Overview

Assignments connect Employees to Positions for a date range. FTE Tree uses them to show who fills a Position, how much assignment FTE is active, and whether a Position is vacant on a selected date.

Position cost and Assigned cost are separate. Position cost uses the Position’s approved values and can remain budgeted when the Position is vacant. In a Position’s Staffing section, Operating budget FTE is the approved FTE used to compare assigned FTE and vacancy. Assigned cost uses active assignment FTE with the Position’s effective base pay assumption. Employee records do not define a standard pay amount.

Access needed

Activity Access needed
View assignments View positions and View employees for the positions and employees you need to view
Create, update, or end assignments Manage employees for the employee’s owning department and every affected position department
Review assignment history The view permission for the related position or employee
View pay or assigned cost View employees, View positions, and View sensitive workforce data for every department included in the calculation
Access setup See Permissions and roles.

Where assignments appear

Select Workforce, then Assignments to review assignments across positions and employees. You can also manage assignments from a position or from an employee’s Positions tab.

You can filter assignments by current, future, ended, or inactive employee. Search by employee or position to find the assignment you need.

Assignment management is part of employee management. It does not require permission to edit the position itself. The position list can show the name, department, availability, and remaining assignment FTE needed to choose an eligible position; this does not grant general access to other position pages.

For a cross-department assignment, you need employee management for the employee’s owning department and each position’s department. If any department is outside your access, FTE Tree does not apply any part of the change.

Assignment details

Each assignment has an effective date when it starts. It can also have an end date, which is the first date when the assignment no longer counts.

Assignment type is a descriptive category: regular, shared, backfill, overlap, or acting. It can help people distinguish assignments in lists and imports, but it does not change staffing, headcount, vacancy, cost, or assignment rules. Use Regular when another description does not add useful context.

External assignment ID is the source assignment ID from an HRIS, payroll service, or another system. It helps FTE Tree match later imports to the same assignment. It is optional for assignments managed manually and does not connect FTE Tree to the source system by itself.

Assignment FTE indicates the portion of the position filled by the employee. For example, two employees might each fill 0.5000 assignment FTE on one 1.0000 FTE position.

Date range examples

Assignment dates Selected date Result
Starts January 1, no end date March 1 Assignment is active.
Starts January 1, ends June 30 June 30 Assignment is no longer active.
Starts July 1, no end date June 15 Assignment is future-dated and does not count yet.
Starts July 1, ends September 30 August 1 Assignment is active for that point in time.

An assignment starts on its effective date and stops counting on its end date. Use this date rule consistently so reports and position pages match your expectations.

Assignment FTE and vacancy

Assignment FTE is compared with the position’s approved operating budget FTE. This helps users see whether a position is filled, partially filled, overfilled, or vacant for a selected date.

Examples:

  • Position operating budget FTE is 1.0000 and active assignment FTE totals 1.0000: fully filled.
  • Position operating budget FTE is 1.0000 and active assignment FTE totals 0.5000: partially filled.
  • Position operating budget FTE is 0.7500 and active assignment FTE totals 1.0000: overfilled for that point in time.
  • Position has no active assignment: vacant for staffing review, while position cost may still remain budgeted.

Position cost and Assigned cost can differ. Position cost reflects the approved Position values, including Position Adjustments. Assigned cost reflects active assignment FTE valued with the Position’s effective Base pay rate and Pay rate basis.

Assigned cost is calculated separately for each active assignment from its four-decimal assignment FTE, the Position Base pay rate and basis, and applicable annual hours. Each assignment result is rounded to cents before the assignment costs are added.

Position Adjustments do not change Assigned cost. Assigned cost uses assignment FTE rather than adjusted Position FTE and uses the Position Base pay rate. Position annual cost Adjustments are not included.

Exact pay rates and pay-derived assigned costs appear only when View sensitive workforce data covers every department included in the calculation. Without that access, FTE Tree can still show position information you are allowed to view, assignment FTE, staffing, or vacancy information without revealing the pay rate.

Ending and vacancy actions

These actions have distinct meanings:

Action or status Use it when How calculations treat the assignment
Ended The assignment was valid for a real period and now stops. It counts from its start date through the day before its end date.
Cancelled A planned future assignment is cancelled before it begins. It never counts on any selected date.
Voided The assignment was entered in error and should never have counted. It never counts on any selected date.

Vacating, cancelling, or voiding an assignment preserves the assignment, reason, and history. Vacating a position ends its active assignment on that date. Cancelled does not mean an assignment was once active; Voided does not create a shortened valid period.

Employee deactivation ends current assignments and cancels future assignments for the selected employee. It does not delete assignment history. Past, ended, cancelled, and voided assignments remain visible in history and reports where applicable.

When ending an assignment, review future assignments for the same employee and position. A future assignment can leave the position vacant today but fill it again later.

Use comments or activity history when the reason for an assignment change is important to future reviewers. Do not remove assignment history to correct an earlier staffing period; end or update the effective dates instead.

Imports and reports

Position assignments have their own import type. Every imported assignment needs an External assignment ID, which acts as its stable source assignment ID. FTE Tree uses it to create, update, or end the correct assignment. Keep the same ID when updating an assignment, and use a new ID for a distinct assignment. See Batch imports and exports for template columns and setup order.

Reports and position pages use active assignments when calculating assigned cost and assigned headcount. Use Reports when you need date-range results or exports.

Common checks

If assigned cost, vacancy, or staffing totals look unexpected, review:

  • The selected effective date.
  • Whether the assignment start and end dates include that date.
  • Whether the employee is active.
  • Assignment FTE compared with operating budget FTE.
  • Whether the Position has the expected Base pay rate and basis for Assigned cost.
  • Whether a future assignment or employee deactivation changed the dates you are reviewing.