Budget positions, FTEs, and vacancies
Create positions with criteria and dimensions, check full-time equivalents (FTEs) in the matrix, and convert filled vacancies to employee records.
Prerequisites
- SwissSalary Budget Setup is configured (FTE Calculation and vacancy number series).
- Places of work, departments, job types, and salary classes from the salary master data are available.
- At least one budget structure or version has been created for work in the matrix.
Maintain positions
Positions bridge employees in SwissSalary and budget entries. When you transfer a payroll run, SwissSalary Budget compares the criteria for each position with the employee master data and automatically assigns the matching job to the budget entries.
Wichtig
Positions must be defined before you transfer a payroll run. Budget entries whose criteria don't match a position can't be assigned and therefore aren't included in the evaluation. If you create a new position later, you can transfer payroll runs that were already transferred again at any time.
Open the Job List
- Choose the Search icon, enter Job List, and then choose the related link.
Fields on the Job Card
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Code | Unique identifier for the position. You can choose any value. |
| Description | Descriptive name of the position, for example, Project Manager or Second-year Apprentice. |
| Place of Work Filter | Restricts the position to a specific place of work from SwissSalary. Leave it blank to include all places of work. |
| Department Filter | Restricts the position to a specific department from SwissSalary. Leave it blank to include all departments. |
| Job Type Filter | Restricts the position to a specific job type (role) from SwissSalary. Leave it blank to include all job types. |
| Benchmark | Weighting factor for calculating actual FTEs. The default value is 1. For example, enter 0.5 if only 50% of this position should be included in the FTE (for example, Second-year Apprentice). |
| Salary Class Filter | Restricts the position to a specific salary class from SwissSalary. |
| Dimension Allocation | Shows which dimensions are assigned to this position. Use the Job Dimension action to add dimensions. |
Assign dimensions to a position
If the same position should appear in multiple cost centers—for example, a Project Manager in two different cost centers—create the position more than once and assign the appropriate dimension to each one.
- Open the required position in the Job List.
- Choose the Job Dimension action.
- Add one or more dimensions and their values.
- Close the page.
Plan FTEs in the Budget Schedule Overview
The Budget Schedule Overview is the central work area in SwissSalary Budget. It serves three purposes:
- Create a budget—manual entries and calculated values such as social insurance contributions
- Create a forecast—calculated values only
- Analyses—for example, budget-to-actual comparison
Open the Budget Schedule Overview
- Choose the Search icon, enter Budget Schedule Overview, and then choose the related link.
Header fields in the matrix
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Structure Name | Choose the budget structure that you want to edit or analyze. |
| Column Layout Name | Choose a preconfigured column layout. |
| Version Name | Choose the version. Version 1 is created automatically for each budget structure. |
| View by | Specifies the period unit (month, quarter, or year) used to summarize the values. |
| Date Filter | Defines the period for which values are shown. For an annual budget with monthly entry (for example, monthly salary), enter January of the budget year. |
Actions in the matrix
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Previous Column | Moves to the previous column when not all columns can be shown at the same time. |
| Next Column | Moves to the next column. |
| Previous Period | Moves to the previous period. The matrix values update automatically. |
| Next Period | Moves to the next period. The matrix values update automatically. |
| Process Budget | Processes the budget. For more information, see the article about the budget payroll run. |
| Export to Excel | Exports the matrix data to Excel. Choose Create New Document for a new file or Update Existing Document for an existing file. Select Details to export all individual values; otherwise, only totals are transferred. |
| Edit Structure | Opens the currently selected budget structure for editing. |
| Delete Budget Entries | Deletes all visible budget entries. The deletion range is based on View by and Date Filter. With “Month” and the date filter 01.07.2025..31.07.2025, all budget entries for July 2025 are deleted. |
Copy actual FTEs
With the Copy actual FTE report (BdgCopyActualFTE), you can transfer the FTE values actually calculated from transferred payroll runs to budget planning. This is useful when you create a forecast based on actual developments or initialize a new budget run with actual FTE values.
