General Compensation Structures

General Compensation Structures Overview

Using Oracle HRMS, you have all the flexibility you need to model your compensation and benefit packages. You decide exactly what information you want to hold for compensation management and, if you require it, for payroll processing.

This overview outlines the generic concepts and procedures for setting up compensation. However, there are additional considerations for salaries, absences and PTO accruals, benefit plans, collective agreements, and setting up earnings and deductions for payroll processing. These are covered in other areas.

Elements: Define - Administer - Process

Element is an Oracle HRMS term for the components of a compensation and benefits package, such as salary, PTO accrual plan, and health plan. By defining elements, you can structure information relating to employees' compensation and benefits in a highly flexible way.

First, you define elements, then you administer and process them.

Define

Definition includes rules about valid compensation values, who can receive the elements, and how they are processed. You define elements, and associated rules and formulas, as part of your Oracle HRMS implementation. You can define new elements and make certain changes to existing definitions at any time.

Administer

When definition is complete, you administer compensation and benefits by making element entries for your employees. You can quickly record earnings, deductions, time worked and other information by entering elements in batches.

Process

You process earnings and deductions by running payrolls. The payroll run automatically uses the calculations you have written as formulas, and uses other rules (such as processing frequency) that you have defined.

Compensation Objects

For most benefits and some types of compensation, you define compensation objects as well as elements. You can define a hierarchy of compensation objects, optionally starting with programs at the highest level, to represent a package of benefits you offer, followed by plan types, plans, and options. A plan type is a category of plans, such as a medical plan type. A plan is a specific offering, such as a bonus or a dental plan, and an option is an electable choice within a plan, such as 1 x Salary.

If you use SSHR, defining compensation objects enables you to delegate tasks such as the allocation of salary increases or bonuses to line managers, by issuing budgets. Employees can use self-service to enter voluntary contributions, such as savings plans, or charitable donations. They can also manage their own enrollments in benefit plans, while the back-office maintains control of the plan's administration.

If you use iRecruitment, defining compensation objects enables your hiring or line managers to assign benefits components to eligible applicants when they create or update offers. For example, you can set up plans such as car and relocation.

To speed up implementation, you can use Plan Design Copy to copy a plan or program and all its associated definitions, then you can configure these to create a new plan or program.

Eligibility Profiles

If you have defined compensation objects, you manage participation by defining eligibility profiles and attaching them to the appropriate level of the hierarchy. You can define several profiles for each object, and each profile can contain both required and optional criteria. For example, the profile could specify that eligible employees must work full time, and either have been employed for at least two years, or be assigned to a manager grade.

Activity Rates

You can attach any number of activity rates to a plan or option to specify the contributions made by employee and employer, or the distributions, such as compensation awards. When you define an activity rate, you can associate it with an element. Activity rates support a variety of calculation methods to determine how much a person pays or receives: flat amount, multiple of premium, multiple of elected coverage, and so on. When a participant enrolls in a plan, the enrollment process runs the calculation and enters the result on an element entry for the employee.

General Compensation Structures

the picture is described in the document text

Reporting On Compensation Data

Oracle HRMS includes a number of windows and reports for compensation data, such as the Salary Review Report, and the List Employees by Element window.

In SSHR, you can use the Compensation History page to view employee information such as salary changes, bonuses, stock options, monetary compensation grouped by year, ranking, jobs, and non-monetary compensation. If you use Compensation Workbench, this feature supplies several reports for salary changes, bonuses, and stock options.

Oracle HRMS also includes some Discoverer Workbooks to enable you to analyze salary information by organization, supervisor, and job, comparing with grade rate values where appropriate.

See: General Compensation Structures -- Reports, Oracle HRMS Configuring, Reporting, and System Administration Guide

Using System Extract, you can define interfaces to extract compensation data for reporting or transfer to third parties. Oracle HRMS supplies predefined extracts that you can use or configure. See: HR/Payroll Extracts, Oracle HRMS Configuring, Reporting, and System Administration Guide.

Key Concepts

To get the most out of the compensation and benefits functionality of Oracle HRMS, you need to understand the following key concepts:

General Compensation Structures

What kinds of compensation information can you record?

All kinds, depending on how much information you require. You decide what types of compensation and benefits you want to track, the information you need to hold for each type, and the rules that determine who receives the compensation and how often it is paid.

Can you monitor the costs of compensation policies?

Yes, you can allocate labor costs to particular departments, products, or projects. You can enter default cost centers for organizations and employees, then override these, if required, when you enter timecard data.

How can you review the effectiveness of compensation packages?

You can compare salaries and other compensation for any groups of employees, for example grouped by organization, position or grade. You can break down salary changes into components, such as Cost of Living, Location Adjustment, or Promotion, to identify any performance-related increases. You can also associate salary changes with performance reviews.

Using HRMS Intelligence, you can compare salary trends, manpower changes, and group skills analyses.

What happens when you need to change compensation policies?

With DateTrack you can make future-dated changes to your information safe in the knowledge that these changes will not become effective in the system until the correct date.

In this way you can use your compensation and benefit information to plan changes ahead of time; analyze the impact of these changes; adjust these changes and generally smooth out the workload that is often associated with major changes in compensation and benefits policy.

How do you manage individual salary packages?

You can define salaries for groups of employees, with default values and validation rules if you require them, and enter individual salary changes for employees at any time. You can associate salary changes with the results of performance reviews, and you can show the composition of any increase by components such as cost of living, and individual performance. You can enter proposed changes to take effect in the future and confirm these later with the click of a button.

What about grade-related pay?

Oracle HRMS handles both pay rates that are directly related to grades, and rates on grade-related pay scales. To relate pay directly to grades, you can specify valid salary ranges or fixed pay rates for each grade. If your employees are paid from a pay scale (perhaps determined by collective agreement), you can associate each grade with several points on a pay scale.

How do you ensure employees receive the compensation dictated by a collective agreement?

You can define entitlement items to represent the compensation and benefits that are subject to a collective agreement. You define an eligibility profile to determine who can receive this entitlement item, and associate both with a collective agreement. Provided that an employee already has an element entry for the compensation or benefit, applying the collective agreement to the employee updates the entry to the values recorded in the collective agreement.

What does Oracle offer for benefits administration?

We offer a choice, to match the varying complexity of benefits administration requirements.

The Standard Benefits feature set lets you define your benefits offering in a hierarchical manner, so that requirements you specify at the program level are inherited by the plans and options in that program. You can use a variety of factors, such as length of service, to define eligibility requirements for participation in a plan. The system supports centralized enrollment by benefit administrators or web-based self-service enrollments. Standard benefits is best for organizations that outsource a significant portion of their benefits administration. System extract features let you export data to third party benefits administrators.

If you administer your own benefits, or your requirements include offering flexible benefit plans, you should implement Oracle Advanced Benefits. This provides the full solution for benefits management, including life event triggered enrollments and communications, online life event processing, processing of flexible spending account claims, and what-if eligibility analysis.

