Resource Assignments And Allocation Interval Minutes

Paras Rawat · yesterday

Allocation Interval Minutes: Precision and Weekly FTE Limits

A guide to the com.snc.resource_management.allocation_interval_minutes property: how it decides the smallest slice of time used when spreading effort across days, why hours sometimes look front-loaded or rounded, and how FTE assignments are kept within the requested FTE week by week.

Covers task and operational assignments, users and groups.

Contents

What the allocation interval means
Before you begin
About this task – how effort is sliced and spread
Procedure – Change the allocation interval
Worked examples – Hours (task and operational)
Worked examples – FTE and the weekly limit
Worked examples – Groups
Worked examples – Rounding corner cases
Why the rolled-up hours can differ from the effort you entered
Behavior reference
Frequently encountered messages
Best practices
Limitations and known constraints
Related articles

1. What the allocation interval means

Every resource assignment ends up as Resource Allocation Daily records. The allocation interval is the size of the smallest piece the system can put on a day.

Value	Slice size	In plain English
60 (default)	1 hour	Hours are placed in whole hours. Anything that doesn't divide evenly lands on the first days.
0.6	0.01 hour (36 seconds)	Hours are placed in hundredths of an hour, so the spread is smooth and even.

The property's own description gives the guidance: FTE: use 0.6. Non-FTE (hours or person days): use 60. In system messages the property is called the Calendar Event Duration property.

2. Before you begin

Role required: pps_admin to view or change the property. Anyone creating assignments should know which value is active.

Setup used in every example

Calendar: Jan 6 – Jan 31, 2025: 4 full weeks, 20 working days, Mon–Fri, 8 h/day
Average daily FTE = 8
24-hour cap not a factor; no employee-date limits unless stated

          Mon  Tue  Wed  Thu  Fri
Week 1     6    7    8    9   10
Week 2    13   14   15   16   17
Week 3    20   21   22   23   24
Week 4    27   28   29   30   31

How the "weekly FTE" figure is calculated (this is how a week's FTE is shown in weekly views):

Weekly FTE = hours allocated in the week ÷ (Average daily FTE × working days in that week)
           = week hours ÷ 40   (for a full 5-day week)

How to read the examples

Every example in this article follows the same layout:

On the form: the fields you fill in on the resource assignment form, and what each value means.
Admin setting: the allocation interval your administrator has configured.
What the system does when you select Save: the calculation, step by step, in plain language.
What you see after saving: the Effort field, the total allocated hours, and the hours planned on each day.

Terms used in the examples

Term	Where you find it	What it means
Effort type	Field on the resource assignment form	How you express the amount of work. Hours: a total number of hours. FTE: a share of a full working day (1 FTE = a full day, 0.5 FTE = half a day). Person days: a number of full days. % Capacity: a percentage of the person's available time (operational work only).
Effort	Field on the form	The number itself, for example 63 (hours) or 0.02 (FTE)
Allocation type	Field on the form	The period over which the effort is balanced: Weekly, Monthly (default) or Plan duration (the whole assignment)
Average daily FTE	System property (8 in these examples)	How many hours make up one full working day. Used to turn FTE and Person days into hours.
Working day	The person's work schedule	A day on which the person is scheduled to work (here Mon–Fri, 8 hours)
Slice	Allocation interval property	The smallest piece of time the system can put on a day. At 60 a slice is 1 hour. At 0.6 a slice is 0.01 hour (36 seconds).
Resource Allocation Daily	Related list on the allocation	The hours planned for the person on each individual day
Allocated hours	Field on the Resource Allocation record	The total of all the daily hours, which is what the assignment actually received
Weekly FTE	Weekly views and reports	A week's hours ÷ 40 (for a 5-day week). It shows how much of the week was planned.

3. About this task – how effort is sliced and spread

When an assignment is saved, the system works in three steps:

Step 1 – Convert the effort to hours, in whole slices

FTE: Hours = FTE × Average daily FTE (8) × available days
Person days: Hours = Person days × Average daily FTE (8)
Hours: used as entered
The result is rounded down to a whole number of slices. If anything was cut, you see "Requested efforts are rounded off based on the Calendar Event Duration property."
For group assignments in Hours, the total is also rounded down to whole slices before it is split.

Step 2 – Give every working day the same base share

Base = total slices ÷ working days, rounded down to a whole slice. Every working day gets the same base.

Step 3 – Place the leftover slices

Effort type and allocation type	Where leftover slices go
Hours or Person days (any allocation type)	One extra slice per day, starting from the first day of the window (front-loaded)
FTE (or % Capacity) with Monthly or Plan duration	Round-robin across weeks: the 1st day of each week, then the 2nd day of each week, and so on. A slice is skipped if it would push that week above the requested FTE.
FTE with Weekly	Each week stays within the requested FTE

Key point: Hours promises a total. FTE promises a weekly rate. With FTE the system protects the weekly figure. With Hours it protects the total and may front-load it.