- Choose the Search icon, enter Copy actual FTE, and then choose the related link.
- Specify the required budget structure, version, and date filter.
- Choose OK to transfer the actual FTE values.
FTE calculation method
The FTE calculation is controlled in SwissSalary Budget Setup:
| Method | Description |
|---|---|
| Salary Amount | FTEs are calculated from the amounts actually paid. Absences (illness, military service, and so on) reduce the FTE proportionately. Example: Amount paid Fr. 7'550 ÷ theoretical monthly salary Fr. 8'800 = 0.86 FTE. |
| Employment % | FTEs are determined from the employment percentage stored in the employee master data. |
Hinweis
Pro rata effects: If an employee with a 100% employment percentage joins or leaves in the middle of the month, the result for this month is 0.5 FTE. Use the Position Index field for the respective salary type to control which salary types are included in the salary amount.
Create and manage vacancies
Vacancies represent people who haven't yet been entered as employees in SwissSalary. This lets you budget planned new hires. The Vacancy Card contains the same fields as the Employee Card, but is limited to information relevant to the budget.
Hinweis
A number series for vacancies must be stored in SwissSalary Budget Setup before you can create a new vacancy.
Open the Vacancy List
- Choose the Search icon, enter Vacancy List, and then choose the related link.
Actions on the Vacancy Card
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Insurance and Benefit Coverages | Assigns social insurance obligations to the vacancy. |
| Personnel dimension | Assigns one or more personnel dimensions to the vacancy. |
| Allocated Salary | Assigns individual salary types to the vacancy, for example, fixed occupational pension contributions, lump-sum expenses, or the private share of a company car. |
| Create from Employee | Creates a new vacancy based on an existing employee. The master data for the selected employee number is transferred. Then adjust the fields that aren't yet known (name, date of birth, salary, and so on). |
| Convert to Employee | Converts the vacancy to an actual employee in SwissSalary. The vacancy is removed from the Vacancy List. The Vacancy No. becomes the Employee No. If the vacancy is included in a budget structure, the Vacancy No. is replaced automatically with the new Employee No. there. |
Create a vacancy from an existing employee
Open the Vacancy Card or choose New in the Vacancy List.
Choose the Create from Employee action.
Fill in the following fields:
Field Description Employee No. Choose the SwissSalary employee whose master data should be transferred. Use No. Series Select this option to use the next available number from the stored vacancy number series. Manual No. Enter a vacancy number manually if the number series isn't used. Choose OK.
Convert a vacancy to an employee (BdgConvertVacancyToEmp)
When a vacancy is filled, transfer it directly to SwissSalary as an employee. You don't have to enter the data again.
Open the Vacancy Card for the position to be filled.
Choose the Convert to Employee action.
Fill in the following fields:
Field Description No. Series Select this option to use the next available number from the employee number series. Manual No. Enter an employee number manually if the number series isn't used. Choose OK.
Hinweis
After conversion:
- The vacancy no longer appears in the Vacancy List.
- The Vacancy No. is used as the Employee No.
- Budget structures that contained this vacancy are updated automatically—the Vacancy No. is replaced by the Employee No. You don't have to update the structures manually.
Check benchmark and FTE consistency
- Define positions before the first payroll run transfer. If you add them later, you must transfer the affected payroll runs again.
- Use the Benchmark field to weight position categories differently—for example, 0.5 for apprentices or 0 for positions maintained exclusively for administrative purposes.
- For budget structures in which the same position appears more than once (for different cost centers), assign the appropriate dimension to each one through Job Dimension.
Good to know
- You create positions only after transferring the payroll run—the affected entries are missing from the evaluation.
- You create new vacancies without setting the vacancy number series in Budget Setup—the system doesn't create the vacancies.
- You control FTEs only through amounts and overlook Salary Amount versus Employment % and pro rata calculations for employees joining or leaving—the employment percentage and Position Index differ.
- You maintain the same position only once across multiple cost centers—the shares and dimensions are mixed. Create separate position records with the appropriate Job Dimension.