Managing Position Data

This chapter discusses how to:

• Maintain position data.

• Update position data.

• Update incumbent job data.

• Verify position data.

Maintaining Position Data

Periodically, you have to enter changes to position data, such as a title change or a position that becomes inactive. You also must update employee data occasionally, such as entering a pay rate change or a leave of absence. You might make a change that affects both position and incumbent (an employee assigned to a position) job data, such as changing the department code for the position. To do this, use the same pages that you used to create positions and assign employees to them.

The system processes position data changes differently if the data that you are updating pertains only to the employee, only to the position, or affects both position and incumbent job data.

This section discusses how to:

• Determine where to update data.

• (USF) Update the data.

• Distinguish incumbent and position data.

Determining Where To Update Data

Once you’ve determined the type of change that you want to make, where do you make the changes?

• For incumbent data, go to Workforce Administration, Job Information, Job Data to make your changes.

• For position-related data, make your changes in the Position Data pages.

• If your changes affect both position and incumbent data, use the Position Data pages; the system automatically maintains the current incumbent data in the Job Data pages.

Note. The Update Incumbents functionality isn't active for Federal users. Federal users must update incumbent data manually to reflect changes made in the Position Data pages.

For example, when you want to move positions from one location to another, use the Position Data pages to make the changes. Enter a new department or location to move the position and the current incumbent to the new locale or department. This type of transfer implies that the employee is making a lateral move and not getting a promotion or a pay increase.

Use the Transfer Action in the Workforce Administration Job Data pages when you are moving an employee from one position to another. This type of transfer implies that the employee is being promoted or demoted and will get a pay change.

Note. Department/Location changes in Position Data has some behavioral impacts on the Establishment ID value on Job Data:

If a Department change does not change the Location:

• The system does not clear the Establishment ID on the Job Data page:

  • If the Location has only one valid Establishment ID.

  • If the Location has more than one valid Establishment ID and the current Establishment ID is valid for the Location.

• The system clears the Establishment ID on the Job Data page, if the Location has more than one valid Establishment ID and the current Establishment ID is not valid for the Location.

If a Department change does change the Location:

• The system populates the Establishment ID on Job Data, if the location has only one valid Establishment ID.

• The system does not clear the Establishment ID on Job Data if the location has more than one valid Establishment ID and it is valid for the new location.

• The system clears the Establishment ID on Job Data if the location has more than one valid Establishment ID and it is not valid for the new location.

(USF) Updating the Data

Once you’ve determined the type of change that you want to make, go to the following pages:

• For employee data, go to the Workforce Administration, Job Information components to make your changes.

• For position-related data, make your changes in the Position Data component.

• If your changes affect both position and incumbent data, use the Position Data component and then update the employee-level information in the components in the Workforce Administration menu.

Use the Transfer Action in the Job Information pages to move an employee from one position to another. This type of transfer implies that the employee is being promoted or demoted and will get a pay change.

Distinguishing Incumbent and Position Data

This section discusses:

• Considerations.

• Position data changes.

• Incumbent data changes.

• Position and incumbent data changes.

Considerations

Depending on the type of information that you’re updating, you make changes in the Position Data pages or in the Job Data pages. Before you begin, consider what kind of action that you are taking because the action controls whether your changes affect incumbent data, position data, or both position and incumbent data. Furthermore, the type of data determines where you make your changes in Human Resources.

Position Data Changes

If you are making changes to the position, such as changing the position's DeptID, Salary Plan, or Title, make these changes in the Position Data pages. These changes are applied to the position and the incumbent.

Changes to some fields in the Position Data component update the incumbent's job record. In the Updating Position Changes to the Job Data Component section of Setting Up Positions, there is a table of fields that are common to the Position Data component and the incumbent's job record. The table indicates which of those fields are updated in the job record when changed in the Position Data component.

Incumbent Data Changes

If you want to make a change that affects only the employee and not the position, make the changes on the incumbent's job record. Note that these are changes that aren't going to be associated with the position and applied to future incumbents, or they are changes independent of the position. This includes changes in the incumbent's employee status, such as Leave of Absence or Rehire, or position assignment, such as a transfer or promotion.

Position and Incumbent Data Changes

If you change the work phone on a position and Update Incumbents is switched on (select the Update Incumbents check box in Position Data - Specific Information page), the Position Phone is automatically updated on the Job Data - Employment page for the employees.