4. Procedure – Change the allocation interval

Enter sys_properties.list in the filter navigator.
Search for Name = com.snc.resource_management.allocation_interval_minutes.
Set Value to 60 (whole hours) or 0.6 (hundredths of an hour).
Select Update.

Note: The new value is used when hours are next calculated: for new assignments, and when an existing assignment's effort or dates are edited. Existing daily records aren't rewritten on their own.

5. Worked examples – Hours (task and operational)

Example 1: 63 hours across the month, interval = 60

Scenario: Alex needs to spend 63 hours on the Website Overhaul project during January.

On the form

Field	What you enter	What it means
Plan type	Task	Project work
Task	Website Overhaul	The project being staffed
Assignment type	User	One named person
Resource	Alex	Alex works Mon–Fri, 8 hours a day
Start date / End date	2025-01-06 / 2025-01-31	4 weeks = 20 working days
Effort type	Hours	You are giving a total number of hours
Effort	63	63 hours in total for the whole period
Allocation type	Monthly (default)	Balanced over the month

Admin setting: Allocation interval = 60, so one slice is 1 whole hour.

What the system does when you select Save

Uses the hours as entered. The effort type is Hours, so no conversion is needed: 63 hours.
Cuts the hours into slices. Each slice is 1 hour, so 63 hours = 63 slices.
Gives every working day the same share. 63 slices ÷ 20 working days = 3 whole slices per day (3 hours × 20 days = 60 hours). That leaves 3 slices over.
Places the leftovers. With effort type Hours, each leftover slice goes to the next day starting from the first day: Jan 6, Jan 7 and Jan 8 each get one extra hour.

What you see after saving

Effort: 63 hours (unchanged). Allocated hours: 63.
Resource Allocation Daily:

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Week total	Weekly FTE
Jan 6–10	4.0	4.0	4.0	3.0	3.0	18.0	0.45
Jan 13–17	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	15.0	0.375
Jan 20–24	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	15.0	0.375
Jan 27–31	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	15.0	0.375
Total						63.0

Key Takeaway: Three days carry 4 hours and seventeen carry 3 hours. The total is exact, but week 1 is heavier because the leftover hours land at the start.

Example 2: The same 63 hours, interval = 0.6

Scenario: Exactly the same request as Example 1. Only the admin setting is different.

On the form: Same as Example 1 (Effort type Hours, Effort 63, Jan 6 – Jan 31).

Admin setting: Allocation interval = 0.6, so one slice is 0.01 hour (36 seconds).

What the system does when you select Save

Uses the hours as entered: 63 hours.
Cuts the hours into slices. Each slice is 0.01 hour, so 63 hours = 6,300 slices.
Gives every working day the same share. 6,300 slices ÷ 20 days = 315 slices per day = 3.15 hours per day.
Places the leftovers. 6,300 divides exactly by 20, so nothing is left over.

What you see after saving

Effort: 63 hours. Allocated hours: 63.
Resource Allocation Daily:

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Week total
Every week	3.15	3.15	3.15	3.15	3.15	15.75
Total						63.0

Key Takeaway: The same total with a perfectly even shape. All twenty days are identical, because the system can work in hundredths of an hour.

Example 3: Operational work behaves the same

Scenario: Instead of project work, Alex spends 63 hours on keep-the-lights-on (KTLO) support in January.

On the form (Operational work view)

Field	What you enter	What it means
Plan type	Operational work	Non-project work, so there is no Task field
Operational work type	KTLO	The kind of operational work (KTLO, Admin, Meetings…)
Resource	Alex	–
Start date / End date	2025-01-06 / 2025-01-31	20 working days
Effort type	Hours	Operational work offers only Hours and % Capacity
Effort	63	63 hours in total

What you see after saving

Admin setting	Resource Allocation Daily	Allocated hours
Interval 60	Jan 6, 7, 8 at 4.0 h; the other 17 days at 3.0 h	63
Interval 0.6	All 20 days at 3.15 h	63

Key Takeaway: The allocation interval applies to operational work in exactly the same way as to project work.

6. Worked examples – FTE and the weekly limit

Example 4: A very small FTE, interval = 0.6

Scenario: Alex is the project's subject-matter expert and needs to be available for about ten minutes a day throughout January.

On the form

Field	What you enter	What it means
Plan type	Task	Project work
Task	Website Overhaul	–
Assignment type	User	One named person
Resource	Alex	Alex's full working day is 8 hours
Start date / End date	2025-01-06 / 2025-01-31	20 working days
Effort type	FTE	You are giving a share of Alex's working day, not a total
Effort	0.02	2% of an 8-hour day = 0.16 hour ≈ 10 minutes a day
Allocation type	Monthly	Balanced over the month, and never more than 0.02 FTE in any week

Admin setting: Allocation interval = 0.6, so one slice is 0.01 hour.