For US implementations, we also continue to offer Basic Benefits, which is a limited feature set that supports administration of benefit plans for employees and their dependents, including COBRA coverage.

Can you be sure that compensation information remains confidential?

Yes, you can. Oracle HRMS security features enable you to choose which users can view compensation information, what types of compensation they need access to, which employees records they can see, and whether they are able to update them.

Can you enter weekly timecard data?

Yes, using Batch Element Entry, you can enter timecard information for a group of employees, using default values as appropriate. You can validate your entries against system rules and external control totals before uploading it to the database in time for the payroll run.

How does Oracle HRMS help reduce data entry errors?

There are three ways:

Can you make one-time changes to entries?

Yes. Some types of compensation or payment (such as expense reimbursements) need only be entered for the period to which they apply. For others, the regular value can be adjusted if you need a different value for one payroll run.

I'm entering compensation details for analysis but not for payroll processing. How do you reduce data entry work to a minimum?

If the same compensation entry applies to a group of employees, the system can enter it automatically. You need to set up the element with standard links. Use Batch Element Entry to start or update other entries in batches.

You can download salary information to a spreadsheet, update it there, and upload the new information to the database.

Can you see a history of all compensation values for an employee over time?

Yes, you can view all changes for one or more types of compensation. For salaries, you can also see new proposed salary changes.

How do you compare compensation for groups of employees?

You can select employees by organization, job, position, or grade and view past and current salaries or new salary proposals. For other types of compensation, you can compare the latest values for all employees in any period of time you choose.

If you use grade rates, you can compare compensation entries for all employees on a certain grade, and also see these values as a percentage of the midpoint defined for the grade.

Elements

Elements: Building Blocks of Pay and Benefits

With Oracle HRMS, you define a working model of your own types of compensation and benefits and the policies or business rules that govern the allocation of these to your employees. You define these types as elements. Elements are the building blocks of pay and benefits, both for HR analysis and payroll processing.

Elements can represent:

There is no limit to the number of elements you can define, and all your definitions are datetracked.

How Are Elements Created?

Some elements are supplied predefined with Oracle HRMS, some are available in template libraries, others are generated by the system when you define certain types of compensation and benefits, and the remainder you can define using the Element window to best meet the needs of your own enterprise.

Predefined Elements

The predefined elements are specific to your localization. They typically include deductions for tax and wage attachments. They may also include standard earnings, such as salary. You should not make any changes to these predefined elements.

Template Elements

Using the Configuration Workbench, you can select many earnings and deductions from a template library for your country and industry. Your selected earnings and deductions form a template set that you can load into your business group. The template set includes the elements and the balances, balance feeds, and formulas required for payroll processing. You can configure any of these definitions to match your specific requirements.

Generated Elements

In certain legislations, including North America and the UK, Oracle Payroll users can initiate earnings and deductions, and the system generates the elements you require, along with balances, balance feeds, and formulas. The method of initiating earnings and deductions depends on your localization. Typically you use the Element Design Wizard, Earnings and Deductions windows, or other template windows for specific earnings and deduction types. The processing options you select in the wizard or window determine the rules embedded in the generated elements and formulas. As with template elements, you can configure generated elements and formulas to match any special requirements.

Also, when you create PTO Accrual Plans, the system generates elements for you.

Introduction to Element Definition

The following diagram illustrates the items that you can define or select to control the entry and processing of any earning, deduction, basic benefit, or payment.

Compensation Definition

the picture is described in the document text

To take a simplified example, you could define an element called Wage, for hourly paid employees. You classify it in the predefined classification Earnings, which determines when it is processed in the payroll run and what payroll balances it feeds.

You specify one input value, Hours Worked, which must be entered in each pay period. (If necessary, you can define up to 15 input values, with fixed values, defaults, or validation.)

You associate a formula with the element, to calculate the wage for the pay period. A simple formula might be hours worked (from the input value) multiplied by hourly rate (which might, for example, be entered in the Grade Rate window).

You define who is eligible for the element by linking it to components of the employee assignment, such as grade, payroll, salary basis, or organization. In this example, the wage element is available to all employees on the weekly payroll.

You can define other processing rules, such as a termination rule. For example, you might specify that the employees' entry of the wage element should not close down on their termination date but remain open for processing of final pay.

Input Values: Flexible Description of Compensation

To give an employee an earning or deduction, you make an element entry. An entry can contain up to 15 items of information, which you define when you create the element. For example, for a company car element, you might want to store car make, model, year, date of issue to the employee, and mileage when issued.

These items of information are called input values. You decide what validation to apply to these values, whether they are required or optional, and the type of information they can accept:

This list of unit types is predefined and you cannot add to it.

Processing Input Values

Input values are so called because they are the inputs to calculations performed by Oracle Payroll. In a payroll run, formulas process the input values and other database information to produce run results.

For example if you have Payroll and your enterprise makes overtime payments, you might write a formula to calculate the payment amounts for each assignment from inputs of the overtime rate and the hours worked for the period. The payroll run then processes each assignment and produces the overtime payment amounts as run results.

Rules for Allocating Compensation

While some elements may represent compensation, equipment, or deductions available to all employees, many elements are available only to certain groups of employees. For example, your enterprise may provide company cars only to employees in the Sales Department.

To determine which employees are eligible for an element, you build links to the assignment components that employees must have to receive entries of the element. Links rule out the possibility of employees getting element entries by mistake.

For example, you might want to give a production bonus only to those employees who work full time in Production and are on the weekly payroll. To do this you would define a link between the element Production Bonus and the combination of the Production organization, the Full-Time assignment category and the Weekly payroll.

Note: When you define a link for a benefit, do not select any assignment components to restrict eligibility for the benefit. Instead use participation eligibility profiles.

Similarly when you define a link for an element that you are going to select as an entitlement item for a collective agreement, do not restrict eligibility using the link. You restrict eligibility using eligibility profiles.

Assignment Components

The assignment components to which you can link elements are:

Multiple Rules of Eligibility

You can define more than one link for each element but there must be no overlap between the eligibility criteria for the links. For example, you could create one link to the combination of grade 'A' and the job 'Accountant'. However, you could not create one link to grade 'A' and a second link to the job 'Accountant'. This would imply that an accountant on grade A is eligible for the same element twice.

If you have more than one link for an element, you can enter different default values, qualifying conditions, and costing information for each eligibility group.

Qualifying Conditions: Minimum Age or Period of Service

An employee might be eligible for an element and yet not receive it because he or she does not meet other qualifying conditions.

Two common qualifying conditions are a minimum age or a minimum period of service in the current assignment. You can define these conditions when you define the element. You can enter or adjust these conditions when you define the element links so that you have different qualifying conditions for different groups of assignments.

These qualifying conditions are checked automatically when you try to enter an element for an employee.

