Set up a small working example before adding your whole organization. Start by creating an organization or accepting your team’s invitation, then follow the order below. For a complete guided example, use Learn FTE Tree from beginning to end.

Setup connects the choices your team will use: departments organize responsibility, job classifications describe work, schedules describe working arrangements, and roles determine access. Approval setup identifies who must review position requests. Prepare those shared choices before creating records that rely on them.

The sequence is to prepare the organization, set up positions and staffing choices, arrange access and approvals, and test a complete example. Add financial setup if you use Workforce Budgeting. You can divide these responsibilities among several people while using the same sample to check that everything works together.

Assign setup responsibilities

Area Management permission
Organization details Manage organization settings
Departments Manage departments
Approval policy Manage approval setup
Shared custom fields Manage custom fields
Job groups and job classifications Manage job catalog
Schedules and reusable position choices Manage position setup
Members Manage members
Role definitions Manage access roles
Role assignments Assign access, with reviewed assignment authority
Budget rates Manage labor budgets
Shared budget and adjustment setup Manage labor budget setup
Protected employee pay Manage actual compensation
Subscription and payments Manage billing

One person may cover several areas. Use Roles and permissions to give each person the responsibilities and department access they need.

Build the organization foundation

Open Settings, then Organization. Confirm:

  • Organization name and time zone.
  • History start date, which is the earliest date supported for your organization’s information.
  • FTE decimal display. FTE means full-time equivalent. Automatic keeps related values aligned on screen; imports and exports retain four decimals.
  • Names used for departments, job classifications, people, and other records.
  • A recognizable support contact and sign-in, email, and MFA requirements.

Choose stable terminology. Changing a label does not change what the record means. See Manage organization settings and Company sign-in for the detailed choices.

Prepare departments and position choices

  1. Create departments and any departments beneath them.
  2. Add job groups and job classifications, and make the job classifications available to the intended departments and dates.
  3. Add work schedules.
  4. Configure position numbering, external IDs, assignment rules, required fields, and choice lists.
  5. Review effective dates before creating records that use these choices.

Use the linked guides in Organization setup and administration for each area. Do not reuse a code for a different meaning.

Configure access and approvals

Start with a small setup team. Review starter roles, choose department coverage, and create custom roles only where needed. Test that each person can open the intended departments, perform the intended actions, and see financial information or download reports only when authorized.

Configure request steps, approvers, and files before broad use. Assign every editable Position field, including Position status, to a step in the shared workflow. Set the required review for New position and Replacement hiring. Review starter approver assignments and confirm each required step has an eligible reviewer other than the requester, including in departments that inherit approvers.

Then invite the wider team.

Check a complete sample

  1. Create a draft position with department, job classification, schedule, FTE, and reporting line.
  2. Submit and complete its New position request for the intended effective date.
  3. Create an employee and an assignment to the approved position.
  4. Check approved, assigned, and vacant FTE.
  5. If using budgets, add a budget rate and check its result. If using employee pay, add the protected pay entry separately.
  6. Run the reports your team will use regularly and compare a representative row with the record.

For the walkthrough, create one full-time position and assign one full-time employee to it. The position is fully staffed, with no vacancy. Its $70,000 yearly budget plus a 20% benefits estimate gives a total yearly budget of $84,000. The walkthrough explains each entry and calculation in order.

Starting with an empty practice organization? Set up practice data supplies the downloadable background records and a handover checklist. Continue with the guided tutorial once the organization is prepared.

Check dates, required files, approval steps, and access with the people who will use them. Correct unexpected results before a larger import.

Use the setup guide

The organization setup guide links to the tasks for your organization. Someone with Manage organization settings can choose Hide setup shortcut to hide it for everyone. Return through Settings, then Organization setup guide, and choose Show setup shortcut to restore it. Hiding the shortcut does not remove setup information.

Keep administration current

Review Continue with
Users, roles, department coverage, and backup administrators Users and access
Sign-in requirements and recovery arrangements Company sign-in
Approver coverage, reminders, and outstanding requests Request setup
Missing staffing, budget, or pay information Issues
Edition, usage, billing contact, and payments Billing and subscriptions
Recorded changes and decisions Activity history
Report expiration, file handling, and organization deletion Retention and deletion
Agreed connections and who maintains imported pay Human resources system connections

Assign someone to maintain each area and a backup where continuity matters. Review responsibilities when staff leave, departments change, or new financial processes begin. Tell your team how to reach its administrator and FTE Tree support.

Optional practice: set up a small example before adding everyone

For exercises that change records, use a separate practice organization and complete the preparation below.

Practice steps and checks
  1. Create Evergreen or join it through your invitation.
  2. Add the Outpatient Services department, Patient Services Coordinator job classification, and Weekdays schedule.
  3. Give a requester and a different reviewer the access they need.
  4. Follow the full walkthrough to create the coordinator position. Create Avery Reed’s employee record with Outpatient Services as the department on the employee record, then assign Avery to the position.
  5. Enter the budget and pay if you use Workforce Budgeting.

From January 1, 2027, the position should be 1.0 FTE and Avery should fill all of it. The yearly budget is $70,000 plus $14,000 benefits = $84,000. Avery’s yearly compensation is $60,000 plus $12,000 benefits = $72,000.

Work through any missing information before importing your full organization. Use separate practice positions for experiments so everyone can return to the original example.