What the system does when you select Save

Turns the FTE into hours. 1 FTE means one full working day, which is 8 hours (Average daily FTE). So 0.02 FTE = 0.02 × 8 = 0.16 hour per day. Over 20 working days: 0.16 × 20 = 3.2 hours in total.
Cuts the hours into slices. Each slice is 0.01 hour, so 3.2 hours = 320 slices. That is a whole number of slices, so nothing has to be rounded.
Gives every working day the same share. 320 slices ÷ 20 days = 16 slices per day = 0.16 hour per day.
Places the leftovers. 320 divides exactly by 20, so nothing is left over.
Checks the weekly promise. Each week gets 5 × 0.16 = 0.8 hour. Weekly FTE = 0.8 ÷ 40 = 0.02, exactly what you asked for.

What you see after saving

Effort: 0.02 FTE (unchanged). Allocated hours: 3.2.
Resource Allocation Daily:

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Week total	Weekly FTE
Every week	0.16	0.16	0.16	0.16	0.16	0.80	0.02
Total						3.2

The result is the same when Allocation type is Weekly or Plan duration.

Key Takeaway: At 0.6, even a tiny FTE is planned exactly. Every day gets the same small amount and no week goes above the FTE you asked for.

Example 5: A larger FTE, interval = 0.6

Scenario: Alex spends 10% of each day (48 minutes) on the project.

On the form: Same as Example 4, but Effort = 0.1 (Effort type FTE).

What the system does when you select Save

Turns the FTE into hours. 0.1 × 8 = 0.8 hour per day; × 20 days = 16 hours in total.
Cuts into slices. 16 hours = 1,600 slices of 0.01 hour.
Shares them out. 1,600 ÷ 20 = 80 slices per day = 0.8 hour per day, nothing left over.
Checks the weekly promise. 5 × 0.8 = 4 hours per week; 4 ÷ 40 = 0.1 FTE.

What you see after saving

Effort: 0.1 FTE. Allocated hours: 16.
Resource Allocation Daily: 0.8 hour every working day, 4.0 hours every week.

Key Takeaway: The same behavior at a different size.

Example 6: Why the weekly limit matters, interval = 60 (illustration)

Scenario: Two project managers each plan 72 hours of Alex's time in January, but fill in the form differently.

On the form

Field	Assignment A	Assignment B
Task / Resource	Website Overhaul / Alex	Website Overhaul / Alex
Start date / End date	2025-01-06 / 2025-01-31	2025-01-06 / 2025-01-31
Effort type	Hours (a total)	FTE (a share of each day)
Effort	72	0.45 (0.45 × 8 h × 20 days = 72 h)
Allocation type	Monthly	Monthly

Admin setting: Allocation interval = 60 (1-hour slices).

What the system does when you select Save (both assignments)

Works out the hours. Both come to 72 hours = 72 one-hour slices.
Gives every working day the same share. 72 ÷ 20 = 3 hours per day (60 hours), leaving 12 hours over.
Places the 12 leftover hours. This is where the two assignments differ:
- A (Hours): the system promised only a total, so the leftovers go to the first 12 working days (all of week 1, all of week 2, and Mon–Tue of week 3).
- B (FTE): the system promised 0.45 FTE every week, which is 0.45 × 40 = 18 hours per week. The base already gives 15 hours per week, so each week can take 3 more. The leftovers go round-robin: the Monday of each week, then the Tuesday of each week, then the Wednesday of each week.

What you see after saving

A – Effort type Hours

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Week total	Weekly FTE
Jan 6–10	4	4	4	4	4	20	0.50
Jan 13–17	4	4	4	4	4	20	0.50
Jan 20–24	4	4	3	3	3	17	0.425
Jan 27–31	3	3	3	3	3	15	0.375

B – Effort type FTE

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Week total	Weekly FTE
Jan 6–10	4	4	4	3	3	18	0.45
Jan 13–17	4	4	4	3	3	18	0.45
Jan 20–24	4	4	4	3	3	18	0.45
Jan 27–31	4	4	4	3	3	18	0.45

Key Takeaway: Both assignments total 72 hours. With FTE, every week shows exactly the 0.45 you asked for. With Hours, the early weeks show more (0.50) and the later weeks less (0.375). Choose FTE when an even weekly load matters.

7. Worked examples – Groups

Example 7: Group task assignment in FTE, interval = 0.6

Scenario: The Design Team (Alex, Casey and Robin) should together give the project three quarters of a person throughout January.

On the form

Field	What you enter	What it means
Task	Website Overhaul	–
Assignment type	Group	The system splits the work between the members
Group	Design Team	3 members, each working Mon–Fri, 8 hours
Start date / End date	2025-01-06 / 2025-01-31	20 working days
Effort type	FTE	A share of a working day
Effort	0.75	Three quarters of one person, for the whole team
Allocation type	Monthly	Weekly and Plan duration give the same result

Admin setting: Allocation interval = 0.6.