Compensation Entry: Making It Fast and Reliable

To reduce the work of entering compensation information for employees and to reduce the risk of errors, you specify rules about entries when you define an element. For example:

You can create customized versions of the Element Entries window. A customized version might restrict the elements a user can enter. This enhances speed, usability, and security for specific data entry scenarios. Users can also enter batches of entries using default values to reduce keystrokes and thus speed up data entry and reduce errors.

Duration of Element Entries

Some entries are valid for one pay period only. For example, to produce an employee's wages or overtime pay for a period you process the entries of regular hours worked or overtime hours. You define these elements with the processing type nonrecurring. Notice that pay periods are determined by the payroll to which an employee is assigned. Employees must be assigned to a payroll to receive nonrecurring elements, even if you are entering these for information only and not processing them.

Other entries, such as salary or company car, should persist until you change them, or they reach their end date, or the employee's assignment changes so that he or she is no longer eligible for the element. You define these elements with the processing type recurring.

Element Entry Validity Across Pay Periods

the picture is described in the document text

A recurring element entry is normally processed in every pay period, as determined by the employee's payroll. However, you can associate frequency rules with a recurring element to specify in which pay periods it should process. For example, you might deduct a monthly subscription in the second week of each month for weekly-paid employees.

Allowing Multiple Entries

Normally you can only give an employee one entry of an element. This is a useful safeguard against duplication errors. However, when you define an element, you can choose to allow multiple entries. For example, if you enter overtime hours on a weekly basis for monthly-paid employees, you might need to give an employee five entries of an overtime element in each period.

Automatic Entry

If you want all eligible employees to receive a recurring element automatically, you can define standard links to the element. With this link, the element and all its default input value entries go on record for all eligible employees, now and in the future.

For example, suppose your enterprise has an employee Sports Club whose members all agree to pay a fixed subscription each month by payroll deduction. You can set up an employee group called Sports Club on the system and record membership by assigning employees to the group. You can then link a Sports Club Dues element to the Sports Club employee group, mark this link as standard, and enter a default value reflecting the current monthly subscription.

Clearly, you will not choose to create standard links if there are any performance criteria (such as achieving a certain volume of sales) that employees must meet before they qualify for an element.

You can create a standard link if both the element is recurring and multiple entries are not allowed for the element

If you have not defined age or period of service criteria, the start date of the automatic entry is the date the assignment becomes eligible for the element. For example, this might be the employee's hire date, or the date of a promotion or transfer.

If you entered age or period of service criteria for the element, the start date of the automatic entry reflects the date on which the employee meets the qualifying conditions. For example, if a new hire is entitled to a company car after six months, an element entry is automatically created when the employee is entered on the system, and the start date of the entry is six months after the hire date.

If the employee's date of birth is altered on the system, this may change the date on which he or she qualifies for the element. In this case, the start date of the element entry changes automatically.

Default Values and Validation

When you define inputs for an element, you also define the validation for each input value. The validation you define controls the values a user can enter. The options are to:

Using the formula option you can model complex business rules for validating entries. For example, for a bonus payment you might want to set a maximum bonus value that depends on length of service and current salary. With Oracle's formula writing tool, Oracle FastFormula, you can include conditional logic to validate input values using different criteria for different employees.

If you define a default value, you can specify that it is a hot default. This means that any changes to the default value not only affect future entries but will also update existing entries, provided that the default was not overridden when the entry was made.

When Assignments Change

When you update an assignment (for example, by promoting or relocating the employee), some changes are made automatically to the assignment's element entries:

Note: This means that the system ignores any default values, default costing information, and qualifying conditions on the element link associated with the new entry. All values are taken from the old entry instead to provide continuity for the employee. Of course you can change the entry values manually if required.

This does not apply to salary elements that are entered automatically when you approve a salary proposal. In this case the existing element entry is ended and a warning message is issued. You must re-enter and approve the salary proposal following the assignment change. This ensures the integrity of your salary data.

Batch Entry

Using BEE (Batch Element Entry), you can enter earnings, deductions, timecard data, and other compensation and benefit information in batches. This is especially useful when the same values can be used for many employees. After entering a batch (for as many employees and elements as you require), you can validate it, make corrections, and validate again before transferring the information to the database.

Collective Agreements

If your employees are subject to collective agreements, you can define compensation elements as entitlement items, which form part of the collective agreement. You associate each entitlement item with one or more eligibility profiles to define who is eligible to receive the item and how much they should receive. Alternatively, you can write a formula to determine eligibility and how much eligible people should receive.

You must define and link the element before you apply a collective agreement to employee's assignments. This ensures that, when you apply collective agreement values, the application updates the element entry with the appropriate value (as defined in the Collective Agreement Entitlements window).

Configuring the Element Entries Window

You can create configured versions of the Element Entries window. A configured version restricts the elements a user can enter. For example, one version could be restricted to the element name Timesheet and accessed from a menu entry labelled Timesheet Entries.

Element entry can be restricted by:

See: CustomForm, Oracle HRMS Configuring, Reporting, and System Administration Guide

Non-Updateable Element Sets

You can prevent users updating the entry values of a set of elements on the Element Entries window. These will typically be elements that you update through legislation-specific forms. You must create a customization element set, and select it for the HR:Non-Updateable Element Set user profile option. You can set this profile option at any level: Site, Application, Responsibility, or User. You can edit the element set after selecting it in the user profile option.

Users will be able to view these elements in the Element Entries window, and they can edit fields such as Reason and Costing, but not the entry values. They cannot use the Update Override and Delete DateTrack modes, because these might remove entry values set elsewhere.

Element Classifications and Processing Sequence

Elements are grouped into primary classifications, such as Earnings and Voluntary Deductions. In a human resources department, you can use the primary classifications to identify groups of elements for information and analysis purposes. In a payroll department, the classifications control processing, including the sequence in which elements are processed and the balances they feed.

Oracle HRMS provides you with these primary classifications and some balances, mainly to reflect tax legislation. They are designed to meet the legislative requirements of your country, so you cannot change them. You can create additional balances to be fed by any of the primary classifications.

Processing Sequence in the Payroll Run

An element's primary classification provides a default processing priority for the element in payroll runs. Lower priority numbers process first.

Most classifications also have a priority range. When you define an element in these classifications, you can overwrite its default processing priority with another number from the range. This is useful if you need to establish the order in which the element processes with respect to other elements in the classification.

Sometimes you must prioritize the processing of certain element entries for an individual employee. For example, you may need to determine the precise order in which deductions taken for wage attachments process for an employee. You can enter a subpriority number for element entries in the Entry Values window.

Canada only: Processing sequence for wage attachments is not determined by subpriority. Instead you can specify Attachment Priority and Prorate Rules in the Further Information field on the Entry Values window.

