Position Control Glossary

These three words get used interchangeably in conversation, but they mean different things, and the gaps between them are exactly where audits find problems.

Authorized — formally approved to exist, usually by a board, council, or budget resolution. Approval doesn't guarantee money is attached yet.

Funded — has budget actually allocated to pay for it, this year, from a specific source.

Filled — has a real person (an incumbent) currently assigned to it right now.

A position can be authorized but not funded (approved in principle, no money yet), funded but not filled (budgeted and sitting vacant), or all three at once. Auditors care about this distinction specifically because organizations sometimes hire into positions that were never formally authorized, or keep paying for positions that were authorized years ago but never re-confirmed.

FTE (full-time equivalent) is a position's or incumbent's workload expressed as a fraction of a standard full-time schedule. A full-time 40-hour-a-week role is 1.0 FTE. A 20-hour-a-week role is 0.5 FTE.

FTE is calculated by dividing actual (or budgeted) hours by the hours that count as full-time at that organization — usually 40, but set by policy and sometimes different for specific job classes. Two part-time incumbents at 0.5 FTE each can fill one 1.0 FTE position, which is exactly the kind of split assignment a spreadsheet tends to lose track of. Full formula and worked examples: how to calculate FTE.

A staffing table (also called a position roster or personnel complement) is the formal list of every position an organization is authorized to have, typically organized by department and often attached to the annual budget document. It's the term government budget documents most often use for what HR software calls position control — the staffing table is usually a static exhibit in a PDF budget book, while position control software keeps the same information live and current as positions are added, filled, and vacated.

Budgeted headcount is what was approved and planned for — the positions and FTE in the staffing table. Actual headcount is who is really on payroll right now. The two drift apart constantly: a position gets approved but stays vacant, someone is hired above the approved FTE, or a position ends up filled by more combined FTE than it was budgeted for. The gap between budgeted and actual is exactly what position control software is built to surface automatically instead of requiring a manual reconciliation. See a worked example on the budget vs. actual page.

These describe how a position's budgeted FTE compares to the FTE of the incumbents assigned to it: vacant (no incumbent), filled (incumbent FTE exactly matches budgeted FTE), partially filled (incumbent FTE is less than budgeted), and overfilled (combined incumbent FTE exceeds what was budgeted). Full detail and examples are on the main FAQ.

Position control is a budget-and-authorization discipline — tracking whether positions are authorized, funded, filled, and within budget. Position management is a broader HR/HRIS discipline covering org structure, job design, and how people move through roles. They overlap but aren't the same software category, and the difference matters when evaluating a tool. Full comparison: position management vs. position control.

Yes. Establishment control is the term commonly used in the UK, Ireland, Australia, and other Commonwealth countries for the same discipline the US calls position control. See establishment control for the full explanation.

A position whose budget comes from a specific grant or program source rather than (or in addition to) general operating funds, often with its own FTE and reporting requirements tied to that funding. These positions need to be tracked both as positions and by funding source, since losing the grant doesn't automatically mean the position disappears from the staffing table — someone has to decide what happens to it.