What the system does when you select Save

Splits the effort between members. 0.75 FTE ÷ 3 members = 0.25 FTE each. One child assignment is created for each member.
Turns each share into hours. 0.25 × 8 = 2 hours per day; × 20 days = 40 hours per member.
Spreads each member's hours. 40 hours = 4,000 slices ÷ 20 days = 200 slices = 2.0 hours per day.
Checks each member's weekly promise. 5 × 2 = 10 hours per week; 10 ÷ 40 = 0.25 FTE.

What you see after saving

Member	Share	Hours per day	Hours per week	Weekly FTE	Total hours
Alex	0.25 FTE	2.0	10.0	0.25	40.0
Casey	0.25 FTE	2.0	10.0	0.25	40.0
Robin	0.25 FTE	2.0	10.0	0.25	40.0

Key Takeaway: The weekly limit applies to each member's share. No member goes above 0.25 FTE in any week, whichever allocation type you pick.

Example 8: Operational group in Hours

Scenario: The Design Team spends 63 hours in total on team meetings in January.

On the form (Operational work view)

Field	What you enter	What it means
Plan type	Operational work	–
Operational work type	Meetings	–
Assignment type	Group	Split between Alex, Casey and Robin
Group	Design Team	3 members
Start date / End date	2025-01-06 / 2025-01-31	20 working days
Effort type	Hours	A total for the whole team
Effort	63	–

What the system does when you select Save

Splits the hours between members in whole hours: 63 ÷ 3 = 21 hours each, with no remainder.
Spreads each member's 21 hours over 20 working days. How it looks depends on the admin setting:
- Interval 60: 21 one-hour slices ÷ 20 days = 1 per day, with 1 slice left over, which goes to the first day.
- Interval 0.6: 2,100 slices ÷ 20 days = 105 slices = 1.05 hours every day.

What you see after saving

	Interval 60	Interval 0.6
Each member, per day	Jan 6 at 2.0 h; the other 19 days at 1.0 h	1.05 h every day
Each member, total	21.0 h	21.0 h
Group total	63.0 h	63.0 h

Key Takeaway: The group total is the same either way. The interval only changes how smooth each person's days look.

Example 9: Group FTE splits are rounded to 2 decimals

Scenario: The Design Team should together give the project one full person.

On the form: Assignment type Group, Group Design Team (3 members), Effort type FTE, Effort 1.

What the system does when you select Save

Splits the effort between members. 1 ÷ 3 = 0.3333… The share is stored to 2 decimals, so each member gets 0.33 FTE.
Adds up the group. The group's Effort is re-calculated as the total of what the members received: 0.33 + 0.33 + 0.33 = 0.99 FTE.

What you see after saving

Member	Share
Alex	0.33 FTE
Casey	0.33 FTE
Robin	0.33 FTE
Group effort after save	0.99 FTE

Key Takeaway: Choose a group FTE that divides evenly by the number of members (for example 0.75 or 1.5 for 3 people), or expect a small shortfall.

Example 10: Group Hours that aren't a whole number of slices, interval = 60

Scenario: The Design Team needs 90.5 hours for a review cycle.

On the form: Assignment type Group, Group Design Team (3 members), Effort type Hours, Effort 90.5.

Admin setting: Allocation interval = 60 (1-hour slices).

What the system does when you select Save

Rounds the total down to whole slices. 90.5 hours → 90 hours, because half an hour is smaller than one 1-hour slice.
Splits the hours between members. 90 ÷ 3 = 30 hours each.

What you see after saving: Each member has 30 hours. The group's Effort shows 90 hours (you typed 90.5).

Key Takeaway: When the interval is 60, enter group Hours in whole hours.

8. Worked examples – Rounding corner cases

Example 11: Small FTE with interval = 60

Scenario: The same request as Example 4 (Alex, about ten minutes a day), but the administrator has left the interval at the default of 60.

On the form: Same as Example 4 (Effort type FTE, Effort 0.02, Jan 6 – Jan 31, Allocation type Monthly).

Admin setting: Allocation interval = 60, so the smallest piece is 1 whole hour.

What the system does when you select Save

Turns the FTE into hours. 0.02 × 8 × 20 = 3.2 hours.
Rounds down to whole slices. Only whole hours can be placed, so 3.2 becomes 3 hours. You see the info message Requested efforts are rounded off based on the Calendar Event Duration property.
Checks the weekly promise. 0.02 FTE means at most 0.02 × 40 = 0.8 hour per week. But the smallest piece the system can place is 1 hour, which is already more than 0.8.
Result: putting even one hour into any week would break the promise, so the hours may not be placeable at all.

What you see after saving: The assignment can end up with fewer hours than requested, or none. If nothing can be allocated, you see Resource allocation cannot be updated to 0.02 fte because Alex is not available.

Key Takeaway: At 60, any FTE below 0.025 (1 hour per 5-day week, because 1 ÷ 40 = 0.025) can't be planned faithfully. If you plan in small fractions of FTE, ask your administrator to use 0.6.