Secondary Classifications

You can define secondary classifications to feed your own user defined balances. These secondary classifications are subsets of the primary classifications. In some legislations, secondary classifications have been predefined. As with primary classifications, you cannot remove or change any predefined secondary classifications, and you cannot disable any of the predefined balance feeds created for them.

Note: Secondary classifications are not used in the United States, Canada, or Singapore versions of Oracle Payroll at this time.

Mexican implementations use classifications and sub-classifications.

Categories - for US and Canadian Classifications

Most US and Canadian classifications are subdivided into several categories. Categories further define an element's purpose, and can help to determine applicable processing or tax rules. You can define additional categories.

Costing

On the Costing tab of the Element Classifications window, you can view whether elements of this classification are Costable and Distributable. If the classification is Costable, you can select any costing option for elements when you define the element links. If the classification is Distributable, you can create a distribution set from elements of this classification over which you can distribute costs (such as overheads).

You can also view the cost type for elements in the classification, that is, whether they debit or credit the accounts they feed.

Frequency Rules

On the Frequency Rules tab of the Element Classifications window, you can view whether you can define frequency rules for elements of this classification. The payroll run uses a frequency rule to determine in which pay periods it processes a recurring element. On this tab you can also see which date the payroll run uses, by default, to assess frequency rules in your localization. You can select a different date when you define a frequency rule.

Survey of the Classifications

The survey of the classifications identifies:

You cannot update or delete the predefined primary and secondary element classifications, which are provided to meet legislative requirements.

Primary Element Classifications

The following table lists the primary element classifications and their descriptions:

Classification Meaning
Balance Initialization Used for loading initial values into balances, for example, when transferring data from another payroll application
Information Represent information items that are not used in payroll processing, hold information for use in other elements, or trigger the processing of other elements (for example, loan details)
Earnings Represent most payments made to an employee. These payments are usually subject to deductions of tax and social insurance and are processed in the regular payroll run
Royalties Represent earnings from royalties
Payment After Leaving Represent payments that eligible employees receive after leaving the enterprise
Royalties After Leaving Represent royalty payments that eligible employees receive after leaving the enterprise
SII Information Represent social and health insurance deductions
Deductions Represent deductions other than social and health insurance deductions
Tax Represent regular tax amounts
Alimony Represent deduction amounts associated with alimony
Court Orders Represent deductions from employee earnings as per court orders
Voluntary Deductions Represent deductions employees authorize the employer to make on their behalf
Involuntary Deductions Represent mandatory deductions
Direct Payments Represent payments, such as expenses, reimbursed to employees without any tax or statutory-deduction liability

Primary Classification Processing Properties and Cost Types

The following table shows the priority range, default processing priority, and costing details for the supplied primary classifications.

Primary Classification Priority Range Default Priority Cost Type
Balance Initialization 0 - 0 0 Credit
Information 1 - 1000 500 Debit
Earnings 2001 - 3000 2500 Debit
Royalties 4001 - 5000 4500 Debit
Payment After Leaving 6001-7000 6500 Debit
Royalties After Leaving 6500 - 7500 7000 Debit
SII Information 16001 - 17000 16500 Debit
Deductions 20001 - 21000 20500 Credit
Tax 22001 - 23000 22500 Credit
Alimony 24001 - 25000 24500 Credit
Court Orders 26001 - 27000 26500 Credit
Voluntary Deductions 32001 - 33000 32500 Credit
Involuntary Deductions 28001 - 29000 28500 Credit
Direct Payments 30001 - 31000 30500 Credit

Predefined Secondary Element Classifications

This table lists the predefined secondary classifications.

An element automatically has any default secondary classifications defined for its primary classification.

Primary Classification Secondary Classification Default
Earnings Subject to SI Contributions Only : Earnings No
Earnings Subject to HI Contributions Only : Earnings No
Earnings Subject to SI and HI Contributions : Earnings

Note: If you select the Subject to SI and HI contributions : Earnings secondary classification, the application automatically provides the balance feeds for social insurance and health insurance earnings. Therefore, you must not use Subject to SI Contributions Only : Earnings or Subject to HI Contributions Only : Earnings classifications along with the Subject to SI and HI Contributions : Earnings classification. This is also applicable to other primary classifications that use Subject to SI and HI Contributions secondary classification.

 Yes
Earnings Subject to Tax : Earnings Yes
Earnings Not Subject to IR : Earnings

Note: Ensure that you use the Not Subject to IR : Earnings classification in conjunction with the Subject to Tax : Earnings classification. This condition also applies to other primary classifications, such as Royalties, Royalties After Leaving, and Payment After Leaving.

 No
Royalties Subject to SI Contributions Only : Royalties No
Royalties Subject to HI Contributions Only : Royalties No
Royalties Subject to SI and HI Contributions : Royalties Yes
Royalties Subject to Tax : Royalties Yes
Royalties Not Subject to IR : Royalties No
Payment After Leaving Subject to SI Contributions Only : Payment After Leaving No
Payment After Leaving Subject to HI Contributions Only : Payment After Leaving No
Payment After Leaving Subject to SI and HI Contributions : Payment After Leaving Yes
Payment After Leaving Subject to Tax : Payment After Leaving Yes
Payment After Leaving Not Subject to IR : Payment After Leaving No
Royalties After Leaving Subject to SI Contributions Only : Royalties After Leaving No
Royalties After Leaving Subject to HI Contributions Only : Royalties After Leaving No
Royalties After Leaving Subject to SI and HI Contributions : Royalties After Leaving Yes
Royalties After Leaving Subject to Tax : Royalties After Leaving Yes
Royalties After Leaving Not Subject to IR : Royalties After Leaving No

Note: In the table, SI, HI, and IR refer to Social Insurance, Health Insurance, and Income Reduction respectively.

Compensation Policy Changes

It is inevitable that your business rules for compensation and benefits will change over time. You can create new elements and disable existing ones at any time. You can also make certain changes to existing elements and links, as outlined below.

Element definitions, link definitions, and element entries are all datetracked. This lets you track the changes to your compensation and benefit policies without losing any of your historical employee information. The history of your definitions remains in place for validation and reporting, and for future calculations of back pay.

Maintaining Elements

After you have defined and used an element, you can make the following changes:

You cannot remove existing input values or add new ones if you have created any entries for the element. To add an input value to an element before you create any entries, ensure that you set your effective date to the element's start date.

Maintaining Links

Link rules always control the entry of element values at the time of entry. Changes to link rules affect existing entries in different ways, depending on your use of standard links and hot defaults. After you have used an element you can make the following changes to the link rules:

Policy Development

With DateTrack you can also make future-dated changes to your information safe in the knowledge that these changes will not become effective in the system until the correct date.

In this way you can use your compensation and benefit information to plan changes ahead of time; analyze the impact of these changes; adjust these changes and generally smooth out the workload that is often associated with major changes in compensation and benefits policy.

