At Float, an allocation refers to the planned assignment of a person's time to a specific project. In addition to assigning time to a project, you can optionally allocate it to a specific project task, project phase, or phase task.

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

​To allocate time, set the allocation hours, select the corresponding client and project, and click Create allocation.

Other elements on the allocation menu can be adjusted as needed right when you create the allocation or later on.

📝Note: We store the last used Project and Task per Person. When creating a new allocation, the project and the task fields 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 field is blanked, so you can add or select a new one as needed.

The standard allocation unit at Float is hours per day. By default, the h/day field is prefilled with the maximum working hours per day according to the person's availability (e.g., if a teammate's availability is set to 8 hours per day, each new allocation defaults to 8 hours). The exact duration of the allocation can be adjusted as needed.

You can choose to create an allocation for a specific time of day. To switch from hours/day, click the Specific time button and select the allocation's start and end times. Keep in mind that the selected time refers to your team's time zone. That means that if an allocation is set for 2 p.m., it will display at 2 p.m. for everyone on the team, regardless of their own time zone. We do not currently support enabling individual time zones in Float.

​📝Note: The time format display (12-hour clock or 24-hour clock) can be adjusted under Personal settings > Profile settings.

The Total hours field indicates the total hourly duration for a single allocation. If the allocation's Duration is longer than 1 day (e.g. July 1 - July 31), the Total hours field becomes editable and can be manually set.

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By default, the allocation's Duration has a flexible end date.

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

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

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.

When scheduling allocations, you have the option to schedule a percentage (%) of a person’s work hours.

When you use this option, 100% equals all the assignee’s total available work hours in the selected date range minus any full-day time off or holidays.
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​📝 Note: Other allocations scheduled during the selected date range and part-day time off do not reduce total work hours. This is because the percentage reflects the total working hours within the date range, not the remaining capacity. Use the date range insights feature to view the remaining capacity as a percentage for a specific time period.
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​📝 Note: When an allocation is set by percentage, the fixed end date option is turned on by default and can’t be disabled.
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The allocation block in the schedule will be displayed as a percentage:

📝 Note: Allocating in percentage is only possible when allocating for one person. You will get an error if you try to update an allocation in percentage for multiple people.
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When allocating in percentage for part-time people with varied work hours, the system uses the day with the fewest hours across the selected date range as the starting point for hours per day. You can increase the allocation, but it will trigger overtime on the shorter work day(s).

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.
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If you schedule over a person's capacity for the day, the background behind the allocation will turn red to indicate overtime.
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​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.
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​Overtime hours can also be reviewed on the people report.