Example 12: Moderate FTE with interval = 60 (illustration)

Scenario: The same request as Example 5 (Alex, 10% of each day), with the interval at 60.

On the form: Same as Example 5 (Effort type FTE, Effort 0.1, Jan 6 – Jan 31, Allocation type Monthly).

Admin setting: Allocation interval = 60.

What the system does when you select Save

Turns the FTE into hours. 0.1 × 8 × 20 = 16 hours, a whole number, so nothing is rounded.
Gives every working day the same share. Alex should get 0.8 hour per day, but the smallest piece is 1 hour. 16 ÷ 20 = 0 whole hours per day, so all 16 hours are leftovers.
Checks the weekly promise. 0.1 FTE = 0.1 × 40 = 4 hours per week at most.
Places the leftovers round-robin across weeks: the Monday of each week, then the Tuesday of each week, and so on, stopping when a week reaches 4 hours.

What you see after saving

Effort: 0.1 FTE. Allocated hours: 16.
Resource Allocation Daily:

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Week total	Weekly FTE
Each week	1	1	1	1	0	4	0.1

Key Takeaway: The weekly figure is honored, but the days are lumpy (1, 1, 1, 1 and 0 hours) instead of 0.8 hour every day. The exact days depend on your first-day-of-week setting. With 0.6 you get 0.8 hour every day (Example 5).

Example 13: Hours with decimals, interval = 60

Scenario: Alex needs 10 and a half hours for a one-week task.

On the form

Field	What you enter	What it means
Task / Resource	Website Overhaul / Alex	–
Start date / End date	2025-01-06 / 2025-01-10	Mon–Fri = 5 working days
Effort type	Hours	A total
Effort	10.5	Ten and a half hours

Admin setting: Allocation interval = 60 (1-hour slices).

What the system does when you select Save

Cuts the hours into slices. 10.5 hours contains 10 whole 1-hour slices. The remaining half hour is smaller than one slice, so it can't be placed.
Gives every working day the same share. 10 ÷ 5 = 2 hours per day, nothing left over.
Rolls up. The allocation's total is the sum of the days, 10 hours, and that total is copied back to the Effort field.

What you see after saving: Effort: 10 hours (you typed 10.5). Resource Allocation Daily: 2.0 hours on each of the 5 days.

Key Takeaway: A fraction smaller than one slice can't be placed, so it disappears. At 60, enter Hours as whole numbers. At 0.6, 10.5 hours is placed exactly (2.10 hours per day).

9. Why the rolled-up hours can differ from the effort you entered

Users often see that the hours rolled up onto the assignment, the resource allocation or the group parent don't match the effort they typed. For example, they enter 10 hours and the assignment comes back as 9.99, or enter 0.26 FTE and it comes back as 0.25. Usually nothing went wrong. The allocation interval decides what can be stored, and every value above the daily records is re-calculated from those records.

9.1 How values roll up

 You type:  Effort (Hours / FTE / Person days)
              │  Step 1: converted to hours, rounded DOWN to whole slices
              ▼
 Resource Allocation Daily     one value per working day
   hours per day               = slices × interval ÷ 60, stored to 2 decimals
              │  sum of all daily hours
              ▼
 Resource Allocation
   Allocated hours             = SUM of the daily hours
   Requested FTE               = Allocated hours ÷ (Average daily FTE × working days), 2 decimals
   Requested person days       = Allocated hours ÷ Average daily FTE, 2 decimals
              │  copied back
              ▼
 Resource Assignment – Effort  = Allocated hours (Hours) | Requested FTE (FTE) |
                                 Requested person days (Person days)
              │  group assignments only
              ▼
 Group (parent) Effort         = SUM of the children's effort

Because each level is re-calculated from the level below, any rounding in the daily records carries through to every value above it.

9.2 The five precision-related causes

#	Cause	Where it happens	Typical result
1	FTE or Person days converted to hours and rounded down to whole slices	Step 1 (conversion)	0.26 FTE over 10 days: 20.8 h → 20 h; Effort shows 0.25 FTE. "Calendar Event Duration" message shown.
2	A remainder smaller than one slice can't be placed	Spreading hours over days	10.5 h at 60 → 10 h
3	Each day's hours are stored to 2 decimals; with some intervals the rounding adds up	Daily records	Allocation interval set to 10 minutes (not recommended): 10 h over 3 days → 3.33 + 3.33 + 3.33 = 9.99 h. See Example 16.
4	The interval doesn't divide 60 evenly (e.g. 7 or 45 min), so whole hours aren't whole slices	Daily records and daily capacity	Allocation interval set to 45 minutes (not recommended, because 45 doesn't divide an hour evenly): 20 h over 3 days → 19.5 h. See Example 17.
5	FTE and Person days are re-calculated from the rolled-up hours and rounded to 2 decimals	Allocation → assignment	The gap can show (0.26 → 0.25) or hide (0.13 FTE still shows 0.13 though only 20 of 20.8 h were allocated)

What "10 minutes" and "45 minutes" mean here: they are possible values of the allocation interval property, set by an administrator. They are used only to show what goes wrong. The product accepts them, but they aren't recommended: use 60 or 0.6 (see §9.4).