Setting Up Elements

Setting Up Total Compensation Elements

Follow this process to set up elements for items in the compensation package you offer to employees. There are additional steps for setting up the following types of compensation and benefits:

Also, there are additional steps if you want to process the elements in a payroll run.

See: Setting Up Total Compensation Elements for Payroll, Oracle HRMS Compensation and Benefits Management Guide

Define Validation and Lookups

Define validation for entries of any new elements you are creating.

  1. To restrict compensation entries to a list of valid values, define a new Lookup Type and add Lookup Values for this new lookup.

    See: Adding Lookup Types and Values, Oracle HRMS Configuring, Reporting, and System Administration Guide.

  2. To validate compensation entries using formulas, write a formula of type Element Input Validation.

    See: Writing Formulas for Validation, Oracle HRMS FastFormula User Guide.

  3. To create a matrix of values (such as bonus amount against years of service) for use in formulas or QuickPaint reports, set up user tables.

    See: Setting Up User Tables, Columns, and Rows, Oracle HRMS Configuring, Reporting, and System Administration Guide

    Define Elements and Links

  4. Define elements and element input values to record information about employee compensation, benefits, and equipment:

    See: Defining an Element.

    See: Defining an Element's Input Values.

    See also: Defining and Linking an Element for Standard and Advanced Benefits

    See also: Deleting an Element

  5. Define element links to identify one or more groups of employees who are eligible to receive an element.

    See: Defining Element Links

    See also: Running the Element Link Details Report

  6. For elements without Standard links, make entries of your elements for all employee who should receive them.

    See: Making Manual Element Entries, Oracle HRMS Compensation and Benefits Management Guide

Defining an Element

Use the Element window to create an element to represent compensation and benefit types or earnings and deductions.

This procedure describes how to define elements using a Payroll responsibility (that is, a responsibility with the HR User Type profile option set to Payroll User or HR with Payroll User). If you are an HR-only user, you will not see certain fields relating to element processing information. You can just ignore the steps that apply to these fields.

Note: Depending on your localization and the types of element you want to create, you may not need to start from scratch in the Element window. Check which earnings and deductions are available in the template library in the Configuration Workbench. If these template elements do not meet your requirements, you may be able to generate earnings and deductions using Earnings and Deductions windows or the Element Design Wizard. You can use the Element window to further configure template elements and generated elements.

Dates, Names and Classifications

To enter dates, names, and a classification for the element

  1. Set your effective date early enough to handle any historical element entries you want to make. Note that an element cannot be linked or entered until its start date.

  2. Enter a unique:

    • Name

    • Reporting name

    Start the names with a letter of the alphabet (not a number or symbol). The reporting name is a short identifier for reports and pay advices.

  3. Enter a description for the element.

  4. Select a Primary Classification.

    This controls an element's processing priority and the balances it feeds. If you are defining a salary element for Salary Administration, you must select the classification Earnings.

Processing Information

To enter processing information for the element

  1. Select the processing type. Select Recurring if an entry of this element applies in every period until the entry is ended, or Nonrecurring if an entry applies in one pay period only. The dates of the pay period are determined by the payroll to which the employee is assigned.

    Note: If you are defining a salary element for salary administration, you must select the type Recurring. If you are defining a net-to-gross element you must select the type Nonrecurring.

  2. Select a termination rule to determine how entries of the element are processed after termination of the employee:

    Note: UK only: Always select Actual Termination for UK proration.

    • Actual Termination if you want recurring entries to close down on the date the employee leaves. For a nonrecurring element, select Actual Termination if you want the entries to close down at the end of the pay period in which the employee leaves, or on the date the assignment ends (the final process date) if this is earlier.

    • Final Close if you want the entries to stay open beyond the employee's leaving date so that you can continue to pay the employee.

    If you are a Payroll user, you can also select:

    • Last Standard Process for all recurring and nonrecurring elements if you want their entries to close down on the Last Standard Process date or on the date the assignment ends (the final process date) if this is earlier. The Last Standard Process date defaults to the last day of the pay period in which the employee is terminated, but you can set it to a later period when you terminate an employee.

  3. Select the Multiple Entries Allowed check box if you want to give an employee more than one entry of the element at the same time. If you are creating a net-to-gross element, you must select Multiple Entries Allowed.

  4. Select the Additional Entries Allowed check box if you want to make occasional one-time entries of a recurring element (instead of, or in addition to, a normal recurring entry).

    US and Canada only: The Additional Entry Allowed rule is not applicable for US and Canadian installations.

  5. Select the Closed for Entry check box if you want to prevent any new entries being made for the element, either temporarily or permanently. This does not affect any existing entries of the element.

    Important: Use this feature with caution. When you perform certain important tasks in Oracle HRMS, the application may automatically create or delete element entries. These tasks include hiring and terminating people, and updating assignments. Therefore, if you check Closed for Entry on an element, this might prevent users terminating employees and updating assignments. If there are standard links for the element, it will also prevent users hiring people who are eligible for the element.

    HR-only users: Go to Currency.

    Oracle Payroll Users:

  6. Select the Process in Run check box if you want the element to process in payroll runs.

  7. Select the Once Each Period check box to ensure that only the first payroll run of each period processes entries of this element.

    Note: If this check box is not available for your localization, you can select a ONCE_EACH_PERIOD skip rule for the element instead.

  8. Select the Indirect Results check box if you want the element only to accept entries from indirect formula results. Leave the check box unchecked if you want to accept entries both from indirect formula results and from manual entries in the Element Entries window.

  9. Select the Adjustment Only check box if you want to use the element only for creating balance adjustments.

  10. Select the Third Party Payments check box if you want to use the element only for creating third party payments.

  11. Overwrite the default priority number in the Priority field if you want to determine the order in which the element processes within its classification range. Lower numbers process before higher ones.

    If the order of processing within the element classification is not important, you can accept the default priority number, which is the midpoint of the range.

  12. Select a formula in the Skip Rule field if you have written a skip rule formula to determine the circumstances in which the element should be processed.

    UK only: If you are using different run types, select the ONCE_EACH_PERIOD skip rule for all earnings, to ensure they are not processed by each child run type.

    Currency

    The default currency for element entry values is the currency defined for the Business Group. You can select a different currency for the element if required.

Advanced Processing Information

Oracle Payroll users only: Use the Advanced tab to enter further processing information if you are defining:

Note: The Advanced tab may not be available for some localizations.

To define an element as a separate payment

  1. On the Advanced tab, select the Separate Payment check box.

    The Process Separate box is checked automatically.

    UK users: Do not select this check box. This functionality is not currently available for UK Payroll.

To define an element to process separately

  1. On the Advanced tab, select the Process Separate check box.

To define an element for net-to-gross calculation

  1. On the Advanced tab, select the Gross Up check box.

    The Iterative Flag and Process Separate boxes are checked automatically.

  2. Select DEFAULT_GROSSUP in the Iterative Formula field. This formula controls the iterative calculation of the pay value, adjusting an input value as necessary to get a result that is defined to be close enough to the required net payment.