If you are making a change to a Position Data field that doesn't update the incumbent's job record, make your change in both the Position Data pages and the incumbent's Job Data record. For instance, if you change a position's Work Phone, the system does not update the incumbent's job record with the new value if you have cleared the Update Incumbents check box. In this case you need to update the job record manually.

See Also

Creating Positions

Updating Position Data

Use the Position Data pages to make changes to any information that pertains to the job or position itself, such as moving the position from one department to another, work phone, and status.

This section discusses:

• Making changes to position data.

• Understanding effective dates and updating position data.

Making Changes to Position Data

To make changes to position data, follow these steps:

1. Open Position Data - Description.

2. Insert a new data row.

   The system enters the system date, which is usually the current date, as the effective date. Change this unless the current date is the first day that the change takes effect.

   Note. The Update Incumbent function will only run if you are entering a current or future dated row.

3. Enter a reason for the new row.

4. Make your changes to the appropriate pages.

5. Save the changes that you made to the position.

Understanding Effective Dates and Updating Position Data

You usually update position information in Human Resources by adding effective-dated data rows to the position data and incumbent job records. Effective dates enable you to maintain a complete chronological history of all your data and tables, whether you changed them two years ago or want them to go into effect in two months. With this information, you can roll back your system to a particular time to perform analyses on position data or employee records. Similarly, you can roll forward and set up tables and data before they take effect.

The system also uses effective dates to compare pages and tables so that the prompt tables that you see display only the data that is valid as of the effective date of the page on which you’re working.

Effective dates are always important in Human Resources, but they take on special significance when you maintain positions, particularly when you change data in the fields that appear in both the Position Data and Job Data pages. To update this information, enter the changes by inserting new data rows in the Position Data pages. The system maintains the data in the current incumbent Job Data pages by inserting a new data row for you with the same effective date.

However, the system can only maintain the incumbent data if the new or changed data row is either the current row or a future row for both position data and job data. Unfortunately, Human Resources can’t determine your intention: it doesn’t know whether you wanted overrides on or off in the past, whether you made mistakes that you’re trying to fix, or whether you just forgot to put some data in when it took effect. If the system inserted data rows with effective dates that fell in the middle of either of the stacks, you’d run the risk of getting the effective dates out of order and having incorrect data inserted.

This also means the system cross-updates current and future incumbent job data. It can't go back and update previous incumbents that were assigned to the position because they are linked in historical data rows. The only way to make sure historical information matches in both the position data table and the incumbent job data table is to update it manually.

To make sure the system cross-updates data when you want it to and to save yourself cross-checking time, try to update data in both the Position Data and Job Data pages in the correct chronological order the first time that you enter it or make corrections shortly thereafter.

Only one person should update the incumbent and position data in both the Workforce Administration pages and the Position Data pages because the effective dates and sequence of data rows greatly affect how the system updates and maintains matching incumbent and position data. So that they can update data in both places, the user must have security access to both the position and the person.

See Also

Setting Up and Administering HRMS Security

Updating Incumbent Job Data

This section discusses how to:

• Follow guidelines.

• Update job data.

• Insert new rows.

• Delete rows.

• Make corrections.

• When you don't want to update job data.

Following Guidelines

To ensure that the system cross-updates the incumbent job record when you want it to, follow these guidelines, which vary with the action that you take:

• When you make insertions, deletions, or corrections to job data that affect the current incumbent payroll, the system, where needed, marks payline records for recalculation. When payroll is recalculated, the payroll system uses the new information.

• When you make insertions, deletions, or corrections to the current incumbent job data or employment data that affect benefits, the system sets the flags controlling event maintenance to indicate that a change has occurred. During the next event maintenance process, the system processes the event.

• When a position changes from full- to part-time, the system automatically sets the flag for COBRA activity in benefits.

When you make changes to data in the fields that appear in both the Job Data and Position Data pages, always use the Position Data pages. You can easily determine which rows the system created in the Job Data pages as the Position Management Record check box will be selected.

Updating Job Data

You modify data in the Position Data pages by making insertions, deletions, and corrections. Because the changes that you make to the position management pages can impact the incumbent's job data, when you undertake any of these actions in the Position Data pages, it can have significant consequences in the Job Data pages. The following sections outline how the system updates the Job Data pages after you make changes in the Position Data component.

Inserting New Rows

The most common way that you make changes is by inserting new data rows. You can enter a new effective date and make changes without losing any of the data that was already in the record.

When the system updates incumbent job data, it inserts a new data row on top of the current row. If you have already inserted any future job data rows, the system also updates the future rows with the changes that you made.