Group assignments add two more:

#	Cause	Result
6	Group FTE split per member is rounded to 2 decimals, then the parent sums the children	1 FTE across 3 members → 0.33 × 3 = 0.99 FTE
7	Group Hours total is rounded down to whole slices before splitting	90.5 h at 60 → 90 h (30 / 30 / 30)

Not precision, but same symptom: the effort can also come back lower because of the 24-hour daily cap (Part 4) or because the person isn't employed for the whole window (Part 2). Rule those out first.

Example 14: FTE comes back lower (cause 1 + 5)

Scenario: Alex should spend about a quarter of each day (0.26 FTE) on the project for two weeks.

On the form

Field	What you enter	What it means
Task / Resource	Website Overhaul / Alex	–
Start date / End date	2025-01-06 / 2025-01-17	2 weeks = 10 working days
Effort type	FTE	A share of each working day
Effort	0.26	26% of an 8-hour day ≈ 2.08 hours per day

What the system does when you select Save

Step	Interval 60 (1-hour slices)	Interval 0.6 (0.01-hour slices)
1. Turn FTE into hours: 0.26 × 8 × 10 days	20.8 hours	20.8 hours
2. Round down to whole slices	20 hours. The 0.8 hour is less than one slice, so it is cut, and you see the "Calendar Event Duration" message.	20.8 hours (2,080 slices, nothing cut)
3. Share across the 10 days	2.0 hours per day	2.08 hours per day
4. Add up the days (Allocated hours)	20.0	20.8
5. Re-calculate the FTE from the hours: hours ÷ (8 × 10)	20 ÷ 80 = 0.25	20.8 ÷ 80 = 0.26

What you see after saving

Interval 60: Effort 0.25 FTE (you typed 0.26), Allocated hours 20.
Interval 0.6: Effort 0.26 FTE, Allocated hours 20.8.

Key Takeaway: At 60, the part of the effort that doesn't make a whole hour is cut. The FTE you see afterwards is worked out again from the hours that were actually placed.

Example 15: The FTE looks unchanged but the hours aren't (cause 1 + 5)

Scenario: Alex spends about an hour a day (0.13 FTE) on the project throughout January.

On the form

Field	What you enter	What it means
Task / Resource	Website Overhaul / Alex	–
Start date / End date	2025-01-06 / 2025-01-31	20 working days
Effort type	FTE	A share of each working day
Effort	0.13	13% of 8 hours = 1.04 hours per day

Admin setting: Allocation interval = 60.

What the system does when you select Save

Turns the FTE into hours. 0.13 × 8 × 20 = 20.8 hours.
Rounds down to whole slices. 20 hours (0.8 hour cut; the "Calendar Event Duration" message is shown).
Shares across the days. 20 ÷ 20 = 1.0 hour per day.
Adds up the days. Allocated hours = 20.0.
Re-calculates the FTE. 20 ÷ (8 × 20) = 0.125, which is shown to 2 decimals as 0.13.

What you see after saving: Effort 0.13 FTE, the same as you typed, but Allocated hours is 20, not 20.8.

Key Takeaway: The rounded FTE hides a 0.8-hour gap. When precision matters, check Allocated hours on the Resource Allocation record instead of relying on the FTE alone.

Example 16: 10 hours rolls up to 9.99 (cause 3)

Scenario: Alex needs 10 hours for a three-day workshop.

On the form

Field	What you enter	What it means
Task / Resource	Website Overhaul / Alex	–
Start date / End date	2025-01-06 / 2025-01-08	Mon–Wed = 3 working days
Effort type	Hours	A total
Effort	10	10 hours over the three days

What the system does when you select Save (with four different admin settings)

Admin setting	Size of one slice	Slices in 10 hours	Hours per day (stored to 2 decimals)	Allocated hours	Effort after save
60 minutes	1 hour	10	Mon 4.00, Tue 3.00, Wed 3.00	10.00	10
0.6 minutes	0.01 hour	1,000	Mon 3.34, Tue 3.33, Wed 3.33	10.00	10
10 minutes (not recommended)	0.1667 hour	60	3.33, 3.33, 3.33	9.99	9.99
1 minute (not recommended)	0.0167 hour	600	3.33, 3.33, 3.33	9.99	9.99

Why the 10-minute setting turns 10 hours into 9.99, in plain words

Think of the allocation interval as the size of the time block the system works with. With an interval of 10 minutes, every block is 10 minutes long.

