When you enter our system, you'll notice many financial concepts and terms. We have prepared a glossary of terms to make your adventure with BigTime Foresight easier.
Under some of these terms, there are specific calculations hidden. If these calculations depend on other settings, you'll find links to articles explaining the differences in the definition.
The Up! button will help you navigate through the dictionary. Press 🆙 to go back to the alphabet list and go to definitions with a different letter.
If you looked for a term in the dictionary but didn't find it on the list, let us know!
A
Actual - A term that defines current work, costs, profit, and margins for a specific project, as well as people and time entries.
Administrator Role - Administrators have the highest permissions and access in Foresight. They can manage integrations with external systems, define settings for an entire organization, configure system operation options, and assign roles to firm members.
API - Application Programming Interface; a set of protocols and tools for building software and applications, enabling integration with BigTime Foresight for data exchange and functionality extension.
Approvals - The process through which timesheets, expenses, and project-related submissions are reviewed and authorized by designated approvers within the system.
Assignment - Planned project work assigned to a specific staffer by their manager.
Assignment Status -
Active - The assignment is currently in progress.
Reserved - The assignment is planned, and resources have been allocated, but work has not started.
Draft - The assignment is preliminary and has yet to be finalized.
Assign Staff Member (Demand) - The process of allocating a staff member to a project or task based on the demand for their skills and availability.
Availability - The time a staff member is free to be assigned to new tasks or projects.
Average Bill Rate - The average bill rate of a staffer’s input time on this project. Remember that each time entry may have a different rate, and non-billable time entries are included in this calculation.
Average Cost Rate - The average hourly cost to the company for employing a staff member, including salary and overhead. You can set it up in the staffer’s contract in BigTime Foresight.
B
Billable - Work chargeable to a client, contributing to revenue.
C
Capacity - A staffer's contract capacity is deducted from their time off/leaves.
Client Name - An entity/organization your firm does business with.
Committed Overhead - Overheads are business costs related to the business's day-to-day running. If the overhead is committed," it means that certain overhead costs, such as rent, salaries, or utilities, are fixed and cannot be easily changed or reduced in the short term because they were already settled. Learn more about overheads in Foresight Here.
Connect to Assignment (Demand) - Linking a demand (resource requirement) directly to a specific assignment within the system.
Connect to Demand (Demand) - Linking an assignment to a demand ensures that the needed resources are met.
Contract - A method of billing and cost allocation for a staffer’s work during a specific timeframe(s). The terms of a staffer's contract also determine their capacity.
Contract Capacity - The number of contract hours a staffer can fill. This number includes public, regional, and firm-specific holidays.
Contract Utilization - Staffers’ logged billable work hours divided by their contract capacity.
Cost - The total expenditure required to complete a task or project, including direct and indirect expenses.
Cost Center 1/2/3 - Organizational units within a company track expenses, revenues, and profitability, categorized at different levels for detailed financial analysis.
Current Status - A field determining whether a project has been completed or is still ongoing and active. This field can be used to filter and group data in reports.
Currently Assigned Team Members - Team members allocated to active tasks or projects.
D
Data Fields - Defined fields in different categories created for the entire organization.
Default Role - Roles can be set on a staffer's profile to give them permissions and access to certain features. Staffers' roles determine whether they can edit their experience, technical skills, soft skills, languages, and other details on their profile.
Department - "Department" is a data field to which a staffer or overhead categories can be assigned.
Demand - The requirement for resources, such as staff time or materials, to complete a project or task.
E
Education - The academic background and qualifications of a staff member.
Experience - The work history and professional expertise of a staff member.
F
Finance Manager - This role allows a person to view a staffer's costs if they directly manage that staffer. A Finance Manager can edit their staffers' contracts if they have specific HR permissions.
Final Date - The last date a task or project is scheduled to be completed.
FTE (Full Time Equivalent) - FTE stands for Full-Time Equivalent, a measurement unit used by companies to calculate employee work hours and forecast staffing needs. HR departments use FTE to standardize work hours and pay for part-time employees. For example, if 40 hours per week (8 hours a day) is considered the standard for full-time employees, then an employee working 40 hours per week equals 1 FTE. This also means that 4 employees working 10 hours per week each would make up 1 FTE. How many hours equal 8 FTEs? If 1 FTE equals 40 hours of work at the company, then 8 FTEs amount to 320 hours.
Full Day Off - a work leave reported by a manager or staffer for the entire working day if the administrator allows reporting partial time off in the settings of the entire organization (also see Partial Time Off and Time Off).
Fully Scheduled (Demand) - When a demand has been completely allocated with the necessary resources, and no additional resources are required.
I
ID - A unique identifier assigned to entities such as projects, tasks, or staff members within BigTime.
Input Billable - The act of entering billable hours into the system for tasks charged to a client.
Input Hours - Submitted hours that a staffer worked on a specific assignment.
Input Non-Billable - Entering hours into the system for tasks not chargeable to a client, such as administrative work.
Integrations - External software that can be integrated with Foresight.
L
Label (assignment) - A tag or descriptor added to assignments to categorize and identify them easily.
Leftover Billable Capacity - The remaining time a staffer has available for billable work after accounting for their current assignments and tasks.
