The complexity of modern resource management
As your agency or studio scales, managing your Float environment becomes a balance of project precision and budget control. Float is the gold standard for resource planning, but its billing model—tied directly to the number of “People” on your timeline—creates a significant visibility gap.
The capacity gap
In Float, there is a critical distinction between “Users” (those who log in) and “People” (those who are scheduled). Because you are billed for every person on the timeline regardless of whether they log in to check their schedule, your costs can easily decouple from your actual workforce reality. Without dedicated Float resource management monitoring, you lack the data to know if every paid seat is actually contributing to a project.
The “ghost employee” narrative
The hidden cost in Float doesn’t come from the talent working on your projects; it comes from the people who aren’t. As contractors cycle out and projects wrap up, organizations often forget to “Archive” these resources. These “ghost employees” remain active on your timeline, incurring monthly fees indefinitely and quietly inflating your operational burn rate.
OpenLM for Float: A complete resource optimization solution
OpenLM empowers you to optimize Float seats by transforming your resource list into actionable business intelligence.
- Unscheduled resource detection: Identify “Active” people who have had zero hours scheduled or logged in the past 30, 60, or 90 days.
- Inactive user harvesting: Flag administrative users or project managers who haven’t logged into the platform to update schedules.
- Offboarding verification: Cross-reference your Float resource list against HR or Active Directory records to identify terminated employees.
- Agency profitability tracking: Ensure you are only paying for talent that is actively generating revenue or working on billable projects.
- Automated clean-up reports: Replace manual quarterly audits with data-driven insights on who is active and who is dormant.
Maximize your capacity planning investment
OpenLM provides a three-layered approach to help you manage Float licenses efficiently and improve your margin.
The visibility layer
Gain a unified view of your billable resource count. See exactly who is on the timeline, their current scheduling status, and their last login date. This visibility is essential for understanding your true “burn rate” across global teams.
The intelligence layer
Leverage advanced analytics to right-size your resource pool. By correlating Float data with tools like Jira or Asana, you can ensure that your resource allocation matches the actual work being performed in your production environment.
Technical details: Benefits of the OpenLM Float integration
OpenLM uses a secure, API-driven approach to capture every detail of your Float environment without interrupting your project managers’ workflows.
Seamless API connectivity
- Direct integration: OpenLM connects directly to the Float API to provide a clear audit of your resource list.
- Zero footprint: No software installation is required on individual team member workstations to track scheduling activity.
- Cross-tool correlation: Manage Float alongside other project tools like Jira and Trello to ensure consistent user status across your stack.
Advanced reporting and analytics
- Resource utilization reporting: Monitor how your billable seat count correlates with project demand cycles.
- Departmental chargebacks: Automatically calculate and export billing data based on team or project tags for internal accountability.
Strategic ROI and business value
Organizations leveraging OpenLM for Float often see immediate cost recovery by identifying and archiving orphaned profiles.
- Procurement support: Use “actual scheduled hours” data to negotiate your next contract instead of relying on peak headcount.
- Margin protection: In an agency model, every overhead cost eats into the margin. OpenLM ensures you only pay for the talent generating value.
- Audit readiness: Maintain a continuous record of resource assignments and archival history for internal compliance and financial audits.