To ensure that the system updates incumbent job data when you insert new rows, make sure that:

• The position row that you insert is current or future effective-dated.

• The current incumbent Job Data - Work Location page uses the position data in the current job data row. (If the position data is used, the system automatically populates the position related fields and makes them unavailable for entry. The Override Position Data button is now visible.)

• The Update Incumbents check box on the Position Data - Specific Information page is selected.

You can verify that the system has made the changes by checking the employee's Job Data - Job Information page. The system inserts a new data row with the same effective date as the one that you inserted on the Position Data - Description page.

Deleting Rows

Let’s say you’ve inserted a data row and now realize that you have inserted it for the wrong position; for example, you wanted to change information on Position 14 instead of Position 15. You can easily delete the row that you’ve just created.

To maintain incumbent job data when you make row deletes, make sure that you’re changing the following options:

• A current or future effective-dated position row.

• A position data row that has a matching job row (same effective date, created from the Position Data component) in the Job Data component.

• The matching job row in the Job Data pages is also current or future dated.

Use the Correction action for current rows and the Update/Display action for future effective-dated rows.

To delete a row:

1. Access the Position Data - Description page.

2. To delete the incorrect information, position the cursor in the Effective Date field for the row that you want to delete and click the Delete button.

   Remember that if any job data rows exist that have an effective date after the row that you’re deleting, you must update them manually.

3. Save the changes that you have made to the position.

4. You can now make changes to the correct position.

Making Corrections

What if you’ve just saved a new data row, and you discover that you entered the wrong information in one of the fields that you changed? You don’t want to insert a new row to correct the mistake, nor do you want to delete the row because it’s essentially correct. To solve this problem, use the Correction action to fix the data but keep the row intact.

The system cross-updates data when you’re making corrections, provided that:

• You’re correcting a current or future effective-dated position row.

  Note. You can't change the effective date.

• The position data row has a matching job row (same effective date, created from the Position Data pages) in the Job Data pages.

• The matching job data row in the Job Data pages is also current or future.

• Position data has not been overridden on the Job Data - Work Location page for related incumbents.

When You Don’t Want to Update Job Data

For typical position data changes, you save time if the system cross-updates information for you. But what happens if you don’t want the system to make changes automatically? For example, you change a position from Temporary to Regular for the current incumbent, but the change doesn’t normally apply to this position, and you don’t want the system to write over your exceptions.

You can prevent automatic job data maintenance by completing either of these two tasks:

• Click Override Position Data on the incumbent Job Data - Work Location page.

• Clear the Update Incumbents check box on the Position Data - Specific Information page.

You can use these options whenever you need to. Furthermore, whenever you set them to the settings for cross-updating to take place, the system begins updating the records automatically again. This is particularly useful if you entered some exceptions for a short period of time, but they no longer apply.

Whenever you select the check box so that maintaining job data won't occur, check and update the affected data rows manually. When you save your changes in the Position Data pages and job data needs to be updated manually, the system does not issue a warning message.

Selecting the Override Position Data Button in Incumbent Job Data, Work Location

When you have exceptions to default position data, they usually apply only to the current incumbent. Click the Override Position Data button to enter exceptions and ensure that the system doesn't automatically insert changes that you make to default position data. The Override Position Data button is on the Job Data - Work Location page.

If you override the defaults for position-related data, you must maintain the employee data manually. The system doesn't update the position data on the Job Data pages with data from the Position Data pages until you click the Use Position Data button on the Job Data - Work Location page.

Clearing the Update Incumbents Check Box in Position Data, Specific Information

This check box is selected by default for every new data row that you enter. You won’t clear the check box very often because when you want to make sure the system doesn’t overwrite exceptions to position data, you usually click Override Position Data.

However, if you forget, for example, to click Override Position Data, or you’re making corrections to historical data and need to update data manually in both the Position Data and Job Data pages, you clear the Update Incumbents check box. The Update Incumbents check box is located on the Position Data - Specific Information page.

Verifying Position Data

As you update data in fields that match in the Position Data and incumbent Job Data pages, periodically you should check the data to ensure the system contains the right information in both places. You can run an SQR audit, the Exception/Override report, to determine if any data that doesn't match in the two components.

You can choose between:

• The Override report that prints incumbent job data where you have prevented automatic cross updating from occurring.

• The Exception report that prints only exceptions where the incumbent job and position data is out of sync for other reasons.

Pages Used to Verify Position Data