Lexicon - a system glossary that allows default term customization, like “Task” to “Phase,” to better align with your team’s language and make navigation easier. In BigTime Foresight, the Lexicon lets you customize fields such as Customers, Projects, Cost Centers, Billing Rate Labels, and Tasks, with updates visible across Foresight through the Map Lexicon button. Learn more about the Lexicon: Your Company’s Lexicon and Foresight Lexicon settings: Configuring Your Company Lexicon in BigTime Foresight
M
Manager Role - Managers can manage both staffers and projects. They can be granted or denied additional permissions, allowing access to more actions or firm data.
Margin - The percentage ratio of profit to revenue.
Merge (Assignments) - a feature that allows managers to combine multiple staff assignments into one entry. This tool is useful when a staffer logs time without a formal assignment, creating separate entries: one with logged hours and one with a schedule. Managers can use Merge Assignments to consolidate, improving reporting accuracy and simplifying tracking. Learn more: Merge Assignments: How to Combine Staffers’ Assignments
N
Non-billable - If a staffer's hours are marked as "non-billable," clients will not be billed for that work.
O
Off-Hours Work - Work assigned outside of regular working hours that do not affect a staffer’s utilization rate.
Overbooking Settings - Configurations within BigTime that manage and prevent the assignment of more work than a staff member can handle within their available capacity.
P
Partially Scheduled (Demand) - when only a portion of the required resources has been allocated to meet a demand.
Partial Time Off - work leaves added by a manager or staffer for a few hours, as opposed to a regular full day off, which is added for the entire working day. For Partial Time Off to be reported, the administrator must enable this option in the admin panel in BigTime Foresight (also see Time Off). If the administrator enables this option, leave reported for a whole day will be called a Full Day Off.
Planning Tab - an in-depth view of project metrics and task data, showing budget and burndown information. Organized into three sub-tabs: Planning (task assignments and budget impact), Budget Hours (time tracking), and Budget $ (financial burndown). The Planning Tab aids firms in tracking performance and resource use in real-time, enabling efficient decision-making without managing tasks in multiple systems. Learn more: Task-Based Resourcing in BigTime Foresight
Profit - the difference between revenue and cost.
Project Manager - in BigTime Foresight, the Project Manager role grants permissions for planning, executing, and closing a project. This includes managing the team and ensuring project goals are met, with full access to make changes within the project.
Project Manager (Read-Only) - in BigTime Foresight, this role provides view-only access to project information, allowing the Project Manager to monitor project status and details without permission to make any changes.
Project Name - The title given to a project for identification and reference.
Project Overhead - Indirect costs, such as administrative expenses, are associated with the project running.
Public Holiday - General holidays for a firm's home country or general holidays added by a firm's administrator.
R
Reduce Billable Capacity - Adjusting the amount of billable time available for a staff member, typically due to changes in workload or project requirements.
Remaining Time (demand) - The time left to meet demand after accounting for the work already done and resources allocated.
Requested Time (Time off) - The time off that staff members have applied for, pending approval.
Revenue - The total income generated from billable work performed by the staff.
Role (Application) - Roles determine what kind of permissions firm staffers have and what they see in Foresight. There are three main roles: staffer, manager, and administrator. Firm members can have one or multiple assigned roles.
S
Scheduled - Utilization, overheads, margins, budgets, or other planned aspects of a project.
Scheduled Active - Tasks or projects that are currently scheduled and active.
Scheduled Draft - Tasks or scheduled projects still in the draft stage.
Scheduled Reserved - Tasks or projects with reserved resources but not active.
Scheduled Utilization Settings - Configurations determine how scheduled time is allocated and tracked for utilization.
Seniority - The level of experience or expertise a staffer has in a specific position or role. Managers can use seniority types to plan workloads and filter staffers.
Skills - A data field defines a staffer's skills, experience, and language proficiency.
Skills Tree - A hierarchical representation of staff members' skills for assigning tasks and projects based on expertise.
Staff Member - Any member of your firm, regardless of role or activity status. Active persons can carry out tasks and activities within BigTime and Foresight, depending on their assigned user permissions.
Staffer Role - The specific role or job title assigned to a staff member within the system.
Staffer's Bill Rate - The hourly rate at which a staff member’s time is billed to clients.
Staffers Without Demand - Staff members not currently assigned to projects with existing demands.
Status - The current state or condition of a project, assignment, or resource allocation.
Substitute Manager - A temporary replacement for a project manager, taking over responsibilities during their absence.
T
Task - a unit of work within a project essential for organizing and managing specific parts of a project’s workflow. Tasks may refer to various work items, such as “budget items,” “phases,” “work items,” or “milestones.” Each firm can customize the terminology for these units according to its preferences through the system’s Lexicon Settings. For more details, see Your Company’s Lexicon in BigTime.
Task Editor - a tool for adding, viewing, and managing all tasks and subtasks for a project in one place, showing assignments, hours, and due dates at a glance. With the Task Editor, you can add, copy, and create recurring tasks, using features like Auto-Save and Bulk Action for streamlined management. Changes made here are instantly reflected in Foresight’s Planning Tab. Learn more: Access and Use the Task Editor
Team Members - staffers who are assigned to project teams in BigTime Foresight.
Team Members Work - The tasks and activities performed by team members.
Time Off - Work leaves that have been added by managers or staffers. They can have different statuses. Time Off requests can have different statuses, such as pending, retracted, accepted, rejected, or in progress. Time Off is expressed in days or hours (also see Partial Time Off)