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Allocate time

Schedule allocations, assign tasks and learn about overtime indicators

Justyna Kawalec avatar
Written by Justyna Kawalec
Updated over a month ago

Add an allocation

To create an allocation, click and drag across a date on the Schedule to bring up the scheduling menu, or use the allocate time keyboard shortcut “T”.​

Allocate time.


​Set the allocation hours and select the corresponding client and project to add the allocation to a person's schedule.

Total Hours

If the allocation duration is longer than 1 day (e.g. July 1 - July 31), the Total hours field will become available and can be set.

Flexible End Date

By default, the duration will have a flexible end date.

flexible end-date modal


The end date is extended or reduced based on the total hours set in order to keep what was entered under the hours/day rate.

GIF total hours flexible end date

Fixed End Date

To retain the date range you've chosen for the allocation duration (e.g., July 1 - July 31) and distribute the total hours evenly across the workdays within that period, enable the Fixed end date option.

fixed end date modal

The total number of hours you’ve set for the period (e.g. 200) will automatically calculate the Hours/day value to spread it evenly across the available workdays while keeping the duration (e.g. July 1 - 31).

📝 Note: When an individual schedules time off after an allocation with a fixed end date has been set, the system automatically deducts the time off from the total hours in that allocation. Additionally, a notification is sent to both the person who created the allocation and the Project Owner (if they are different individuals) to inform them of the change.

GIF fixed end date

📝 Note: After enabling the Fixed end date option, it will be saved and set as the default for all future task allocations.


Assigning to Multiple People

If the Fixed end date is enabled, you won't be able to assign this allocation to multiple people, and doing so will trigger an error.

fixed end date error

When you encounter this error, you can:

  1. Uncheck the Fixed end date option in the date picker to allow for a flexible end date allocation for multiple individuals.

  2. Keep the Fixed end date option enabled, but assign it to a single person only.

Currently, the Fixed end date option can only be used when assigning an allocation to one individual.

Allocation status

Confirmed allocation

By default, all the new allocations are created as confirmed and displayed on the Schedule as colored tiles. The color of each tile depends on the project it belongs to. 


​In the allocation menu, you can select whether it should be Completed or Tentative.

Tentative allocation

If an allocation is tentative, it means that it has yet to be confirmed. By default, all allocations linked to tentative projects or project phases are tentative as well. If a project is not set as tentative, any individual allocation within the project can be marked as tentative from the allocation menu. On Schedule, they are displayed as color outlines to clarify that they haven't been confirmed yet.

Complete allocation​

Some teams decide to mark the allocation as Complete to indicate that the work has already been completed. When marked as complete, a checkmark is displayed next to allocations, and the allocation color becomes translucent.

​📝Note: We store the last used Task per Person per Project. When creating a new allocation, the project and the task name may be completed by default based on the last project and task names used. You can always modify it! When updating an existing allocation and changing the project, the task will be automatically blanked so you can add or select a new one.


Tasks

Project tasks can be added within an allocation or the project menu.

While assigning allocations to related tasks when scheduling is optional, it is useful to help group allocations in the reports. Leaving the task blank means only the client/project name will be displayed on the Schedule.

By default, only Project Managers and Admins can add and edit project tasks, while anyone with permission can allocate the allocation to pre-set tasks.

The padlock icon next to the Task field means that the task list is locked. The Project Owners can lock the task list by selecting Only Project Managers can add to this list in the Tasks tab within the project settings. This ensures that your team only schedules and logs tasks from the approved list.

task allocation modal


Task Budget

If your project's budget is set to the task level, the remaining budget for the selected task in the allocation will show up. The remaining budget calculation includes the work you are scheduling.

📝 Note: Non-billable tasks in a billable project are not included in the budget.

Example: If your task budget is $10,000 and you are currently scheduling a person to work on that task for $2,000 worth of time, then the budget remaining will show $8,000 task budget remaining after this allocation is created.

task budget

When no task is selected on the allocation, the budget will not show up in the modal.


Notes

Notes are a place for unstructured information, where you can add details specific to the allocation. The character limit for allocation notes is 1500.

💡Here's a tip: To mention a person, type "@" followed by their name on any allocation note. Depending on their personal notification settings, they will receive a notification via email, Slack, or mobile push. 

Assigned to

You can assign the same allocation to multiple people at once by adding their name to the Assigned to field or to the whole team by choosing Select all.


​Repeating allocations

You can set allocations to repeat in various ways to save time in the future. Find out more about repeating allocations, time off, and statuses here.

Repeating allocations.

Overtime

If you schedule over a person's capacity for the day, the background behind the allocation will turn red to indicate overtime.

​If you use date range insights, the hours figure next to the person's name will also change colors when the person has any overtime scheduled in the current date range.

​Overtime hours can also be reviewed on the people report.

Overtime report.


​Additional notes

  • The standard allocation unit in Float is hours per day. We do not currently support allocating by capacity percentage instead of hours.

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