    Note: After saving your element, choose the Iterative Rules button to specify how to use the formula results. Also choose the Exclude Balances button to select which balances are grossed up for the element (meaning that these deductions are paid by the employer).

  3. Optionally, enter a value in the Iterative Priority field to determine the sequence in which elements are adjusted during iterative calculations. Elements with lower iterative priority values are adjusted first.

  4. Select the Separate Payment box if you want the payment to be made separately from the regular payment. UK Payroll, Irish Payroll: Do not select this check box.

  5. Save your work.

To set up iterative processing for a pre-tax deduction (UK)

  1. Check the Iterative Flag box.

  2. Select PQP_GB_ITERATIVE_ARREARAGE in the Iterative Formula field.

  3. Enter an Iterative Priority number in the range 1 to 1500. The element with the lowest iterative priority number is reduced first. If this deduction is reduced to zero and net pay is still insufficient to cover taxes and court orders, the element with the next lowest priority number is reduced, and so on.

    Important: Iterative priority numbers must be in the reverse sequence of the processing priority numbers. This means that the element that is processed first is reduced last.

  4. Choose Iterative Rules, and select the L_stopper rule.

Advance Pay Processing Information

Oracle Payroll Users only except Ireland. If Advance Pay by Element is enabled in your legislation, use the Advance Pay tab to:

To define an element as an Advance Pay element

  1. On the Advance Pay tab, check the Mark as an Advance Pay Indicator check box.

    This marks the element as an Advance Pay indicator. This means that when you run the Advance Pay by Element process, it will identify this that this element can be potentially processed as an Advance Pay element according to the processing conditions that you define.

To set the processing conditions for an Advance Pay element

On the Advance Pay tab:

  1. Check the Include as an Advance Element check box if you want to process this element as an Advance Pay element.

  2. If you want to specify a separate Advance Pay element, select this element from the list of available elements in Use Advance Element. If you leave Use Advance Element blank and do not specify an element, then you do not select a separate advance pay element. You can still process advance payments, but all the entries are held within your current earnings element rather than reported separately in an advance pay element.

  3. Check the Deduct Advance Amount check box if you want to show the deduction for the advance in the current payroll period. Every advance payment has a deduction associated with it to bring the overall payroll amounts back into balance. You can use this check box to control the point at which the deduction should be applied.

  4. If you want to specify a separate Deduction element, select this element from the list of available elements in Use Deduction Element. If you leave Use Deduction Element blank and do not specify an element, then you do not create a separate deduction element. You can still process deductions for advance payments, but all the entries are held within your current earnings elements rather than reported separately in a deduction element.

    Note that when you create either an Advance Pay element, or a Deductions element, you must ensure that it exists for the same period of time as the underlying earnings element, and that the input values match those on the underlying element.

  5. Check the Process Advance Entry in Run check box if you want to include this element in a payroll run, If you do not check this box, then the element does not process in a payroll run and is reported as information in your Statement of Earnings report.

Continuous Calculation

For prerequisite steps to set up continuous calculation, see: Setting Up Continuous Calculation, Oracle HRMS Payroll Processing Management Guide

To set up an element for continuous calculation

  1. Choose the Recalculation tab and select a RetroPay element. This is an event group that defines the events that trigger proration for this element.

Proration

In some localizations, Oracle Payroll can calculate proportionate earnings amounts whenever payroll-relevant data changes during a payroll period. The Payroll Earnings and Deductions section describes the full setup steps for the relevant localizations. To enable proration for an element, choose the Proration tab.

To set up an element for proration

  1. Choose the Proration tab and select a proration group. This is an event group that defines the events that trigger proration for this element.

  2. Optionally, select a proration formula. Alternatively you can edit the element's payroll formula to handle proration.

Further Information

  1. Enter the Further Information field if:

    • Your Oracle localization team has set up additional fields for element definition

    • You are in the UK, and you use Oracle SSP/SMP

    French Payroll

    • Select a group, which is the name by which this element, and the others in the group, appears as one line on the pay advice.

    • On the pay advice, most earnings and deductions are shown as a base, a rate, and an amount. Select the base unit if you want this displayed on the pay advice.

    South African Payroll

    • Enter a clearance number for Statutory Information and Deduction elements, if applicable. This number appears on the tax certificate.

    Kuwait Payroll

    • Select a deduction type for the Deductions elements. This information is used by the PIFSS report.

    New Zealand Payroll:

    • If you want to display custom elements with the classification of Employer Charges in the Online Payslip, SOE form, and Statement of Earnings under Employer Superannuation Contribution section, select Yes in the Super Section Display field.

  2. Choose Input Values to define input values for the element

    See: Defining an Element's Input Values

    Oracle Payroll Users:

  3. Choose Balance Feeds to select balances you want this element to feed

    See: Creating Balance Feeds for Individual Elements, Oracle HRMS Compensation and Benefits Management Guide

  4. Click Balance Feed Control to add or remove secondary element classifications for this element.

    Mexico only: Click this button to attach sub-classifications to your element.

    See: Creating Classes of Balance Feeds, Oracle HRMS Compensation and Benefits Management Guide

  5. Choose Frequency Rules to enter frequency rules to determine when the element should be processed.

    See: Defining Frequency Rules, Oracle HRMS Compensation and Benefits Management Guide

  6. For a net-to-gross element, choose Exclude Balances to select the deductions to be paid by the employer.

  7. For a net-to-gross element, or any other element that is processed iteratively, choose Iterative Rules to specify how to use the Iterative Formula results.

Extra Information

Choose the Extra Information button to enter extra attribution for the element. You can link as much attribution as you need to an element.

Note: You can only access Extra Information types if your system administrator has set them up for your responsibility.

If Payslip Modeling feature has been enabled for your localization, you can specify whether to enable the element for payslip modeling. If you select No, the elements will not be available for the users during payslip modeling process.

Payslip Modeler

If Payslip Modeler has been enabled, then you can specify whether to enable the element for payslip modeling. If you select No, the element will not be available for the users during payslip modeling process.

To enable an element to be available for payslip modeling, query the element and select Yes in the Enable Simulation field in the Element Extra Information window. You can select input values of this element which are to be made available for simulation. Only user enterable input values are available for Payslip modeling. Ensure to select all mandatory input values to be made available for simulation, if the element is available for simulation.

If the Multiple Entries checkbox is enabled for an element, then you cannot use this element for payslip modeling. Instead, create a copy of the base element, enter input values, attach the appropriate formulas and balances as the base element and then use this element for payslip modeling. Ensure that this new element is not used for payroll run.

