

History location What it covers
Position Position values, proposed changes, comments, assignment changes, and approval links.
Employee Employee profile, employment status, and assignment-related changes.
Department Department details, hierarchy changes, approval-step approver assignments, and organization structure changes. Workforce Planning can also include funding setup.
Approval request Submitted values, approval path, approver decisions, cancellation, responses recorded for another approver, overrides, and when approved changes took effect.
Import Uploaded files, results, applied rows, corrections, and downloads in the import’s Activity history view.
Report Generated reports and downloads.

Use reports or exports when the question spans many records or a date range that would be inefficient to review one record at a time.

Action notes

Some actions can show one text box for an action note. A person with the Manage organization settings permission can set each configurable event’s note to Off, Optional, or Required under Settings > Audit event notes. FTE Tree supplies the note label and guidance for the event so people are asked for the right kind of context.

Use an action note for context a later reviewer cannot learn from the changed fields alone. For example, explain that an approved position should remain open after an employee departure, that a selected candidate withdrew before the start date, or that a 0.50 FTE assignment provides shared coverage across two programs. Do not repeat the visible change or include employee, compensation, or other sensitive details that do not belong in the note.

The selected policy applies to future actions. Changing a note from Required to Optional or Off does not remove notes already saved in activity history.

Audit event notes do not have organization-managed choice lists. This setting does not change approval request reasons, sensitive justification, decision comments, or a reason that is built into a specific action. Those fields follow the rules described for their workflow.

Approval decisions use a short comment. Your organization separately configures whether comments are required when approving and when denying. The same outcome rule applies to direct decisions and decisions recorded on behalf of an approver. The Override request action always requires a reason.

Automatic activities that already describe the change, such as moving an approval step earlier or later, do not offer an organization-configurable note. The activity still appears in history with the changed order.

Billing activity does not offer organization-configurable note settings.

Action notes are separate from comments. Use comments for discussion. Use action notes when the note explains the action being saved.

Approval request history

Approval requests preserve the approval path that applied when the request was submitted. Later approval-setting changes do not change that saved path.

The request history can include:

Information Details preserved
Request Request type and request number.
Requested changes Position values and effective dates.
Impact Approved-versus-proposed FTE impact.
Approval path Required step and approvers chosen for each step the request must complete.
Supporting information Optional supporting files, request comments, and decision comments.
Approval activity Decisions recorded on behalf of an approver, use of Override request, and approved changes that took effect.

This makes it possible to explain both the final decision and how the request reached that decision.

Review checklist

Use the history to answer four questions:

Question What to review
Who took part? The person who submitted the request or changed the record, each approver, and anyone who recorded a response for another approver or used an override.
What was requested? The approved value, proposed value, calculated impact, reasons, notes, and attachments.
Which dates apply? The effective date for each changed value and the date the final change took effect.
How was it decided? The approval path saved at submission and every approval, denial, invalidation, cancellation, or override.

Reviewing these questions separately helps distinguish the staffing decision from later setting changes.

File attachments and security

Approval requests can include named required files and additional supporting files. FTE Tree checks files before reviewers can download them. Correct an unacceptable file before submission. Submitted files cannot be replaced: follow Correct or close a request when a submitted request needs a different file.

Do not upload documents that are not needed for the business decision. Attach only supporting files that reviewers genuinely need for the decision.

Reviewing history

Use Activity history on the item you are reviewing when you need its full history. Use reports when you need to review many items, approval activity, report downloads, imports, or access changes across a date range.

Retention expectations

Activity history, report history, and history exports are kept according to the organization’s retention rules. Notification delivery details or security activity may be kept for a shorter time than staffing and approval history. See Data retention and account deletion for details.

Common mistakes

  • Using comments when an approval decision note is required.
  • Uploading more sensitive material than the request needs.
  • Reviewing today’s position page when the question is about a prior effective date.
  • Assuming a later approval-setting change altered an already-submitted request.
  • Comparing a report total to a position’s Summary or Details page without checking the report date range.