Count the blocks. 10 hours is 600 minutes, which is 60 blocks of 10 minutes.
Share them across the 3 days. 60 ÷ 3 = 20 blocks per day, which is 200 minutes per day.
Turn each day into hours. 200 minutes is 3 hours and 20 minutes. As a decimal that is 3.3333… hours, and the 3s never end.
Store each day. A daily record keeps hours to only 2 decimal places, so each day is saved as 3.33. About 12 seconds per day is lost in the rounding.
Add up the days. 3.33 + 3.33 + 3.33 = 9.99. The Effort field is filled from this total, so it shows 9.99 instead of 10.

Why this doesn't happen with 60 or 0.6: a 1-hour block is exactly 1.00 hour and a 0.6-minute block is exactly 0.01 hour. Both fit in 2 decimal places, so nothing is ever rounded away. A 10-minute block is 0.1666… hour, which doesn't fit, so intervals like this (1, 5, 10 or 20 minutes) are not recommended.

Key Takeaway: With intervals where one slice isn't a clean hundredth of an hour (1, 5, 10 or 20 minutes…), each day is rounded and the small errors add up. 60 and 0.6 never cause this.

Example 17: An interval that doesn't divide 60 (cause 2 + 4)

Scenario: Alex needs 20 hours over three days, and the administrator has set the allocation interval to 45 minutes. This value is not recommended; the example shows why.

On the form: Task Website Overhaul, Resource Alex, Start 2025-01-06, End 2025-01-08 (3 working days), Effort type Hours, Effort 20.

Admin setting: Allocation interval = 45 minutes, so every time block is 45 minutes (0.75 hour) long, and the system can only place whole blocks.

What the system does when you select Save

Counts how many 45-minute blocks fit into 20 hours.
- 20 hours = 1,200 minutes. 1,200 ÷ 45 = 26.67 blocks.
- Only whole blocks can be used, so the system takes 26 blocks. 26 × 45 minutes = 1,170 minutes = 19.5 hours.
- The last 30 minutes aren't enough for a 27th block, so they are dropped.
Works out how many blocks fit into one of Alex's working days.
- Alex works 8 hours = 480 minutes a day. 480 ÷ 45 = 10.67 blocks.
- Only 10 whole blocks fit, which is 10 × 45 = 450 minutes = 7.5 hours.
- So the last half hour of each day can never be used by this assignment.
Shares the 26 blocks equally across the 3 days.
- 26 ÷ 3 = 8 blocks per day, with 2 blocks left over.
- 8 blocks = 8 × 45 = 360 minutes = 6.00 hours per day.
Gives the 2 leftover blocks to the first days.
- Monday gets one extra block (+0.75 hour) = 6.75 hours.
- Tuesday gets one extra block (+0.75 hour) = 6.75 hours.
- Wednesday stays at 6.00 hours.

Day	Blocks	Minutes	Hours
Mon Jan 6	9	405	6.75
Tue Jan 7	9	405	6.75
Wed Jan 8	8	360	6.00
Total	26	1,170	19.5

What you see after saving

Resource Allocation Daily: Mon 6.75, Tue 6.75, Wed 6.00
Allocated hours: 19.5. Effort: 19.5 hours (you typed 20).

Why 45 minutes isn't recommended: 45 doesn't divide an hour evenly. Whole hours (20) don't become whole blocks, so part of every request can be dropped, and an 8-hour day shrinks to 7.5 usable hours. Use 60 or 0.6 instead.

Key Takeaway: If the interval doesn't divide an hour evenly, even whole-hour efforts lose a fraction, and the person's usable day shrinks (8 hours becomes 7.5).

Example 18: Group parent rolls up to a different total (cause 6 + 7)

Scenario: Three group assignments for the Design Team (Alex, Casey, Robin).

On the form: Assignment type Group, Group Design Team, with the effort below.

Effort type and Effort entered	Admin setting	What each member receives	Group effort after save
FTE, 1	any	1 ÷ 3 = 0.3333…, stored as 0.33 each	0.33 + 0.33 + 0.33 = 0.99 FTE
Hours, 90.5	60	Total rounded down to 90, then 30 hours each	90 hours
FTE, 0.75	0.6	0.75 ÷ 3 = 0.25 each	0.75 FTE (no difference)

Key Takeaway: The group's effort is the sum of what the members actually received, so any splitting or rounding at member level shows up on the group.

9.3 How to check where the difference came from

Open the assignment's Resource Allocation record and note Allocated hours, Requested FTE and Requested person days.
Open its Resource Allocation Daily related list and add up the Hours column. It should equal Allocated hours.
Compare with what you typed:
- Allocated hours < FTE × 8 × working days → causes 1, 2 or 4 (or the 24-hour cap or employee dates).
- Daily values like 3.33 → cause 3 (interval isn't 60 or 0.6).
- FTE matches but hours don't → cause 5 (display rounding). Trust Allocated hours.
For a group, compare the parent with the sum of the children.

9.4 Which interval values are safe

A value is "safe" when one slice is a clean hundredth of an hour and divides an hour evenly, so no rounding drift happens in the daily records.