Note: Please note that there is a restriction for predefined elements being used for payslip modeling. For predefined elements, if you setup the details in one business group, then these details will be accessible to other business groups. For example, for predefined element Regular Salary element, if you want to enable Input Value A for one Business Group and Input Value B for another Business group, then this is not possible. This limitation occurs for predefined elements applicable to all localizations. Therefore, if there are multiple business groups, then you must define a single structure for the predefined elements. If there are custom elements, then the custom elements are accessible only for that business group.

Usages

To exclude the element from a run type

  1. Choose the Usages button if you want to exclude this element from a run type, or combination of run types.

  2. Select the run type or combination of run types from which you want to exclude this element.

    Note: For Norway: You must select the Employer Contributions run type to exclude the elements.

  3. Select the effective dates for your exclusions.

  4. Save your work.

Defining an Element's Input Values

Use the Input Values window to define the input values for the element. You can define up to 15 input values for an element.

Depending on the type of element you have defined, Oracle HRMS may have applied one or more default input values.

North America users: All elements must have the default Jurisdiction input value.

Norway users: All elements that feed the Holiday Pay Base classification must have the Tax Municipality input value. This input value must have the HR_NO_TAX_MUNICIPALITY valueset attached to it.

Payroll users: If you are creating balance feeds for individual elements, ensure you define an input value of the same unit of measure as the balance. Money units must be the same currency.

You can add new input values to a saved element only if you have not entered the element for any employees. To add an input value, you must set your effective date to the element's start date.

To define input values

  1. Set your effective date early enough to handle any historical element entries you want to make.

  2. Enter or query the element in the Element or Element Link window and choose the Input Values button.

  3. Enter the name of the first input value. Remember that if you want to define a pay value to hold run results, you must name it Pay Value.

  4. Select the unit type of your input value (money, hours, character, date, number, or time). A Pay Value must have the unit type Money if the element is in a Payments type classification.

  5. You can enter numbers in the Sequence field to change the order in which the input values appear in the Entry Values window.

  6. Check the Required check box if all entries of the element must have a value for this input.

    Note: When you have saved an input value, you cannot change it to be Required. If you have saved it as Not Required by mistake (or you have generated an element that has an input value you want to make required), delete the input value and re-enter it with the correct values. If you are re-entering a generated input value, be careful to enter exactly the same name. You cannot delete the input value if you have made any entries of the element for employees.

  7. Check the User Enterable check box if users can enter a value for this input. Uncheck it if you want to ensure that the default value is entered for all employees.

  8. Check the Database Item check box if you want the value to be available to formulas or QuickPaint inquiries.

    Database Items are simple identifiers that the system uses to find specific items of information in the human resources database. Any spaces in the input value name are converted to underscores in the Database Item name.

Entering Element-Level Defaults

If you enter defaults at the element link level, these override the defaults at element level. If you update an element-level default, remember to check the values on the element links too.

To enter a default for an input value

  1. Enter the value in the Default field.

  2. If you want existing entries to be updated whenever the default is changed, check the Hot Default check box. The input value must be required if you want to use this option.

    A hot default appears in the Entry Values window in quotation marks.

    Important: If a user overrides a hot default in the Entry Values window, subsequent changes to the default will not affect the entry. For this reason, you may prefer to use BEE to change defaults for large groups of employees, rather than the hot default feature.

Defining Entry Validation

To enter validation for an input value

  1. Do one of the following:

    • Enter maximum and minimum values for the input.

    • Select a Lookup Type to act as a lookup supplying a list of valid values.

    • Select a formula to validate entries for this input value. Formulas can return messages to users about the success or failure of the validation.

  2. Select Warning or Error to determine whether the system warns users that an entry is invalid or prevents them from saving an invalid entry. You cannot select a value if you chose a Lookup because a user cannot enter an invalid value for an input value validated by lookup.

Defining and Linking an Element for Standard and Advanced Benefits

You set up elements for Standard and Advanced Benefits as you would other elements, with certain restrictions noted below. Element setup is the same for Standard and Advanced Benefits.

In the US and Canada, use the Earnings or Deduction window to create an element if you process the element in a payroll run.

Outside the US and Canada--or if you are an HR-only customer in any legislation--use the Element window to create an element.

To define an element for Standard and Advanced Benefits

  1. Set your effective date early enough to handle any historical element entries you want to make.

  2. Enter a unique element Name.

    When you define a standard activity rate, you select the element that corresponds to the rate you are defining.

  3. Select the appropriate Classification for the earning or deduction.

  4. For Payroll users in the US and Canada, select a Category on the Earnings or Deduction window.

    If you are using the Element window, you can select a Category in the Further Element Information flexfield.

  5. In the US, optionally select a Benefit Classification.

    Note: For any element attached to a standard activity rate, do not select a Benefit Classification of Dental, Medical, or Vision.

  6. Select a Termination Rule of Final Close for any element attached to an activity rate.

  7. Do not check the Standard Link check box (Earnings and Deduction windows) or the Standard check box (Element and Element Link windows) since you use eligibility profiles to control benefits eligibility.

  8. Complete the definition of the element according to your business rules.

  9. Save your work.

  10. Choose Input Values.

    You can define multiple input values for the element, but you can only link one input value to a standard activity rate.

  11. Save your work.

Defining an Element Link for Standard and Advanced Benefits

After you define an element, open the Element Link window. Because you create eligibility profiles for Standard and Advanced Benefits, you should limit use of the Element Link window to creating an open link for elements you do not cost.

To define an element link for Standard and Advanced Benefits

  1. Set your effective date.

  2. In the Element Name field, select the element for which you are defining a link.

  3. Save the record without selecting any assignment links to create an open link.

    Note: If you define links for costing, your links must not conflict with any eligibility profiles you set up for Standard and Advanced Benefits. Your element must have a valid link at all times.

    For more help on element links and costing, see: Defining Element Links

Deleting an Element

Before you delete an element, you must first delete any entries of the element recorded for employees and then any links defined for the element.

Use the following process to delete any elements you defined in the Element window, Earnings or Deduction template, or Element Definition Wizard.

Important: Do not delete any predefined elements.

To delete an element

  1. Use the List Employees by Element window to get a list of all employees with entries for the element.

  2. For each employee, query the element entry in the Element Entries window, choose Delete Record, and save.

  3. Query the element in the Element Link window and, for each link for this element, choose Delete Record, and save.

  4. Perform one of the following:

    • If you created this element through the Element Definition Wizard, query this element from within the wizard.

    • If you created this element through the US and Canadian Earnings or Deductions templates, query this element from within the template.

    • If you created this element through the Element window, query this element from that window.

  5. Delete the element and save.

    The system prompts you to either End Date the element or Purge it. Select End Date if you want the element to remain in the system but be effective through a certain date. Select Purge if you made a mistake defining the element and you want to delete it from the system altogether.

Defining Element Links

Use the Element Link window to define groups of assignments that are eligible for an element.

Note: When you define a link for a benefit or for an entitlement item in a collective agreement, do not select any eligibility criteria. Instead use participation eligibility profiles to restrict eligibility for the benefit or entitlement item.

