Understanding Accumulators
This topic discusses:
Accumulator elements.
Balance accumulators in batch processing.
Retroactive processing and accumulators.
Accumulators are elements that store the cumulative values of defined items as they're processed. For example, they can store accrued entitlement balances and other cumulative values.
Accumulators can be defined:
Automatically
When you create an entitlement element, the system can automatically generate a set of accumulators to track the value of the element over time. Automatically generated accumulators typically accumulate values for a single element. You specify the periods of time that the accumulators are to track.
Manually
You can create accumulators to track several elements, such as all accrued entitlement. You select the elements that the accumulator is to track and define the period of time that the accumulator is to cover. You can accumulate a single value or multiple values over time.
There are two types of accumulators, some that pertain to a single segment, and others that span several calculation periods:
Segment accumulators accumulate values during a single segment.
Balance accumulators accumulate values over a period of time, such as a month or a year.
This section describes various aspects of how the batch process handles balance accumulators.
Updating Balances
The system loads the value for an accumulator from the end of the previous period. When the accumulator is processed, the value for the current period is added to the historic value to maintain an up-to-date balance. For each period, the batch process pulls forward the accumulator likewise.
Creating New Instances
When defining an accumulator, assign such attributes as level, based-on date, and period to cover—such as calendar year. Level determines whether to keep separate counts per job or across jobs by employee. You can add specifications by adding user keys, such as contract or department. The period and based-on date determine the applicable time period. These attributes determine how and when the batch process creates and keeps separate instances of the same accumulator. The system creates a new instance of balance and segment accumulators anytime that you change the value of a key field. Balance accumulators also spin off a new instance for each new period.
Writing to the Result Tables
How you set up the Accumulator page tells the system whether to write the accumulator to the results tables. The system determines when to drop balance accumulators, using the number of months to maintain after end date and comparing the accumulate through date of each instance with the current pay period begin date.
Accumulators reflect new retroactive values in the retroactive period by default.
Define all absence balance accumulators as corrective. This makes it possible for the true balance of the accumulator to be reflected in each period.