Interval (minutes)	One slice in hours	Clean hundredth?	Divides 60?	Drift risk
0.6	0.01	Yes	Yes	None (best precision)
3	0.05	Yes	Yes	None
6	0.10	Yes	Yes	None
12	0.20	Yes	Yes	None
15	0.25	Yes	Yes	None
30	0.50	Yes	Yes	None
60	1.00	Yes	Yes	None (whole hours)
1	0.0167	No	Yes	Daily rounding (cause 3)
5	0.0833	No	Yes	Daily rounding (cause 3)
10	0.1667	No	Yes	Daily rounding (cause 3)
20	0.3333	No	Yes	Daily rounding (cause 3)
7	0.1167	No	No	Daily rounding and lost fractions (causes 3 + 4)
45	0.75	Yes	No	Lost fractions on whole hours, and an 8 h day holds only 7.5 h of slices (cause 4)

Recommendation: Use 0.6 (as the property description suggests for FTE) or 60 (for whole-hour planning). Avoid values marked "No" in either column.

10. Behavior reference

Situation	Interval 60	Interval 0.6
Hours divide evenly over working days	Even	Even
Hours don't divide evenly	Extra hours on the first days	Even, to 0.01 h
FTE → hours conversion	Rounded down to whole hours (message)	Rounded down to 0.01 h (rarely noticeable)
FTE, Monthly / Plan duration	Leftovers balanced across weeks, never above requested FTE	Usually no leftovers; even
FTE, Weekly	Within requested FTE per week	Within requested FTE per week
Tiny FTE (< 0.025)	May be under-allocated or not allocated	Exact
FTE whose daily hours aren't whole (e.g. 0.1 FTE = 0.8 h)	Whole-hour days, some at 0 h; weekly FTE honored	Exact daily value
Group Hours	Total rounded down to whole hours, split in whole hours, remainder to the first members	Total rounded to 0.01 h, split in whole hours, remainder to the first members
Group FTE	Split to 2 decimals	Split to 2 decimals
Operational vs task	Same rules	Same rules
Rolled-up Allocated hours vs entered	May be lower (whole-hour rounding, sub-hour remainders dropped)	Matches to 0.01 h
Effort shown after save (FTE / Person days)	Re-calculated from rolled-up hours (2 decimals); may drop or hide a gap	Matches entered value
Interval not 60 / 0.6 (e.g. 1, 5, 10, 20, 7, 45)	Daily 2-decimal rounding and lost fractions can make rollups like 9.99 or 19.5	–

11. Frequently encountered messages

Message	Meaning
Requested efforts are rounded off based on the Calendar Event Duration property. (info)	FTE or Person days hours were rounded down to whole slices. The rolled-up hours and the Effort shown will be lower than what you entered (§9, Examples 14–15).
Resource allocation cannot be updated to {effort} {type} because {name} is not available.	Shown when no hours at all could be placed, so the assignment's Effort ends up as 0. The wording says "not available", but the cause isn't always the person's availability. It can also be the 24-hour daily cap (Part 4) or, with interval 60 and a very small FTE, the weekly FTE limit blocking every 1-hour slice (Example 11).
(none): Hours rolled up as 9.99, 19.5…	The interval isn't 60 or 0.6, so daily values are rounded or fractions lost (§9, Examples 16–17)

12. Best practices

Planning in FTE or fractions of FTE? Use 0.6. It's what the property description recommends, and it removes rounding and lumpy days.
Planning in whole hours or person days? 60 is fine. Choose totals that divide evenly by the working days (60 h over 20 days = 3 h/day) to avoid front-loading.
Read week 1 carefully at 60. Extra hours on the first days come from leftovers, not from a mistake.
Use FTE when the weekly figure matters to you. Only FTE (and % Capacity) is protected week by week.
For groups, pick FTE values that divide evenly by the number of members, and Hours that are whole numbers at 60.
Agree on one value organization-wide and change it rarely. Plans recalculated after a change can look different from older ones.
Stick to 60 or 0.6. Other values (1, 5, 10, 20, 7, 45 minutes) cause daily rounding drift and lost fractions in rollups (§9.4).
When numbers don't match, trust Allocated hours. It is the sum of the daily records. The FTE shown is re-calculated from it and rounded to 2 decimals (§9.3).

13. Limitations and known constraints

The property is global. It affects all Resource Management allocations, not only Planning Attributes assignments.
Changing it doesn't rewrite existing daily records. Plans change only when they are recalculated.
The weekly FTE limit is applied to FTE (and % Capacity). Hours and Person days aren't limited per week.
Fractions smaller than one slice can't be placed.
At 60, very small FTE values may not be allocated in full, or at all.
Daily records are stored to 2 decimals. Every value above them (Allocated hours, Requested FTE and person days, assignment Effort, group parent Effort) is re-calculated from them, so rounding carries through.
No message is shown when Hours effort is reduced by rounding. The "Calendar Event Duration" message appears only for FTE and Person days conversions.