Note: When querying data the Element Link window returns values for Payroll, Location and Position and Organizations, irrespective of the security profile restrictions set, enabling you to view the links already created. You cannot create links for data outside your security profile.

To define an element link

  1. Set your effective date to the date you want the eligibility criteria to come into effect.

  2. In the Element Name field, select the Element for which you are defining a link.

  3. Check the Standard check box if you want all employees who are made eligible by the link to receive the element automatically.

    You can only create a standard link if the element is recurring and multiple entries are not allowed by the element definition.

  4. In the Eligibility Criteria region, select the assignment components that constitute this eligibility rule. If you want to link to all employees, do not enter any eligibility criteria.

    You can link to all payrolls or to a specific payroll. Do one of the following:

    • Leave the Payroll field blank and check the Link to all Payrolls check box if you want employees assigned to any payroll to be eligible. This rule excludes employees who are not assigned to a payroll.

    • Select the name of a specific payroll if you want only employees on that payroll to be eligible for the element. Do not check the Link to all Payrolls check box.

    • Leave both fields blank if assignment to a payroll is irrelevant to eligibility for the element.

Costing

To enter costing information for the link

  1. Select the Costable Type. The default is Not Costed, meaning that the system maintains no costing information for the element.

    • To allow entry of costing information at all levels, including the assignment and element entry levels, select Costed This is the appropriate selection for most elements representing earnings types.

    • If you do not need to cost the element at organization and assignment levels, select Fixed Costed. This is appropriate for some deductions, which are irrelevant to labor distribution analyses.

    • If you want to distribute overhead costs (such as employer contributions to a pension plan) over other elements, select Distributed.Then select a Distribution Set.

    Note: Some element classifications for your legislation may be predefined as Not Costed and you cannot override this.

  2. Check the Transfer to GL check box if the payroll run results from this link should be transferred to the general ledger.

  3. Use the Costing field to select a GL account code and, if present, account codes of labor distribution or other systems in which to collect the run results of this element. Then use the Balancing field to select the GL account that balances this one.

    For deductions elements:

    • Select the code for the GL account to credit in the Costing field, and the code for the account to debit in the Balancing field.

    For elements in all other classifications:

    • Select the code for the GL account code to debit in the Costing field, and the code for the account to credit in the Balancing field.

    Note: Depending on your set up of the Cost Allocation flexfield, the Balancing field may not be enabled.

Batch Creation of Element Links

You can use a batch process to create multiple links more efficiently than creating each link individually.

To create element links in a batch operation

  1. Check the Create in Batch Mode check box to specify that you want to defer creation of this element link until later when you run the Generate Element Links process. Alternatively, leave the box unchecked if you want to create this element link immediately.

  2. View the Link Status to confirm the status of your link:

    • Unprocessed - you have selected this element link for creation as part of a batch, but the Generate Element Links process has not started yet.

    • Processing - the Generate Element Links process is now attempting to create this link.

    • Complete - the Generate Element Links process has completed, and you have successfully created this element link.

    • Incomplete - the Generate Element Links process has completed, but this element link was not included in the processing and you have not yet created the element link. Correct the link definition before rerunning the Generate Element Links process.

    • Error - the Generate Element Links process failed to complete, and you have not yet created the element link. Correct the link definition before rerunning the Generate Element Links process.

  3. Run the Generate Element Links process to complete the creation of those links that you selected for batch processing.

    See Generating Element Links

Qualifying Conditions

To enter qualifying conditions for the link

  1. Go to the Qualifying Conditions region. Here you can add or change age or length of service requirements for this particular eligibility rule.

    The system checks these conditions when you make an entry of the element. If the employee does not meet the qualifying conditions, you receive a warning.

Input Values

To adjust input values for the link

  1. Save your link definition and choose the Input Values button to display the Link Input Values window.

    Use this window to:

    • Enter a new default or change one entered at the element level

    • Check the Costed box to maintain costing information for an input value.

    • Change the maximum, minimum or both for an input value. Logically, the new values should be within the range you defined for the element as a whole. However the system does not enforce this.

Generating Element Links

Use the Generate Element Links process to create element links quickly. You must first select the links for batch creation when defining them on the Element Links window. Then, run the Generate Element Links process from the Submit Requests window to link to the element entries created.

To generate element links

  1. Select one of the following Generate Types to determine whether you want to process:

    • All element links that are not completed and are not processing currently.

    • A single element link. If you make this selection, go on to select the particular element link that you want to create. Note that you are selecting one element link from the range of links that are awaiting processing. You cannot change the characteristics of the link at this point, but you can return to the Element Links window to make changes.

  2. Click OK

  3. Click Submit

Running the Element Link Details Report

Use this report to check the eligibility criteria that have been defined for elements within a classification. You can report on links for the following categories:

You can choose to see only standard or non-standard links, and only active or inactive links. Further, you can choose to see links to a particular job, organization, payroll, or all payrolls.

You run reports from the Submit Requests window.

To run the Element Link Details report

  1. In the Name field, select Element Link Details Report.

  2. Enter the Parameters field to open the Parameters window.

  3. Enter the effective date for which you want to see the report.

  4. Select the classification of elements you want to report on. Optionally select an element processing type (recurring or nonrecurring) or an individual element to report on.

  5. To report only on standard links, select Yes in the Standard Link field. Select No to report only on non-standard links. Leave blank to report on all links.

  6. Select a link status to report only on links that are either active or inactive as of the report's effective date.

  7. To report on links to payrolls:

    • For links to one payroll only, select No in the All Payrolls field and select the payroll in the Payroll field.

    • For links to all payrolls, select Yes in the All Payrolls field and leave the Payroll field blank.

    • To see links irrespective of their payroll criteria, select No in the All Payrolls field and leave the Payroll field blank.

  8. You can also select a job or organization to report on links to these assignment components only.

  9. If you want to produce this report in Portable Document Format (PDF), select a template.

  10. Choose the Submit button.

Defining an Element or Distribution Set

In the Element and Distribution Set window, you can select element classifications or individual elements to define a set. There are three types of set:

To define an element or distribution set

  1. Enter a unique name for the set and select the type: Distribution, Run, or Customization.

  2. Save your new set.

  3. If you want to include all elements in a classification, choose the Classification Rules button.

    • In the Classification Rules window, select one or more classifications to include. Save the set and close this window.

      The elements in the classifications you choose are now listed in the Elements region.

    • If you want to exclude individual elements, place your cursor in the element's row and choose the Exclude Element button.

  4. If you want to include particular elements from other classifications, choose the Include Element button.

  5. Select the element you want to include in the Elements window, and choose the OK button.

    Note: After you include a particular element, you cannot go to the Classification Rules window and include the classification to which this element belongs.

  6. Save your set.

  7. If you want to see a list of the individual elements you have included or excluded from the set, choose the Element Rules button. The Element Rules window is view-only.