How does OOO time impact Cost Capitalization?

Last updated: January 23, 2026

How OOO Time Impacts Cost Cap Calculations

You can sync OOO time into Span from either an HRIS Integration or a Calendar integration.

How OOO Time Impacts Cost Cap Calculations

OOO (Out of Office) time is treated as excluded from normal cost capitalization calculations because it represents time when team members aren't productively working on capitalized projects.

The Core Mechanism

When OOO time occurs, Span attempts to redistribute that FTE to other work the person did during the same period:

If the person has both OOO and other work:

  • A person takes 0.25 days OOO but worked 0.75 days on capitalized projects

  • Span rescales the 0.75 days upward to account for the full 1.0 FTE capacity

  • Result: The full day's salary cost is applied to their actual work, not artificially reduced

If the person has only OOO time (entire day out):

  • Span handles this based on your configured exclusion method (see below)

  • Either counts as uncapitalized FTE or removes from totals entirely

Configuration Options

You can configure how Span treats OOO time that can't be redistributed:

  1. Mark as Uncapitalized - OOO hours count in total FTE but aren't attributed to capitalized work

  2. Redistribute, Otherwise Uncapitalize - Tries to spread OOO FTE across other work; if impossible, marks as uncapitalized

  3. Redistribute, Otherwise Hide - Tries to spread OOO FTE across other work; if impossible, removes from reported FTE

Key Factors

The specific behavior depends on:

  • Your exclusion method setting - Controls whether OOO reduces total FTE or just changes categorization

  • Your redistribution period - Whether OOO is redistributed within the same day, week, month, or quarter (week-level provides the best balance, redistributing ~90% of OOO hours)

  • Whether the person did other work - OOO during days with no other work can't be redistributed

To see how OOO impacts your organization specifically, check your cost cap settings to see which exclusion and redistribution method is configured, then observe how "lost FTE" or "non-integrated exclusion" metrics change when OOO is scheduled.